Vacation - Tahiti and Easter Island - Day 12-15

Our flight to Tahiti came in late at night and we went back the Manava, the same hotel we used when we arrived from Los Angeles. Unfortunately, they did not upgrade us to a beach front room this time. Still, the room was nice and we literraly only slept there. We were on the the road by 8-9 o'clock, headed for the ferry terminal, to get to the island of Moorea.

A 20-30 minute ride takes you to the island of Moorea. We picked up a short term rental car (nice Ford Focus) and started on a quick tour around the island.

Me on the ferry to Moorea.


This is the Tahiti of your dreams. Clear blue water and luxury accomodations.
This is the Sofitel Moorea Beach Resort. It is very near the ferry terminal and looks back on the island of Tahiti.


On our tour, we drove up one of the mountains to a lookout. This was the view. Along the way we saw pine trees planted at a agricultural station. To us, it looked just like California in places.


After our 2-3 hour island tour (it's not that big), we returned our car and they drove us back to the resort, the Hilton Moorea Lagoon Resort and Spa.



After checking in, we were taken to our room, one of the over water bungalows. We decided that if we were going all the way to "Tahiti", we might as well do it right. We were glad we did. The rooms are beautiful and relatively private and quiet.


This was our deck/balcony.


This was the view from our deck.


The first thing I did was jump in the water, directly from our deck.


We went for a snorkel shortly afterwards. The snorkeling was fantastic. We have done some in the Caribbean, but this was at least as good if not better than any of the places there. Plus all you had to do was walk down the stairs and jump in.


This picture was actually taken on our last day there. The lighting conditions seemed to make the water sparkle even more that day and we got several great pictures of the resort and the water.


A good shot of the balconies with stairs down to the water.


Our days ended with colourful sunsets.


Our days started with a beautiful sunrises.


Me looking at the fish on the way to breakfast.


This is the dining room, where breakfast was served.


Another view of the dining room.


We got up each morning to watch the sun rise. This was one of them.


Among the fish, we saw several rays swimming under the boardwalks. We also saw some small sharks in there, more at night around the lighted water around the crepe bar.


This a view of our room from the balcony.


It is not always sunshine and good times in paradise. This downpour lasted 20-30 minutes and then it was back to sunshine on the deck.


Our room had a see-through floor to allow you to watch the water from your couch. This is me under the room.


Another sunrise.


The water under the boardwalks teemed with fish of all kinds. You just had to lean over an look down. No need to get wet. On one of the mornings coming back from breakfast, we saw this school of fish. There where hundreds of them and they swam around in unison.


This is the crepe bar, open only at night while we where there. Underneath this area of the boardwalk they are running some experiments on trying to encourage coral growth, so some of the water has been fenced off to keep the snorkelers out. This is where we usually saw the sharks, attracted by the fish, which were probably attracted by the lights at night.



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So that is pretty much the end of our trip. We flew back to Los Angeles overnight, spent a couple of hours at LAX and then arrived home in the evening.

One aside though, if you are ever at LAX for a couple of hours and want something to do, try a meal at the restaurant there. The view is nice, food is great and resaonably priced. You also get to sit in the iconic structure that represents LAX. The interior is decorated in a futuristic Jetsons manner. While you are there, don't forget to check out the washrooms.

Restaurant at LAX.


Interior of restaurant.

Vacation - Tahiti and Easter Island - Day 11

So today is Wednesday, June 24, our last day on Easter Island. We had rented a car again with the plan to drive around and see a few things we had not yet got to and revisit some of our favourite places.

This was the sunrise as seen from the patio outside our room.


With Michigan along for the car ride, our first stop was Puna Pau, otherwise known as the top knot quarry. This is the spot where the round "hats" that some (all?) of the moai had on their heads. It was carved at a totally different spot than the moai themselves and transported to the ahu at some point. Again, exactly how this was done is not known, although relatively speaking, these would have been pretty easy. Now getting them on top of the moai is another story. Some propose that the topknot was raised along with the moai, others after the raising of the moai with an inclined pile of rocks as was shown to Thor Heyerdahl.

