Rapa Nui is 2237 miles from mainland Chile, four days at sea!
Easter Island got its name from the first European to find it, which he did on Easter Day. Being the imaginative white man that he was, Rapa Nui became Easter Island. Actually, Rapa Nui is the Polynesian name for the island. Its original inhabitants called it Te Pito ‘o te Henua or Center of the Earth.
Our scheduled anchorage was to the west of the only town, Hanga Roa. Unfortunately, there were 6 to 10 foot swells coming from a storm somewhere to the south. Janice and I were out early as the crew was opening the landing platforms and preparing the life boats/tenders. We noticed that the platform was dipping into the sea and figured that we would never use it in that condition. The Captain soon announced that it was indeed too rough. But, being the great captain that he is, he worked with the port agent and found another place where we might be able to tender into. He sailed us North, around to the northwestern volcano, and a bit to the East to beautiful sandy beach at Anakena Cove. It’s about half-way to the northeastern volcano, and has a small pier. Rapa Nui is a tringular island with an extinct volcano in each corner.
The seamen dragged out a floating platform, tied it to the pier, then tied one of the tenders to the platform and started tendering us in.
The excursion originally planned for 8:30 AM finally left the ship at noon. Even though the tenders were running, the captain still advised anyone with mobility issues to not attempt the landing. Because of that advice, John decided to stay on board.
An interesting fact about modern Rapa Nui, is that since it is part of Chile (they claimed it in 1888) they keep it in the same time zone. That means that the sun set after 9 PM. Since he got the tenders running late, the captain extended our stay from 5:30 to 9 PM, so everyone could go on their excursions and we still sailed away before dark.
As it turns out, the beach we were tendered to was a royal beach in the Moai period and had a very good example of Ahus (the base, said to be burial mounds) and Moais (big stone statues of ancestors). Apparently the Ahus had gotten buried by the sand and preserved until recent time.
Once on our tour, our guide did a good job of simplifying Rapa Nui pre-history: the first period, ~400-800 CE the original people arrived. The second period was the Moai building period, an expression of their ancestor worship. The third period was a period of great unrest when all the Moai were toppled. The final period before Europeans arrived was the era of the Birdman cult.
Our excursion started with a drive in one 20-passenger and one 10-passenger van from our landing in the northern part of the island to Rano Koa, the extinct volcano at the southern tip of the island. Originally, the lake in the crater was the only source of fresh water on the island. On the southern slope, toward the ocean, we toured the ruins of Orongo, the ceremonial village of the Birdman cult. The housing was constructed of flagstone and the doorways we only about two feet high. They were used for only two to three weeks in the early Spring, and only by the men. The first man to scale the cliff, swim to the largest of three small islands, and return with an (intact) egg of a turn would be the ruler for the next year. Given the steep and rocky cliff, the fierce currents, and the sharks, it was no small feat! But the view of the islets from the top of the cliff was specular.
Our excursion continued back down the volcano, past the airport—there is one flight from/to Santiago every other day—and through town to a partially reconstructed village to see a stone chicken coop, stone house, and several Moais on Ahus. Remember, any standing Moai is reconstructed. At the beginning of the 20-30 minute ride back to the tenders, our van blew a tire. Fortunately, they had an extra van traveling in our group so we didn’t have to wait long.
Back at Anakena Cove, Janice and I wandered down to the beach and waded in the water. It was very refreshing. Then we walked up the sandy hill behind the beach and inspected the Moais there. Unfortunately for our pictures, all Moais face inland toward the village they ae protecting, and we only saw Moais on the western coast in the afternoon. So all our Moai pictures are back-lit.
We returned to the ship after the start of our regular dinner, so we ate in the Lido. They have the same food as the dining hall but in a much more casual, largely self-service environment.
Entertainment: Johnny O who played an Electronic Wind Instrument (EWI). He was different, but we weren’t captivated by his instrument.
A few tunes from Diane and to bed, tired after a long, hot, dusty day.
Clocks set back one hour. We’ll need to do that several nights in a row to catch up, since Rapa Nui is kept in the same time zone as Santiago, Chile.