Rapturous!

Our second excursion with Hervie was to the lava tubes. His son, Hanoo came with us this time. He is just as strong and fit as his father but several decades younger. Their light hearted enthusiasm about going to the lava tubes gave us no hint of what we were about to do although we should have cued in when they issued us with wet suits and helmets.

We set off up the stream. Hervie warned us that it would be slippery but we would go slowly. Slowly in his opinion. It seemed fast to me. We picked our way between green algae and over fast running water. It was difficult to see how deep the stream was so I resorted to clambering on and through the rocks bent over with at least one hand on a rock while Hervie and Hanoo walked blithely confident through the water leading the way from one rock to the next.



With their long legs they had an optimistic estimation of my reach. One of them would extend a hand to steady my leap across a gap too wide for me. Trying not to visualize what would happen if my landing foot slipped out from under, I'd launch myself and land successfully feeling years younger and more agile.

We reached the first tube, a cave in the cliff from which the stream emerged.



Head lamps were switched on and we ventured into the dark. My headlamp was weak making the slippery spots hard to see. We were so focused on our feet that we almost forgot to stop and look up at ropes of rocks frozen in the roof. There are no bats in Polynesia. Hervie said he would eat them if there were any. Now the river was narrow with steep walls. We came to the first fixed rope knotted at intervals.Hanoo scrambled up like a goat and pointed out the footholds to me. I could just reach at full stretch. Hanging my full weight on the rope, I hauled myself up. Those pull ups really paid off.



The river bed was getting steeper; the water more forceful. The next tube was much narrower. Hanoo went ahead to fix a rope that he then wrapped around my middle to belay me as I climbed straight up the rock face about 15 feet pulling myself hand over hand with only a toe grip in niches. Our guides' voices suddenly became serious and commanding. "Sit there, wait, don't move." When we had all made it up, in the weak light of our headlamps, we crept along a very narrow ledge above the river. I was concentrating so hard that I didn't notice it getting lighter. We emerged into the sunlight where the river was a level gurgling stream meandering between small, rounded stones.



Time for a rest and a gallon of water but our guides soon had us moving on again.

Just around the bend we came to a cascade falling in front of a cave into a grey, murky pool. The third lava tube. Taking my hand, Hanoo led me into the pool waist deep for him, chest deep for me.



The water was cold. I was thankful for the wetsuits. We walked into the waterfall, thundering on our helmets. This time there were fixed ropes to help us climb up into the falling water. Finally, over the lip to wait while Greg clambered up. The cavern was deep and high with feeder tubes piercing the ceiling. In the back of the cave a heavy, dense flow of water fell from the roof. During the rainy season each of the feeder tubes would be spurting water. It wouldn't be possible to hike this in the rainy season.

By now we were thoroughly chilled and tired but this wasn't the end. Our guides led us up into one of the feeder tubes, which was completely smooth, like sandstone, giving a hint at the force of water that must flow through this tube in the rainy season. But now it was dry with a sandy bottom, dark and silent after the continuous roar of water we'd just left. It got narrower and narrower. We walked through still, opaque pools with Gollum hiding in the shadows. Up ahead the roof dipped, forcing us to crawl on hands and knees. A draft of fresh air kept the claustrophobia at bay. Downslope, finally, down the ladder and back out to the cascade.

We walked out of the canyon on a Jeep trail up onto the ridge. Looking down into the canyon we tried to spot the lava tube entrances and exits but the tropical undergrowth shrouded it all. The excitement was all below ground. It was only 11:30am when we arrived back at the truck and we were back at the boat at 2:00pm for a cup of tea and a nap.