Quick facts: Polynesian culture that built stone monoliths called Moai; GPS: -27.148291, -109.430584; GMT-6; Altitude: 32′
Getting up today I didn’t really want to hunt down a place for breakfast with all the uncertainty of island living so I just went back to the place from the other day to make things easy today. Everything I ate here the first time was pretty good so I ordered it all again with one exception. This time I got one of their Hawaiian Açai Bowls instead of the yogurt. They said the açai was out of season so I substituted it for blueberries. Once again I was happy with my choices. It’s nice to have some consistency when traveling because I know all too well that when one is off the beaten path it can be difficult to find foods that meet some simple expectations.
When I was done enjoying breakfast and the view it was time to make my way to the dive shop. While I liked having the bike to get around a little quicker and giving some flexibility on where I could go, I was really glad to see it go and my ass thanked me when it was gone.
When the other group showed up at the dive shop for our time slot of 11:30 we all got our gear on and headed out to the boat. Our guide gave us some info on the island on the way out to the dive site. It took about 15 minutes for the skipper to get us out to the motus (islets). We circled them a few times while the guide told us a little about the tangata manu. I knew about this from several different sources before coming on this trip but seeing these up close and personal really puts it all into perspective the hardship these competitors faced.
We pulled up to the leeward (SW) side of the smaller Motu Kau Kau and “dropped anchor.” I was ready to go so I got out in the water first and the others followed in time. For the next 30 minutes or so I swam around and tried to catch as many fish on camera as I could. The AxisGO case I bought for my iPhone works really well and was ideal for this situation. Maybe the only thing I need to get used to is the film over the screen but it’s one of the features I chose it for so I am ok with it. The pics and movies came out great and even underwater the audio comes through albeit muffled. I would have loved to stay longer. However, I guess the others wanted to leave because they were getting on the boat but when I asked the guide earlier he said there was no time limit. We headed back to port and were there before too long.
Back in the harbor as we were disembarking from the boat someone noticed a giant green sea turtle and we all stayed to watch it for a while. It eventually swam off and I went back to the shop and changed out of the wetsuit. Afterwards I went next door to have a coke and enjoy the scenery on the patio. While there I decided I would walk up to the last site on the ticket, Ana Kakenga.
Ana Kakenga is probably just over 3 miles away. Along the way the other thing I wanted to hit was the museum. The museum is a cool side stop although it is a bit out of the way from town. There are the typical things one would expect at a museum but I think the coolest thing I saw was the before and after photo kiosk. I am absolutely fascinated by before and after images! It allowed swiping back and forth on a photo where one way shows an old photo and the other shows a modern version of the same view overlayed on top of each other. It’s crazy to see how much erosion has happened in the time the first photos were taken which couldn’t have been more than 100-150 years ago. This machine was back in the auxiliary building, so I’m glad I wasn’t in a rush or I might have missed it all together.
Back on the trail I kept heading north. Most of the time I was able to stay on the trail with out too much trouble but since I’m sure this isn’t a normal approach I did lose it for a moment a couple times. I did eventually run into a wall and then followed it inland a bit before realizing that was the park. I had read that from the gate it was another 20 minutes to caves so I knew I was close. Once I finally got to the signs for Ana Kakenga I had to look around carefully because the entrance to the cave is not really marked well.
After a few minutes I did find the entrance, it was not as hard to find as I thought it might be. Once I scrambled in through the tight entrance the cave opened up enough to walk around fairly easily. I did come prepared for this hoping I would get the chance to explore at least one cave and had my headlamp, and a flashlight. These came in extremely handy as until the end of the cave on either side it was pitch black. There was no one else in the cave when I got there and for the next 30 minutes I had it to myself. I took a bunch of photos and even had time to do some timer selfies. About the time I was ready to wrap up a couple came in I let them have their time there too.
Before leaving I took some more photos over the cliffs and then headed south. On my way out of the park I got my ticket stamped since I didn’t do it on the way in. There were some clouds coming in so I tried to make my way back to town without taking too long. I got back into town about 45 minutes later and headed to the Pea Restobar where I decided I would have dinner.
Before dinner I had time to catch what I could of the sunset so I ordered a michelada, sat back and enjoyed the view. The clouds prevented any real view of the sun but that was ok. I ordered dinner a little later, I got the pil pil de camerones. It was pretty good.
By the time I finished dinner it was dark out and I was ready to head back to the hotel. The waitress offered to call a cab for me since she knew I had been on a long hike earlier, or maybe she thought I was drunk. Either way I accepted and got a ride back to the hotel. It wasn’t real late by then but I was tired and went straight to bed.