Adventure Cook Islands Diving Centre offers certified Enriched Air Nitrox divers Nitrox fills as an alternative to air fills. Our dive centre in Rarotonga is currently the only dive operator in the Cook Islands offering this service. Our state-of-the-art Nitrox generator can produce Enriched Air Nitrox fills up to 40%, keeping the additional cost for Nitrox fills low.

Benefits of using Nitrox

Nitrox offers a range of benefits for many recreational dives. Enriched Air Nitrox fills have higher percentages of oxygen compared to normal air fill. More oxygen in the breathing gas means your no-stop times are extended. More oxygen means you can stay down longer at depth before you get close to your dive table or computer limits. Specially for two tank dive trips or multi day diving, this offers considerable advantages compared to air diving. Another benefit of Nitrox diving is that most divers feel they get less tired after the dives, leaving you more time for other activities in Rarotonga.

Nitrox training in Rarotonga

Don’t worry if you would like to use Nitrox but are not Nitrox certified. Our dive centre offers Nitrox courses and training through the major dive training organisations. Get your PADI Enriched Air Diver, SSI Enriched Air Diver 32% or 40%, SDI Computer Nitrox or TDI Nitrox Diver certification with us.

What a surprise in Dave’s Cave when Gary and Carina took out a group of certified divers on a two tank dive trip on the west coast. For the second dive that morning, the group went to Dave’s Cave, aka Labyrinth or The Maze. The site is located by the seawall on the North-West of Rarotonga. It is a shallow dive through a series of large overhangs, swim throughs and smaller caverns underneath the surf-zone in front of Nikao Social Centre. Amongst the divers in the group was Craig, one of our regular snow escapee divers. Craig used to dive with Cook Island Divers back in the days.

Namesake of Dave’s Cave

On the boat in between the dives, Gary and Craig chatted about Dave Simms, who the dive site is named after. Dave used to work with Greg Wilson at Cook Island Divers in the nineties and Craig remembers him well. Sadly, Dave passed away in the late nineties. A memorial plaque was installed at Dave’s Cave in memory of it’s name giver.

Dave’s lost memorial plaque

Unfortunately, due to the location of the site and vulnerability to storms, Dave’s memorial plaque had disappeared since 2007, buried under a massive pile of rocks and sand. Gary and Craig talked about the plaque and how great it would be to find it again.

Memorial plaque found again

The dive was led by Gary. Towards the end of the dive, Gary pointed out the area in which the plaque was last seen nearly two decades ago. Literally a few seconds later after signalling to the divers, Gary looked ahead and spotted the plaque! He showed it to Craig and the other divers, who all couldn’t believe their eyes. Overfilled with joy, Gary and Craig then moved the plaque to a slightly less exposed, temporary resting area. Our team is now looking at finding a more secure spot to permanently install the memorial plaque. Hopefully the plaque will be more secure and withstand the elements in the future.

Rarotonga offers fantastic deep diving all around the island. Just a little out of reach for recreational divers is Rarotonga’s Peppermint Reef. The dive site consists of a vast stretch of very dense plate corals on the northern reef slope, covering the sea floor at a depth between 45 and 60 metres. We found this subsea treasure a few years back when exploring Rarotonga’s deeper reef areas and drop-off’s.

Incredibly healthy and dense coral cover

The coral density at the Peppermint Reef is incredible. Healthy, stunning plate corals cover the bottom over a very long distance. We are still to explore how far the area stretches. The reef with it’s coral cover is similar to the plate coral reef off Tahiti that made it into the world media in January 2022. The dense plate corals are also home to many other photogenic fish species, like angelfish and anthias.

Like peppermint candy

The rose shaped plate corals have a minty colour when seen at depth without torch. However, the reason we chose the name Peppermint Reef for this site is not because of the coral. The dense plate corals are home to many of the elusive peppermint angelfish. These small infamous angelfish are striking red with vertical white stripes, like a peppermint candy, hence the common name peppermint angelfish.

Super rare peppermint angelfish

The peppermint angelfish fish was originally discovered by Chip (Charles) Boyle in Rarotonga and is named after him: Centropyge boylei. Peppermint angelfish fish are extremely rare. In fact, there are only very few places in the world where these stunning little fish can be found. Furthermore, peppermint angelfish fish live usually much deeper than 50 metres.

Beyond recreational diving limits

These dives are for divers with training and experience beyond recreational diving limits, using either open circuit scuba or closed circuit rebreathers. As a rebreather friendly dive centre, Adventure Cook Islands also caters for rebreather divers.

Are you trained in deep diving, interested in beautiful, unspoiled reefs and rare fish? If the answer is yes, then Rarotonga is a great dive destination with many hidden treasures that won’t disappoint you.

If you need training, no problem – our technical open circuit and closed circuit rebreather courses through TDI, SSI and PADI TecRec will get you there.

