Exploring the Cook Islands cave diving treasure

David Goldie and Paul Tobin, two cave divers from Australia, who had explored a number of caves in the Cook Islands in 1998.  

It had my immediate interest as I had lived in the Cook Islands in the 1990s and now devote my spare time to cave diving exploration.

Exploring the dream

I contacted David Goldie and he passed on what information he still had about the caves there. I was primarily interested in whether there would be enough new cave potential to warrant an exploration expedition. David’s description of the cave systems and my own experiences in these islands indicated there could be unexplored caves to be found: a cave diver’s dream!
With this in mind I made three solo exploration trips in 2016 to two different islands in the Southern Cook Islands where low lying coral islands are riddled with cave systems, some small, some large.

They provided some fantastic diving, equal to anything I had experienced in Mexico, New Zealand and Australia, albeit with some serious logistical issues to overcome.

" …Fantastic diving, equal to anything I had experienced
in Mexico, New Zealand and
Australia, albeit with some
serious logistical issues to
overcome…"

The islands are remote with tiny populations - less than 400 people per island - no dive shops, compressors, gear…
But I was very lucky to have the support of the local airline, Air Rarotonga, which flew my portable compressor, cylinders and gear out and back for free when they had space available on their cargo flights.

The solo trips convinced me there could be an opportunity to develop cave diving tourism here in the future, with an obvious economic benefit to these tiny communities.

The proposal

Armed with video footage I had taken on my two trips, I put together a proposal for the Cook Islands Tourism Board to joint fund an expedition to explore the potential of these islands as a cave diving destination. It was accepted and I began planning the expedition.

Gathering up the team

First I called together the cave diving team I am part of, the “Karst Monkeys,” which consists of very experienced Australian cave divers and myself, the token Kiwi. Primarily we have been exploring the Nullarbor caves of Western Australia and specialise in using sidemount rebreathers to explore caves with very long and restricted passages.
Three fellow team members jumped at the opportunity; Paul Hosie, Grant Pearce and Rod O’Brien. Between them they have logged 6000 cave dives, and they offered other highly relevant skills; Grant is a geologist, Paul is experienced in collecting and identifying cave adapted creatures, and Rod is a commercial diver.

Getting there

After several months planning and organising we arrived in Rarotonga in April last year. Two days later we were on a charter flight out to our first island, Ma’uke. Our plan involved spending one week on each of three islands I had identified with potential.
Accompanying us were two fellow divers, Franz Ombler and John McMullan, who also jumped at the opportunity to dive and holiday in these remote places, and they were to spend the first week with us, self- funded.

"most impressive speleothem formations I have seen, and
also a huge chamber of 40 to 65
metres depth…"

The first day on each island was to meet the local island council and community to explain what we were trying to achieve, and to ensure we adhered to cultural protocols. As I had already spent time living in the Cook Islands and visiting these islands we were welcomed without reservation and given unrestricted access to all caves, with guides along to accompany us at certain sacred sites. Franz’s knowledge of Te Reo Maori was also a great asset when preparing presentations for local communities.

Grading, surveying, guide-lines and markers

The exploration was extremely hard work but very satisfying. We graded all the cave systems on their suitability for potential cave diving tourism, and we surveyed and installed permanent guidelines and markers in suitable caves.
Some incredible caves were graded as not suitable due to safety concerns, remoteness or access problems.

Some diving highlights included Vai Tango cave on Ma’uke Island which we dived to a depth of 86 metres utilising Trimix gas and rebreathers.

Vai Tango has some of the most impressive speleothem formations I have seen, and also a huge chamber from 40 metres to 65 metres depth.

Vai Nauri cave on Mitiaro Island was spectacular. There we explored, mapped and installed guidelines in over 1200 metres of passage, and identified a species of shrimp not previously known to exist in the Cook Islands.

A highlight was the friendliness of the local communities and their interest in what we were doing. We established lifelong friendships there, assuring them of our dedication to cave conservation and safety. An aim of the project was to impress upon the local communities the need to conserve these under water environments, and to prevent unqualified divers from access.

" …Vai Nauri cave on Mitiaro Island was spectacular.  There
we explored, mapped and
installed guidelines in over
1200 metres of passage…"

Going back for more

The three weeks on the three islands flew by and despite 16 hour days we only got to about half the potential sites on each island.
By the time we returned to Rarotonga we were confident there was indeed potential for cave diving tourism though more sites needed to be identified to make visiting the islands worthwhile. So another trip was organised for September 2017 to complete the exploration work and take some high quality photos and video.

Paul Hosie and myself returned along with three of the Wet Mules cave diving team, Craig Challen, Richard Harris and Ken Smith. The Wet Mules are best known for their exploration efforts in the Pearce Resurgence near Nelson.

Together we finished exploring and assessing remaining cave sites.

Showcase

The accompanying photos on these pages showcase some of what we found, and we are returning in September this year to explore another island for further potential sites.
We hope supported cave diving expeditions will become available in the near future so suitably qualified cave divers can experience these beautiful places, and the wonderful culture of the Cook Islands.

I would like to thank the Cook Islands Tourism Board, Air Rarotonga and the people of the Cook Islands for their assistance with this ongoing project.