Remote, Rugged Rapa Nui

Land ahoy! It was with great excitement that we woke up this morning at 7.30 to see land! But not any old land – this was Easter Island. Yes! Easter Island! Or to give it its native name, Rapa Nui. 🙂

We had been trying since 2020 to visit Easter Island to no avail. No less than four trips here had been cancelled for various reasons, from Covid to no flights being available. Now, we were finally here! I was beyond excited. 🙂

As it was not yet sunrise, we made our way hurriedly upstairs for our morning laps around the deck. We could see the rugged, mountainous landscape of the island, and we could hear the roar of the lively waves of the Pacific crashing on the rocks that surrounded it. The ocean looked quite choppy and we hoped that we would have no problem going across in the ship’s “liberty boats”, which we could see being lowered in preparation for the visit ashore.

Soon the first rays of the morning sun burst forth from the tops of the mountains, bathing everything in a gorgeous golden glow.

We continued our laps around the deck, stopping every now and again to watch with interest as one of the liberty boats set off for the shore, having to negotiate the rocks at the headland of the island. The boat was tossed around like a pea on a drum, and we hoped that the powers that be wouldn’t decide it was unsafe for us to go ashore, and cancel the whole thing (it has happened to us before, for example Porto Novo in the Cape Verde islands). 🙁

This boat didn’t have any passengers on board; apparently it was taking chairs and gazebos and other equipment ashore, as well as returning the Port Authority and customs staff who had boarded the Onward earlier to check everyone’s passports and other documentation.

There were three liberty boats in total, each capable of carrying 100 passengers. You had to collect a numbered tender ticket from guest relations, and then wait until your number was called before making your way down to the pontoon at Deck 3 to board. As we were on an organised tour at 12.30pm, we would not have time to leave the vessel and get back before then.

We watched with interest as the first tender was made fast; it took some doing in the choppy water. From our vantage point directly above, we watched as the ropes were lashed and re-lashed. As each passenger boarded, there were plenty of helping hands from the crew to ensure they could get across the gap safely. Off they went, bouncing up and down and rolling side to side on the waves, as the ‘driver’ travelled in a wide sweep around the headland around to avoid the rocks protruding from the surface of the ocean.

We then returned to 6030 where I retrieved my laptop and wrote up some of this blog. Every now and then, we could hear Emily, the cruise director, announce the numbers for the next lot of tender ticket holders.

At 11.15am, we decided it was time to have a beer by the pool deck. We enjoyed a cold pint of Heineken each as we watched the liberty boats making their way to and from the shore.

Once our drinks were finished, we collected our cruise cards, photo ID, currency and Entry into Chile forms and Trevor put then securely into the rucksack, to which we also added our cagoules, as the forecast was for intermittent showers. Then we made our way to the Cabaret Lounge to check in for our half-day tour. We were issued with a sticker advising us we were in Group 13. 🙂

A few minutes later, the announcement came for “all those in groups 13 and 14” to make their way to the tender pontoon on Deck 3, so we happily set off. We descended the metal stairway that led to the pontoon and watched as the boat bobbed around; sometimes it would be a good six inches above the pontoon and sometime the same distance below. In addition, the gap between the edge of the pontoon and the boat could be anything from nothing to about 15 inches.

When my turn came around, I had one crew member on each side of me, holding my arms and shouting “Now!” when I had to step (or rather jump) across. There were another couple of crew members in the boat to steady me. We were asked to sit down immediately; the boat was leaping and bucking under my feet as I held onto the seat back and pillars to make my way to a window seat.

Once all the passengers were loaded, we set off. We rocked and we rolled, rising up one large wave before plunging down the other side with an immense splash. The water came right up over the front window of the boat and through the hole at the top, soaking the driver and the passengers who were in the front seats. Soon I could feel cold water seeping into my sandals; there was a good inch or so of seawater sloshing around in the bottom of the boat, and Trevor hurriedly lifted the rucksack onto his lap. It was a real white-knuckle ride and, once we arrived at the landing stage and the liberty boat was made fast, our driver received a massive cheer and round of applause from his 100 passengers were getting us all there safely. 🙂

As we stepped over from the boat to land, we set foot on one of the most remote inhabited islands in the world – Rapa Nui. How amazing was this? 🙂

While the island is more commonly known as Easter Island, its native name is Rapa Nui. It was named when the first European, Dutchman Jacob Roggeveen, landed on this tiny dot in the Pacific ocean on Easter Sunday 1722, and he named the island after the occasion.

Our local guide (whose name I’ve unfortunately forgotten) was there to greet us and direct us towards bus number one. The buses were old and rickety and had no seat-belts, but would do the job. Once we were all aboard, we set off along the bumpy, unfinished roads towards our first stop.

The landscape of this rugged, rocky island was greener than I expected. There was lots of grass and trees and bushes, some of which had large pink, white or red flowers. No matter which direction you looked in, the blue coruscating Pacific ocean was never far away.

