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Archipelago and Islands of Chile

Courtesy of Tourism Promotion Corporation of Chile Adventure Life Journeys

Robinson Crusoe Island

This tiny group of islands, located some 400 miles off the Chilean coast, includes what is probably literature's most famous “deserted” island. Isla Robinson Crusoe is the very island on which the Scottish mariner Alexander Selkirk was marooned for over four years: His recollections of the ordeal gave rise to Daniel Defoe's famous novel and the sranded-on-an-island dreams that so many share. 

Rising dramatically from the Pacific to jagged peaks exceeding 5,000 feet, the islands of the Juan Fernández archipelago are home to one of the most highly endemic ecosystems in the world. Over 60% of native plant species on the island are found nowhere else of earth, while notable endemic fauna include six species or sub-species of birds, as well as the Juan Fernandez fur seal, back from near extinction around the turn of the century. Today, the entire archipelago is protected as a national park and UNESCO World Biosphere Reserve, boding well for the preservation of biodiversity on Juan Fernández.  

Isla Robinson Crusoe has the archipelago's only permanent population, centered in and around the town of San Juan Bautista, with a local economy based largely on the harvest of delicious spiny lobsters. Tourism in the islands is decidedly low-key, with a number of comfortable pensions and restaurants available in San Juan Bautista. Hiking trails, fishing, bird watching and diving are all excellent options for active travelers. 

Chiloe 

The Isla Grande of Chiloé is South America's largest island and among its most striking cultural anomalies. Divided by the gentle peaks of the Coast Range, Chiloé's eastern and western coasts are two worlds apart. To the west is a wilderness of endless beaches, dune habitat, and temperate rainforests, much of it protected in one of Chile's most forgotten national parks. To the east are the scattered islands of the Chiloé archipelago, sheltered from Pacific storms, intensely cultivated, home to a traditional culture of subsistence farmers, fishermen, and craftsmen. 

The history of Chile, both human and natural, is rife with episodes of isolation. None is more dramatic, or more readily apparent, than the case of Chiloé. Cut off from the growing colony in Central Chile by a vast territory of impenetrable forests and hostile Mapuche Indians, the inhabitants of Chiloé depended directly upon the Viceroyalty in Lima for provisions. A ship came once a year, if that, exchanging astronomically priced manufactured goods and supplies unavailable locally – which is to say, nearly everything – and buying for a song the fruits of the islanders' labor. 

Over the course of two centuries, the Spanish population mixed with the native, and all learned to make do with what limited resources could be culled from the sea, the forest and the earth. Meanwhile, the Jesuit order made this corner of the earth its special responsibility, erecting schools and over 200 elegant wooden churches, nine of which are now protected as national monuments. A rich mythology – populated by strange trolls, sea monsters, and eerie ghost ships – is yet another mark of Chiloé's singular history.  

Today, Chiloé balances wild, unbridled nature with one of South America's most remarkable traditional cultures. Renowned for its seafood, its woolen handicrafts, and the warmth of its people, Chiloé is still a largely unknown destination for walking and biking, fishing, paddling and birding. 

Easter Island 

Easter Island is a destination that seems to inhabit our subconscious. The image of those great stone moai with their backs to the vast Pacific strikes some chord within us, recalls some ancient, creative urge. 

This is the world's most isolated bit of land, a tiny pinprick in the great Pacific, a mound of consolidated lava and ash from three submarine volcanoes. The natives call their island Rapa Nui or Te Pito o Te Henua, "the navel of the earth." 

Linguistic and cultural comparisons indicate that the first humans on Easter Island arrived from the west, most likely from the Marquesas Islands or Mangareva, as part of a greater migratory process which spread Polynesian culture throughout the South Pacific. However, the 12 centuries that elapsed between the arrival of the first intrepid settlers near 500 A.D. and the European discovery of the island in 1722 by the Dutch admiral Jacob Roggeveen are among the world's great mysteries.  

European sailors visiting the island found that the natives could not explain the construction and transport of the great moai megaliths, the largest of which exceeds 60 feet in height. Nor could they decipher the rongo rongo tablets whose hieroglyphic script appears to be a forgotten form of written language. Somewhere in the past – a past that seems to have seesawed from ancestor worship, monument building and population growth, to deforestation and food shortages, feuding and in some cases even cannibalism – the old knowledge had been lost. It is the mystery of these disappeared artisans, and the awesome presence of their works, which continues to draw scientists and seekers from across the globe.  

Today, Rapa Nui National Park protects most of the island's archaeological sites, and the native todomiro forests that once graced the island are being replanted. Opportunities for hiking, mountain biking, and horseback riding abound on the island, while a rich marine ecosystem of corals and colorful tropical fish makes Easter Island a prime destination for scuba diving and snorkeling.  

In the waters near the island, diving conditions and marine life are similar to other South Pacific islands.  

Easter Island rests on a broad submarine platform, part of a long east-west volcanic ridge or “hot line.” This platform provides an abundant phototropic zone that supports 144 species of algae and 111 species of tropical and pelagic fish. Six species of corals grow in shallow water around the island, though there are no coral reefs. About one-fifth of all marine flora and fauna is endemic. The lack of coral reefs around the island has resulted in pronounced coastal erosion, including submarine cliffs and extensive caves. Visibility in these cobalt seas can exceed 120 feet, and water temperatures average 70°F.  

Courtesy of Tourism Promotion Corporation of Chile Adventure Life Journeys