The issue with the web site has been dealt with. Whew. My web hosts have been very helpful. Ron and I are landing in Auckland, New Zealand, in a few hours. We will get busy and catch up on our blog as we have time. In the meantime, here is a picture I did of one of our stops in Bora Bora.

Today, day 23, we reached Pitcairn Island.  It is the last British overseas territory in the Pacific.  It is just one of four volcanic islands that comprises the Pitcairn Islands group. There are no usable landing sites for us on the island so there were no excursions.

You probably would never have heard of Pitcairn had it not been for the legendary mutiny on the Bounty which occurred on April 28, 1789.  The mutineers, led by Christian Fletcher, and their Tahitian companions (approx 27 people) took control of the Bounty and stranded Captain Bligh and his supporters on one of the ship’s small boats (Bligh’s leadership and navigational skills during this time were remarkable and worth reading about).  The Bounty sailed away and eventually ended up at Pitcairn island.  Fearing discovery by searching vessels, they burned the Bounty the remains of which still lie in Bounty Bay today (picture with the green boathouse).  Sadly the remains can only be seen by scuba divers, however, its anchor and ship’s bible are on display in a small museum on the island.  

On the right side of the island is a tall stone cliff with a cave called “Christian’s Cave”.  It is said that Christian Fletcher used to spend a lot of time here watching for approaching search vessels.

Approximately 50 people, of which almost all are descendants of the Bounty mutineers, still live on the island today. When our ship arrived most of the islands’ population jumped into a longboat with their local wares to sell and set up shop on board our ship.  Items in demand were postcards/stamps (the next mail ship arrives in the middle of March so items mailed today won’t even leave Pitcairn until then!) and getting your passport stamped.  Apparently they produce an excellent honey but we didn’t see any for sale.  After three hours, the visitors packed up what little they did not sell (along with much needed supplies such as potatoes and onions from the ship’s stores) and went back to their island.  We then sailed away towards Tahiti, our next stop.

Since all of our sea days are pretty much the same, we will include them in our day count but will only discuss them when some interesting event occurs.   

We finally arrived at Easter Island after 5 relaxing days at sea.  As the island has no docking facilities we have to take a Tender to the port if we are to visit the island.  Our Captain told us that loading the transfer boats would be a hit or miss operation due to the ocean swells that surround the island.

The swells today were about 2 to 3 feet which meant that getting on the Tender was a slow process as the Tender would constantly rise or fall those 2-3 feet from the level of the loading platform.  We were supposed to start our excursion at 9:00 am but Tender loading was so slow that we didn’t get started until 11:00 am.   We did made it ashore!  Sadly the Captain had to cancel the excursions for later groups due his concern about passengers that would end up returning after dark through the increasingly dangerous swells.

The first thing you noticed when we got ashore was just how developed the island was.  Even when you got out of town, the countryside was fenced for local farms and cattle.  We saw a lot of cattle and horses that roam the area (one of our lecturers said that horses outnumber the population).  As you would expect, there were “Moai” (stone statues) almost everywhere!

The name “Isla de Pascua” (Easter Island) was given by the island’s first European visitor, Dutch explorer Jacob Roggeveen on Easter Sunday in 1722.  The are about 8,000 inhabitants here of which 4,500 can claim Rapa Nui descent.  There are no pure blood Rapa Nui people remaining.

Our first stop was at a Moai site called “Tahai”.  There is a single statue as well as another platform (called an “Ahu”) with five standing Moai on top representing Rapa Nui royalty.  The standalone Moai is unique in that the eyes have been reinserted and it also has a top signifying hair.  At the other platform our guide told us that tradition said the the remains of Rapa Nui royalty were buried in the platform under the statues.  Each statue is carved out of Tufa, a volcanic rock, located in a quarry about 8 miles from here.  No one knows for certain how they moved them ( perhaps it was the same people who built the pyramids… ALIENS!) as each one weighs multiple tons. 

Our next stop was at the quarry called “Rano Raraku” where there are perhaps 40 or 50 statues here, some standing, some lying on their backs, and some on their front.  We also saw several left in the process of being carved.  Apparently they carved the body shape first (lying face up), then the face.  At this point they began chipping away at the back to detach it from the underlying rock before moving it to its final location miles away.

