October 2009 Newsletter - DolphinUnderwater.org

Also what was amazing were the rock formations, not the sort of place to take a tumble or come down in aparachute, extremely sharp & jagged. Look in the photobehind Margaret & Trish at those pointed rocks Ouch!Back up the rocky track, thru the forest and back to thevan. Met another couple on the track & told them to keepgoing that the views were worth the effort.A group consensus was taken to back track & locate theAnapala Chasm. There were roosters & chooks everywhere, even in the middle of the forest area. We went backto the little village with the church & then someonespotted the sign over the other side of the grass reserve.We followed the track to end up driving down a narrowsteep road, Martin was a bit worried the van might haveproblems getting back up it, however we did meet up withanother vehicle coming up, fortunately we were able to pass each other. That was after Martin shook handwith the other driver out the window; they were Kiwi’s from Nelson. We got to the rest area & grabbing ourgear headed off down to the beach area on the left. Of course the map instructions were to go to the right!After looking at the left area, I put my backpack (including togs and nibbles) into the back of the van, beforewe trooped off to look at the right hand track. Again there was a short forest walk & then down the (99) stepsinto the chasm. No I didn’t count them; it’s in the Niue visitor information booklet. The steps were an easywalk down, though the chain rail wasn’t attached to the last post. Amagnificent spot with a fresh water pool in which I had a quick paddle &convinced everyone it wasn’t too cold. Denis borrowed Kevin’s dive torch,put on his mask & fins & set out toexplore the other end of the pool.Emma was next in the water by theneveryone else decided they had to gohave a look too. Kevin & I were thelast with me deciding I couldn’t missout, so just went in my bra andknickers.The chasm was only about 3metres at its widest, with the waterprobably about 8-10 metres deepmaybe 25-30 metres long. Whatcool experience. We all trooped back up to the van with everyoneagreeing it was a marvellous experience & glad that we had turnedaround to go back to check it out.&