Hawaii Trip Kayaking the Waimea River

Hawaii Trip Kayaking the Waimea River

Our kayaking trip was first group tour for the trip, leaving the morning after out arrival on the island, already we were feeling like time was slipping away too fast.

 

 (photos via: Kauaidiscovery.com)

During our first morning, we met a lovely couple from Baltimore, Gary and Betsy, that had book the same three tours as ourselves; we were excited to have someone to share our experiences. Soon we found ourselves on the bus heading off towards Nawiliwili Harbor with a rather large group of people with varied levels of fitness.

Most trips with an orientation, detailing the kayaking trip and hike to the falls. It was then a group member mentioned a planned knee transplant. A low sigh escaped the person beside me as the realization of what just happened stuck the group, the hike would not happen today.

The group got off without much trouble and quickly fell into pace as we paddled our way up the river.

We first passed by the Menehune fish pond and heard the story of a group of inhabitants, slight in size but tenacious, who carried stones from the mountains in a single night to creating this pond. The pond is now privately owned and we were only able to view it through the dense trees as we quickly paddled by.

We had two guides, one in the front to guide us up the river and one in the rear to encourage the stragglers in the back. The trip was a serenely peaceful way to experience our first day on Hawaii, listening to little anecdotes and lore as we sliced our way up the river.

Soon the water narrowed and was more stream like, large river rocks brushed against the bottom of the kayak. At this point, we jumped on land around the same place where Indiana Jones swung his rope swing onto the wing of a plane in Raiders of the Lost Ark.

Hiking through the Hawaiian forest was much like a hike in Vermont, except the gorgeous lush vegetation.  I was amazed at the size of plants that we grow inside in pots in our northern climate.  Not only were these plants large, they completely enveloped the trees, the leaves growing to sizes I haven’t seen before. At our feet, the ground was dug up in various locations, evidence of the wild pigs that roamed wild, foraging when the trails were quiet. We quickly reached our stopping off point, for our lunch and to see the falls. These were not the waterfalls we hoped to see but instead were a minor series of three 2 – 6 foot falls with a trickling of water flowing over them.

We ate our lunch, then made our way down a different return trail, hiked by a rope swing by a swimming hole.  With a lot of cajoling, a teenage boy and his younger sister decided to join the fun, the rest of the group remained warm and dry on the shore.  Our return hike was pleasant, we enjoyed the remaining details of our stroll, the ride back down the river was quick and taken on a pontoon styled boat.

Despite the change in itinerary we had a nice day on the river, our ride back to the resort seemed quick as we all discussed the details of the day.

Later, the evening was warm and breezy, we arrived to see all the lounge chairs gone and the beach transformed for the evening celebration and dinner.