Easter Island - Chile
/After two really incredible days of diving in French Polynesia our cruise continued East. We visited two more islands, Nuku Hiva and Pitcairn Island, however we didn't go ashore. In total we spent eight days sailing from Fakarava to Easter Island. It was pretty crazy looking at where we were on a map, with no land in any direction for about a thousand miles. The night before we arrived at Easter Island, we heard from some other passengers that often times the weather isn’t good enough for the tenders to take you to shore which got us feeling a little worried. One person on the cruise had been there twice before but hadn’t been able to set foot on the island. We were fortunate and had amazing weather both days there, and spent two very full days exploring the island with an amazing trio of tour guide and small group.
Our primary tour guide’s name was Claudio Cristino. He is a bit of a living legend on the island, and is one of the preeminent archaeologists working there. He also had his son and daughter join us, who are also archaeologists, and were also wonderful. His children grew up on the island while Claudio worked on mapping the entire island and the thousands of archaeological material scattered there. He led the project to restore Tongariki, which is probably the most recognizable site. Samantha and I were so lucky to have such a knowledgeable group to tour around the island with. While the Moai were obviously really impressive, so was the island itself- wide open fields of green grass littered with volcanic rock, horses roaming everywhere, and some pretty intense looking surf right off the coast. We were both stunned by the beauty all around.
The visit to Easter Island was definitely one of the big draws to the cruise in the first place, and it easily surpassed our high expectations. Despite how much we enjoyed everything, the visit was also a little bittersweet. While the cruise was going to stop at Robinson Crusoe island on the way to our final stop in Valparaiso, this was the last real site of our whole trip. We will be doing one more (at least) post so stay tuned!
