The Juan Fernández archipelago consists of three main islands called: Robinson Crusoe, Alejandro Selkirk and Santa Clara. Robinson Crusoe island has a population of 800 and mostly relies on fishing and tourism. As you may have guessed from the name, it used to have a population of just one. Scottish privateer and Royal Navy officer Alexander Selkirk was marooned here for over four years. He asked to be put ashore in 1704 after a disagreement with his captain over the state of the ship. Selkirk thought the vessel was unseaworthy. A valid sentiment as the ship sank not long afterwards. After his rescue, Selkirk’s story became well known in Britain and was almost certainly a significant part of the inspiration for Daniel Defoe’s story, The Life and Surprising Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, published in 1719.
Diane and I went for a walk. There were a couple of organised hikes but we preferred to wander off at our own pace. We went through a forested area behind the main town and I photographed a lovely little orange hummingbird. Later, I discovered that the Juan Fernández Firecrown is endemic to the island, critically endangered and exceedingly rare. The archipelago is very isolated and much of the flora there is endemic. Knowing this, I took some pictures of a few flowers. I have no idea whether these are endemic, rare or in any other way interesting – but I did think they looked quite nice.
Making our way back into town, we found a lovely restaurant with a view and had some coffee. From here we could contemplate the vista, contemplate the town and contemplate our ship anchored out in the bay. Sitting there in the warm sunshine enjoying the coffee was an excellent way to pass a few minutes.
We walked to the north end of town. Here there is a nice viewing platform ideal for watching seals. The Juan Fernández fur seals are endemic and numerous. One of the smaller types of fur seal and very cute. Later, a guide explained to me that the seals had almost died off. Now, with their protected status, they were doing well. It was a great success story. Another way to look at this is that they were almost hunted to extinction. A handful of seals survived by hiding in the caves until people finally decided to leave them alone. It was a fortunate survival story in the face of mans greed and cruelty. All a matter of perspective.
Behind the viewing platform, there is a shell stuck in the rock wall. This is a live shell, apparently, from the Battle of Más a Tierra. The German cruiser, SMS Dresden, was hunted down by the British HMS Kent and HMS Glasgow in 1915 and sunk just a few metres from the shore. When we wandered back towards the pier, we spotted a small gun turret. There was no indication as to whether this had anything to do with the battle. Reminded me of an early form of Dalek.
We spotted a few more hummingbirds. Exceedingly small and fast. Difficult to photograph but amazing to watch. I think the green birds are the females. We found a statue of Robinson Crusoe and a welcome sign. Then we went to the pirate party. This was billed some sort of cultural get-together involving pisco, empanadas and local music. Sounded promising. We were served a pisco sour that was quite nice. Then we found there was nothing for us to eat. It was all fish, octopus and other dead things dragged out of the ocean. The music was proving to be a bit harsh on the ears so we skipped the rest of the party and headed back to the ship.
Our zodiac driver made a ten minute detour to the seal colony just past the south end of town. This was great to see and gave me another chance to photograph the animals playing around.
