Kite Tour Review

(Paid for my trip, no associations with Operator. Found through internet search)

Just got back from a trip to Aitutaki in the Cook Islands with Kiteboard Global (www.kiteboardglobal.com/)

Kite Bag - 10m F-one B5, 13m Epic Renegade and 140 OR Mako. Long sleeve Rashy, thermal rashy, reef booties, on water sunnies. Used them all.

Aitutaki is a great place very isolated and very very laid back (think of the usual island time and then slow down twice as much again). Speed limit on the island is 40km/h by scooter mainly and the conditions are very basic, but the accommodation was great and varied from super cheap grass huts on the beach to $2000 a night luxury suites over or off the water. I stayed at a mid level place called Samade at Ootu Beach. Overall I was very happy with the resort, great location, good food/drinks, accommodation was good.

What a place to kite. Imagine an area that is a about 2km square with a sandy palm tree island in the middle that you can kite all the way around in warm crystal clear water that varies from about 0.5m to 2m deep and that was just one of many spots on the island. Due to the suronding reef the lagoon rarely sees any sharks, which is great for night kiting (had to do some body dragging after losing my board in the dark. The wind blew between 15 to 22 knts for most of the trip, 2 days it was lighter and we did a snorkelling trip one day and hired scooters the other. Mostly sunny, a couple of showers but otherwise perfect kiting weather. Not a lot to do there if you are not into kiting, snorkelling or game fishing (but then again what else is there). No real town to speak of, no night life other than resorts (plenty of Pina coladas) a fishing club and a few restaurants, which didn’t affect us as we were kiting from 8am to 4pm back for drinks and dinner, check out the days videos, then out cold by 9pm ( not as young as I used to be, but even the young guys were cactus). Did a huge kite upwind (2.5 hrs) from the kite island to where I was staying at the other end of the main island (about 7km), which ended up with us (just 2 of us) kiting under a ¾ moon in the dark for about an hour that was pretty wild (a hell of a story on its own over a few beers, involved search parties etc hmmmmm). Lunch on the island each day was between $10-$15 and well worth it, included fresh tuna steak burgers and buffets etc.

I’d have no hesitation in going back there again, the guys organising the tour were fantastic and looked after us really well. Can't say enough good things about Toddy, Glen and Ken as nothing was to much for them and they organised a few great night outs for the crew. The guys provided plenty of support on the beach with progression sessions (all included) and photos of your good and bad jumps. There were about a dozen of us on this tour varying ages from young to old and a pretty good bunch (even though most were kiwis), no nobs or wankers which is always a good thing.

The snorkelling was sensational, the water quality was equal to or better than any I've seen. The fish and giant clams were amazing and the food was sensational and fairly cheap ( everything was in NZ$ gotta luv that).

Only downer was the Wallabies losing the Bledisloe, especially when surrounded by kiwis!

Would definatley reccommend both Aitutaki and Kiteboard Global for anyone looking for a great trip.

Cheers