Aitutaki Lagoon Tour FAQs
Booking & Pricing
Customer-initiated refunds are subject to a minimum 10% retention. The 10% retained covers costs already incurred on the original transaction, including currency conversion, card processing and transaction fees, and the banking costs of taking and returning the payment. These are charged to us as soon as payment goes through, which is also why cancelling shortly after booking is not cost-free: the transaction completes within seconds of checkout, not after a grace period.
Please contact our local Aitutaki team on WhatsApp +682 54 300 or at tekingcruise@gmail.com, and they will look at whether a move is possible. They hold the authority to change a reservation and they will always try.
What we cannot do is guarantee it. Aitutaki gets busy, and a lot of our days are genuinely full: cruise ship arrivals, group bookings, weddings, private parties, and ordinary peak season all fill boats. If the day you now want has no space, there is no way to add capacity to a boat that is already at its limit.
If a move is not possible, the booking is refunded at 90%. The 10% retained covers costs already incurred on the original transaction, including currency conversion, card processing and transaction fees, and the banking costs of taking and returning the payment. These are charged to us as soon as payment goes through, which is also why cancelling shortly after booking is not cost-free: the transaction completes within seconds of checkout, not after a grace period.
Please do check your date carefully before completing payment. The booking page shows your selected date at every step, and a quick look before you submit saves everyone excess work.
We understand this question and are happy to explain.
Our online booking system is much more than a payment platform. It is the digital system that manages virtually every part of your reservation from the moment you book until the day of your tour.
Your online booking automatically:
- Confirms your reservation instantly
- Assigns your unique Tour ID
- Notifies our local operations team
- Sends your welcome information and tour details
- Collects your accommodation information so we know where you’re staying
- Records the dates you’ll be on Aitutaki, allowing us to help reschedule your tour if unsafe weather requires a change
- Keeps all of your booking information in one secure place for both you and our team
Although there is a small 4% processing fee, we absorb the additional costs of international credit card processing and currency conversion. More importantly, this system eliminates hours of manual administration, reduces the possibility of booking errors, and helps our small team provide a much smoother experience for every guest.
As a small boutique operator in one of the world’s most remote destinations, staffing and manual administration can be challenging. We’ve invested heavily in this digital booking platform because it allows us to spend less time on paperwork and more time creating an exceptional experience on the lagoon.
For these reasons, all advance reservations are made through our online booking system. It is the single source of truth for availability, reservations, and guest information, helping ensure every booking is handled accurately and efficiently.
We appreciate your understanding and look forward to welcoming you aboard.
Our online booking system closes 24 hours before each tour to allow our team time to finalize guest numbers, assign boats and crew, prepare equipment and lunches, and coordinate logistics.
If you’re already in Aitutaki and would like to join a tour within the next 24 hours, you’re welcome to contact our local team. Last-minute reservations may be available on a first-come, first-served basis, depending on availability.
The availability shown online represents the combined capacity of all boats that may operate that day. It does not mean that everyone will travel on one boat.
We operate multiple boats and assign them according to the number of confirmed guests. Our largest boat carries a maximum of 24 passengers. When bookings exceed the capacity of one boat, additional boats are used so each group remains within the capacity of its assigned boat.
No. Flights and Teking Tours are booked separately. Book your Air Rarotonga flights directly, then book your Teking Tour on our website. Booking separately gives you the freedom to choose the lagoon tour that best matches your style. Choose the first morning flight (approximately 8am departure/9am arrival) to Aitutaki and a late afternoon return (approximately 5pm departure), then we meet you at the airport and take care of the rest.
We strongly encourage booking well in advance. As a boutique operator, every booking has a boat, crew, fuel, and lunch allocated to it, and because we run smaller boats for a more personal experience, seats are limited and our tours often book full.
Online bookings close approximately 24 hours before each tour. Inside that window, last-minute space is first-come, first-served and only if seats remain. Last-minute availability is determined by our local team, so please contact them directly, the online team cannot assist with last-minute reservations. All ticketing is handled through the online booking system.
