Cook Islands - How many days on each island?

Hi,
I'm going to the Cook Islands (for the first time) in September for 12 Nights and 13 full days. I am traveling with my husband. We are planning on visiting Rarotonga, Aitutaki, and Atiu. We love Polynesian culture. So far we have visited New Caledonia, Tonga, Vanuatu, Fiji, Rapa Nui, and French Polynesia. On our trips, we enjoy a balance of a few nights in a luxury resort, as well staying in authentic homestays, experiencing cultural life. We love beach life, outdoors, we are both scuba divemasters (we will definitely want to dive on this trip). We do enjoy being off the beaten path with few tourists, but if the most beautiful beaches and snorkeling are in the most touristic area we will check that out too. Though we do love relaxing slow paced island life, we also like to see and do a lot on our trips.

What I want to know is how much time should we spend on Rarotonga, Aitutaki, and Atiu?
Based on Air Raro flights, we have 4 options: we arrive on day 1 at 6am and leave on day 13 at 11pm.

Atiu for 4 days
Option 1: Raro 4 days/nts, Aitutaki 4 days/nts, Atiu 4 days/nts, Raro last day.
Option 2: Raro 3 days/nts, Aitutaki 5 days/nts, Atiu 4 days/nts, Raro last day.

Atiu for 2 days
Option 3: Raro 3 days/nts, Aitutaki 5 days/nts, Atiu 2 days/nts, Raro 2nts/3days.
Option 4: Raro 2 days/nts, Aitutaki 6 days/nts, Atiu 2 days/nts, Raro 2nts/3days.

Is 2 days on Atiu enough so we can have more time on Aitutaki or do we need 4 days?
Should we spend equal time on Raro and Aitukaki or more on Aitutaki?

We enjoy traveling on our own and will not be joining any tours (except when scuba diving). We will rent scooters. We are planning on snorkeling/swimming by ourselves a lot.

How do the beaches and snorkeling/swimming between the 3 islands compare?
What are the best beaches for snorkeling/swimming by ourselves on Raro? Aitutaki? Atiu? (I want to stay at places where we can easily go straight into the water, I do not want to stay at ocean front places where you cannot swim).

On Rarotonga, is it better to stay on the East side by Muri Lagoon where we can easily swim and watch the sunrise or are the sunsets so amazing we should stay on the West?

Cheers,
Devany

This topic has been automatically locked due to inactivity. Email community@lonelyplanet.com if you would like to add to this topic and we'll unlock it for you.