Tuesday 4th July
Weather is looking far more promising today for our hike to the Concord waterfall. A bit of a faff, we are waiting for Karen and Will at the Prickly bay pontoon and they are waiting for us at Spice Island, nearly went without them. With 14 of us pile up in the minivan and off we go. So we have the usual suspects, Francine and Al, Nicole and Ron, Karen and Wills, Steve, Dave, Fizzy (like water or champagne), Lyn and another couple who are anchored in St George’s bay. It’s just like a school outing, loads of banter in the bus as everyone gets to know each other. We soon get to the head of the trail, the same one as we did in January with Ann and Roy. Although it is dry now, the rain has made the path extremely slippery, still at least we can see the views from the top much better than the last time we were here, when it rain nonstop all day. Funny to be walking with so many people, loads of blah blah going on. We have been going up to mount Qua Qua, the path branch out and it is all downhill from now on. Both Ron and Al have their machete at the ready and they make good use of them, widening the overgrown trail, Rambo style. We are following a river most of the way, crossing it and re-crossing it, under deep rainforest cover. The sunlight makes beautiful shadows and the water is glistening. Not quite a walk in the park though, the downhill slopes and the slippery rocks make it a tough one: especially the near vertical steps hewn out of the rock where you have to hold onto a bit of wire to keep your balance or the sheer descent that can only be tackle on your bum as shoes have no purchase at all in the mud. A few tumbles and a torn trousers later, we reach our lunch spot by the river, a welcome break. Not for long though, we still haven reached our destination. The going gets a bit easier if a trifle wet, most of the remaining path is actually in the water, thigh deep for me and my little legs and the rocks are treacherous. On the plus side, both my shoes and trousers are thoroughly rinsed, sae on the washing. The view awaiting us makes it all worth it, the waterfall is a good 30 metres drop and the pool at the bottom is huge and deep. The roar of the water is deafening. It is definitely a very special place and it really feel well worth the efforts. Everyone jumps in to cool off. The water is actually quite cool and mist rises from the waterfall, very atmospheric. We can’t stop long, we still have 30mn walk before we reach the rendez-vous point with our transport. From there, the path takes us along the river with a view ankle deep crossing amongst small farms. We have banana trees, cocoa, nutmeg, what look like garlic in neat rows and even cabbages (they do look a bit thirsty). Nice to be back on flat surface. A few buildings t the end of the trail offer some refreshments and souvenirs, another smaller waterfall can be seen from the road. A well deserved glass of homemade lime juice for me. I must say that was a very good trek, a bit scary in places but well worth it…glad we’ve done it and extremely pleased we did not tackle it last Wednesday in the rain, that would not have been fun at all.