Soon our bus pulled up at a vantage point to allow us to get some great photos of the landscape, with the tiny airport below us, with one single aircraft awaiting its passengers. Despite the small airport, our guide advised us that the runway itself was four kilometres long! Apparently it had been built by the Americans as somewhere from which the space shuttle could be launched, although (thankfully) it was never used for that purpose.

I took lots of photos of the hilly landscape and the rocky shorelines, against which the lively Pacific waves crashed in a roar of sea spray. Frigate birds wheeled and swooped on the sub-tropical updraughts. We could smell damp earth and fresh salty air and another scent which was a little like dry wood – our guide said that Easter Island has its own unique smell. You could stand up here and feel as if you were the only person in the world. 🙂

Back on the bus we continued along the dirt roads on a gradual climb, enjoying the scenes beyond the window. Soon the coach pulled up again and we all alighted and followed our guide along a grassy trail until we came to the most phenomenal sight – a huge crater lake called Rano Kau. The crater was almost a perfect circle apart from a ‘bite’ out of it which gave onto the Pacific ocean. The sides of the crater were shades of green and yellow and on the water of the lake, far below, were a great many plants that looked like giant water lilies, which our guide told us were groups of totora reeds. These are the same types of reeds that make up the famous floating “reed islands” which we had seen on Lake Titicaca in Peru, on our visit there in 2014.

The huge crater itself was the top of an extinct volcano which was certainly a sight to behold; the wonders of Mother Nature never cease to amaze.

Near to the crater was a large piece of rock that had been fenced off. You could just see some faint outlines of carvings on the rock, and our guide told us the story of the Bird Men of Rapa Nui, and the tribal competitions that were held on the island. The Birdman competition, known as Tangata Manu, was a ritual held at the sacred site of Orongo. Each year, competitors representing different tribes attempted a dangerous challenge: they swam through treacherous waters to the nearby islet of Motu Nui to retrieve the first egg laid by the manutara (sooty tern). The first competitor to return the egg safely to Orongo secured great prestige for their clan, and their leader was declared the Birdman, holding political and religious power for the year.

As we walked along the designated trail towards Orongo ceremonial village, the guide pointed out the stone ‘houses’ in which the members of the tribe lived. The houses were made of flat stones and one small entrance on the ocean-facing side. In order to preserve these ancient structures we were not allowed to approach or to look into the buildings.

We continued on our trail, gazing at the ocean and the rugged coastline, just off which were several smaller rocky islands inhabited only by colonies of birds. As we paused to take a breath, the sky became dull and the heavens absolutely opened. The rain that came down was surprisingly cold against our skin. Before we had the chance to become soaked through, the rain stopped as suddenly as it had started, and the sun was soon peeking out from the large cumulonimbus clouds again. 🙂

We walked around to the other side of the Rano Kau crater to view it from a different perspective. It looked like a giant witch’s cauldron. We then had the chance to visit a very small museum and refreshments area; the museum gave us mote information about the fascinating legends of the Bird Men.

Back on the bus again, our guide told us that our next stop would be the reason most of us had come to Rapa Nui – to see the world-famous moai statues, those mysterious stone statues with the large heads and small bodies standing up to 30 feet high. No-one knows how or why the moai were built, but there are approximately 900 of them dotted around the island. Some of them have large cylindrical shapes on top of their heads, similar to hats. Only very few of them actually have distinctive eyes, and we were going to be lucky enough to see one.

Our bus wended its way around the dirt track which took us along the coastal route. We passed through a small town (probably the only town) which had small hotels and boarding houses, as well as bars, restaurants and small shops. Looking out to sea, we could see the Onward turning slowly on her anchor, her orange liberty boats arriving or leaving. It still looked fairly bouncy our there! 🙂

Eventually the bus pulled up and we all alighted and walked down the hill, keeping to the designated trail. We could see a row of five moai standing with their backs to the sea; they were placed on a large platform called an ahus. Our guide explained that some of these statues had been restored and returned to what was believed to be their original location.

We walked down to them as close as we were allowed to approach and marvelled as these ancient monuments. Next to the row of five, we saw one large one standing on his own, near to another single one which not only had the cylindrical hat on his head but also had eyes! I stared at him and he stared impassively back. 🙂

This was fantastic! Here we were, in Easter Island, looking at the moai. From here, I managed to take a photo that included the row of five on their ahus as well as the large single on, with our ship in the distance in the middle. Brilliant! 🙂

As we walked along the grassy trail, we came to the inevitable souvenir sellers, offering anything from fridge magnets to t-shirts to miniature moai carved from the same type of volcanic rock. We didn’t see anything we wanted to buy.

After our guide had rounded us all up and we returned to the bus, we set off back to the ‘port’. But Trevor and I weren’t ready to go back to the ship yet; as the Onward would stay at anchor overnight so we would have another day here tomorrow, there was no hurry to be back; the last tender was not until nine o’clock tonight.

