We sailed to Rarotonga from Bora Bora. What was supposed to be a pleasant sail in 15-20 knots of wind, was anything but that! We had gusts to 40, then 50, then at 69 my annenometer stopped working!

Rarotonga – Harbor Closure

Rarotonga is the largest of the southern Cook Islands.

We arrived there late in the evening. The harbour was closed for entry and all local boats had been hauled out due to the high winds – every single boat! We even saw them lowering a 30’ catamaran back into the water when things opened up.

The harbour will be closed on any northerly component winds, or when strong winds are forecast.

Unfortunately, there is no other suitable shelter for a yacht in strong winds. We went to the lee side of the island and that knocked the waves back, but due to the fringing reef and us not knowing exactly where things were (poor charting details), we were still about a half mile to a mile from land, which meant we were exposed to the majority of the winds.

Not a nice 36 hours to spend and that alone would make us not want to take a boat back to Rarotonga.

Checking-in Procedure

When the harbour finally opened we were initially brought to a side-tie dock with lots of surge. An immigration officer, a port health officer, a biosecurity officer, a police officer and two customs officers came to the boat and each did their piece.

Significant pre-arrival notification paperwork is required. If you have medication, it must be recorded!

• Immigration – straight forward and easy.
• Biosecurity – wanted to know food products on board.
• Port Health – searched the boat for pests and sprayed the entire interior of the boat and kept it locked up for 10 minutes – some sort of pest control.
• Police – brought a drug-detection dog through the boat. It was reportedly the dog’s first time on a boat. They had booties on it and the dog struggled not to slide around in the surge from the swell.
• Customs – the most officious and over-the-top inspection I have ever had! They opened every hatch and every cupboard, lifted up the beds and wanted us to open all access compartments. They also went into the forward hatches.  They took pictures of lots and lots of things. They were very interested in medications and took pictures of everything we had on board. We were told that if medications were not on the advanced notification form they would be seized. However, thankfully, we survived their inspection and all was good.
• Total time: took approximately 2.5 hours for entrance clearance.

After the government officials had completed their work, we were instructed to med-moor, but keep five meters off the wall. The top of the wall was approximately two meters above water at low tide. There was no ladder, so we had to scramble from the dinghy up rubber tyres to the top – definitely not for the mobility-impaired. A small boat harbour was nearby that a dinghy might be taken to, but we did not check it out.

On-shore

Excellent prices and variety for provisioning. There is a grocery store two blocks away from the harbour and petrol is across the road, but you have to use jerry cans. Propane fill is available in the harbour area – North American fittings and filled while you wait – a great change from French Polynesia! Laundry across the street – wash yourself or drop off. Farmers market for fresh fruit and veggies one block away.

Incredibly friendly people which rivalled Rapa Nui for their hospitality and welcoming nature. We had a steady stream of locals coming by and saying hello. The big wind storm was the topic of conversation and many had seen us waiting off shore and wondered how we made out in the storms. A local dropped off a full stalk/hand of bananas for us, free of charge.

Rarotonga has so much going for it from a shore side amenities point of view. The welcoming people, the good supplies and the reasonable pricing are all huge pluses. These great points though, can’t overcome (in our opinion) the weak yachting infrastructure (anchoring set up and lack of protection in the harbour), government officiousness and government fees.

Fees – in New Zealand Dollars

• Immigration $25. Cash only. They want to be paid at check in. (note: it might be $45. I can’t remember for sure)
• Port health -$15. Cash Only. They want to be paid at check in.
• Customs – departure tax $77/person. Payable at check out. Cash or credit card.
• Biosecurity will start charging fees soon.  We were told that legislation has been drafted.
• Overtime fees are charged for anything on weekends or after hours and officers told us the charges are significant.
• Harbour fees – we paid $3.80/meter/night. For that you get to be med moored and have a dirty shower stall.

Checking out

At check out, be prepared to fill out a multi-page document with Customs which sets out nearly all the same information that is on the pre-arrival notification forms. I asked if it was really necessary to repeat it. A senior officer advised that he would not be requesting the form to be filled if he did not need the info.

The harbour master told us that in the last 12 months, 18 yachts had visited Rarotonga.

All in all – we would go back to Rarotonga in a heartbeat. Just not with a boat.