After watching the sunrise, doing a little yoga on the beach, and then walking with our pack of dogs, we were pleasantly surprised that the 2009 International Paddle Races were on right next door! Paddlers from New Zealand, Australia, Fiji, Tahiti, the Cook Islands themselves, and Hawaii were all represented. For virtually the rest of the day, we happily watched the races as we threw our own beer tasting festival. Later in the day when the races looked over, Mike, Wendy and I decided to go out kayaking. Mike was in a single, and let me tell you, Wendy and I were kickin’ butt in our double kayak. We explored the island to the left, finding tons of shells, broken coral, snails and hermit crabs. The highlight of the island exploration was a green and pink eel that looked wedged in the rocks until Mike got closer and it swam away, revealing itself as an eel instead of a fish in distress.
On the way back, there weren’t any races going on, so we cut through the lanes. We then decided to go a bit farther and found ourselves in the front of the long distance race! We moved as fast as we could out of the way when we realized what was happening. Tom told us later that people along the beach were jeering that the paddlers should run into our kayak if we got in their way. I’m glad we moved fast enough!
That night, we went to the international markets, tasted some great local foods like sweet chili chicken, rump roast, and curry chicken, and saw some fabulous dancers! The Cook Island dancing (both men and women dancing) is thought of as very sensual and romantic. I can only wish to be able to move my hips like those ladies!
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