www.2explore.net. On February 16, 2007 we will leave behind the comforts of our home in Seattle to travel through the South Pacific. On this site you can follow along with us, read about our experiences and view some of the photos we have taken en route. Our insatiable urge to explore, sparked the idea for this adventure. In October of 2005, we had a taste of the South Pacific on a 3-week trip to the Cook Islands and have ever since wanted to go back to immerse ourselves in the South Pacific way of life and record our experiences. With many ecosystems at risk from pollution, global warming and climate change, this is now especially critical. We aim to capture the true character of the idyllic South Pacific through photographs and words in a way that makes any observer of our work feel a connection to this special place and in turn, join us in making simple choices in everyday life that can have positive, lasting effects on the world around us. For a year we will be living as modern nomads – traveling only with what we can carry in our packs, living amongst the locals on the islands we visit, spending time sharing stories and experiences and taking in the captivating underwater world on the occasional dive. We hope to help others along the way and keep a vivid record of this adventure to share with you, and keep at the forefront of our memory. Follow along with us and learn about far away places of natural beauty and rich cultures. Experience with us the big world we call home.

DAY 17 Feels like home

COOK ISLANDS | Saturday, 10 March 2007 | Views [533]

In a strange way, being back in the Cook Islands feels a bit 'home like'. We arrived on Rarotonga on Saturday, 4 weeks earlier than we planned because French Polynesia was so grossly overpriced and in our opinion, much overrated. So before we blew through our budget, we decided to change course, slightly.

We do not have much of a plan yet (of course) as we are hoping to take a cargo ship to the Northern group of the Cooks if it is possible - the schedule depends on the amount and demand of cargo, sailing conditions, and of course the condition that we would have to travel in as it must be better than our previous cargo ship! We may just make it to the Southern group as that is much closer and a bit more feasible. We've asked around, but the boat isn't due in until this weekend so we'll check in later and make our plans accordingly. We would really like to make it to some of the outer islands, other than Aitutaki and Aitu, which we visited on our trip here 1.5 years ago. We have 6 weeks so we'll see! Oh, it is so luxurious to not be rushed!!

Our posts will hopefully be slightly more regular while we are here on Raro with good resources - at least through the next week. As in French Polynesia, internet connections are S L O W and it takes us an hour at best to simply upload a few pictures and enter the text that has been pre-written by hand, and it is not cheap but a little better than in Papeete, Tahiti where were were paying at least $13US per hour. We'll do our best to keep the posts with pictures (sometimes) coming!

To all of you who have signed the guestbook and/or sent us a message through the site...THANKS!! We read all of the messages, even if we don't have time to reply.

Until next post...

Tags: Travel Tips