Day 100 Waterfall hike

Surf skiing
Andy had found a hike in the guide book that he wanted to try. We canvassed the other boats and found that Jennifer and Mikaela from Soul's Calling wanted to come along so we packed some sandwiches and hitchhiked to the other side of the town to Kaoha Nui Ranch.
As we discovered when we have hitchhiked in the past, two guys may have trouble getting a ride but when there is a woman and a child present, the local people are quick to stop and let you climb into the back of their pickup trucks. The same was true today. The first truck to come along stopped and gave us a ride all the way to the Ranch although it seemed like it might have been out of his way. The driver spoke a few words of English and said "have a nice day" as we climbed out.
As we started up the road, we passed some ranch workers and asked permission to take the hike. They said the waterfalls would be difficult to find without a guide (the standard for all of the hikes we have taken) but we declined and said we would just go as far as we could.
We started up a steep dirt road past very well maintained farmed areas growing mango, taro and papaya. The road ended in a grassy meadow and after some careful searching we found a faint path that led to a rocky stream bed. There did not appear to be any trail so we carefully "bouldered" upstream and eventually found a path leading through a thick stand of bamboo. The path went steeply uphill following the stream.
The guide book mentioned three waterfalls with fixed ropes needed to reach the last and largest one. The first two were small with shallow pools at the bottom so we pushed on and found the fixed ropes. Eleven-year-old Mikaela demonstrated that young girls make exceptional climbers and scrambled nimbly up the incline using the rope to pull herself up. We climbed several angled cliffs with steps cut into the rock and a final walk along the cliff face with horizontal ropes for safety until we came to the third waterfall. This one was quite beautiful and the pool was large enough for swimming. Andy and Mikaela went in while I watched in envy. Since I have another infection I am trying to stay out of the water for a while.
We had our sandwiches and headed back down the steep trail. At the road, we quickly got a ride again from a local couple who took us all the way back to the marina. Again, it seemed that it was farther than they were planning to go but they cheerfully wished us well and we all said "maaruuru" which is thank-you in Tahitian.
While we were gone, the rest of the boats had come up with a way to surf without waves. Soul's Calling, which is a 50 foot catamaran, has a very sophisticated dinghy. Compared to the 8 foot inflatables with 4 or 5 horsepower motors that most boats use, this craft really is not a dinghy but rather should be called an inflatable boat. It is about 12 feet long and has a 40 HP motor, several seats and a steering wheel. Sean dug out a ski rope and life jackets and everyone was taking turns getting towed behind the boat while standing on a surfboard. By the end of the day, all of the adults had tried "wake surfing" except me who declined in order to keep my wound dry.
We ended the day with 6 boat loads of cruisers making the local pizzeria happy.