This summer, I took a once-in-a-lifetime sail from the Galapagos Islands, Ecuador, 2233 nautical miles to Easter Island, known by locals as Rapa Nui. The Dutch tall ship Oosterschelde is sailing around the world, commemorating Darwin’s voyage to reconnect people across the planet with nature to build a more sustainable future.
The Galapagos Islands are home to an astonishing variety of marine life—seabirds, sea lions, sea turtles, bluefin tuna, moray eels, and even 50 new species discovered in the deep ocean surrounding the island just this year. Located on the equator, the Galapagos penguins living on the north end of Isabela Island are in the Northern Hemisphere.
Sixteen days at sea, standing watch for four hours and standing down for eight hours around the clock, gives one time to reflect and appreciate the fellowship of crew members pulling together despite the fickle weather. More than a thousand miles from land, a mahi mahi fish was cut, cleaned for dinner, and the deck washed clean. A few minutes later, an eight-foot hammerhead shark swam along the ship's length from front to back.
A voyage like this renews your determination to protect the mighty ocean so that future generations may have awesome experiences just like mine.
Almost 66% of the planet's population lives along a coast or within 90 minutes of it. The abundance of our oceans is a sight to behold, but they are not impervious to the harms of modern society. Oceans must be cared for, and we cannot forget that what happens on land ultimately ends up in our seas.
Easter Island's burgeoning population cut down their forests by about the year 1550. Great Britain had similar population growth and forest loss during the 1100s. They found coal; the islanders turned to the rock of the volcano. The Rano Raraku tuff is high in trace metals like manganese, boron, and zinc, which are essential for plant growth. Families set to chipping rock to create stone dust and porous rocks placed in circles around food plants to hold water and protect from the winds that swept across the treeless plains. They were artists fitting cut rocks with remarkable precision and carving enormous statues of their ancestors that faced the fields, not the sea.
The people of Rapa Nui met the challenges of climate change when land dried out by valuing and melding the different skills of Polynesians and South Americans. They set to the hard work of breaking rocks with good cheer that resulted in thriving rock-mulching agriculture and a society “with more beauty and grace” that became the envy of others,” according to Major Rollin, a member of Jean-François de La Pérouse’s expedition.
Sailing to Rapa Nui, I worked hard with shipmates to avoid the worst weather and reach a gorgeous destination. On Rapa Nui, people met the challenges of climate change from the loss of trees with hard work and good cheer. These experiences made me even more committed to fighting to protect our lands and seas. They also gave me respect for the fortitude of people to meet an obstacle head-on and, by doing the work together, get the job done.
Like Easter Islanders, when we work in our neighborhoods, the future is bright, and we may thrive in the fellowship of well-done jobs.
Steady on,
Rob
