11Feb Easter Island (Rapa Nui), Chile

At last!
After sailing non-stop for a week since we left Punta Arenas, we arrived in Easter Island on our 6th day at sea.
It is 4,000km away from its mainland Chile and 2,000km from its closest neighbor Pitcairn Island.
It was given the name Easter Island because Dutch found the island on Easter Sunday, 1722.
There are more than 3,000 people who call this remote place a home.
Many of them are involved in military or government service work.
Three volcanic islands formed into one and shaped into triangle.
This island is famous for Moai statues.
There are as many as 600 resurrected statues scattered around the island.
They come in various heights, yet in similar shape.
Some are as heavy as 82 tons.
It is still unknown how they carved such a big volcanic rock and transported to coast to stand upright without modern equipment.






















It is a tender port.
It was supposed to be at the town Hanga Roa but the ship anchored on this beautiful beach instead. The captain made an early announcement that the swell was too big and risky at Hanga Roa.

A platform of 7 Moais on the beach with few lie down.

Village in the National Park of Rapa Nui with few platforms of Moais, also the only Moai with eyes on is found here.

A local performer with traditional body painting made my photo complete!

Rano Raraku the Quarry where most of Moais are carved from.

Ahu Tongariki, about a mile away from Rano Raraku where a platform of 15 Moais lined up.
Spectacular!

Back to the beach after 4 hours of great Moai tour.
Long queue for the tender boat to replace the damaged bridge boat.
Due to big swell of the shore, it is extremely difficult to operate tender boats.
Instead of standing and waiting under the strong sun in long queue, Greg and I decided to visit a bar on the beach.
We had a local beer and empanadas.
Very nice!
Cook beer, thick tropical palm trees around the beach.

It is my kind of paradise!

4Feb Punta Arenas, Chile

Punta Arenas is located in beautiful Chilean fiord, Straits of Magellan and the southernmost city of Chile.
Torres del Paine National Park, Patagonia’s one of the most tourist attractions is also nearby.
It is a tender port unlike last time when we docked in pier on 2010.
Strong wind almost blew us away as we stepped down the stairs to the tender boat.
We hired a taxi to go Otway to see penguin colony two years ago so we did not have any tour plan today.
Unpredictable weather with repetition of sun and rain every half an hour seems to be phenomenal.
When we returned to the ship after lunch at the hotel, the captain made a special announcement.
We learnt that the ship will have to stay in Punta Arenas due to storm on our way to Easter Island, the next destination.
Passengers are bit disappointed with concerns about new itinerary which the main office in Seattle will be working on and coming out with.

We decided to go to pier and took tender boat about 11am on our second day in Punta Arenas.
Weather was crazy as yesterday.
Sun and rain in every half an hour!
Only few shops were open in this quiet town as it was Sunday.
We manage to find a small café on the main plaza with Wi-Fi.
Majority of customers in the café are from the ship as there is nothing else to do or go in this remote town.
We had the local specialty Hot Chocolate and spent few hours on internet before heading back to the ship via supermarket for local pack of chips.
Passengers were happy to hear the update from the captain that the ship could sail away in the evening.
Later, we found out slightly modified itinerary for the Pacific.
The ship won’t be going through Pitcairn Island nor visiting New Caledonia in order to arrive in Sydney as originally scheduled.
Arrival day of Tahiti and Samoa also delayed one day each behind the schedule.
Five days at sea before Easter Island on 11th.
Rough sea days were waiting for us.
I am just overwhelmed with the fact how vast the ocean is!

Me at the pier^^^

Greg at the Souvenir shop at the pier

This is one of the busiest commercial streets in town


Local arts and crafts displayed on souvenir shop

All the beautiful European style buildings are located alongside the big square the Plaza Munoz Gamero and the Plaza hotel is one of them

Statue of Magellan in the middle of the plaza has legendry story. One will come back to the city if one touches the foot of the man beneath which exactly I was doing. ^^

The cathedral and the city hall building at the plaza

Casa de Sara Braun, now is hotel Jose Nogueria. Sara Braun was originally from Russia and the richest person in Patagonia

Restaurant La Pergola inside the hotel Jose Nogueria where we were the only one of two customers

We ordered the dish named ‘South Pole’ special for two
Wow! It has Spider crab, marinated octopus, calamari rings, prawns and crab claws.
They were all taste great as they are all fresh

Local café for cappuccino is appropriate for the crazy weather