Now that we are back at sea, we've had plenty of time to reflect on our visit to Rapa Nui, or Easter Island. We spent a week and half at what is often referred to as one of the most remote inhabited islands in the world and time just flew by. The entire island is basically a large, open-air museum, with so many archaeological features to check out, including the famous stone statues, or moai.

The coastline of Rapa Nui is very rugged and does not contain any truly protected harbours for anchoring. Cruising boats often have to change locations at the winds shift. Because of this, we had to sail between Anakena Bay and the main town of Hanga Roa three times over the course of our visit. One of these short passages saw 50 knot winds, with gusts up to 57..the highest winds we've seen since leaving Victoria! The lack of protected anchorages also meant very rolly conditions on the boat, leaving us feeling like we were still at sea, sleeping with lee clothes up and being careful to secure all dishes and drinks.

With such uncomfortable conditions on the boat, we were all the more eager to get ashore, but this in itself was no easy feat. Hanga Roa does have a small harbour which is home to the many pangas on the island and offers a place for cruisers to land their dinghys, but getting there can be complicated. In order to safely make it ashore, we would watch the waves breaking on the point, paying attention to how frequent they were and how many were in a set. Then we'd sit in the dinghy, patiently awaiting a lull while surfers took off on either side of us. It's always disconcerting when going ashore means dodging surfers. When a lull was identified, we would give the dinghy full throttle (which depending on how much weight was in the dinghy and how the engine was feeling on that particular day would get us planing or not), and zoom past the surfers, avoid the large rocks in the shallow water, and make a hard left into the harbour, hoping that no pangas were on their way out. We had gotten pretty good at this, but some days saw waves larger than others and wind blowing onshore to further complicate things.

It was on one such day when Austen and I were eager to get off the boat as the swell was making us seasick. We knew it would be sketchy getting ashore - even the surfers weren't out on this day - but we did not want to sit around on the boat all day. We circled a few times, watching the waves, and almost went back, but eventually decided to just go for it. We chose our moment, gave the dinghy full throttle, almost got planing, and looked behind us to stare down the face of a six foot wave just starting to break. We definitely misjudged that one! But there was no turning back, we were committed, and we held on, hoping for the best. Fortunately, we started to surf the wave which gave us the extra boost we needed to get planing and stay just ahead of it, dodge the rocks, and make the hard left into the harbour. By the time we pulled the dinghy ashore, Austen and I were both shaking, fully realizing how lucky we had been. We walked along the street, slightly stunned, going through all the "what-ifs." Eventually we came across a beautiful patio with a sign offering 2 for 1 mojitos, just what we needed. The mojitos were delicious, and the rum calmed our nerves just long enough for us to remember that getting ashore is the easy part, getting back out to the boat through the waves is a whole other ball game...

Other than the daily dose of adrenaline we got from dinghying ashore, Austen and I wanted to explore the sights of Rapa Nui and rented an ATV to do so. It's a rather large island, about 64 square miles, and the moai are spread all over the island, making it necessary to have a vehicle. Everyone that we spoke to, including the woman we rented the ATV from, all gave us the same warning: watch out for horses. There are many horses that run wild on Rapa Nui, but there were also wild cattle and dogs to watch out for too. The dogs were the most worrisome as they liked to chase us. Fortunately, we completed our adventure without any accidents, which was beneficial for the animals, but also for us as there is no insurance on the island!

Even with a full day and a vehicle, we only managed to see about half of the sites on Rapa Nui. Anakena, our starting point and where the boat was anchored at the time, was definitely a highlight. It is believed to be the bay where the Rapanui people first sailed into over 800 years ago and is one of only two white sandy beaches on the island. There is two ahu, or platforms, holding moai and an abundance of Tahitian palm trees that were brought to the island in the 1960s. The water is crystal clear and the sand soft between the toes. We carried on, visiting many more sites, including Ahu Tongariki which contains 15 moai that have been restored and placed back on the moai and one large moai still knocked over that was too damaged to be stood back up. As this site was right on the water, we couldn't help but think how strange it would be for the sailors who arrived here hundreds of years ago, unsure of what to expect, and finding these large stone statues. After Tongariki, we visited the quarry which was the production site of the moai and were able to see hundreds of the statues in various states of completion that were simply abandoned one day. The quarry path wound up the side of the volcano and offered some amazing views of the coastline as well.

Other than moai, we also saw many petroglyphs, caves, and some pretty impressive pieces of obsidian littering the beach. The highlight of the day for me was visiting Ana Kakenga which is also referred to as the Two Windows cave. The cave itself is actually formed from cooled lava. We found the spot after a very bumpy and dusty ride along a dirt road and ended up wandering around for about an hour trying, unsuccessfully, to find the entrance to the cave. Exhausted and grumpy, we gave up and headed back to the ATV only to realize the entrance was right where we started, we simply went right instead of left. The entrance to the cave was a tight squeeze, barely large enough to fit through. Once inside, it was pitch black and we had to hunch over for the first 10 meters so as not to smash our heads on the ceiling. Eventually we saw the light and came upon a large area, with standing room, that branched off into two corridors, each of which overlooked the ocean, hence the name Two Windows. The views were amazing, and slightly terrifying considering the height and ruggedness of the terrain.

Aside from sightseeing, we finally got our anchor windlass working, met some friendly locals, enjoyed the town and the local beer, saw a few turtles, and Austen even got a surf in (on his board, not the dinghy). He can now proudly say he has not only sailed to all three corners of the Polynesian triangle (New Zealand, Hawaii, and Easter Island), but he's surfed them too! We are back at sea now, en route to Pitcairn Island, another remote spot with a fascinating history. It's day four at sea now, with about a week to go, but an 11-12 day passage seems like a cake walk compared to the 27 days it took us to get to Rapa Nui!