Activity Tips
Kevin Ditamore – Adventureinhawaii.com Owner
The Ditch … the Ditch … the Ditch is back! Sounds almost like an Elton John tune doesn’t it? Yes, that’s right! One of the Big Island’s most popular vacation activities is available once again.
For years Big Island visitors have enjoyed the unique experience of floating down the Kohala Ditch in an inflatable kayak … through tunnels and over flumes and past a verdant tropical rain forest with many pretty little waterfalls. The Kohala Ditch was completed by Japanese laborers in 1905. After 18 months of grueling hard work and the loss of 17 lives, the 22 mile ditch began delivering water from the rainy windward slopes of Mauna Kea to the thirsty sugar cane fields of northern Kohala.
The sugar plantation closed in 1971, but the Kohala Ditch continued to deliver water to more diverse agriculture in the community. The Ditch was opened to recreational use with the Flumin’ da Ditch tour in 1996. It operated successfully for 10 years until the powerful 6.8 earthquake that rocked the Big Island (and Maui and Oahu too) on Sunday October 15, 2006. The Kohala Ditch was damaged badly, seemingly beyond repair, and the water no longer flowed. If you read reports on Tripadvisor, you’ll see ominous posts asserting “The Flumin’ Da Ditch tour is gone for good.”
Ummmm … no it isn’t. The Kohala Ditch was repaired and reopened for tours in 2010 doing business as “Kohala Ditch Adventures.” This tour was incredibly popular with our clients until a storm damaged the ditch in November of 2014. One flume needed to be replaced, and several others shored up, before tours could once again resume.
Great news! As of June 2015 the work has been completed and the tours are now operating once again under the name of Flumin’ Kohala! Float on, everyone!
Guests check in at Flumin’ Kohala’s location in “downtown” Hawi, a quaint sugar-cane-plantation-era town that is now home to an eclectic mix of art galleries and little cafes. From there the adventure starts with a ground tour to the Pololu Valley overlook and then a 4WD ride to the Kohala Ditch. A short nature walk crosses a flume just like the ones you will be paddling over, and there is a very pretty waterfall there! When you reach the start of the floating tour, the guides assist you in boarding your inflatable kayak, which holds up to 4 people, depending on weight.
While the person in the front and the back of the kayak are given paddles, you don’t really have to do heavy duty paddling as the ditch has a pretty decent current that carries you right along. This is not a scarey whitewater ride, but it isn’t boring either. Around every bend there are new sights, with tunnels and flumes and great views of the rainforest. Guides tell the stories and history of the Kohala Ditch, and you’ll even see some 100+ year old Kanji characters left on the walls of the tunnels by the Japanese laborers who engineered and built this amazing structure.
The tour covers a distance of about 3 miles, and you are floating for about an hour … exact time will vary depending on tour size, the water speed and how hard your group paddles. At the conclusion of the tour you board the 4WD van for a ride back to the base area. A light snack and beverage are served as well.
This tour is similar to the Mountain Tubing Adventure offered on Kauai, but you sit on a kayak instead of sitting on a tube. While you do get a little wet on this tour, your butt isn’t in cold water like it is on the Kauai version. Also, the tunnels here are not quite as long so you don’t spend as much time in the dark. We think the amount of time spent in tunnels and the amount of time floating in the open have a really good balance on this tour. There are one or two places where you have to lean back on the kayak so you don’t hit your head. Exactly how wet you get on this tour will depend largely on how much the other people in your group are going to splash you on purpose. If you want to stay on the dry side, be nice to the people who are traveling with you on vacation!
One important consideration for this tour … bring the right kind of footwear. Flip flops are not the right kind of footwear as they have a tendency to float away during the tour and are strictly forbidden. In my opinion the best choice are Tevas or Keens or water shoes of some type … footwear that attaches firmly and won’t come off is a must! Sneakers can work, but wet sneakers trapped inside a suitcase on your flight home to the mainland may not smell the way you want them to by the time you get home.
We are so glad this tour is available once again! It’s a don’t-miss experience on the Big Island.
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