Hiking on Cocos

Having arranged to meet the guide at 5 AM, we wake up at 4 AM to get the dinghy and ourselves ready to hike to the other side of the island, Bahia Wafer. Landing wonderfully uneventful, we tie up the dinghy and meet up with Melana to set off on our hike. Melana is a petite, strong woman who lives in San Jose and is here for a month as a volunteer. The hike has three parts, the first is steep climb up to the top, with amazing views of the bay, the second part is through the forest, cool, wet and shaded, the last part is a steep descend. This was my favorite part; we use ropes to hold on to, to keep us from slipping down the side of the hill. We come out of the woods into the work area where crews of about 15 are working on the future housing for park workers and volunteers. Everyone greets us; Melana knows everyone on the crew, and will probably be cooking him or her some meals for the next few weeks. The hike took 3 hours and we’ve earned a little rest in a hammock.

We run into the main park ranger guy, I don’t remember his name, but we’ve nicknamed him Fidel, for obvious reasons. He gives us a tour of the base, shows us the confiscated illegal long lines that is a constant problem here, and some of the equipment and boats owned by the Nat’l parks. He says that replacement parts for the big Yamaha outboards are a problem. Boat parts…a common thread for discussion for all boating types. He allowed us to use the computer in the office so we were able to do a few surprise emails to let some folks know of our latest change of plans. The best part was that the office was air conditioned….so nice.

We got a wild, fast ride back to our dinghy on the ranger’s extra big, extra fast dinghy. The rest of the day, we cleaned up our muddy clothes and bodies, hung out on the aft deck; our heads hit the pillow before 8 PM.

Most people that come here come for diving so they can swim with the hammerhead sharks; we were just happy to play in the water, sans the sharks thank you.