Kauai Tubing

On our next trip to Kauai, Hawaii, one activity we are definitely trying is tubing---floating on inner tubes through 140-year-old irrigation canals cut from solid rock.  These canals were hand-hewn by imported laborers (Chinese?) in 1870 to bring water down from the "wettest spot on earth," Mount Wai'ale'ale, to the sugar cane fields below.  In places, the canal flows through tunnels and flumes. 

Sound, um, unusual?  Perfect for those who delight in the offbeat, and for history buffs.

Now, there's reportedly a guide book that calls this trip "semi-lame," but a resident of Kauai who posted on the Internet disagrees. "I've done it twice and had a blast both times," she says. "No rapids, just sort of a gentle float through the middle of Kauai."

Kaua'i Backcountry Adventures provides this unusual float, pictured above.  This company gained access to Lihue Plantation, which formerly produced sugar cane, and its four-mile-long Hanama‘ulu Ditch, really a canal.

The outfitter carries your party into the backcountry on all-terrain vehicles. Everyone gets a headlamp and an inner tube and hops into the "gently flowing" water. On the way downstream you can see great views, according to the outfitter. The activity closes with a picnic lunch and a dip in a natural swimming hole. It all takes about three hours and costs about $100 per person. You have to be over age 5 and less than 300 pounds.

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