Once we alighted from the coach, Trevor and I set off in the opposite direction in search for a bar and a pint of the local beer. 🙂

We walked along the rustic road, the sun warm on our backs, and soon came to a little ‘restobar’ called Neptune’s. In we went, and we sat at a table facing the sea as we each ordered a local beer. The beer was called ‘Makina’ and was supposed to be a lager, but it had a darker tint to it. As we sat there, the sky darkened once again and an absolute deluge of rain left the sky, thundering on the corrugated tin roof. Once again, it didn’t last very long.

After we’d finished our beers, I needed to use the restrooms, and I went along a short path outside and into the unisex building, which had a small, glassless window to the right of me. As I sat there, there was a massive roar of a jet engine, and I looked out of the window in time to see a large LATAM aircraft taking off, no doubt bound for Santiago, Chile.

Once we were ready, we paid for our beers (they took US dollars) and we left the bar and continued walking towards the main town that we’d passed on the bus earlier. We passed some more moai and rock carvings on the way, and I took a photo of Trevor standing by the rocky coastline, the blue Pacific in the background.

As we walked along in the hot sunshine, we realised that the town was actually further away than it seemed. The thing about Easter Island was there was no public transport at all, apart from taxis, and they were few and far between. So it was either one of the rickety tour buses or Shanks’s Pony, and we would still have to walk back.

We decided to return to the ‘port’ and get the liberty boat back to the Onward, as we could always come back again tomorrow morning to explore further.

We walked back along to the liberty boat landing stage, just in time to see one disappearing off. There was already a fairly large queue for the next one and, as my lower back was hurting a little by now, I was pleased to see there were plenty of seats. In addition, members of staff were coming around dishing out bottles of chilled water. It was after 6.30pm now.

As I sat there, a lady sitting next to me advised that the AzAmazing Evening that was planned for tonight had been cancelled. This was a show in which natives of Easter Island were supposed to be coming on board to give us an immersive folkloric display of singing, dancing and drumming. I asked the lady how she knew this and she said she had been in contact with a friend who was already back on board.

Soon we saw the orange liberty boat bouncing its way over the sea toward us, and the queue started to move forward. Trevor and I boarded and, once again, I was seated at the window on the port side of the vessel.

Well! If I had thought the ride out from the Onward had been rough earlier on, I realised, by comparison to this one, it was like a rowing boat on a lake in a park. This was scary stuff! The boat pitched and rolled, creaking and groaning, as it climbed each wave before plunging, with a huge splash, into the trough. The water cascaded over the top of the boat and into the hole at the top, as well as sloshing through the opening at the side of the boat through which we embarked and disembarked. Soon I could feel the cold seawater soaking my feet; the water was over the tops of my shandals. I was gripping onto the back of the seat in front for dear life, as we rose and fell, rose and fell, rocking from side to side. Soon the welcome sight of the Onward filled our water-blurred windows as our skilful driver negotiated his way back round to the landing pontoon, to loud cheers and applause from the relieved passengers. 🙂

Once again, it was a case of timing our jump across to match the exact second when the edge of the tender was level with the edge of the pontoon. One poor lady didn’t quite get it right and landed on her knees – ouch! Trevor and I got safely across and back up the stairs and into the plush interior of the Onward. We’d made it in one piece! 🙂

As we made our way back to 6030 we heard Emily, the cruise director, make an announcement over the Tannoy that the authorities ashore had closed the port, and the only people that the tenders would be picking up would be those passengers who were still ashore. No other boats were allowed in or out of the port, and this meant that our AzAmazing Evening had indeed been cancelled, alternative entertainment hurriedly being arranged. New programmes would be delivered to our cabins shortly.

It was now around 7.15pm. I decided to give dinner a miss tonight and have a lie-down instead, but Trevor got washed and changed in record time and went up to the Windows Café. As I was lying there, Captain Alex’s voice boomed out and explained that the weather was going to get even worse; we could expect a four-metre (13 feet) swell as well as winds of up to 40 knots and even some thunderstorms. He said he was going to go around to the other side of the island and see if there was any way of getting the liberty boats in there tomorrow – he was going to try his best to ensure that we wouldn’t miss Day 2 in Easter Island but ultimately, Mother Nature would be the one to decide.

When Trevor returned from dinner, I really couldn’t be bothered to get showered and changed and go down to watch the show, so I just said I’d stay in our cabin, have a quiet evening, and enjoy reading Mutiny on the Bounty, which is exactly what I did. I wasn’t feeling particularly well, so I hoped that, after all the excitement of the day, a good night’s sleep would sort me out.

We both settled down around 10.45pm, very early indeed for us when we are on holiday. The motion of the Onward was very discernible now, and it wasn’t long before she rocked us to sleep.