Robinson Crusoe Island

Trekking in the middle of the Pacific

Going into the Pacific, 674 km from the continent, is located the Robinson Crusoe Island, 48 sq.km, belonging to Chile. Together with Santa Clara island (2 sq.km) and Selkirk island (50 sq.km) they compose the widely spread Juan Fernandez archipel. It owes its fame to a pirate dispute: in 1704, after a fierce fight with the captain of the buccaneer ship on which he navigated, the sailor Alexander Selkirk was abandoned on the uninhabited island. He was rescued after four years and four months, and returned to Great Britain. His story, though, traveled around the world, fantasiously embelished by the writer Daniel Defoe, who turned Selkirk into the literary hero Robinson Crusoe.

On the western part, the volcanic island looks dry, exhibiting a rich spectrum of earth colors. In the east, the Yunque (anvil) mount, with its 915 m, rises as the highest point of the island. Its slopes are crossed by deep ravines and covered with abundant vegetation. 215 species are represented in its flora, of which 130 exist solely in the island. In the only town of the island, San Juan Bautista, about 500 people live of fishing, especially lobster. Although tourism is growing, no more than 2000 people visit the island every year. This low number is explained, in a great mesure, by the high cost of the airplane ticket.

When to travel

September and october are very windy, and for this very reason, sometimes small airplanes cannot land on it. The best time to go there is from the second week of november until the end of march..

How to get there

It’s a two and a half hours flight from the Cerrillos airport in Santiago. As of now, there are two companies that fly to the island: Aeromet (0210 Pedro de Valdivia avenue, at the corner of Costanera, phone +56-2-333-0888) and LASSA (Tobalaba Airdrome, 7941 Larraín avenue, phone +56-2-273-5209, lassa@terra.cl). Price: approx. US$ 400 return ticket. In the cost it’s included the transfer by boat from the island airdrome to the town of San Juan Bautista. It takes about one hour.

Lodging

Refugio Náutico, Ph. 32/751-077
Martínez Green, Ph. 32/751039
Hostería Pangal, Ph. 9/2735209
Hostal Breuilh, Ph. 32/751107

Guides

Rosa María Recabarren, Ph. 32/751020
Carlo Montalbetti, Ph. 32/751030

Restaurant

Lodging places offer half board or full board. An alternative is the Baron de Rott restaurant.

Excursions

The island is almost entirely a National Park, so touring it has a fee. The ticket costs about US$ 6 and is valid for a week.

Plazoleta (square) El Yunque
250 m , 3 hrs.

The CONAF visitors' lodge is situated upward Lord Anson street. A photographic exhibit and a small botanic garden some of the points of interest of the island. It is also here that the entrance fee to the National Park is paid. We go up Lord Anson street and after some 15 minutes we cross a wood fence. Right after, the road bifurcates and we take the left path, passing near the white water tanks. Some ten minutes later, we arrive to the entrance of the National Park. We continue on the same path for another 30 minutes and we’ll find the picknick area of the El Yunque. Starting here a circular tour of approximately one hour will take us through an interesting vegetation of nalcas (Gunnera scabrosa), luma trees (Amomyrtus luma
) and various kinds of ferns.

GPS Data

Conaf visitors' center	S 33°38.506'	W 078°48.933'
Entrance National Park	S 33°39.273'	W 078°50.916'
El Yunque	S 33°39.930'	W 078°51.007'

Salsipuedes (GetOutIfYouCan)
450 m , 1:15 hrs.

From the port, we walk up Pólvora street for 10 minutes. At the end of the street a sign indicates that to the right is “Salsipuedes”. From here a path goes up to the entrance of the National park, some 10 to 15 minutes away. The forest in this area is composed of eucalyptus, aromos (Acacia melanoxylon) and pines. Shortly after the entrance we find a fork, the only place where we could miss our way. We have to go right. Soon we leave the forest behind, the slopes are now covered with gladioli and murtillas (Ugni molinae). An hour and fifteen minutes after our departure we arrive at the mirador viewpoint, at 424 m, directly under the antena. Below us it stretches Juan Bautista and Cumberland bay.

GPS Data

Sign	S 33°38.062'	W 078°50.184'
Salsipuedes	S 33°37.739'	W 078°50.289'

Sendero de Chile (Chile's Path)
805 m , 7 hrs.

Sendero de Chile is a country-wide project to unite the territory by a walkable path. Here, it crosses all the island from the airdrome to Juan Bautista. By boat, it takes 1 hour to 1h15 to cross from Juan Bautista to Padre bay, situated below the airdrome. We go into the path towards the airdrome and before getting there, we take to the right to the cliffs. Here we get a spectacular view of El Arenal, the only beach on the island, although sometimes it hasn’t any sand at all. Here we can go back to the path or continue climbing the hill in front of us, since the airdrome’s windsock is seen from far away. Some 500 meters after we leave behind the airdrome, we arrive at the entrance of the National park, at 144 m. To get to this spot we need at least an hour, taking long pauses to take pictures.

