Taio Shipping Trip Southern Cook Islands?

Hello!
Having 4 weeks in the Cooks from 8.1.until 4.2. we are right now researching how to get to the outer islands of the southern group. The LP mentions the Taio Shipping Company is going on a round trip Raro-Mangaia-Mauke- Mitiaro- Aitu- Raro for 250 NZD in total. The official side of Taio says 250 NZD per island return. Has anyone done this trip recently and can give some information about?

Thanks a lot for your help and safe travel!
Sandra

Hi again, One thing about the inter-island shipping is that you cant rely upon frequency or scheduling. For as many years as I can recall, our ships have experienced difficulty departing on time. There are numerous disruptions ashore to cause delay, let alone the weather at the time of year you are visiting. Oftentimes the ships have had to cut their journeys short, and on occassion require rescue. One of Taio's ships got stuck on Mauke reef last week! Contact Taio Shipping to gain more update to date info regarding planned schedules and current pricing. Also bear in mind that if sea/weather conditions aren't favourable, the service is subject to cancellation entirely. Inter-island ship travel is for the very flexible and hardy traveller. Although air services are expensive, they are more reliable. Unfortunately, it's the wrong season for visiting yachties, otherwise I would have suggested you enquire from the Harbour Master in Avatiu harbour what's possible. With only some 12,000 residents across all 15 islands, we dont have the population to support the same transport links that our very big island neighbours enjoy.

Hi,

The Taio ship ran aground on the reef at Mauke last week, so don't like the chances of them sticking to any schedule for a while. Suggest you contact them directly before making any decisions.

And it looks like the ship could be out of commission for a very long time, if not for ever. The Mayor of Mauke thinks it will be stuck on the reef for good. I would suggest checking the pages of the local paper, the Cook Islands News which publishes shipping movements if you are determined to go by sea, or as already advised, speak to the harbour master in Raro.

The southern group islands are easily accessible by air though and if you book ahead the prices are not too steep. Mauke is my favourite. Aitutaki is a must visit even if you only take the (quite expensive) day trip and lagoon cruise. Mitiaro has very few visitors but you can expect a particularly warm welcome if you go there. It's a beautifully laid out island. Mangaia is not beautiful in the usual sense - much of it is incredibly rocky - but it is, in my opinion, an island of great beauty. Manuae and Takutea are uninhabited and not commercially accessible. Atiu is great particularly if you're into bird watching...there are more rare species there than anywhere else in the islands. Palmerston is very very difficult to get to.

Wherever you manage to get to though, I'm sure you'll have fantastic time. If you want to know more about the islands, click on my name and you'll see in my profile details of a non-commercial website I have about all of the islands (including videos of some of the southern group ones).