We do not operate on Cook Islands national holidays, and we recommend checking the Cook Islands public holiday schedule before booking. We try to block those days out on our website, but if you have any questions, please contact us prior to booking.
Christianity is an important part of Cook Islands culture, and Sunday is observed as a day of rest and church. In respect of this tradition, we do not operate tours on Sundays.
All tour prices are listed and charged in New Zealand Dollars (NZD). The price displayed is the final amount we charge and includes all credit card and payment processing fees. If your bank or card issuer applies currency conversion rates, foreign transaction fees, or other charges, those are assessed by your financial institution and are outside of our control. The amount shown at checkout is the amount we charge. No additional processing fees are added by us.
Unfortunately, no. Online bookings require a minimum of at least 24 hours notice to accommodate booking from different time zones and allow time for coordination with our local operations team. If your tour date is within the next day and the booking is locked out, please contact our local team directly to check availability and options: on WhatsApp at +682 54 300, or via email: tekingcruise@gmail.com
Cancellations & Weather
Safety is always our top priority. While we cannot control the weather, we will not operate tours in unsafe conditions. Whenever possible, we do our best to adjust or shift reservations if weather is expected to impact your tour. If you will be on Aitutaki for several days, please give us your accommodation details when booking, as this helps us make adjustments if needed.
Fortunately, weather-related cancellations are relatively uncommon. While a forecast may show rain in the area, conditions can be very different out on the lagoon, and it may be sunny where our tour is operating. Our experienced local team has been navigating these waters for decades and continuously monitors conditions. Safety always comes first, but we also adjust the tour whenever possible to make sure our guests have the best and most enjoyable experience possible.
Yes and no, and the difference matters. If the weather makes it unsafe to go out on the lagoon, we try and move your booking to a different date. We will contact you to rebook onto another date we have available during your stay. This is why our booking form asks for your travel dates and accommodation, so we can reschedule you quickly when conditions force a change. If we have no open date that works before you leave, our weather refund applies and you receive a full refund.
We cannot change your date because you would prefer a different day. As a boutique operator, every booking has a boat, crew, fuel, and lunch allocated to it, so a preference change leaves those committed resources idle and a seat another guest could have taken. We do look at genuine situations individually, such as illness or a travel disruption, but given the volume of tours we run, we cannot offer date changes on request.
The short answer: if our local team needs to cancel a tour due to weather, we will work with you to reschedule for another available date during your stay. However, we are unable to move bookings simply in hopes of getting a “better day,” as doing so can disrupt boat and crew planning, leave reserved capacity unused, and affect the overall flow of our tours.
Fortunately, weather-related cancellations are relatively uncommon. While a forecast may show rain in the area, conditions can be very different out on the lagoon, and it may be sunny where our tour is operating. Our experienced local team has been navigating these waters for decades and continuously monitors conditions. Safety always comes first, but we also adjust the tour whenever possible to make sure our guests have the best and most enjoyable experience possible.
We understand travel plans can change, and we aim to be clear and fair when they do. All cancellations are eligible for a full booking credit valid up to 365 days from the original tour date. Refunds work as follows. If we cancel your tour due to weather, you receive a 100 percent refund. If you cancel three or more calendar days before your tour, you receive a 90 percent refund, with the remaining 10 percent covering non-recoverable costs such as payment processing, currency conversion, and banking charges. Cancellations made less than three calendar days before the tour are non-refundable, as vessels, crew, fuel, and logistics are already committed, though we review illness cases individually. Please tell us as soon as possible if your plans change. See our Terms and Conditions page for full details.
Choosing Your Tour
Then you may actually find our tour is a great fit!
Yes, snorkelling is a signature part of our experience, but there’s so much more to the day. We visit beautiful motu, explore remote parts of the lagoon, swim in crystal-clear water, walk along stunning sandbars, and spend time enjoying our private island.
You can participate in as much or as little snorkelling as you like.
That said, our Group Snorkelling Tour is an active lagoon adventure, not simply a leisurely boat cruise. We want you to get out, explore, and experience this extraordinary place.
