Living Positive: Kayak Adventure

June 19, 2021

Another early start today to go on a kayak/hiking adventure! We were lucky enough to get the last two spots on a Duke’s Kayak Adventures tour but we had to report at 7am in Kapp’a, about a 30 minute drive from our condo. This adventure included kayaking 5 miles on the Wailua river and then hiking 1 mile to the Uluwehi falls also known as Secret Falls which is not much of a secret but I will get to that later..

After being outfitted with a tandem kayak with Don in the back, we set out on the calm and clear Wailua river. Our tour guide was Brian and right off the bat we knew it was going to be a fun time when he started off with his Madonna repertoire! We tried to keep up with him because he had many fun facts, many set to songs. It was a beautiful morning and an added Hawaiian touch was all along the way were pretty orange flowers floating in the water. These were called Sunset flowers which are yellow while on the bush but change to an orange color before they fall off the bushes into the water. Another fun feature was rowing past the site where the opening airplane in the water scene was filmed for the Raiders of the Lost Ark, Indianna Jones movie.

For the most part, Don and I were compatible rowers, when he followed my lead(!) However, there were a few times I was enthusiastically rowing away only to notice that he wasn’t! He assured me that he was an excellent rudder and would guide us in the right direction. But

after 5 miles, I was glad that he was in the kayak with me because that is the farthest that I have ever rowed.

We docked our kayaks and set out on the hike. The first part reminded me of walking through a corn maze because we had to trek through very tall grass until we got to the stream that we had to cross. “Stream” was the wrong description in the tour advertisement - it was a 2-3 foot river! I was so glad that I didn’t wear my hiking boots and had opted for my Keen sandals to forge my way through the swift current. As with our canyon hike, this trail had many roots and some rocks to navigate. Our guide pointed out that a positive outcome of the Covid caused tour shutdown, was that it enabled workers to install a boardwalk for most of the trail which previously was prone to be a muddy mess and hard to walk through. This is a heavily traveled trail so I’m sure it was ecologically necessary as well.

Our destination, the 100 foot Uluwehi waterfall, did not disappoint. It was beautiful! Because we had left so early, we had no problem finding a spot in the rocks to set up “camp” and enjoy the view and a snack. Brian told us that going behind the waterfall was a great experience and if we stood in the right spot behind the falls, released leaves would fly up the waterfall. Well, of course Don and I had to try this. How hard could it be? Well, we found out that it was not easy. First of all, the water was very chilly so I had to force myself in. Then when we reached the waterfall, we got the full impact of the force of the water coming down. Fortunately, Brian had given us great instruction about where to enter from the side and then the niche to back into when behind the falls. We released our leaves and they did fly up! I found out later that Don was worried the entire time about losing his contacts from the pounding water so didn’t “see” much of the experience. Brian filmed our venture and even added some special effects. Have I mentioned how much I enjoyed this tour guide?!

After about an hour, we set out on our trip back. We had noticed that by the time we left the falls, more and more people had begun showing up. The trail back was very busy and when we got back to where we left the kayaks, it was a packed kayak parking lot! Then the race was on to get on the water before everyone else got back. This also reminded me of the open scene of Raiders of the Lost Ark, when all the natives are running through the jungle! Actually, the river is pretty wide so there was enough room but quite busier than our trip there.

I have to tell you that by the time we made it back to the marina, I was pretty pooped but what a great adventure! I highly recommend it but go early! We felt like we deserved a good lunch so we found a restaurant by the beach. Loco Moco for me and Poke bowl for Don which gave us the strength to drive back to our condo for a nap! Well, actually I may have started the second part on the way back..

We decided to start Happy Hour later at the secluded beach that we found near the condo the other day. We schlepped some chairs and our snorkel gear down the trail which was much easier this time since we knew where the actual trail was. It was a little tricky to navigate the rocks down to the beach but well worth it. The beach is sheltered a little so the water was not rough there but there were a lot of lava rock formations in the shallow water which looked like it made snorkeling a little difficult. So, we set aside our snorkel gear and soaked in the relaxing, warm water instead. Life’s a beach!