At 0730h Guenther’s clock is ringing. But I woke up because of Michele’s boat rocking against the Rancho Relaxo. He’ll be back in half an hour to pick us up. Fine. Breakfast.
At 0800 sharp, Michele arrives with our guide Peter. But Pete was out partying yesterday and has (beside other problems) a huge hangover. After walking for 15 minutes we have fear that he’ll break down and send him back. So Guenther and me are walking up without guide – he’s not needed anyway. The way is quite visible and with the climbing he can’t help much.
Rainshowers pour down every couple minutes and the moisture in the air is incredible. The sweat is dripping off my forehead. We are perfectly adjusted for a climbing session: Both of us are wearing bathing shorts and Guenther even has shoes ! I’m walking bare foot. I also brought shoes but wanted to do it Moitessier-style. It’s really nice to feel the ground, the rocks, roots and the wet foilage on the ground.
The piton is about 700m high and at some stages we really had to climb. Because the rain makes the rocks and the ground slippery it sometimes can get a little dangerous but nonethless, we made it to the top. It took us about 2 hours and every minute of it was great ! The view from the top is of course amazing. I called Bruno via VHF but he couldn’t see me from the ship. Despite using a spyglass and me waving the yellow cover of my rucksack.
After climbing down we had a ‘Piton’ at the bar on the beach and Gui picked us up with the Dinghy. We really had a great day ! And maybe tomorrow we’ll all walk together to the waterfalls.