Coming back up and bursting out of the cave, I nearly planted my face in this nest of spiders. I guess you always need to keep an eye on where you're going in a jungle. The trail supposedly continues to the coral spires, but since Alexa claims it's similar to Togo, we decided to head there. Topo is supposed to be more spectacular, although at Vaikona, you can walk around the spires, whereas Togo has one track.

Looking back up the rope to where Alexa was waiting at the entrance. going up a bit first, I found a reasonably easy route back.

The water dripping at Vaikona Chasm gave the pool a tranquil feel, creating perfectly round ripples on the otherwise perfectly still gem-like water.

A closer view of the clear subterranean water in the chasm. I really wish I had Willy along so I could go down there and swim through the caves - that sounds like a great adventure!

From the first ledge, I can see to the water and a few openings to above, where the sunlight poured through the cave, lu leaves, and clear water to give the area a azure shimmering quality to it. The bottom of the chasm was covered in what appeared to be large overturned pieces of cave ceiling, complete with stalactites. I wonder how frequently cave-ins happen here.

Looking down the rope - it looked stable enough, and since people do climb down it all the way to the bottom, I thought I'd go down a bit to see if I can see the water. Alexa warned me not to go past the first ledge, since then it's very difficult to get back up.

Alexa, remembering the way, showed me to the entrance of the chasm, accessible through a hole in the ground. Apparently Willy does tours here where he takes you with a flashlight, and you can swim through a tunnel to arrive near the ocean. Sadly, he's busy today on a fishing tour. Apparently until recently, he used to do the tour for free since the loved showing people the place.

After following and backtracking from a few false trails leading to sudden cliffs into the earth, suddenly, we are here! But where is it? I'm starting to feel like we're in a video game level.

The roots grew thicker, and we were ducking our way through a tunnel of roots and rock walls. We climbed over at least one large rock outcropping on a naturally-formed near perfect coral-rock spiral staircase. Steep, tall drop-offs appeared around us, going down into the earth.

The trees eventually gave way to these bushes (possibly pandanus?), and we were soon hiking among the roots under a thin, even green canopy. I wonder if this is what small animals feel like running through tall grass and shrub land.