A barge carrying machinery and workers to repair Pukapuka's rundown airport is scheduled to leave the Cook Islands main island, Rarotonga, this weekend.
No planes can land on the island until the runway, which has been deemed unsafe by Air Rarotonga, has been repaired.
The Cook Islands News reports that a group of teachers trying to reach Pukapuka, who have already missed the start of the school year, will be keenly watching the barge's progress.
The new principal, two new teachers and the returning tertiary programme co-ordinator have been stranded in Rarotonga waiting for the runway to be fixed.
Yitiri Akama, a technician from the Ministry of Infrastructure and Planning, says the barge will be carrying heavy machinery, a grader, and five workers to the northern island.
He says the journey will take about six days and the repair work about a month.