If you’re looking for a more relaxed day where you decide exactly where to go, how long to stay, and which activities to enjoy, our Private Charters may be a better choice. You’ll have your own captain and boat, allowing you to shape the day around your preferences, subject to lagoon conditions and our coordinated island lunch.
We have a planned itinerary, but we don’t operate on a rigid minute-by-minute schedule.
Our captains have spent decades exploring Aitutaki Lagoon. They know the reef systems, tides, currents, and best places to visit. We use that experience to organize each day around the conditions and the group.
We also operate smaller-group tours, which means we try to balance everyone’s experience. Some guests want a little more time at certain stops, while others are ready to move on. We do our best to accommodate everyone while keeping the day moving so that no one misses out on the other incredible places we’re visiting. We don’t, however, allow any person or group to slow down the rest of the tour. If you want to plan your own day on the lagoon, feel free with our private charters!
Our goal is simple. Give everyone a wonderful day exploring the lagoon without feeling rushed, while making sure there’s time to experience everything that makes our tour special.
It’s a bit of everything, and that’s what makes our tour special!
While snorkelling is one of the highlights, we certainly don’t spend the entire day underwater. Our tour includes three incredible snorkelling locations, each typically lasting around 20-30 minutes. That means approximately 60-90 minutes of your day is devoted to snorkelling.
The rest of the experience includes cruising across Aitutaki’s spectacular lagoon, visiting four motu (small islands), swimming, exploring beautiful beaches and sandbars, and enjoying our famous “BBQ and More!” lunch on our private island.
We want our guests to experience the best of Aitutaki, both above and below the water. After all, there’s far too much beauty here to spend the entire day doing just one thing!
We see sea turtles regularly on our lagoon tours, and they’re always a wonderful sight when we encounter them!
That said, turtles are wild animals, so sightings are never something we can predict or guarantee. November is just outside the main turtle nesting and hatching season, but our captains know the lagoon extremely well. If they’ve spotted turtles recently or know of an area where they’re likely to be, they’ll certainly do their best to give guests an opportunity to see them when our tour schedule allows.
Our tours focus on some of Aitutaki’s most spectacular snorkeling locations, including beautiful spots that make our experience truly unique. While turtle spotting isn’t a dedicated part of our itinerary, we do encounter them regularly.
If seeing turtles is an absolute must for you, we’d recommend booking a dedicated turtle-watching experience in addition to our tour. Those operators often go out early in the morning or later in the afternoon, when conditions can be more favorable for sightings.
We’d love to have you join us, and hopefully we’ll have a turtle or two make an appearance!
Honest answer: it depends on how sensitive you are, and we would rather you choose carefully than have a difficult day.
The good news is that Aitutaki’s lagoon sits inside a barrier reef, so you are never out in open ocean swell. There is none of the long, rolling motion that makes people unwell on a deep-water crossing. Most guests, including plenty who describe themselves as prone to seasickness, are completely fine.
What we will not tell you is that it is always glassy. Aitutaki has steady south-east trade winds for much of the year, and across a lagoon this large they build a short surface chop. We run smaller boats, which is what lets us reach the reef systems and quieter motu the bigger vessels cannot get to, but it also means you feel that chop more than you would on a large cruise-style boat. On a breezy day there is real movement.
So: if you get a little queasy occasionally, you will very likely be fine, and the usual precautions below help. If you are genuinely, strongly affected by motion, please look at the photos of our boats in the gallery before you book, and consider whether a larger vessel would suit you better. Several operators on Aitutaki run bigger boats, and there is no hard feeling from us in pointing that out. We would much rather you had a wonderful day on someone else’s boat than a wretched one on ours.
Yes. Light tackle fishing can be incorporated into your private charter.
Our private charters are designed to give you the flexibility to tailor the day around what you would most like to experience. If you would like to spend some time fishing, swimming, snorkeling, exploring the lagoon, or simply relaxing, speak with your captain and they will help shape the day around your group.
The only scheduled part of the charter is our shared island lunch, which is enjoyed together with guests from our private charters and group tours.