The red stone of a topknot.


We made our next stop on the north shore, at Anakena beach. I brought my swimsuit along because I wanted to say I had swam; 1. In the Pacific, and 2. At this beautiful beach on Easter Island. It was very cold, like cold bath cold. I didn't stay in long.

Yes, this is me in the water.


Others only got there feet wet.


Probably our clearest shot of the moai at Anakena.


This shows a good shot of the large expanse of sand at Anakena. No wonder this was the first landing spot on the island, who wouldn't want to explore this beautiful spot.


We happened to arrive just as a very large tour from Australia was arriving as well. We saw them arrive on their own 747 the day before. The tour operator had arranged for native dancers to put on a show on the beach, and we were able to watch as well.

Dancers similar to what we had watched a few nights previously.


We continued our clockwise route around the island and made another stop at Tongariki. This is Michigan and I in front of the ahu.


The southeast wall of the quarry volcano, Rano Raraku.


We happened to notice this lone moai a few hundred meters inland from the ahu. This was likely swept here by the tsunami that had previously destroyed this site. We were amazed that we had not noticed this on our three previous trips to Tongariki.


The coast along the road to our accomodations.


The rest of the day was spent buying some souvenirs and sending post cards. We also got our passports stamped with four different stamps special to Easter Island. There was a charge for this at the Post Office, but it's cool to see them in your passport.

Unfortunately, we seem to have no pictures of "downtown" Hanga Roa, but it is essentially one main street, a km or so long, with several side streets off of it. It was paved a decade of so ago and the sidewalks are done in locally produced paving stones.

Our flight left late that evening, so our host took us to the airport for check-in and then we left and went to dinner with her. An hour or so later, she dropped us off at the airport, and our plane boarded within the hour. That was a nice end to our trip.

We thoroughly enjoyed Easter Island, but in different ways I think. My wife found the moai and the spiritual sense around them the most intriguing, while I fell in love with the geography and sense of grandeur at the sites, especially Tongariki. Her highpoint was the quarry, while mine was the north coast trail.

If you are at all interested in going, I would recommend it. If you are outdoor people like us and want to do some hiking, then several days would not be too much. The people that left shortly after we arrived had been there for something like 17 days. Revisiting sites is not uncommon, to see them in different light, different attitude, alone or with a group, you always seem to discover something new.

Vacation - Tahiti and Easter Island - Day 10

This is Tuesday, June 23, the sixth day on Easter Island. After driving around the island yesterday, today we go the other way and walk around a good portion of it, literally. Today we are going to attempt the North Coast Trail, for which there is not a lot of documentation and even less signage. We read about this in some of the tour books and online reviews, and it sounded like the kind of thing we would enjoy. We were right.

As shown on the map below (blue line along the north west coast), the trail follows the coast of the island, from point a few kilometers north of the village all the way to Anakena Beach. In between there is nothing but island, waves and a lot of cows and horses. Oh yea, a bunch of ahu and moai as well. This was a 17 km hike and took us about 6-1/2 hours.



We were dropped off at the trail head by a friend of the innkeeper. I am glad we didn't try driving up the access road. Several very large "puddles" made the road almost impassable. This is also the road to Ahu Akiva. This one of the first ahu restored and is unique due to it's location far from the coast. Although the moai face the ocean in this instance, in reality they simply face the gathering place at the foot of the ahu.

This is also the road to the trail to Maunga Terevaka, the highest point on the island. Hiking up this volcano was the one thing we did not do that I had wanted to. But the following hike was more than fulfilling.


This was the condition of the trail. Apparently there is a low and a high trail. We tried wandering around to find a trail, but in most cases, this was as good as it gets.


