35. & 36. Day Easter Island, Chile 29. & 30.12.2025

After 4 days at sea, we anchored at Easter Island, landing with tender boats where we were greeted by the first Moai.
Rapa Nui, as Easter Island is called in the local language, is a volcanic island located in the South Pacific, 3800km from the Chilean mainland. It was discovered on Easter Sunday in 1722 and thus received its name. On the 163 km² large island, about 8000 people live mainly in the village of Hangaroa, where there are schools, a hospital, and electricity. The approximately 600 Moai statues are distributed across the entire island.
With the decline of the island, due to the depletion of resources, for example wood (as the speculation goes), most of the Moai statues were toppled. This means that the statues were restored on the platforms.
Various platforms (grave fields) show whole groups of Moai statues, for example, TAHAI, Tongariki with 15 statues, Anakena at the beach, and Ahua Kivi with the 7 explorers. Impressive is the mother rock Rano Raraku where the tuff stone from which the statues were made comes from, as the partly unfinished statues standing there remain untouched. The statues, which weigh up to 90 tons, were worked on with tools made of basalt due to the lack of metal.
Along the coast, on the way to the village of Hangaroa, there were many other highlights, from the landscape to art pieces to the local beer.