We hopped on a tiny 10 seater airplane yesterday in stormy weather, and headed to the island of Aitu. Aitu, population 438, is the only island in the Cook Island chain that is still rising from the sea. Of course the process of rising takes hundreds of thousands of years, but the jagged island is made of ancient coral reef that is pushed up 120 feet into the air.
 
If flying in, and landing on that 'runway' wasn't hairy enough, we decided to go caving after checking into the very beatiful Atiu Villas. Roger, a PhD. Kiwi, moved here 30 years ago and has build a very nice complex here of eight bungalows; all made from native woods like hibiscus, maghogany, and mango. It's paradise here. Really, we found paradise.
 
Anyway, back to the excitement. It was raining when we got here, so caving is the perfect activity, as it's not raining underground.  The trip is not for small children, but we vouched that Breegan would be OK with it, so off we went. Marshall, another Kiwi, came to pick us up and took us for  short walk through the jungle, clamoring up jagged coral reef rocks. We finally arrived at a huge overgrown banyan tree, with tall spaghetti roots danging straight down into a massive dark hole. We were going down that? Where are the ropes and safety equipment? Marshall told Brian he should shimmy down first, so Breegan could see that it was OK. Looking aprehensive, Brian went down into the dark, wet depths of the mystery hole. I handed Breegan down to him, and then next I went. It's a good thing Marshall scoots you down quickly, as you don't have time to really think about what you're doing.
 
CLICK HERE TO SEE TODAY'S PICTURES - Planes, Bones & Isolation!!
 
At the bottom, Marshall takes his flashlight and shines it on a pile a human skeletal remains. Then he flashes to another pile, and another, and as far as my eye could see in the compressed narrow cave, bones had been piled off to the sides, or even tucked away in small crevices. Although the locals don't even know exactly whose bones these are, they believe this was used as a burial ground pre-Missionary days.  Bodies used to be laid out to rot in town, out in the open, and then when the body was reduced to just bones, the family members would ferret them away deep in these dark and dangerous caves. Interestingly enough, the place where they used to place the bodies to rot, is now where the Doctor's house is located. Hmm.
 
I have loads of pictures, but I'm afraid I'll have to wait until Saturday (maybe sooner) before I can load some up.
At first, Breegan was nervous, but the little girl kept her cool. This was not a cave for claustrophobics. The ceiling was low, and at times we had to crawl in the wet mud to squeeze through crevices. We each had headlamps on, so we had some way to light our limited path. Finally, seeing so many human remains desensitized us, and Breegan was posing in front of the smiling (partially bashed in from battle) skulls.
This was an excellent tour, and we actually just finished another AWESOME unique caving tour, but that will have to wait. Only a handful of people here run (personal) tours here, and it's relatively unknown as a destination. I think there will be nine tourist on the island today. Crazy, adventure seekers (like us), Germans (they travel more than another other country I know of), and this is a hot spot for paleontologist and wildlife experts. The BBC is coming soon to firm a rare 'clicking' cave bird that we just saw.
Ok, I have so much more, but I'm running on battery power. I have to boost my power source and then plug in. Power here is by generator, and is very uneven, so we don't feel comfortable plugging the laptop in directly.
Thank you to everyone for the birthday wishes, and super thank you to those who emailed and posted that they are contributing to the dog collar or library book effort.
Until later this evening! Kura is cooking us all fish tonight here at the open air eating area. Tomorrow we hope to go visit a German couple who is growing amazing Atiu coffee.
 It is beautiful here!!!