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Created on Wednesday, 24 February 2010 21:30

The ship dropped anchor at Cumberland Bay just before sunrise. Well, we are not too early in our arrival but exactly on time. It just that the sun rises in this part of the globe a little bit late – today the sun showed up at 8AM. Cumberland Bay is the bay just in front of San Juan Bautista village in Robinson Crusoe Island, one of the three islands of Archipelago Juan Fernandez in Chile. The whole of the archipelago is a UNESCO World Biosphere Reserves. The other two islands are the islands of Alejandro Selkirk and Santa Clara. Robinson Crusoe Island is the largest of the three islands. The island has a small airstrip and a pier. Unfortunately, the pier is too small for the ship, so the ship had to anchor and we arrive to the pier through the ship’s tenders. Robinson Crusoe Island is a very small island about 370 nautical miles west of Valparaiso, Chile. Despite being so remotely located, Robinson Crusoe Island has internet connection, telephones and satellite TVs. Obviously, you would have difficulty locating the island in a world map or even in Google Earth, so I think these figures would be of great help.

Latitude 33 degrees 38.5 minutes South, Longitude 078 degrees 50.5 minutes West

Robinson Crusoe Island is a lobster fishing ground. So if Puerto Chacabuco has plenty of salmon fish, Robinson Crusoe Island on the other hand has abundant supply of lobsters. No doubt all local restaurants in the island include lobsters in their menu. There is no commercial shipping route from the island to mainland Chile. So, for most people of the island who wanted to go to mainland Chile, they have to rely on the Chilean naval ships offering free trips from the island to Valparaiso. When we arrived in the island today, the port was a bit busy as the Chilean navy ship at anchored close to us was in the process of embarkation and before 12 noon the navy ship left for Valparaiso.

I thought I would be spending just an hour ashore but it turned out that I spent nearly two hours roaming in the village. I tracked along the ascending narrow path up to the place called “Caves of the Patriots”, a row of caves on the hillsides overlooking the village and the bay. Then I started heading down to the main road following another path which was a bit steeper that I had to grip carefully at the wooden railings and went on to Juan Fernandez Cultural Museum. The museum displays plenty of old stuffs way back to the early 1900s such as this 1945 manual sewing machine and this 1940 RCA Victor radio receiver.

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