Cook Islands bar named one of top three in world
 |
Shipwreck Hut, a popular beachside bar on Rarotonga’s beautiful Betela Beach, has been named one of the top three beach bars in the world in a recent article by CNN. |  |
Owned by Jim Bruce from Hawaii and his New Zealand partner Jan, the beach bar is one of the fifty named in the article. Shipwreck Hut was placed third behind Baba Nest in Phuket, Thailand and Dune Preserve Beach Bar in Anguilla, British West Indies.
The bar’s combination of swinging beachfront hammocks, delicious cocktails served in Best Foods mayonnaise jars (including Jim’s famous Opu Ra Magic cocktail), seafood barbeques and spectacular sunsets, has captured the heart of many visitors to the Cook Islands, 75% of them Kiwis.
Jim Bruce visited the Cook Islands for the first time in 1989 and returned 10 years later to open his bar and accommodation, The Aro’a Beachside Inn, comprising 12 units on the beach front. Weekly entertainment includes New Zealander Garth Young on piano and Jake Numanga on ukulele (recently named the most outstanding contributor to tourism at the 2011 Air NZ Cook Islands Tourism Awards.)
