Today we went diving at two very nice sites off the coast of Easter Island. The coral is very nice and the formations made by the lava are fun to swim around and through. It reminds me of diving off the south coast of Lana'i in Hawaii with its sharp cliffs and interesting underwater lava formations. However, the islands are devoid of much in the way of aquatic life which is unfortunate. Tomorrow, conditions permitting, we will hopefully be able to dive near the little islands off the southwest coast (the ones which were the site of the triathlon competition that I described earlier in the week). After diving and some lunch, we set off on our bikes for the highest peak on the island: Maunga Terevaka (550m above sea level). Unfortunately, the dotted line on the map that we chose to reach the base of the extinct volcano was basically some cow tracks through the endless fields of lava rocks. It's crazy - the whole interior of the island is just covered in lava rock. Anyhow, we reached Ahu Akivi which is the only main Ahu that is not found along the coast and was restored in the 1960s. It is also interesting that it faces directly towards the setting sun on the Spring and Autumn equinox perhaps suggesting some sort of astrological meaning. From Ahu Akivi we climbed and climbed toward our final destination. Again, no real path to speak of. And as such, it seemed to take forever to hike up to the top (with our bikes). We got to the top, and quite honestly, it wasn't that impressive. But hey, it was good exercise nonetheless.
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| Not the best photo, but just to illustrate how rocky the interior of the island is. That is Maunga Terevaka - the highest point on the island off in the distance and where we would ultimately end up at the end of this ride/hike. |
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| Ahu Akivi - seven inland moais looking towards the sea. |
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| Us at the top of the island on Maunga Terevaka. You can also see the town of Hanga Roa off in the distance. |
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