Visiting Easter Island (Land-Based)

North Coast Road Scenery

One of the typically scruffy-looking Easter Island free-range horses.

Sunday, June 13, 2004 (Day 4 Ashore)

This morning I got my laundry back and boy was it expensive! I had four underpants at 50 cents each, four shirts at 80 cents each, and two pairs of pants at $1.60 each for a total of $8.40 US, and that was for two-day service for a very small pile of clothes. I was in a rush this morning and didn't even have time to change, so I went out wearing my cruddy pants, heavy with salt and dirt, and the least smelly shirt. Tomorrow, I'll put on clean clothes—what a novel idea. This would be the first time I have genuinely clean pants since the Galápagos. During the ensuing voyage I had rinsed out a pair on the boat but they don't really get clean. Plus on the boat, they immediately get full of salt, which then absorbs moisture and makes the pants heavy and clammy.

The rental car arrived at 9:00 a.m., but instead of driving to the rental shop (the shop was closed today), he drove uphill to the outskirts of town, then down a narrow dirt road to the end. This was his house, and it was a pretty nice house, in a quiet and uncluttered part of town with a nice view of the volcanoes.

After dropping him off, I headed over to Hotu Iti at a pretty good clip, since I expected to find Nine of Cups at anchor. Once I had a good view of the anchorage, to my surprise, they weren't there. I wondered if they were at Vinapu, because in my haste to reach Hotu Iti, I never bothered to look back towards Vinapu. The wind at Hotu Iti was directly offshore, so it would have been a decent anchorage to use. On the other hand, I remember David saying they wanted to leave on Sunday, so maybe they got everything squared away. Other than on the first day, though, they hadn't been able to anchor off Hanga Roa. Being at one of the other anchorages always puts a crimp in your operations, since the anchorages are remote with no reliable transportation to Hanga Roa.