Imagine you are in the middle of the ocean, with 1000 to 2000 metres of water below you. It is a pitch black night, there is no moon, no wind and the the ocean surface is flat. Only a weighted line with attached lights illuminates the water. As you dive down, you see that you are surrounded by countless of tiny critters. You are observing the largest migration of biomass in the world: the diel vertical migration. This is blackwater diving. Nowhere else in the world will you feel as close to being in outer space.

The diel vertical migration

During the diel (or diurnal) vertical migration, millions of tiny creatures called zooplankton migrate every night in the cover of darkness from the deep oceans up towards the surface. At the surface, these miniature crustaceans and jellyfish feed on the phytoplankton, which are microscopic size plants. At the end of the night, the zooplankton must make their way back to the safety of the dark, deep ocean to avoid being eaten. During this ever repeating synchronized movement through the water column, the zooplankton is followed by a large number of predators that feed on this seemingly endless food source.

How is the dive conducted?

We only have to drive one to two miles away from the reef as the ocean gets deep very quickly. Once we are in deep water, we stop the engine and let the boat drift. We then lower an illuminated line to about 20 metres. Even though the water is very deep, blackwater dives are shallow dives, usually between 5 and 20 metres. During the dive you will drift alongside the boat with it’s submerged, brightly illuminated line that serves as reference as well as to attract critters.

Sightings on a blackwater dive in Rarotonga

During a typical blackwater dive in Rarotonga, you will see countless tiny crustaceans, jellyfish, fish larvae and juvenile fish. You will also often see hunting squid, as well as flying fish hanging out close to the surface. These are not dives to observe big marine life. In fact, the majority of the most amazing critters are only a few millimetres in size.

Who is blackwater diving for?

Our blackwater dives in Rarotonga have been designed with the experienced underwater photographer in mind. However, all experienced divers are welcome on our blackwater dives, as long as they have a minimum of 50 logged dives and have recently dived with us.

When we dive

For everyones safety and enjoyment, we only conduct blackwater dives in Rarotonga when sea conditions are extremely calm and when there is hardly any wind. Rarotonga is a small island in the middle of the massive South Pacific Ocean. The small island offers no protection from the wind when you move away from the reef. Conditions are often not calm enough to conduct blackwater dives. Therefore, we do not take blackwater diving bookings in advance and all blackwater diving enquiries have to be done at our shop when on the island.

Blackwater diving is usually best around new moon. Nonetheless, when sea conditions are calm, we also conduct blackwater dives during other moon phases.

At Adventure Cook Islands we offer a wide range of technical diving courses and training in the Cook Islands. Whether you want to extend your range or just fine tune your existing dive skills: with our quality technical diving courses through TDI you will train to be an overall better diver, dive deeper, further and go beyond.

Technical open circuit and rebreather training

Adventure Cook Islands offers both technical open circuit (OC) and closed circuit rebreather (CCR) training through TDI, right here in Rarotonga. Join the world of technical diving and learn how to safely plan and conduct staged decompression dives, using single or multiple gases, both on regular open circuit scuba or using closed circuit rebreathers.

Rebreather support for exploration dives

We also offer rebreather support for experienced CCR divers who wish to explore Rarotonga’s fascinating deep drop-off’s.

Adventure Cook Islands is proud to be a PADI Dive Centre, but also Rarotonga’s only Scuba Schools International Training Centre. Scuba Schools International is one of the leading dive training organizations worldwide. By being affiliated with multiple dive training organisations, we are able to offer the widest range of scuba diving courses of any dive centre in Rarotonga and the Cook Islands.

Apart for try dives and learn to dive certification courses like the Open Water Diver, we also offer over 20 SSI Specialty courses. The academic portion of every SSI course is to be completed online through SSI’s state-of-the-art elearning platform before any in-water training. Most SSI Specialty courses only require two dives to be complete. This means they can easily be completed on one of our two tank dive trips in just half a day.

Extend your range with SSI

If you are an experienced diver and you would like to extend your range in diving, our dive centre is also an SSI XR centre. Get in touch with us for more information about XR programs .

Adventure Cook Islands is proud to be an official DAN World Partner and to support DAN Asia-Pacific (DAN AP). The Divers Alert Network is a global not-for-profit, member-based organization dedicated to improving the safety of all divers through education, research and training.

Worldwide coverage

DAN Asia-Pacific provides Worldwide Emergency Evacuation Coverage as well as optional Dive Injury (Medical Treatment) Insurance Services for its Members. Moreover, DAN AP makes sure that diving emergency hotlines are manned 24-hours a day throughout the Asia-Pacific region. DAN AP is a part of DAN World, which has over 350,000 members worldwide.

DAN members have piece of mind that no matter where they dive, DAN is available 24/7 to assist in case of an accident ot illness.

Why should I have a DAN Membership and Dive Injury Insurance?

Scuba diving is a comparatively safe sport, but accidents can still happen. Having a reputable organisation to call in an emergency brings piece of mind. In addition, when a diving accident happens, it’s imperative that rescue efforts get coordinated efficiently and in a timely manner so the injured diver can get the most appropriate treatment for their injury. Furthermore, emergency evacuation and diver medical treatment costs are often very high. The DAN protection makes sure that the diver will not end up stranded with a potentially hefty bill.

