Easter Island - Rano Raraku

We hired a car for the day and set off early to visit the main sites of the Island. Along the coast huge waves were crashing on to the rocks sending up gigantic plumes of spray, whilst further out to sea other waves toppled over themselves and spray was whipped from their tops by the wind. It set the day up for the dramatic scenes that were to follow.

We pulled off the road at Rano Rarak,a huge volcanic crater and the quarry from which all the Moai on the island were mined. There are 70 standing sentinels embedded up to their shoulders in grass on the south side of the volcano. Once inside the quarry a further 150 Moai have been left in various stages of completion. The largest of these is 69 ft high. There are several female statues amongst the crowd of males, and one unique example of a kneeling Moai. In all there are over 300 Moai at this site. I could not have imagined how spectacular this would be.. It was simply unbelievable. The scale of the operation to carve huge Moai from the rock, and then transport them across the Island, was stupendous. We spent nearly 3 hours here, in awe of everything we saw.

A little further on from the quarry, and on the coast, is Tongariki, a plinth on which 15 standing statues are arranged. Like all the Moai on Easter Island, they look inwards with their backs to the sea. It was a hugely impressive spectacle.

The weather was the best we had experienced since arriving on the Island. Blue skies and fluffy white clouds. Perfect for taking photos, although a little too hot, and no shade for getting any respite from the sun. Our circuit of the Island found us back at the beach late in the afternoon, and the temptation to cool down with a swim was just too good to miss.

In the evening we enjoyed a nice meal in a great location and watched the sun sink slowly beneath the horizon.