| This was a slow passage, although we were
sailing faster than OBSESSION which is the same size as the 'Melon. The weather pattern this far south is not the reliable trades of the tropic belt, and sailing south into the wind and current makes for slow going. But Easter Island was worth it. To our surprise, they have cut out a very small safe harbor where we were able to tie up bow and stern to the walls of the lagoon. We heard terrible stories of anchoring off Hanga Roa (the small town that is the main settlement of the island), so were very happy that this haven was available. It is the staging area for the landing craft that go out to unload the supply ships that come to the island every three months. In fact, we were told when we arrived that we could only stay there for a week because a ship was arriving the following Tuesdays and all the boats would have to be out. A week sounded like enough time for us to see this small island. What we didn't know was how very friendly the local people were, and that we would be made to feel so at home that when the time came for us to leave we were hoping for more time.
The statues (Moai)
[PHOTO], which are Easter Island's claim to fame, are awesome. Not only because of their size, which is tremendous, but for the incredible number of them strewn around the island. We stopped in one field where there must have been twenty or thirty of the statues lying tumbled around. Then we went to the quarry where they had all been cut, and where there are still statues carved in the rock but not completely freed. Again, incredible. I remember reading about Michelangelo's description of sculpting as "freeing" a figure from the stone. To me, that is what the Moai in quarries seem to be. They look as if the sculptors could see the figures in the solid stone, and were just cutting the dross away to free them. All in all, a fascinating place. We took a trip to the volcano crater, although the weather was not good enough for us to walk down in it. Inside the crater are lemon, avocado, and banana trees just growing wild. Guava bushes grow wild everywhere on the island. We all agreed that this was a "soft" island, with no hard edges anywhere. A place where one could just lose oneself. At 29 degrees south latitude, it's a pleasant climate, neither too hot nor too cool. A bit dry, but not desert. Eucalyptus trees along with the guavas make the island fragrant - one can smell the island from many miles out at sea before it comes into view.
The Rapa Nui are handsome people, of Polynesian extraction, although their numbers have been decimated by successive waves of slavers and
"blackbirders" - slavers who took the people to work in the Peruvian phosphate mines (get a Latin American history and read about the "bird shit Wars." South American history is rife with absurdities). Chile annexed the island in 1888, thinking that the island would become a port of call after the opening of the Panama Canal. When that didn't happen, they leased the majority of the island to a British wool operation until 1953. While the British ran their sheep operation the local Rapanui were forbidden to go beyond the Hanga Roa boundary wall without permission (supposedly so they wouldn't steal the sheep). So the poor islanders were prisoners on their own island. Now Chile is trying to get the Rapanui to accept clear title to some of the land. So far the majority of Rapanui have refused, saying that it is all their land anyway, so Chile can't issue title to something they don't own. Needless to say, the Rapanui don't like the Chileans very much. Indeed, this is the first "Latin" country where speaking English is an advantage, so long as you are from North America.
On Monday, April 13, OBSESSION and WATERMELON left Easter Island, headed west for Gambier Island, French Polynesia (1410 miles), with a possible stop at Pitcairn Island (1112 miles) if the weather would permit. Moderate to no winds for the first several days, we thought we had it beat. But then the wind shifted to the east, and we were sailing dead downwind - 'Melon doesn't like this point of sail under the best of conditions, and out here where the seas are a bit confused (not the long rolling swells they tell us are common in the South Pacific, but the more confused seas of the more southern latitudes) we just rolled madly from one side to another. Impossible to do very much, because just as you braced yourself for a heel to one side, the boat would roll, throwing you off balance and sending anything you had set down flying. We tried to stop at Ducie Island, but waves and surf were rolling in all along the lee of the island, so we gave it a bye, to Jeanne's disappointment.
But we were now only 270 miles from Pitcairn, so on we trucked. We were about 50 miles from Pitcairn on the evening of April 22 when we saw a ship going past, so Peter called him up on the VHF to talk. It was a Danish propane freighter, heading for the Panama Canal and Galveston, Texas. We chatted a few minutes, they had passed Pitcairn about 4 hours earlier, and while we were talking with them, up comes "Pitcairn Radio."
The next morning we arrived at Bounty Bay, Pitcairn Island [PHOTO]. We were lucky, the seas were calm. so we all went ashore - ferried by one of the Pitcairn boats. It's a pretty island, all up and down - no beaches, and lashed by swells everywhere, so the only "safe" landing is in Bounty Bay where they've built a small breakwater and longboat slipway. The people are very nice. We visited with the schoolteacher and his family, who are from New Zealand and assigned for two years to Pitcairn. They gave us a good deal of information and gossip about the island.
We were surprised at how affluent the Pitcairners are. Everyone drives around on All-Terrain vehicles, everyone has television, deep freezes, in fact all the modern conveniences. Although isolated, it's quite a good life, according to the New Zealanders. Education is paid by New Zealand - up to the age of 15 the kids (what few there are) are educated on the island. From 15 up the children go to New Zealand to continue their education if they want to, all of which except uniforms and spending money is paid for by the New Zealand government. The Pitcairners pay no taxes - and even the appliances and other items bought from New Zealand come duty and freight free. So the Pitcairn Island populace is very well off. They make their money from their trading with the ships that pass (Pitcairn is on the great circle shipping route from Australia - New Zealand to the Panama Canal). We were told that each family can make one or two thousand dollars in a day of selling their goods to the occasional cruise ship that passes. They also go out to trade with any freighters that stop - Pitcairn fresh produce and fish for whatever the freighters might have (such as meat, plywood, tools, etc.). However, we were told by the New Zealand teacher, and also by three Norwegian yachties who went out with them to a Norwegian freighter that stopped, that the Pitcairners are quite greedy, asking and getting more for their produce than would reasonably be expected. As a result, fewer ships are willing to stop - they're getting
"Pitcairn'd out". The crafts that they sell to the few cruise ships that stop are quite nice - carvings, jewelry, shells, etc. - that's where they make their hard cash, all of it tax free. Not a bad life, eh? Because the island is just at the edge of the tropical belt, its climate is quite wonderful, both tropical and semi-tropical fruits and vegetables growing. With only about 100 people on the island, there's plenty for everyone. But the sea is not benign, and one would have to grow up with those conditions to run a boat out into the surf the way they do.
The anchorage, in spite of the wonderfully calm weather, was extremely rolly and uncomfortable, as well as being a lee shore, so at the end of the day we hauled anchor to leave. Our anchor fouled on the rocky bottom, 50' down, and with one big roll of swell as we were hauling the anchor the windlass broke. We were fortunate to have young Robert along as crew to help haul up 90' of chain and the
CQR.
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