Sari Sari Falls

On Monday I went on another hike with the spouses. This one was to Sari Sari Falls, which is on the other side of the island. It's actually not too far away from Aba Wavine Cyrique, which is the waterfall off of a cliff that Ryan and I hiked a few weeks ago.

It was a fun hike in. There were a lot of hills (as always!) and a lot of river crossings. We all pretty much gave up trying to keep our shoes dry and just hiked through the water. The rocks were all slick and wet and it was better to get your shoes wet than to slip off a rock and soak your whole body! Looking back, it was more than just river crossings. At one point you just hike up the river! There's no trail on the side, you just walk/wade/swim through the water, depending on how agile you are.

I managed to stay out of the water for the hike there at least- on the way back I slipped off of a submerged rock and went from ankle deep water to water above my waist! Luckily Chris was behind me and grabbed my pack off of my back before everything inside was soaked. I really do enjoy hiking down here. It is pretty intense, don't let me lie to you. Even an easy hike is like 30 minutes on a stair climber- up and down and up and down! And things are ALWAYS wet and slippery here, and being that it's nature, the 'stairs' aren't nice and even. There may be logs lining the stairs, but they may be loose or just treacherously slippery. The stairs are never even or level, and there are parts where you have to clamber down slick rocks. But it is so much fun! You never know what you'll find around the next turn- nice, fairly even steps made of mud and logs, or a series of four foot high 'steps' cut into a slimy rock. I love it!

The falls itself was beautiful. Our last bit of hiking was to climb/slither through a narrow gap between some boulders- it was like being lifted up to see the beautiful falls tumbling into the secluded pool. The wind was almost overpowering- it kicked the spray up so badly that it was actually hard to see! I was worried about losing a contact- I am hoping the contacts I have will last me until Ryan and I return to the States in December. I actually went swimming in my hiking shoes- they were already wet from crossing rivers, and there were a lot of rocks beneath the surface and the water wasn't very clear. As always, when you reach a waterfall where swimming is permitted, the first goal is to get as close as possible to the waterfall- underneath it if at all feasible.

Getting to the actual waterfall was a LOT more difficult at Sari Sari than it was at any of the falls I've been to so far. Our first attempt was to simply swim (backwards, due to the spray) across the pool to the falls. This has worked in the past, but the current and the wind and spray were so strong that I doubt we made it halfway across the pool. It was very hard to judge our progress, because we were completely blinded whenever we tried to turn to look at the falls. You can see us swimming backwards in this photo. Those of us in the back caught up when the first group realized that they were swimming but not moving!

Chris had made it to the falls with success, so Summer and I adopted his method next. I guess we were the stubborn ones who really wanted to make it to the falls! The others climbed on the rocks above the pool and took photos. We made our way along the edge of the pool, clinging to the rocks along the edge and feeling for our footing. It wasn't easy, because of being blinded by the spray, but it was fun! I couldn't find a photo of us by the falls, but I marked the rock we reached. We pretty much reached it, looked at each other, said "That was fun," and headed back! With the spray and wind we didn't want to linger.

I also included a photo of the group. This was our 'silly shot'! I hope you like it!