Philippines to Tahiti the Other Way: From Tonga to the Cook Islands

Visiting the Cook Islands during Christmas 2025 made me realise I was lucky to have first visited in 2003, before the harbor renovation project and the high fees introduced earlier in 2025 by the Island Council! While the island and it’s people did not change much in all these years, the construction currently going on in the tiny harbor make it quite challenging to find a suitable area to leave your boat while visiting ashore.

Here is a report on my experience of Aitutaki and my latest video diary which covers the 6th leg of our long journey going east from the Philippines to Tahiti. How did we do? Was our advanced weather forecast accurate? What weather did we really have and was it expected? Is our strategy working so far?

Our two main sources of weather information were the experienced human weather router Bob MacDavitt in New Zealand and PredictWind, along with the latest AI weather forecasting tools.

Arriving into Aitutaki, Cook Islands

Having sent all required forms by email in advance to the Cook Island border authorities and emailed them our ETA, I got no answer from the Aitutaki harbormaster after several calls on VHF 16 when I arrived during working hours.

Note that all the white PVC sticks, regardless of the red or green borders some might be marked with, are all on the Starboard side of the channel. The small black markers you will see here and there are all on the Port side of the channel and these are only fishing traps, not markers!

The Channel and the Harbour anchorage

With good sunshine, the narrow channel is easy to see but be very careful if entering with poor light or overcast skies. Since I had not received any reply from border control to my request of anchorage situation update, I tried to get back to the exact spot we anchored 22 years ago. But in that spot now was a new breakwater protecting the small harbor under construction. No mooring available and no bollards to tie up shore lines … and nobody around to help!

So my crew and I anchored right in the middle of the tiny harbor and luckily enough there was little wind so we were able to put two very long lines astern to a barge on the one dock and to some old pilings behind the new dock pilings being erected. Even tied up that way, we had to bring a small anchor and long chain + line to hold the side of the boat from getting too close to the dirt wall near the dock. I could understand the comments I saw on diverse online cruisers websites cautioning to contact any sailors currently inside the harbor to have them help you med-moor in tiny space and take your stern lines across the breakwater (watch for chaffing) and tie them to rocks you could find! Gust of winds from any direction might occur so you better secure yourself properly before visiting ashore. This place was only ok because no cargo or cruise-ship was expected in the coming days.

After all the time it took us to secure the boat, we finally saw a person waving at us so we went to pick up the Health officer who came onboard to check us in, followed later by Customs and Bio Security. Filled the same paper forms I had sent by email earlier and paid the reasonable fees (Health NZ$40; Bio Security NZ$25 and Customs NZ$41.20/person on departure).

The next day, the office lady from the Island Council asked if we were aware of the fees now imposed on visiting sailors. The old fee of NZ$20/day had been increased to NZ$4/meter/day for monohulls and NZ$7/meter/day for multihulls. As a just under 14m trimaran, this meant I would be paying almost NZ$100/day – and for what facilities???

No dock or mooring; no proper dinghy landing; showers/toilet far away; no rubbish bins; no internet; no services at all! I told the lady that I was quite surprised to be imposed fees well exceeding mooring or docking space in both French Polynesia and Tonga/Fiji. She replied that nobody ever complained (in her face perhaps!) and that we were free to leave immediately if not willing to pay! Not a very Polynesian welcome!

High Fees – Short Stay

So instead of spending two weeks here during Christmas and New Year (the only cruisers here at this time of the year – on our way to Tahiti from the Philippines), we decided to only spend a few days around Christmas. This was enough time to have a quick tour of the island and provision during this busy tourist holiday period where the fresh market did not open and only a few veggies were found in the small stores in the area.

On Boxing day, we had fun watching the local dancing and island food parade! Three people I would like to mention as really helpful to us:

the lady at the gas station only 200m away and the only one selling diesel on the island who assisted us to get 200 liters (fuel currently rationed due to poor supply, as we had already encountered in Vava’u, Tonga earlier);
Taki Tepaki and her daughter from Tupa Transport Aitutaki, car & scooter rental as well as taxi (office right near the harbor);
and Bob, the courteous Customs/Immigration officer who came specially at his office to clear us out on the Saturday after Xmas.

The harbor construction workers were shocked like all other islanders we spoke to about these new harbor fees and did not think such high fees were reasonable while the marina was still in construction. That is exactly what I and many cruisers who stopped here in 2025 feel about these fees! The Island Council should have waited until the facilities were completed before charging that much! If cruisers are not welcomed at guests anymore but as cash cows then quality services should be offered at a fair price or they will visit other places!

Luc Callebaut
s/v Sloepmouche

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About the Author

Belgian sailor Luc Callebaut and his American partner Jackie Lee have been exploring the warm waters of the world since 1992 on board their 46ft Norman Cross trimaran. They have lived and worked in the Caribbean, Pacific and for the past five years have been cruising in Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines. For the past six months they have been cruising eastward through Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands into the Pacific.

Luc worked as a regional editor for Noonsite for many years. Find out more about Luc and Jackie here [https://cornellsailing.com/archives/past-rallies/the-team/#LucJackie]

Videos about their cruising adventures can be viewed on their YouTube channel “Tropical Sailing Life” or their Tropical Sailing website, which contains more than 600 original, edited, titled, cruising videos.

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Other Noonsite reports from Luc and Jackie:

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The opinions expressed in this article and video are the author’s own and do not reflect the view of http://Noonsite.com or World Cruising Club.

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