Thursday March 9th, 2017
Tahiti comprises two islands joined by an isthmus. The larger of the two, Tahiti Nui, has a good road all along its coast, with the mountains rising from the coast to around 2,240 m and generally shrouded in cloud. The smaller, Tahiti Iti, is less developed and has poor roads.
Typical west coast Tahiti with a fringing reef in the distance
March 7-9th, 2017
Sleep abandoned, we admire the view for a while over a cup of tea and hatch a plan with the aid of tourist brochures from the desk drawer: get something for breakfast, organise tours around or into the island for the following days, and explore Papeete on foot in our free time.
March 6 & 7th, 2017
We did not cope with the heat and humidity in Easter Island at all well, and Tahiti is 10 degrees further north! We seem to have a chest infection, and a dry hacking cough (that makes me feverish). It was brewing amongst passengers in Antarctica, and certainly started there for us, and has now become a major issue. As the Hotel Altiplanico did not have air-conditioning – just fans and huge opening sliding doors which might let the insects in at night – we have had little relief from the humidity. So Easter Island has been a real trial, but we did enjoy it, and certainly very happy to have been here!
Monday March 6th, 2017
I was disappointed that the Altiplanico was so far from the centre of town. On our first afternoon we were free to do our own thing but felt too crook to walk there and back in the heat and humidity, so we felt isolated. Today, our last day, we took a taxi into Hanga Roa to explore on foot.
It was a cloudy morning with a sea breeze, and thankfully nowhere as humid as the prior sunny days when we toured the ahu and moai. But it wasn’t to last, as showers and sunshine came at lunch time, and the afternoon was humid. In the meantime we explored Hanga Roa. It was indeed very rural and “laid back”, but the people wonderfully friendly and helpful.
| Explaining hands in Hanga Roa |
Sunday March 5th, 2017:
The day dawned clear and very warm. Being a tree-less island there was little respite from the sun while we were touring sites today! We drove in a van with the windows open up the SE facing coast to the NE corner of the island. It was flat and very open, and mostly grazing land. It is fenced, sometimes with long sinuous stone walls, yet we saw very little stock.
 There’s plenty of rock for stone fences! |
Saturday March 4th, 2017:
We had travelled to Easter Island to see the stone statues, or moai, that have generated so much mystery, and to learn more about the Rapa Nui culture. Despite our illness, exacerbated by the high humidity, we were not disappointed!
There are 887 known moai, and many have now been restored to their rightful place standing on a ceremonial platform, or ahu. With the exception of 5 moai at Ahua Akivi, they face inland. They are carved mainly from volcanic tuff from a single quarry, and are huge: 4-5 m high and weighing up to 20 tonnes, but the largest is nearly 10 m tall, and weighs 80 tonnes. Some were topped with gigantic pukao, or top-knots, of red scoria, around 2m in diameter and height and weighing 10 tonnes. Just how they were transported to their ahu, raised, and the pukao installed is unknown. The eyes of the moai were embellished with coral or shell, and red scoria pupils.
Friday March 3rd, 2017:
We are now on Easter Island, learning to live like the idle rich, it seems. It is also very green, and very muggy!
We were up at 6 AM in Santiago, Chile, and had a 5-6 hour flight some 3 hours later after spending over 2 hours queuing. The Chilean way seems to be to make queuing as long as possible: even when our documents had been checked by the immigration police, they were immediately checked by security, and then again by the stewardesses before we board, at least twice. This redundancy is itself a form of heightened security! Collecting baggage is another interminable waiting game.
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As we flew into Easter Island I was surprised at how green it was! Yes, we were still used to the greyness of Antarctica, but when I’d looked at Easter Island on Google Earth some time ago it looked very dry. Perhaps I should have been surprised at that!
Friday March 3rd, 2017
We are now on Easter Island, learning to live like the idle rich it seems. It is very green, very muggy! We arrived mid afternoon and have rested in and around our cabin and the hotel’s swimming pool.
