Stranded on Robinson Crusoe Island

Look at this island on a globe – if you can find it. It’s close to. . . nowhere. In fact it is in the middle of nowhere. It is the actual island on which the real life character Alexander Selkirk, stranded for nearly five years, became the inspiration for the book Robinson Crusoe. And we almost joined the ranks of the stranded. Our anchor got stuck in undersea rocks and we were stuck! It took nearly two hours for the captain to free up the anchor and get the ship underway. What a relief for us and the captain who didn’t want to call in with the message he was stranded at Robinson Crusoe.

When our tender pulled up to the steel dock steps they crew had no idea how to create a level landing pad for the passengers. They worked at it for quite a while and then just held onto people to get them off the tender without falling.

The island was another interesting place. We doubled the local village population for one day. There was a Pirate party on the waterfront with fried fish and drinks. Local people really friendly and probably lonely.

Those are the little lobster boats and pleasure craft bobbing around out there.

I have no idea where these ship based canon came from for the little town park. How did they ever get them up here?

Old boats never go away. They become part of the landscape.

Our Viking Sun Executive Chef, Thomas Noack came ashore to purchase spiny lobsters which the area has in abundance. As it turned out there is no actual market and he had to get in a small wooden boat and go out to meet the other lobster boats anchored in the harbor with cages of live lobsters attached to the stern of each boat. There is no real commercial industry here. Bob Kerr and I were standing next to the chef when he was invited on the boat and we asked if we could come along. We did! It was great. A really memorable event for us all. The chef told us he had never been out on the water to see a live catch before and it was one of the highlights of his career. Fun. So glad we could be in on this moment.

Back on board, the lobsters made a second appearance a couple of hours later. . .  with melted butter.

Yum! It doesn’t get any fresher than this. Split in half and lightly browned on a grill. Fresh asparagus. Viking continually exceeds expectations. They served fillet mignon for non seafood eaters. Or both for surf and turf fans