Ok, that’s a really slick piece of marketing. Robinson Crusoe, as most people know, is not a real person. He’s a fictional character made up by Daniel Defoe. That character was based on a composite of tales of survival popular at the time, one of which was that of Alexander Selkirk, who was indeed marooned on this island from 1704 to 1709.
The island is 757 KMs distant from Santiago. There are no scheduled flights. You have to leave from the private aircraft terminal with its hangarful of Learjets and Citations.
The departure area is suitably luxurious.
Our craft, however, is not a jet. It’s a 70’s-era Piper Cheyenne.
After a couple of hours, the island is sighted among all that empty blueness.
We are met at the airstrip for the transport to town.
This trip to the island is by special request – a gift for Maria’s upcoming birthday.
Then it’s a 40-minute ride in an open boat to the town of San Juan Bautista.
Along the way, we pass a rock formation known as ‘the gorilla’ to those with an active imagination.
We catch our first sight of San Juan Bautista, population 800.
We stay for a week at this hotel, La Robinson Oceanic, overlooking the water.
This is Rita, our very friendly host, with Chulita, one of two dogs on the property.
She gets a lot of attention while we’re here. (The dog, that is.)
Most people come here to fish or dive. We’re here to relax and do a bit of hiking. Parts of the trail are covered in gigantic Pangue plants.
There is a very rare red hummingbird, only found here. We’re lucky enough to see half a dozen of them flying from branch to branch nearby.
(It took many, many photos to catch this one sitting still.)
For the locals, fishing for lobster is a common occupation.
San Juan Bautista has suffered several tsunamis in the past, the most recent in 2010.
A ship arrives from the mainland every fifteen days or so, bringing essential supplies.
The inhabitants are very friendly. Of course, everybody knows everyone else. Islanders are very civic-minded: there’s virtually no trash or graffiti. The town plaza still has an unvandalized Christmas tree made up of crochet squares.
We hike up to the Selkirk Lookout, the highest spot on the island. It’s also where I took the photo mentioning Maria’s birthday.
It’s a stiff climb, but worth it for the different landscapes we go through.
Daniel Defoe took a lot of liberties with the Selkirk story. In the book, Crusoe’s island is in the Caribbean. And Crusoe is marooned for 28 years, versus four years and four months. And there were no cannibals and no Friday.
Still, the Robinson Crusoe story is one that virtually everyone on the planet is familiar with.
Besides the original, there was the Swiss Family Robinson, published inn 1812 and subsequently made into a Disney movie.
And then there was the Space Family Robinson – several TV versions and a comic.
There is a craft brewery on the island.
We visit for a tasting and dinner. There’s a great view from the patio..
Dinner is seafood ceviche, seafood empanadas, and beer.
One morning, Maria goes snorkeling while I nurse yet another cold at home.
Maria fetches some of these photos from the excursion company’s Instagram page.
There are seals everywhere here. They’re very playful and curious.
The seals hang out with the humans of their own free will – no bribery involved.
Another chapter of island history is the sinking of the German warship Dresden here in 1915.
It was fatally shelled by several British warships. One shell penetrated the cliff face near town but didn’t explode. Maybe someday.
There is a trail to the next bay over.
This is in fact the bay that Maria went to on her snorkeling expedition.
Our last day arrives. It’s another lengthy boat ride over choppy waters.
On our way to the airstrip, we are shown the only sandy beach on the island. It’s covered in seals.
The airstrip is on the only flat surface. There were plans to build a road to town, but I think that’s been abandoned.
So we say goodbye to our second Chilean island destination.
Sight or Insight of the Day
We didn’t mention our companions on the island: Roberto, Carlos, and Steven.
This is a trio of life-long friends, Colombian-Americans, all very successful business owners. All kind of eccentric.
They’re keen sports fisherman, and regularly meet up in the world’s more exotic locations to yank unbelievably huge fish out of the ocean and to rib each other mercilessly in English and Spanish.
(The island is probably most visited by fishermen and scuba divers.)
They accompany us on the flight to the island and back, and stay in the same accommodation.
Very interesting guys, generous and kind, but kind of high maintenance, like many people with lots of money.