Our hotel is the Hotel Altiplanico Isla de Pascua.
We were up at 6 AM, and had a 5 and half hour flight over 3 hours later. We also spent 2+ hours queuing, which is very tiring. The Chilean way seems to be to make queuing as long as possible: even when our documents have been checked by the immigration police, they are then checked by security, and then by the stewardesses before we board. Collecting baggage is another interminable waiting game.
All of which meant we resisted the non existent temptation to walk three kilometres into town in the heat of the day.
So far, no pictures of Easter Island … later I’ll get the camera out. But there could be a piece about Antarctica coming up … but internet connection here is very flaky so nothing might happen!
March 2nd, 2017
Thanks to Antarctic storms, our holiday in Santiago, Chile, became just one full day! But if we had not had these extra days planned, we would have lost our trip to Easter Island. We know which we’d rather NOT miss out on!
So tomorrow morning we fly to Easter Island and a few days of luxury, by the sound of it. Our Santiago residence – Hotel Santa Lucia – may be right in the city center, but definitely seems to be a place of faded glory!
From 0oC to 30oC in a few hours travel was a bit much! Fortunately there was a breeze in Santiago. So also was Santiago downtown a culture shock, following the tranquility and wildness of Antarctica. We had a brief walk around this morning, and a half-day small-group city tour in the afternoon. The latter was a great way to get an introduction to the city!
Santiago sunset
Santiago skyline
We noted this morning that the world still rock and rolls a bit when we get up! After 10 days rocking and rolling and pitching and squirming in Antarctic waters on a sturdy ship, it’ll probably take a few days to get used to terra firma again … hope there are no earthquakes!
At present I do not intend to write much about Santiago. I sort of feel what little we have seen today is enough and I do not regret the Antarctic storms robbing us of another day and a bit here. I’m impatient to get to Easter Island!
Tuesday February 28th, 2017
(I thought I’d leave this in, as a quasi summary of Antarctica. I edited it slightly when backdating the posts relating to Antarctica that I couldn’t actually post from the Polar Explorer.)
Well, we are finally back into the internet connected world, in a posh hotel in Punta Arenas. It was beginning to look as if we might be overwintering in Antarctica! Well, almost …
We had some pretty wild weather late in our cruise, and our flight from King George Island to Puntas Arenas was rescheduled twice. If you are reading this, it will be because it finally arrived and took us off the island. (Otherwise, we are spending another night on the boat!)
We were warned this was an expedition, and on expeditions plans may change due to various reasons. Weather is a principal cause of change! As it was, we had few changes, but then a couple of days ago a ripper of a storm came through that made the Drake Passage seem serene (which it wasn’t), giving us force 7 winds, horizontal snow, and the exterior of the ship all iced up …
Also, 50% of us on the boat, us included, came down with some lurgy picked up in Ushuai, and despite the best efforts of the ship’s doctor, we are now coughing and spluttering our way around the world.
Now that we are back in the wired world, I’m putting some more posts on the blog, and later will gradually back-date them. I have written some stuff about Antarctica but still need to select some photos … maybe when we are in Santiago tomorrow afternoon.
In the meantime, here are just a very few …
My first penguin … a gentoo
Tucker time – you can see it coming and going down!
A fur seal – once seriously exploited, now plentiful
A leopard seal trying desperately to open an eye
Yes, there was no shortage of wildlife! But the scenery was awesome, too …
An iceberg, around 100+ m high.
Traversing the Lemaire Passage was awesome the first time, but on the way back it was rain and heavy low cloud and certainly no mill-pond!
Well, as I said, we did get to Punta Arenas, but any possibility of sending blog posts didn’t pan out as it was extremely late, and the hotel wifi was clogged by 35 expeditioners all trying to download nearly two weeks of emails at the same time.
So this is heading out to you the following morning from Punta Arenas airport with us enroute to Santiago. The other Antarctic posts will just have to wait …
Easter Island - green and showery, looking across the airport to Hanga Roa