Easter Island - The land of the Moai

12th November 2014

The Silver Shadow today arrived at Easter Island or Isla de Pascua, a small island in the Pacific administered by Chile despite lying some 2300 miles from her shores. Sometimes called the navel of the world, we have travelled some 1200 miles from Pitcairn Island to get here.

On arrival we were greeted by on the the Silversea expedition vessel, Silver Explorer already lying at anchor and we manoeuvred ourselves into the anchorage position near to her, the town of Hanga Roa having no port (although an airport runs right through it hosting daily flights from the Chilean mainland and a weekly cargo plane).

Easter Island is an open-air archaeological museum most famous for the monolithic statues or Moai, dotted around the island.  Settled since the 4th Century, the Polynesian settlers lived in a hierarchical society governed by a King and remained isolated for a long period but the society was marred by violent conflicts.

The Moai themselves formed the basis of a cult of the ancestors and accompanying religious rites. At Ahu Akiva, the seven moai on a platform are thought to represent explorers sent on a reconnaissance mission and therefore face the sea.  Other moai face inland and are thought to protect those they oversee.  Nearly 900 have been created, averaging at 23 feet tall (7 metres) although the largest stands at 69 feet (21 metres) and weighs about 150 tons!  How they were moved from the quarry at the Ranu Raraku volcano remains a mystery.

Some mistake the red round structure atop each head as a hat.  It is in fact a top knot of hair.  Recent DNA tests have shown the ancient people had red hair.

It’s no wonder this wonderful place was installed as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1995.

Pitcairn Island - a little bit of the UK in the Pacific

Today (9th November 2014), the Silver Shadow called on  Pitcairn Island a small island in the middle of the Pacific - approximately half way between Peru and New Zealand and home to the descendants of HMS Bounty, Fletcher Christian and eight of the Bounty mutineers and accompanying Tahitian women, who settled on the small volcanic island in 1790 after its discovery by the British in 1767.  Now an Overseas Territory of the UK it became an British Colony in 1838.  The Governor is the British High Commissioner in New Zealand from where it is administered.

A rugged island (with what looked like a recent landslip) it reaches almost 1000 feet above sea level and investigations indicate that the island has been inhabited by Polynesians some 400 years before the Brits stuck their flag in it and declared it part of the British Empire, as often happened in the 18th and 19th Centuries!  The island was briefly abandoned in 1856 before some islanders returned and it has been inhabited ever since.  The population currently stands around 50, although the peak was in the 1930s when 233 people called it home.

Current residents make their living from fishing, farming, selling local handicrafts to passing ships and postage stamps.  Most of the islanders are members of the Seven Day Adventist Church so there is no making or consumption of liquor.

As we found today when we couldn’t land because of unfavourable sea and wind conditions, Pitcairn has no port or natural harbour, so imported supplies are taken by longboat from larger ships anchored in Bounty Bay.

The history of the Bounty made famous in books and films, centres on the mutiny aboard the Royal Naval Ship HMS Bounty on 28th April 1789, led by Fletcher Christian against Lieutenant William Bligh motivated by Bligh’s alleged harsh treatment and their desire to stay in the South Pacific.  Having set Bligh adrift in a small boat with a loyal crew, the mutineers settled on Pitcairn and burned Bounty to avoid detection.

In an amazing feat of seamanship Bligh managed to sail his boat for 47 days to Timor without navigational charts or compass using only a quadrant and pocket watch (thankfully our own ship is fitted with the latest GPS equipment but interestingly charts are still used on the bridge).  Finally returning to Britain in 15th March 1790, Bligh was able to report the mutiny to the Admiralty, which I often pass when working in London.

The British sent HMS Pandora to capture the mutineers, arriving in Tahiti on 23rd March 1791. Unfortunately Pandora ran aground on the Great Barrier Reef in August of that year with the loss of 31 crew and 4 prisoners.  The surviving 10 prisoners were eventually tried in a Naval Court in England with 3 being sentenced to hang, 3 pardoned and 4 acquitted.

It was rather sad we couldn’t land on Pitcairn today but was lovely to visit this remote area of the world.  Perhaps it’s excuse to take another cruise in this area because it would be disappointing to miss the history and beauty of this part of the world, despite its remoteness and I can think of no better way than exploring this area than sailing on the Silversea Silver Shadow in 6* luxury.