Outside of lunch, the day is yours. Our captain will work with you to create the Aitutaki lagoon experience you are looking for.
We have three private charter sizes: small, medium, and large. Small is a 6-metre boat for 2 adults + 2 children maximum, medium is 10 metres for up to 8 people, and large is 12 metres for up to 10 people.
No. Whale watching and whale swimming are not included with our lagoon tours or private charters.
Aitutaki’s lagoon tours are designed around the protected, reef-sheltered lagoon, including snorkelling, motu visits, lunch, and time on the water inside the reef. Whale encounters are a very different type of activity. Humpback whales may be seen around Aitutaki during whale season, but whale watching and whale swimming require leaving the lagoon, crossing the reef, and operating in open-ocean conditions.
Because whales are wild, seasonal, and outside the normal lagoon tour area, it is not practical or appropriate for us to add whale watching or whale swimming to a Teking lagoon tour or charter. It would change the timing, route, safety planning, boat requirements, and overall experience of the day.
If swimming with whales is a priority for your visit, we recommend booking a dedicated whale watching or whale swimming operator separately during whale season.
The sunset cruise is an approximately 2 hour tour that mainly visits Honeymoon Island, and we can also take you to One Foot Island. We stay flexible where we can, but this tour is not designed for snorkelling or for covering much of the lagoon. You may swim if you wish.
We offer only our approximately 6-hour full-day snorkelling tour, designed to give you the most immersive experience on the lagoon. All available tours are listed with detailed descriptions on our website.
For more flexibility, we also offer private charters, though a charter is still booked by the day. We run a single boat in each size (small, medium, and large), so when you book a charter you have that boat for the whole day and set your own timing on the water. Pickups, drop-offs, and lunch are still coordinated as a group, which keeps the day running smoothly and our private island sustainable.
As a boutique tour company, we keep our groups small for a more personal and enjoyable experience on the lagoon. While boat sizes vary depending on availability, our boats carry a maximum of 24 guests. This is how we maintain the intimate atmosphere we are known for. We use multiple and different boats depending on the number of bookings for the day.
Our Signature Aitutaki Lagoon Snorkelling Tour visits three different snorkelling spots, which are uniquely our own and carefully chosen. You will see the fish feeding and giant clam areas, and stops at Honeymoon Island, One Foot Island (do not forget your passport for a stamp), and our private island, Maina, where we have our famous “BBQ and More” lunch. We also cruise through Rapota and Akaimi, covering approximately 75 percent of the lagoon.
Group Snorkelling Tour (previously known as our Snorkelling Safari): our signature tour, a small-boat experience with a maximum of 24 guests. We keep groups small and intimate for the best time on the lagoon, which means less waiting, more personal attention, and better snorkelling. It is a full day with guided snorkel stops, motu visits including One Foot Island and Honeymoon Island, and a “BBQ and More” lunch on our private island, Maina.
Private Charter: your own boat and captain for the day, with the itinerary and your timing on the water set by you. You choose where to go and how to spend your time on the lagoon. Pickups, drop-offs, and lunch are coordinated as a group, but the boat and the day are yours.
Sunset Tour: a private, roughly two-hour evening cruise across the lagoon to Honeymoon Island, designed for couples, honeymoons, and anniversaries. Just the two of you, with optional room for up to two children, your own captain and boat, a bottle of NZ champagne, and the lagoon turning from brilliant blue to soft gold at golden hour. There is no snorkelling itinerary on this one. It is about a slow, private, romantic evening on the water rather than covering the lagoon.
See each tour page on our website for full inclusions and current pricing.
Getting There & On the Day
Our boats do not have onboard restrooms. As a boutique tour company specializing in small-group experiences, we use smaller vessels without bathroom facilities. On our private island we provide simple facilities. We kindly ask that gentlemen make use of nature where possible.
Unfortunately, we do not have space on the tour to take luggage with you. We would ask you to contact your accommodation whether they offer luggage storage. Most accommodations will pick that up for you, so please inquire directly with them.
