YEKATERINBURG, November 30. /TASS/. Adventurers in the expedition Kon-Tiki-2, bound for Easter Island in the Pacific Ocean since leaving Peru in early November and bidding to follow the route of scientist, traveller and author Thor Heyerdahl, have lost 300 litres of fresh water - about 10% of the total they had on board.
"Sea water got into the fresh water tanks. We hope to replenish our reserves on Easter Island although we understand that it is a very precious resource there," Kon-Tiki crewmembers said in their official blog.
The expedition has already covered half the distance to Easter Island. Their rafts are now 1,720 kilometres away from their destination and 2,154 kilometres distant from Peru’s Lima. The crew hope their two rafts will reach Easter Island on December 19, where more researchers will join and extra food supplies taken aboard.
On January 1 the expedition heads for Chile’s southern coast. The whole adventure is scheduled to end in March next year.
Two of the crew members are Russian medical doctors Sergey Goltsov, from Tyumen, and Boris Romanov, from Moscow. A third Russian, Moscow blogger Andrey Chesnokov, is making travel notes.
Thor Heyerdal sailed 8,000 kilometres (5,000 miles) across the Pacific Ocean in a hand-built raft from South America to Tuamotu Islands in 1947. The expedition was designed to demonstrate that ancient people could have made long sea voyages, creating contacts between separate cultures.
Heyerdal made the journey to Easter Island in 1955-56.