This instance of ahu is fairly well preserved. There were many of these along the hike, but some were literally only a pile of rocks. Pictures are so-so here as the weather was overcast.


We saw a few moai like this, face up in the ground.


This another typical scene for the day. Beautiful coast, waves crashing on the black volcanic rock and ancient ruins.


This gives you a view of the magnificent coast line and some perspective on where we were hiking. Other than at the end, I don't think we ever got real close to the water.


The water from above. Unfortunately, without anything for reference, the height cannot be properly discerned from this image. The beautiful colour of the water also did not come through either.


These are a couple of pictures of the cattle pastures. They seemed wary of us at first, but then they simply ignored us.




These two pictures show how an older, earlier generation moai is incorporated in to a new ahu.




I was trying to show the scale of the landscape in this picture. The tree on the horizon is a full size tree.


One of many, albeit larger, moai strewn around the ground. This one is a few hundred meters from the shore and the nearest ahu. It was near what was believed to be a birthing place.


Still along the west coast of the island, we also ran in to horses.


Us at lunch.


Our view at lunch.


A wall in the middle of a field. Without a good guide book, and with no signage along the way, it was difficult the figure out what a lot of what you were seeing was.


Me, in hiker mode. It may look a little nerd like, but it all works to make the experience enjoyable. The pants are convertible, that is the legs zip off to become shorts when it is really hot. They are cool in warm weather and warm in cool weather. The shirt is synthetic, drys quickly, wicks away sweat and protects you from the sun. The hat shades my eyes, the sunglasses covers my eyes, the walking stick stabilizes you (2 versus 3 point contact) and the pack carries stuff (like water and lunch). The thing on my belt is the camera case, which is almost redundant as the camera is in my hand as much as it is in the case. There, get your laugh for the day.


This is the corner of the island, where you in a sense turn from the west coast on to the north coast. We are headed to the horizon, and beyond. Look for the picture later looking back to here. The large vertical wall on the right is the north side of Maunga Terevaka, the tallest volcano on the island (the one we didn't get to climb). I don't think the picture gives the sense of grandeur nor imensity.


Continuing along the north coast, we soon came across an outpost. I believe this is a seasonal place used for tending the many horses along the north coast. You can just barely make out the white cross in the left side of the picture.


The next couple of pictures show more of the wall as I think of it. In particular, the second shows the typical ground conditions you are walking in. This rock strewn terrain made up a least half of the 17 km.




This is the picture looking back where we came from.


Hiking along the north coast.


At this point we seemed to be following a higher trail, so we did not get too close to these three sites, right next to the water.


This picture captures a part of the island we didn't get to, Poike. This area at the east end of the island is off limits to all vehicles in order to protect the landscape. The three hills to the left were the sites of three crosses erected by the Spanish shortly after the island was discovered by the Europeans.


Another view of the three hills.


As we wandered along we often came across groups of horses. This young one seemed very interested in us and posed very nicely. The colors came out beautifully.


Another fantastic view of the ocean crashing in to the coast. The water was a beautiful teal, aquamarine green blue ..., can't describe it and of course the picture doesn't capture.


Our first glimpse of our destination, Anakena Beach. Just as our guide had stated, it is still a good half hour hike away. Even more when you get lost.


So even though we were already hiking the high trail, it appears that we should have gone even higher at some point. We ended up running in to a dead end of sorts, where we found a cave by the ocean. We climbed up some steep hills and tried to continue along the coast, but eventually we had to turn inland. At one point we traversed a gully leading down to the ocean and this is the result. You have to climb out the other side eventually.


We finally found the trail for the last km, and this was our next glimpse of Anakena, only a minute of two away now.






So that was our second last day on Easter Island. 17 km, 6-1/2 hours, hundreds of horses and cattle, countless breathtaking vistas, and dozens of historic sites and artifacts. No people. This was my favourite part of the trip.

We picked up are car again tonight, in anticipation of our last day on the island tomorrow.