After our first few days
at sea, we finally managed to escape the worst of the massive storm that
provided us with a very interesting ride!
Although the seas are still somewhat rocky, it’s not nearly as bad as it
has been, and we’re hoping that soon the Pacific will live up to its name.
As we continued to sail
northwest from Punta Arenas, Chile, to Easter Island, the seas changed from a
deep graphite gray to a rich sapphire blue.
Whitecaps and sea spray still provide a striking contrast to the rich
color of the ocean. On the first day
that we dared venture out, Pam and I spotted a large bird soaring gracefully
alongside the ship. Grabbing my camera,
I managed to get several decent continuous shots, and as the bird tilted and
swooped, I was able to get both the upper and lower parts of his body and
wings. A subsequent trip to the library
revealed what we’d anticipated: the
pictures matched up with the pictorial description of a wandering
albatross. The clincher was the declaration
that the wandering albatross “follows ships”!
The next day as we did our laps around the deck (for the first time
since the cold of Antarctica and the storms off the coast), we again caught
sight of what we assume to be the same bird, soaring, swooping, and skimming
the surface as it trailed a short distance behind us. It brought to mind one of my favorite
narrative poems, and I was very grateful that I’d taken the time to download it
onto my Kindle. So I’ve been enjoying
reading Coleridge’s The Rime of the
Ancient Mariner. We lost sight of
the bird as we continued north, but we’re hoping that this good luck charm
continues to follow us “from the land of ice and snow.” On the last day before we arrived at Easter
Island, Pam and I spotted about a dozen dolphins giving us quite a performance. Fortunately Chuck was coming along, shortly
after we stopped (he walks by himself as he does a faster pace), and we were
able to point them out to him also.
These beautiful creatures seemed to leap and bound joyfully over the
surface as they headed away from the ship.
Quite a spectacular show!
We continue to find new
and interesting things to do during our sea days. The other night while Pam and the other table
mates enjoyed Captain Bligh’s dinner (pirate theme), Al, Chuck, and I had
dinner in the Pinnacle Grill with the captain and officers. We were assigned to a table with the Second
Engineer, a young man from the Netherlands who was very interesting to talk
with. He happened to mention that he’d
dated and broken up with a cast dancer because it was too difficult to keep up
a relationship as such (both at sea on different ships). Later on in the evening, I made a comment
about our Grand Voyage of 2009 and that we’d met a cast member from near Buffalo. He replied, “She’s the one I dated. I’ve been to Buffalo several times.” It’s amazing that for as small a population
as the Buffalo area has, we’ve met so many people who have connections!
One of our Good Morning
Amsterdam guests during our sea days was Rudi Sodamin. Those who travel on Holland America ships
regularly recognize his name as the chef! He is the corporate chef who creates the
masterpiece dishes for the Holland America cruise line. I was particularly drawn to one of his
statements: “Good chefs have a passion…” It immediately called to mind our cousin
Wayne, who absolutely loves to try new things and entertain the entire family
at Christmas. His enthusiasm is so much
fun to witness, and he epitomizes Rudi’s words!
Guest at GMA the
following day was Captain Jonathan.
While he was interviewed at GMA early in the cruise, that apparently
wasn’t his “official” visit so we were very pleased to have the opportunity to
hear him again. We are truly fortunate
to have such a warm and friendly – not to mention experienced – captain at the
helm! He has been with Holland America
for 17 years, all in the capacity of captain; he’s sailed every ship in the
fleet except the Volendam! We have often
said that the Amsterdam is our favorite ship because we know it so well and we
like the size. Capt. Jonathan told us
today that he was extremely pleased with how well the Amsterdam performed
during our encounter with the “monstrous” storm. Apparently the Veendam, on its way south from
Santiago, didn’t weather the storm so well because it was too small, and
according to the captain, the larger ships would not have been as easy to
maneuver. It is very comforting to know
this about the ship as well as being aware that such a skilled captain and crew
are in charge! We can’t say enough about
Capt. Jonathan – he has our best interests at heart, and he has such a
wonderful sense of humor. (For example,
he told the corporate offices as they were updating the itinerary that if he
skipped Easter Island, he would likely be hanged from the yardarm! So he refused allow that port to be omitted! Good for him!
Many of us speculated that it would be the first to go!)
We thought of our aunt
and uncle, Ginny and Ben, who celebrated their 66th anniversary on the 10th,
the day before we arrived in
Easter Island, and wish them happiness for years to come! We love you!!!
Easter Island, or Rapa
Nui as it is known officially, lies about 2300 miles west of South America and
has the dubious distinction of being the island that is farthest away from any
other land mass, including other islands.
It remained pretty isolated until Thor Heyerdahl made his voyages. It is
quite apparent that the first inhabitants did not arrive there by accident as
plants and animals that would be needed to settle a new land had been brought
with them. Rapa Nui is about 45 square
miles and has a population of about 3000, many of which work for the military
or government service.
Most tourists come to
Rapa Nui to see the moai, the mysterious statues that had been made by
inhabitants, part of the Polynesian culture, hundreds of years ago. Because the island was small and couldn’t
support many people, the inhabitants believed that if they carved stone statues
of their ancestors and placed them so that they faced inland, these ancestors
would protect and provide for them. Using
basalt and obsidian chisels, they carved these statues out of a kind of
volcanic rock called tuff. Because it is
a porous substance, they would wet it down to make it easier to carve. Some
moai were small, and some were immense.
