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 
Great review mate, looks and sounds sensational, thanks for that.......
Wait a minute.....I'd recognize that huge duck stance (first photo) anywhere. Is that Toddy's FLX ur on?
If it is, what are ur thoughts?
I take it you made it back ok brycol. My feet have only just recovered from the coral cuts.....a great trip lets make sure we time so we are there together again next year. I might catch you on the Gold Coast during the summer.
Hey Gilly
pretty sharp eyes you have there. Yep that was Toddy's board he was helping me out with some rolls. I have been riding the OR mako's for a while now and going back to Toddys FLX twinny actully seemed a bit loose and skatey, so I'm probably not the best judge. It did seem to go upwind fairly good though.
Kitebt
Hard coming home to very cold days on the goldy after the island life. Definately keep me in the loop about your travel plans for next year, a couple of mates are already keen to go. Hope you make it to the Goldy this summer, we'll get you out in the surf and have a few beers .
Did you end up getting the board autographed by the knightriders after your epic up winder?
Hey Brycol,you mentioned super cheap grass huts on the beach in your kite review,can you tell me how much they are or give me a name of the huts,been looking at accomadation on Aitutaki,it all seams to be quite expensive and how much would scooter hire be for a week
Hey Gokid
All the prices I mention below are in $NZ (so you can expect somewhere between 10-20% less depending on what the Aussie dollar is like).
My idea of super cheap huts on the beach is under $100, and they will be pretty basic. You can get good places from $100-$150 night, some of the guys on my trip stayed at Ranginui's Retreat and inano beach bungalows both were around $130 and said they were fine. This site can give you a idea of where/cost places are. www.aitutaki-accommodations.com/Aitutaki_Accommodation.html
Doing it on the tour got me better deals though (especially with flights and excess baggage) and some bonuses like meal vouchers etc.
Scooter hire is around $20-30 a day + fuel, cheaper if you take for a week or some places include with accommodation deals. The island is not that big and if really on a budget plenty of people where riding bikes around as well.
Cheers
Select to expand quotekitebt said..
Did you end up getting the board autographed by the knightriders after your epic up winder?
Mate
After kiting all day and rushing to catch the last flight out I didn't end up getting the autographs done. My board edge will always remind me of the adrenalin pumping, crazy night ride and remember how good that first beer tasted after walking in from the darkness whilst everyone was having dinner!
Select to expand quotemc said..
waves ???????????
Good question mc - only thing i'm interested in - the rest is details.
If you want them they are there but its the butter smooth water that most travel there for.
we rode these on a few days but its fairly shallow on the reef and can only really be rode on high tides/full moons
Select to expand quotebrycol said..kitebt said..
Did you end up getting the board autographed by the knightriders after your epic up winder?
Mate
After kiting all day and rushing to catch the last flight out I didn't end up getting the autographs done. My board edge will always remind me of the adrenalin pumping, crazy night ride and remember how good that first beer tasted after walking in from the darkness whilst everyone was having dinner!
Ha....catch you on the Goldie in summer. You should also think about coming down to Jervis Bay and doing doing kiting with us there. I know you will love it.
Select to expand quotedeanrobi said..
If you want them they are there but its the butter smooth water that most travel there for.
we rode these on a few days but its fairly shallow on the reef and can only really be rode on high tides/full moons
You wouldn't want to make a mistake on those reefs around the outside of the Island. Ouch!!!!
Alliance Gear ran a trip this season and will be doing more next winter with package deals, if you are looking for a group to go with.
This place is awesome to improve or even learn to kite from scratch, its not too far from Australia and medium cost.
If you join our Facebook you can be kept in the loop of when the next trips happen.
www.facebook.com/AllianceGearAustralia
