Willow Island

Chapter 4

"Are you ready to go cave exploring, Luna?"

"Almost. I am tying my shoes now." I yelled to her from my bedroom.

"I have the flashlights, snacks, and water already packed in my backpack. I am ready when you are."

As I walked out of my bedroom I could see Rachel waiting rather impatiently for me at the front door. "About time girl. Let's go. I am ready to explore." She said with a great deal of enthusiasm. She always had a great deal of enthusiasm.

"You know what, so am I. Let's go have some fun. I need to shake this sorrow from my bones. I should be enjoying the time I have on my private island." I replied.

We left the cabin, walked down the gravel path to the third split, and headed left, towards the beach. Once we arrived it did not take long to find the mouth of the cave again.

"This is one huge cliff face. I see now why there are no cabins right on the beach. How would you ever dock a boat here to unload?" Rachel asked.

"Agreed. I am sure from the ocean it looks like a solid wall of rock. I wonder how much of the exterior of the island is fenced by this rockface?"

"I do not know. Maybe the captain will take us around the perimeter of the island on his boat before we leave." Rachel suggested.

"I think I will ask him to," I said.

We changed our focus from the entire cliff to the cave entrance hole. Or at least it looked like a cave entrance from here. This morning we could see several feet inside with the sun's illumination of the entrance. "Flashlights on," I said. Genuinely excited to begin this adventure. With both of our flashlights on we began to walk into the hole in the rockface.

It did not take but about twenty feet to be in total darkness. The only light coming from our flashlights. Our field of view was limited to the two beams which cast light about two hundred feet each.

"Well, this is definitely a cave," I told Rachel.

"Sure is. This room is large enough that our lights have barely grazed the wall on the other side." Rachel replied.

As I pointed my flashlight at the ceiling, "Look at the beautiful stalactites that have formed on the ceiling." Rachel turned toward me to look.

"If you like that you should look over here. A stalactite has grown down from the ceiling and connected with a stalagmite that was growing up from the floor. It is gorgeous." I walked over to join Rachel.

"You are right it is beautiful the way nature has made this natural column that goes from ceiling to floor. It looks almost like a swirling together of red and orange.

We continued looking at the gorgeous formations that had been created by nature over thousands of years. Making sure we did not touch anything. It was all rather breathtaking and relaxing to observe what nature could accomplish if left undisturbed.

"Over here, Rachel. There is an opening. I can smell saltwater coming from inside."

Rachel came to where I was standing and we went through the small opening single file. We walked for several feet in a cave hallway of sorts until we finally came out into a small room with a hot tub-sized pool of water in its center. "Oh my gosh!" Rachel exclaimed. "A personal bathtub of ocean water. This cave gets better and better."

"Wow," is all I could think to say at first. While looking at the clear pool of saltwater I said, "Look at the small bubbles in the side of the structure. That must be where the ocean water is coming in."