During the last few years this island has been gaining popularity at a national level, being recently chosen as an "Emerging Destination" in a popular poll conducted by the magazine Enfoque. This award is basically due to the diverse activities that can be carried out along its 48 square kilometers, such as whale watching, mountain biking, horseback riding, diving, fly fishing and agrotourism.
But undoubtedly, one of the activities that most attract the attention of visitors to Isla Mocha is trekking. Within the island you can access two routes, the Sendero Camino Nuevo and the Sendero a la Laguna; the first corresponds to 1 hour and a half of walking and a path of virgin nature within which you can appreciate nalcas, olivillos, notros and canelos, among others, along with birds such as the choroy parrot, cachaña and the spectacular chucao. The second route is for those with a little more hiking experience, with a duration of 3 hours, which is why this trail is not as popular, but no less impressive, as it allows the sighting of migratory birds such as the fardella castella.
Isla Mocha has also acquired archaeological importance in recent years, due to several discoveries of chicken remains and Polynesian skulls, which serve as a basis for the theory that the Polynesians would have coexisted with the Mapuche people centuries ago.
Within Mapuche mythology and cosmology, this island has also played a fundamental role. The trempulcahue correspond to four machis that turn into whales and are in charge of carrying the souls of the deceased Mapuche warriors to "Ngill chenmaywe" (place for the gathering of the people), from this point the souls will begin their journey to the "west". It is believed that this place refers to Mocha Island, due to its proximity to the province of Arauco.
But if we are talking about whales, we cannot ignore the importance of this island in the inspiration of Herman Melville 's successful novel "Moby Dick". At the beginning of the 19th century, a whale by the name of Mocha Dick, which, unlike other sperm whales, was white in color, used to inhabit the surroundings of the island. This whale was believed to be strong and large, and is considered to be responsible for several shipwrecks in the area. One of the explorers who was a victim of these shipwrecks was Jeremiah N. Reynolds, who wrote several observations about this specimen, which reached Melville, who was impressed by the story and decided to write his successful novel.
Undoubtedly, both the geographical characteristics of this island as well as its legends and mysteries, have made this island a place worth knowing and discovering.