Day 13, April 15, 2015
… Sun rise at 8:34. Easter Island, known locally as Rapa Nui. A somewhat frustrating morning! The ship anchored off the west shore, with
tenders to start delivering guests to shore by 9 a.m.; but because of rough sw seas,
she pulled up anchor and sailed to the north side of the island to tender into
a more sheltered bay ... and one of the only two beaches on the island. That meant everything started an hour late.
But the waves proved to be challenging here also because people had to exit
from the moving tender onto a moving platform before going ashore, which was
proving to be very difficult for many, especially the elderly. Finally they eased that issue a bit by
permanently docking a tender at the landing point, so guests now exited from
one tender onto another tender,then onto the
ramp and finally to shore. All in
all it was about 1 o’clock before we set foot on Easter Island!! After an hour of negotiating and obtaining a
vehicle for the six of us, we were finally on our way to explore the island!
Easter Island is about 64 square miles half way between
Chili and Tahiti and is considered the world’s most isolated inhabited island. The
original settlers were most likely Polynesian. It was discovered by a Dutch
explorer on Easter Sunday in 1722 and was annexed by Chili in the late 19th
century. Today the Chilean government
requires most residents to live in the only town of Hanga Roa; the rest of the
island designated National Park or archaeological sites.
Easter island was formed from three large volcanoes
strategically located around the island, and one notices the many black volcanic
rocks throughout the very green, hilly landscape and along the shores. All
around the island we marveled at the large gorgeous blue ocean waves racing
toward the shores, then crashing into the black rocky shoreline creating huge
white sprays which then settled back down into the waters. Totally mesmerizing.
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| The rocky shores of Easter Island |
Of course, Easter Island is best known for its moai, those
large statues with heads 3/5 larger than the bodies, made from compressed
volcanic ash, basalt, trachyte or red scoria rock. Some were placed on ceremonial
platforms called ahu. Some moai have arms, hands and fingers; only one small
one has legs. They can be as tall as 33 feet and weigh up to 82 tons. It is
believed they were created to honor religious leaders who had died.
Interestingly, the moai face interior toward what would have been villages to
watch over them; and they are mostly located along the coasts. An estimated 900 moai were carved between 1250
AD and 1500 AD, that practice ending when the victors in a civil war instituted
a Bird Man cult, destroying many of the moai at that time. Today there are
extensive archeological diggings taking place in ancient villages, to discover
and restore moai and to uncover Bird Man stone carvings.
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Moai
Easter Island |
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Tonanki
Easter Island |
We drove around the island, stopping at several ahu and moai
or to simply watch the waves slamming into the black rocks. The most
magnificent collection of moai was Tonariki where 15 moai were lined up near
the south shore, all facing inward, all very close together on a single ahu, with
different sizes and different facial expressions. Another awesome site was Rano Raraku, where almost
400 moai are scattered along the side of the volcano in various stages of
construction (or destruction). This is
near the quarry where the moai were carved. We could have spent a lot more time at this
site walking and exploring the volcano itself, but time and energy dictated we
continue onward! . Another surprising
site for us was the many, many horses all around the island, most of them right
along side the road.
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Rano Karaku
Easster Island |
After driving into Hanga Roa, we stopped for a cervesa and
some quick shopping, then headed back to the pier and back to the ship. While the day was much shorter than
originally planned, it was fascinating, interesting, surprising and impressive. And all of us were in awe of the fact that
“we are actually on Easter Island”!!!
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Horses on Easter Island
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Drinks in Hanga Roa
Easter Island
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Day 14, April 16, 2015
… The ship remains anchored off the shores of Easter Island, but we did not go
ashore today. To shop in town would have
required a substantial taxi fare, and it was too cloudy for swimming. Skip and Cheryl went down to the tender to
swim on the beach, but the waves were rolling so high, people had a challenging
time getting on and off the tenders … they turned around and went up to the
ship’s spa instead! Actually, it was
great entertainment all day watching the tenders struggling against the waves
to manipulate themselves close to the ship for loading and unloading. You could
hear people cheering as they actually made it aboard! Perhaps we should have gone ashore just for
that adventure alone!
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People on Easter Island waiting for tenders to
return to the ship |
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Tenders manuevering for guests to leave and come back
to the ship |
So it was a relaxing day reading in the lounge chairs on the
pool deckose while sipping a tasty malt, lunch at the Waves Grill, trivia and a
very dry Grey Goose vodka martinis (with 3 olives … I’m learning, Cheryl!!) happy
hour, then a lovely dinner with Steve and Barb in the Grand Dining room. Skip
and Cheryl had a romantic dining experience at the Red Ginger. We attended the evening’s show, which was a
performance by an entertaining young lady from Ireland, E. Sarah Carter, who played the violin … so many hearty laughs
and lively music. She was very good … so
much fun! The ship has now set sail for Lima,
Peru … four days of sailing without sight of land! The weather has been perfect
… can it get any better?? !!
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