The largest weighs 82 tons! Moai are considered sacred, and nobody is
allowed to touch them or stand on their bases, called atus. A total of 887 have been unearthed, some of
which are just heads, others of which are heads and torsos. Some also have hats, which are made of a red
stone called scoria. Scientists believe
that eyes were only placed in the moai during religious ceremonies.
We arrived at Easter
Island early on the 11th and were anchored before the sun rose
(which isn’t a big surprise since the sun rose at 7:58 AM)! Unfortunately because of the swells, we had
to anchor across the island from Hanga Roa, the largest town. We learned
(though we aren’t sure how accurate this is), that Capt. Jonathan had been told
that we wouldn’t be able to get ashore, but he circled the island to find a
place we could use, and finally found somewhat acceptable location. This meant that the ship’s crew had to build a
makeshift dock for guests to disembark onto. The process took longer than
expected because of the darkness, so we didn’t get going for our shore
excursion, Ancient Cultures of Easter Island until an hour and a half
late. Getting onto the tender wasn’t as much of a challenge as we’d expected,
but getting onto the shore from the tender was another story! We bobbed around in the water for ages while
the tender ahead of us tried to anchor itself to a shoreside tender which had
been fastened to a floating platform that served as our dock. When it was finally our turn to be anchored,
we watched as a ship’s officer and deck hand worked to pull the lines and tie
them securely. They really worked hard
to secure the tender.
So finally we were on
our way. Our first stop was high on a
hill overlooking the island. From there
we could see both shores. The island is
six miles across at its widest point. We
were also interested in the long runway by the airport. It had been lengthened
during the 1980s by NASA so that it could be used as an emergency landing for
the space shuttle. Fortunately (or
unfortunately from the point of view of residents), the shuttle never needed to
make an emergency landing here and thus, since they were only paid if the
runway was utilized, the people of Easter Island never had the excitement, or
profit, from an arriving American shuttle.
Then it was on to
Orongo, a ceremonial village of what is called the birdman cult. Because it was difficult for the small island
to sustain too much human life, this group of people determined who was to be
the leader each year in an unusual manner.
Each spring the various clans would select one young man who would swim
to a nearby island (or motu) and await the laying of the first bird egg of the
year. Whichever man retrieved the first
egg would swim back to the shore of Rapa Nui and climb the cliff at Orongo and
present it to his clan chief. This clan
chief would be the leader for the next year and make all the decisions for all
of the clans. These decisions could
sometimes be sacrificial in nature so certainly clans wanted their chief to be
the leader!
The village was located
on the edge of a mile-wide caldera which appeared to be quite marshy at the
bottom. A few trees grew up the sides
and villagers would venture down occasionally to gather fruit from these
trees. At the top of the caldera was a
small area that was covered with thousands of petroglyphs What a fascinating site! These sketches were
carved by priests as part of rituals in the village, but because of weathering,
they are now rather difficult to discern.
No trip to Easter Island
is complete without a visit to at least a few moai, and our excursion was no
exception. While we’d have liked to see
more of them, we were glad to get to see seven of these fascinating
carvings. They were located along the
coast, facing inward. In one case there
were five of varying sizes on one atu.
Another single moai had its eyes in place. Since most of the eyes did not survive to
present day, these eyes had to have been created later. What an honor it was to see these magnificent
and iconic statues!
As the tour ended, we
poured off the bus and joined the long line to hop on a tender. We knew it would take awhile, but what we
weren’t aware of was that the floating platform that had been put in this
morning had cracked and they needed to replace it. We were in an area that had very little shade
so it was hot standing! We had been told
that the dirt on Easter Island would be red, and by the time we’d stood in line
for an hour, we were covered with red dust!
If it had been an ordeal to get ashore, it was even more of an ordeal to
get back to the ship after a tour and a long wait in the sun! We slowly worked our way forward, and just as
we were getting ready to board the tender, the man in front of us started to
reel. We can’t figure out why it always
seems to happen to people by us (something similar happened when we were
tendering into Belem, Brazil), but the man eventually ended up sitting on the
ground. At least he didn’t pitch forward
or back, but we assume that the heat had gotten to him! We were very glad to see him get safely onto
the tender several minutes later after having a chance to get his bearings!
We thoroughly enjoyed
our experience at Easter Island – it is certainly a unique and fascinating destination. The officers and crew worked very hard to
ensure our safety as we went back and forth to the ship, and they are to be
commended! At dinner when Capt Jonathan
made an announcement that all guests were back onboard and that the crew were
finally storing the last tenders, applause went up from everyone in the dining
room to show their appreciation for the monumental effort of all those involved
in our safe transport. We know that they
were exhausted and will probably sleep very well tonight!
We do think, though,
that if and when we get back to Easter Island, we will think twice about
getting off the ship unless the seas are very calm. We will most likely figure, “Been there, done
that! We’ll enjoy the sights from the
ship!”
The day ended with a reception
in the petty officers’ deck area. We
went for a short time in order to be sociable, but we felt bad considering that
we knew those young officers had to be worn out! We
couldn’t begin to imagine the rugged day they’d had, followed by an evening of
interaction with the guests, so we cut out early.
We now have four days at
sea, during which time we wish Paul a very speedy recovery and a happy
birthday! Our next port, Tahiti in the
Society Islands of French Polynesia, is four hours behind Chicago time. Considering that for some unknown reason,
Easter Island is on New York time, that means that we will have to gain five
hours in the next four days! Should be
very interesting!
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