Next we visited the site called “Tongariki”.  A huge Ahu of 15 statues, the largest on the island.  We were able to see the statues from the quarry several miles away.  Also of interest is the fact that these and all of the other statues face towards the island.  Our guide indicated that this was done to mystically protect the Island and its people from harm.  We also thought it was great that you were forbidden to get very close to the statues which made for taking some great photos!

Our last stop today was at Anakena Beach.  Anakena is unusual for Easter Island in that it is one of only two small sandy beaches in an otherwise rocky coastline.  Also, this is a very significantly cultural place on the island.  Oral tradition says it was this beach where Polynesian Chief Hotu Matu’a landed and established the first settlement on Rapa Nui in 1200 AD.  Another Ahu stands on the edge of the beach.  Our guide said that in those days it was forbidden for common people to even step on the sand!  

On the way back to the ship we saw a large group of cars and people parked along side the road by a very tall hill.  This was the day of the “Haka Pei” contest which is held every year in February.  The participants lash two banana tree trunks together, carry them to the top of the hill and a single participant then uses them to slide down the hill. 

Sadly we had to rejoin the ship and sail away tonight.  Next up are two more sea days, then Pitcairn Island of Mutiny on the Bounty fame.

It takes five days to travel from the Chilean coast to our next stop, Easter Island.  Luckily, the waters were calm so seasickness was not an issue at all.  The days went by quickly with all of the activities on ship.  Paul painted everyday, started ukulele lessons, and even joined a passenger group called the HAL Chorale.  Ron attends the cooking demonstrations by the guest French chef from Tahiti and lectures about history, geology and biology.

The most popular lecturer is Gloeta Massie who lives and works in Australia, but comes from the US.  Her lectures are about biology, but she has a great lecturing style with a lot of enthusiasm and humor.  She has a talent for making her topics interesting and understandable.  She unfortunately leaves the ship in Australia and a petition was even started to get her to stay on longer, but she has prior commitments that prevent her continuing with the cruise.

Paul’s watercolor classes involve painting assignments designed to practice each various skills such as shading with the three Peruvian flower sellers, or texture with the Easter Island moai.  We generally begin with a reference picture such as the fish carving we saw at the Chan Chan archeological site in Peru or the whale picture I used to do a sketch for a fellow guest who was not having much luck with her whale watching.

Some of these projects will end up in a charity auction at the end of the cruise.

Today we made our last South American stop before we turn west into the South Pacific.  

Arica is one of Chile’s largest ports and was the major port for shipping silver and gold mined in Bolivia to Spain when it was part of the Spanish empire.  

We started our tour by visiting the local cathedral.  It probably doesn’t match your imagined image of a cathedral.  In the 1870s, the workshop of George Eiffel (of Eiffel Tower fame) was commissioned to build this church in Arica at the site of the previous building that was destroyed by an earthquake in 1868.  If you look closely at the interior picture you’ll see some of the fretted iron structure from the Eiffel workshop.  While very simple in looks, it has a quiet beauty.

Our next stop was at the San Miguel Anthropological museum in Azapa.  This is a very well designed museum housing an extensive display of artifacts from the Chinchorro people and their successors.  Of particular importance is its display of Chilean mummies.  These are said to be the oldest mummies found anywhere.

When you arrive at Arica, the first thing you notice is a huge mountain of stone. This is called “Morro de Arica”.  Our last stop today was at the top of this mountain which contains three main points of interest: the large statue of Christ (Cristo de la Paz), an old gun battery fortification, and a gigantic Chilean flag.  

The old gun battery fortification is the site of the last stand of Peruvian troops in the “War of The Pacific” where they were handed a crushing defeat by Chilean forces in 1880.  

Long after the War of the Pacific ended in 1883, the lingering territorial disputes between Peru and Chile were finally settled by the Treaty of Lima in 1929. In this Tacna-Arica compromise, the city of Arica officially became the northernmost point of Chile. As part of this sign of peace, the Cristo de la Paz statue was designed by Raul Valdivieso in 1987 and then erected in 1999 on Morro de Arica.

The Chilean flag is a reminder of Chile’s defeat of its rivals in the War of the Pacific.  If you look closely at the picture, you can see me standing at the base of the flag and realize just how big it is!

As we were getting ready to sail away from port, a large group of young musicians and dancers showed up to send us off with an energetic and impressive show based on traditional dances of Chile. The costumes and enthusiasm of these students made this a fun send off.

When we leave port tonight, we’ll head west into the South Pacific towards Easter Island.  It will take us 5 days to get there. We’ll do one big post on the 5th travel day.