Category: Cook Islands

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Coconut tree and lagoon at night

Coconut tree on the left leaning over a sandy beach at night. The tree is lit up and there is light from the moon behind. On the right is the still water of the lagoon.

This was one of my most experimental and favourite shots I took in Rarotonga, Cook Islands. That night the moon was extremely bright, just off to the left out of frame. After several shots with the foreground coconut tree silhouetted against the sky I got my head torch on. This was a 30 second long exposure time and for about half that time I was pointing my torch at the tree. Amazingly the camera was able to capture some stars in the sky. I wasn’t expecting that as there was a few clouds that night. Truely a beach paradise at night. Next time I’m fortunate enough to visit an island in the South Pacific I’m definately bringing my astrophotography lens.

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Coconut trees in paradise 

Two coconut trees in front of the white sandy beach on the left and crystal clear lagoon water on the right.

These are the same two coconut trees as a previous Coconut trees at night photograph. It’s from a different and higher angle but basically the same. It is amazing to me the difference between the night and day version. This seems like one of those postcards of a tropical paradise, which Rarotonga in the Cook Islands certainly is. I love the shadows of the palms on the bright white sand. The strong sunshine pierces right through the crystal clear shallow water of the lagoon. People and dogs are often wondering up and down the beach here so it was a rare sight to see it completely free of anyone. 

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Inner island greenery Rarotonga

Long grassy field in the foreground with over a dozen tall coconut trees and lush green mountains in the background.

It’s always worth looking away from the obvious beauty. Something I’ve learned as a photographer is to keep an eye open for not the obvious photograph. Seeing a group of photographers all pointing their cameras in the same direction – I’m more likely to look what is behind them. Driving along the Ara-Tapu ring road around Rarotonga its tempting to always look out to the water of the lagoon that surrounds the island. But there is fabulous landscapes and amazing greenery inland. This landscape is in the Ngatangiia District on the east side of the island. I don’t know the name of the mountain on the left of the photograph. If you look closely on the right under the huge palm trees you might be able to spot a cow. 

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Captain Tama’s boat at night

Large yellow tourist boat with palm roof in a lagoon at night with sandy beach in the foreground and moon rising up from the horizon in the distance.

Muri Lagoon is one of the more popular tourist beaches on the island of Rarotonga. Captain Tama’s glass bottom boat cruise is world famous. It combines a boat tour, snorkelling, fish BBQ lunch and brilliant entertainment from Captain Tama and his crew. I’ve not yet done the tour myself but know many people who have and rate it highly. As far as I know there are no night boat tours. This photograph was taken from the deck of the Rarotonga Sailing Club. I enjoyed a few nights here with great food and live entertainment. This was actually the moon rising up from the horizon. It was a challenging photograph to capture as the yellow boat was slightly moving and to capture this amount of detail I needed to use a long exposure. After a few frustratingly blurred shots I increased the ISO to 3200 to allow this photograph to be captured with a 1 second long exposure.