If you arrive on the first flight into Aitutaki, we will pick you up at the airport. That flight departs Rarotonga around 8 AM and arrives in Aitutaki around 9 AM. Departures are around 4:30 to 5 PM, and our tour schedule allows ample time to return you to the airport. You may also take the later flight, but you will be at the airport for quite some time. We recommend guests take the late afternoon flight around 4:30 PM / 5 PM.
Yes. All tours and private charters include round-trip transportation anywhere on Aitutaki, including airport transfers, accommodations, and all other locations on the island. You do not need a vehicle, we come to your accommodation or pick you up at the airport. Our local team will reach out after booking with the time and exact location of the transport driver.
Cruise Ship Guest Information
Yes. Getting cruise guests back to the pier in good time is the first thing we plan around, not the last. Our cruise day is built to fit inside the window between the ship’s arrival and its departure, which is why the start time shifts later and the day runs to the ship’s schedule rather than our standard one. If you let us know your sailing time when you book, we will factor it in.
You have not missed the tour. Guests come ashore in tenders across the morning and nobody gets to choose which one they are on, which is exactly why our cruise day start moves to approximately 10 AM. We wait. If you are on a middle or later tender, your place is still yours and we will be at the pier looking for you. There is no need to rush or try to push onto an earlier tender.
We meet you right at the pier where you dock, and our team will be wearing Teking shirts so we are easy to spot. On major cruise ship days we shift the tour start to approximately 10 AM, later than our usual 9 AM start, so that everyone coming ashore has time to disembark and reach us without rushing. All of our tours include transfers, so you are in good hands from the moment you arrive. Cruise days are among our busiest of the year and many of our guests join us straight from the ship, so this is very familiar ground for us.
Snorkelling, Swimming & Safety
Absolutely not! Snorkelling is entirely optional.
We visit three unique snorkelling locations, carefully selected by our team over decades of exploring Aitutaki Lagoon. Each stop generally lasts around 20-30 minutes, depending on conditions and the group.
Some guests participate in all three, others enjoy just one or two, and some choose not to snorkel at all. You’re welcome to remain on the boat and enjoy the scenery while others explore beneath the surface.
There’s no pressure to participate. We simply want you to enjoy Aitutaki in whatever way makes you happiest.
Absolutely. Guests who are deaf or hard of hearing are welcome on our tours. Please let us know when you book, or remind our crew when you arrive, so we can ensure the safety briefing is clearly understood before we depart.
If hearing devices such as cochlear implants or hearing aids need to be removed before entering the water, our crew will use clear visual communication and hand signals while snorkelling. We also recommend travelling with a companion if you normally rely on one for communication.
As with all guests, participation is subject to our standard safety assessment, including the day’s weather and sea conditions.
Yes, absolutely. We highly recommend sunblock as we care about your health and safety. Yes, our boats have shade. See our gallery page to see photos of the boats we use.
Yes. We provide life jackets and strongly recommend wearing them for safety. We also carry a limited number of pool noodles for supplemental flotation.
This comes up often. While you get the most out of the snorkelling as a strong swimmer, it is not essential to having an amazing time on the lagoon. There is a sandbar where you can stand in a few inches of water, enjoy a drink in the middle of the ocean, and take in the scenery. The crew assist you every step of the way and will gently encourage you to try things, only when it is safe. Safety is the crew’s top concern. You can absolutely have a wonderful day on the lagoon even if you are not a confident swimmer.
Mask, snorkel, and fins are all provided free for use during the tour. You are welcome to bring your own gear if you prefer.
Food & Drinks
Our BBQ lunch offers a variety of options, though the menu changes depending on what is available in Aitutaki, so specific items are not guaranteed. While we do our best to feature fresh local fish, the meal may instead include chicken or pork. You can always expect homemade salads and fresh fruit. If you have dietary restrictions, food allergies, or strong preferences, you are very welcome to bring your own food or snacks.
Water is provided complimentary, and a limited selection of beer is available for purchase. (please bring small $NZD bills, thank you!)