Report From The Field: Beyond Rapa Nui

Joe is a freelance journalist who recently joined us on our Beyond Rapa Nui voyage. His articles have been published in Virtuoso Life, Islands, Condé Nast Traveler, and National Geographic Traveler.

On this increasingly crowded planet of ours, one of the rarest treats is visiting a place where nobody lives and few people have ever set foot. And when a particular journey includes three uninhabited islands, it’s even more unique. It was that prospect more than anything else that attracted me to Zegrahm Expeditions’ Beyond Rapa Nui voyage this past October. Toss in enigmatic ancient cultures and a personal encounter with one of the greatest seafaring sagas of all time and you’ve got all of the makings of a truly extraordinary adventure through the South Pacific.

The adventure started before we had even boarded the Clipper Odyssey for two weeks at sea. Archaeologists are like the rock stars of Easter Island and we spent two days tagging along with three of the best—Claudio Cristino, Patricia Vargas, and Edmundo Edwards. It’s not just a matter of them spinning the facts: all three have been intimately involved for decades in restoring the island’s massive moai heads and deciphering the ongoing mystery of what happened to the people who carved and erected them.

Two day’s sail to the west we came to Ducie Island, a wave-splashed coral atoll where human beings have never lived. You can’t even say that about the polar regions or the middle of the Sahara anymore. Splitting off from the rest of the group, I walked as far as I could in one direction. Call me crazy, but I was hoping to walk on terra firma where another human had never tread before. We’d visit two other uninhabited islands (Henderson and Matureivavao) over the next few days, but Ducie is the one that really caught my imagination.

On Pitcairn we broke bread (and chugged beer) with the descendants of the Bounty mutineers. The rough and tumble Zodiac ride into the tiny harbor is an adventure unto itself, and you could say the same for the steep climb up to Fletcher Christian’s Cave. But if you asked me to name what truly stood out on Pitcairn it would be the hospitality of the 47 islanders... and the best fish and chips I’ve had since London in the 1980s.

Yet the coup de grace was still to come. Jack Grove had been raving about the Marqueses since we cast off from Easter Island, and one of the other staff members had described them as the sort of islands where King Kong would live (if the giant simian actually existed). But nothing prepares you for that first morning on Fatu Hiva, sailing into the Bay of Virgins just after sunrise, shafts of light illuminating the sheer volcanic cliffs and spectacular rock formations, a savage beauty that pictures (nor words) can never capture.

Join us on our Quest for Paradise: Tahiti to Easter Island voyage in 2010, the same itinerary as 2009, but in the reverse.