The Sendero de Chile is in this section an easily identifiable track. After a few minutes, we cross a wood fence. To the right, a path twists and turns towards the biggest seals colony of the island, in Tierra Blanca bay. Even from here it is possible to hear their bellowing. However, it’s best not to go down to the colony, since it could unnecessarily stress the animals. We follow then our way and 45 minutes later we arrive at Punta Chupones, at 276 m, from where there is a view of the next bay. A small detour gets us closer to the cliffs. An hour and a half later, the view opens out on Villagra bay. At 256 m, a sign that says “3 Puntas” (three points) refers to the hill behind. The vegetation, up until now, is not especially varied, the terrain is covered mostly with pointy seeds called trunes. In the fall, the trunes stick in a peculiar manner to cotton pants.

Before us, green smooth hillocks spread up to the the Selkirk viewpoint. After another hour of walking, we arrive at the picknick area in the Villagra valley, at 278 m, where a CONAF lodge is located. Here we are already in the middle of an exuberant vegetation. For this reason the path gets narrower and goes up twisting and turning up to the Selkirk mirador, at 571 m. Up until now, we have needed almost six hours for the whole trek, although with long pauses to take pictures. Below us it spreads Cumberland bay and we can already see some of the houses of San Juan Bautista. On the way down there is no risk of getting lost, and less than an hour later we arrive at the entrance of the National park, at 191 m. Only a few meters below begins Castillo street, which leads to fort Santa Bárbara. Our excursion lasted, in all, seven hours.

GPS Data

Bahía Padre	S 33°40.187'	W 078° 56.161'
Arenal	S 33°40.378'	W 078°56.039'
National Park entrance	S 33°39.889'	W 078°55.668'
Bahía Chupones	S 33°39.157'	W 078°54.503'
Tres Puntas	S 33°38.709'	W 078°52.984'
Villagra	S 33°38.205'	W 078°52.074'
Mirador Selkirk	S 33°38.210'	W 078°51.087'
National Park entrance	S 33°38.248'	W 078°50.384'

Rebaje de la Piña (The pineapple narrow pass)
1140 m , 7 hrs.

For this excursion, too, we need to go by boat to our starting point. It is not advisable to make this trip with bad weather, since even with relatively good weather, the disembarkation can be a real adventure. Renting the whole boat costs about 30,000 pesos (approx. US$ 50) and the trip lasts some 45 minutes, from Juan Bautista to Francés bay. Directly on the bay there is camping area and a CONAF lodge with a water faucet behind it. All the drinking water, except in Juan Bautista, must be desinfected.

We walk up the valley and, after approx. 30 minutes, it forks. To the left, a path goes up to Pascua and Quebrada Hedionda (stinky ravine). We stay on the right arm of the valley. The vegetation becomes thicker, we start seeing the first luma trees. We continue advancing on the left margin of the valley. Tha track is not always visible, it gets lost often and, in springtime, its known to disappear altogether. The help of a local guide is advisable for this excursion.
Thirty minutes ahead, a ladder allows us to pass over a barbed wire fence. We now walk through a dense forest with big naranjillo (Citronella mucronata) trunks. An hour an a half after our departure, we arrive at the Rebaje de la Piña viewpoint, at 378 m. Bellow us it spreads the wild and uneven coast.

After a generous pause, we go down for about 45 minutes back to Francés bay, to the point, at 150 m, where it joins Quebrada Hedionda. In all, we have walked until now 485 m up and 285 m down, in two hours and fifteen minutes.

From here, instead of going on descending, we walk up one of the many tracks to the left of the eroded, vegetationless hillock. Half an hour later, we arrive at Alto del Francés, at 250 m, a green plateau or mesa with a beautiful view of the bay, right below us. Maybe we could be lucky enough to see some whales jumping out of the water.
On the following section, the path is easily identifiable most of the time and leads us to a steep slope on top the coast. During the journey, we must walk arround each of the ravines we encounter. After an hour and a half, we arrive at the Pesca de los Viejos ravine, at 240 m, and 15 minutes later, to the La Labra ravine, at 230 m.

Another 15 minutes later, we cross over a wood fence. To go down the slope that extends before us, there are three choices. We take the left path, although it’s the steepest, it’s also the shortest. In 30 minutes, we arrive to the top (380 m). Below us is the next ravine, and we can already see the antena of the Centinela viewpoint. We descend a bit and again we find three choices to go. And again we take the left path, that gets into dense murtilla bushes and a luma trees wood. We need 45 minutes to get to the antena and the Centinela mirador, at 360 m.

We go down for another 45 minutes and arrive at the entrance of the National park, a short distance before the Hostería Pangal, at 113 m. From here up to the center of Juan Bautista, it’s a 45 minutes walk. In the second part of the excursion, we trekked 655 meters up, 750 meters down and it took us 5 hours.

GPS Data

Bahía Francés	S 33°39.726'	W 078°46.628'
Quebrada Hedionda	S 33°39.954'	W 078°47.358'
Rebaje de la Piña	S 33°40.163'	W 078°48.145'
Alto del Francés	S 33°39.594'	W 078°46.763'
Q. Pesca de los Viejos	S 33°39.120'	W 078°47.346'
Q. La Labra	S 33°39.055'	W 078°47.612'
El Rabanal	S 33°38.825'	W 078°48.107'
Centinela	S 33°38.693'	W 078°48.468'
National Park Entrance	S 33°38.776'	W 078°48.826'