Easter Island is the most isolated island on earth. It belongs to Chile, but the Chilean mainland is 2200 miles away to the east. This island is stuck out in the middle of the Pacific Ocean between Santiago and Tahiti, two thousand miles to the west.

There's a lot of mystery surrounding this speck of land alone in the ocean, mostly centered around those world-famous statues of stone. Where did the ancient people who built the statues come from? Why did they build the statues? What do they mean?

We do know that the first Europeans landed here on Easter Sunday in 1722, hence the name we use. Locals call it Rapa Nui, which means 'Great Island".

We also learned that Easter Island was first settled by Polynesians sometime between 400 and 800 A.D. Imagine the courage it must have taken to travel thousands of miles in small boats across an unchartered ocean to search for another land. And then to return home to pick up the family and all the necessities needed to sail back and colonize the newly discovered spot. How many of these explorers lost their lives searching for another place to call home?

Five hundred years ago, around 1500, the population peaked somewhere between 20,000 and 30,000 . However, for some unknown reason the descendants of those people who came to Easter Island didn't continue that spirit of adventure and explore beyond. They remained there, and eventually that would be the cause of their downfall.

By the late 19th century, the population had dwindled to not many more than 100 souls! The inhabitants had virtually consumed all the resources on the island, most of their food and all the large trees that could have been made into boats for catching larger fish further out to sea, and more importantly, for more exploration. They fought among themselves for those shrinking resources . Experts believe that inter-tribal wars and disease brought by European explorers caused the population to be almost wiped out.

Today there are about 8000 people here, most living in and around the only town on the island, fittingly called Rapa Nui. They call themselves Rapanuis and make their living mainly from tourism.

After a cruise to the Antarctic, ten of us shipmates visited Easter Island for four days. Like so many others, we came to see those mysterious statues we'd heard so much about, and find out why they were constructed in the first place.

We found some of the answers, but not all.