Tanama River Hike

Saturday our friend Dallas arranged another Tanama river trip like we did at Xmas. This time it was to introduce some of the wonders of PR and nature to the younger generation with ties to UPR Mayaguez. The weather (rain) is a concern when making this long trip because of flash flooding but the weather was marginally acceptable Saturday at the start and actually turned out to be pleasant. It was a large group of 42 enthusiastic, energetic, and interesting people. We hiked to the entrance of the cave and waited for the entire group to arrive before starting in the water. There were other groups of tourists here taking inner-tubes through the cave as see in the back of the following picture. We made it through the cave and again waited on the other side for the whole group to make it though. It was clear to the leader (Anthony) and to others that we were going to need to change the plan. Large groups tend to move slow and even though we were composed of 5 or 6 sub groups it was still slow. We stopped and had lunch at the Big Arch cave. This was a good point to turn around. Everyone had a great time and we were able to get a good sample of the river. We did almost a mile on the river (about 1/3rd). Many people want to go again with hopes of making it the whole way. I think a limit of 15 people would be good with good weather. Now that its starting to rain more I think a limit of 10 -12 people a trip would be good. I don't know about doing the trip during the rainy season. Thanks again Dallas for arranging the trip and thanks to Anthony for leading it.