Dogs On The Beach Part 2: All Dogs Go To Muri Beach

This post is dedicated to all The Garner Family dogs that have passed away:

Phantom, Brodie, Winston, Gus, Titan, and Jackson

We miss you guys!

It’s Monday, and everyone is out of school enjoying spring break! I’m sitting at home with Grizzabella and Dasher, a cup of coffee, and my laptop looking outside at a drizzly cold day. While it’s actually kind of cozy, I still can’t help but reflect on spring break one year ago. A year ago today my husband and I were enjoying ourselves in The Cook Islands. We were celebrating our first year anniversary, so we wanted to go somewhere special. Oh my goodness, somewhere special it was.

The Cook Islands are unbelievable!

Located in the South Pacific between New Zealand and Fiji, I feel they are the best-kept secret in all of Polynesia.  If you wonder what Hawaii was like 50 or 60 years ago, visit The Cook Islands.  Remote, quiet, not over commercialized or crowded, and known worldwide for their kindness and hospitality. We stayed on two islands- Rarotonga and Aitutaki. Both beautiful islands surrounded by lagoons. We filled our days with snorkeling, paddle boarding…you name it!  However, Rarotonga had one unique surprise I was not expecting!

Dogs!

Dogs on the beaches!

Dogs running around the bungalows!

Dogs in the lagoon…Dogs everywhere!!

When we first arrived it was a quiet Sunday morning. With most of the locals attending church, everything was closed. So after we checked into our bungalow on Muri Beach we took a nice leisurely walk along the water.

Immediately we saw five dogs barking, running in the lagoon, catching fish and having the time of their lives!

I didn’t know if they belonged to anyone. They had collars but no tags. ( We later learned that locals put collars on the strays so the local animal control will leave them alone. )

When the dogs saw us they preceded to follow us the whole way up the beach and back. Pretty soon, we noticed wherever we went, dogs would appear-and they didn’t look starved or unhappy.

In fact, it looked like they kind of had it made!  Scraps from tourists all day long? Warm sunny beach at their disposal? Fish to catch? Birds to chase? Sunshine?

I decided we must have entered into another realm-dog heaven!  You know the saying, “all dogs go to heaven?”  I agree with that. I just think that the heaven they go to is Muri Beach in The Cook Islands.  After three days on that island, we fell in love with more than a few of those pups.

This guy followed me everywhere I went on day 1. He accompanied me to the village, the cafes, and hung out with us at the beach. He was a slower, older boy. We called him The Old Sea Captain.

This little puppy we found running around the beach with his mama. He seemed really hungry. It was our last night and we were out of food, so all we could give was some leftover milk. However, after we gave him the milk, they didn’t leave our porch and ended up sleeping outside our room all night. We really wanted to take this sweetheart home!! But the next morning we caught him following a couple from San Diego-why?  They were giving him pizza scraps!

lol…..  We decided he was gonna do alright!!

Muri Beach made me think about my own family dogs who have passed away.  I’ve always wondered where they are now, and what heaven is like for them. Watching the Muri Beach dogs, I pictured my own boys running in the water, bumming tourists for treats, and sleeping under the stars by a palm tree in the warm sand.

I like to think heaven for them is Muri Beach.

At least… I sure hope it is!