Fodor's Expert Review Ahu Akivi

These seven stoic moai—believed by some to represent explorers sent on a reconnaissance mission by King Hotu Matu'a—are among the few that gaze out to sea, though researchers say they face a ceremonial site. Others say the oral history of the explorers has morphed into stories about the moai, and that there isn't an actual connection between statues and explorers. Archaeologists William Mulloy and Gonzalo Figueroa restored the moai in 1960.