To find out more about the Divers Alert Network and it’s services, or to become a DAN member:

Join DAN TODAY

In February 2018, Carina and Patrick discovered a small shipwreck in Rarotonga. The vessel was a sailing yacht that lay in 70 metres of water depth outside Avatiu. After talking to many locals and multiple dives on the wreck, the identity of the shipwreck remained a mistery. The only clue to the identity of the vessel was a big letter “R” in the centre of the stern of the vessel.

The breakthrough came recently, after Patrick talked to the Director of Maritime, Ngatokorua Ngatokorua (Junior). After hearing the story and seeing images of the wreck, he also confirmed that Maritime Cook Islands have no records about the existence of such wreck. However, he assured Patrick to try to find out more information on his end.

After talking to the older generations and showing pictures of the wreck, Junior managed to identify the mystery yacht.

Vessel name is INTREPID

The vessels’ name is “INTREPID”, a cargo sailing yacht that sunk in 1991.
Here is the information Junior came up with:

“A small cargo vessel owned by Dr Robert Wonton and Papa Charlie Brothers as a stop gap after Silk & Boyd stopped operating. The vessel was destined for Mangaiia with an over loaded heavy stacked top heavy. We were told it never did go out too far and rolled in the seas.”

“A Cessna just happened to flyby and saw the incident, it
all happened very fast. There were four crew onboard, one of them were Tom Napa (Deceased). Papa Waisale Ravuso (Papa Wesi), former employee and chief engineer for Taio Shipping (Deceased) to name a few were spotted by Cessna in the water with vessel sinking not far where this location is.”

“It was understood this had taken place back in 1991 about 6 months prior to Taio Shipping commencing business. No one knew off this incident.”

A big meitaki maata to Junior and everyone else who contributed in identifying the shipwreck.

The Cook Islands government has recently amended the safety regulations one more time.

In recent years, and after much debate within the Rarotongan community, the Cook Islands government had already made wearing safety motorcycle helmets mandatory for all visitors as well as younger riders on Rarotonga. As it did not include most local residents, this law had caused some confusion. Some visitors could not understand why they had to wear a safety helmet on Rarotonga when many other riders didn’t.

This year the government has made more amendments to the act. It is now mandatory for every person riding on a scooter or motorcycle on Rarotonga to wear an approved motorcycle safety helmet. This includes any pillion (passenger), no matter whether the pillion is a child or adult.

Helmets not mandatory in outer islands

The traffic on the outer Cook Islands is not comparable to Rarotonga. Furthermore, people ride way faster on Rarotonga than they do in the outer islands. Therefore, the changes to the safety helmet regulations are only for Rarotonga, not for the outer islands.

Helmets save lives

The new safety helmet law has been in the making since a while and it has many local road safety supporters. However, there are also those in the community who oppose the new regulations.

In the end, the new regulations will save lives. Within a short while, everyone on Rarotonga will be getting accustomed to the new law and always wear a safety helmet when riding on a scooter in Rarotonga.

At Adventure Cook Islands, all our rental scooters come with the riders helmet free of charge. For passenger helmets we only charge a small fee. We use FFM Helmets, New Zealands own helmet brand, made by Kiwis for Kiwis. For more information about our rental scooters, please check out our scooter hire page.

2020 has been an exceptional year in many ways. With the virus spreading and life being turned upside down in most parts of the world, the Cook Islands have managed to stay Covid-19 free until today. With Cook Islands borders being closed for visitors since April, the nation’s tourism industry sector is eagerly anticipating the return of visitors in the near future.

Having said that, we acknowledge there will be a constant risk of the virus spreading over to our little paradise once borders re-open.

As such, we take the health and well being of you, our customers and our staff very seriously. We will be following the Cook Islands Ministry of Health, CookSafe and the dive industry guidelines for contact tracing and equipment sanitisation.

We would like to assure all our customers that it will be business as usual and all our dive activities as well as rental and sales operations will go ahead as per normal. However, we will do everything possible to keep you and our staff safe over this Covid-19 period – and beyond.

Our team will be very excited to see you back at our shop, but we must respectfully request anyone who is not feeling well to put their visit to our shop on hold.

We will be operating all our dive trips, PADI courses, introduction dives, snorkel trips as well as rental and sales operations as usual, however we have made some changes in our operating procedures:

• When you enter our shop, please sign in using COOKSAFE contact tracing and use hand sanitizers provided.
• If you want to handle any of our merchandise in the shop, please speak to us first as there may be sanitisation protocols to follow.
• We have implemented increased sanitisation procedures and all rental equipment will be sanitised in sodium hypochlorite (bleach), diluted to 2%, upon return to our shop. This bleach concentration is recommended to inactivate COVID-19 by major equipment manufacturers as well as training organisations and DIVERS ALERT NETWORK (DAN).
• For diving and snorkel trips, we encourage you to follow us to the boat launching spot of the day in your own vehicle (if you have rented a vehicle)
• We encourage you to store your change of clothes in a plastic bags or inside your rental vehicle.