Kauai Backcountry Tubing Adventure

Relaxing and fun — aren’t words that typically go together, but that’s how we describe our experience with the Kauai Backcountry tubing adventure.

The adventure started in Lihue where we meet our fun guides and collected our gear consisting of a helmet equipped with a headlight and gloves. From Lihue, we hopped in a van for an informative, scenic, and sometimes bumpy 30-to-45-minute van ride. We did stop once to take in the view of the oft cloud-covered Mount Wai’ala’ale — the water source for our tubing ride.

Then it was back in the van to the starting point of our floating adventure. The guides carefully assist each person as they got onto their tube. Their stair step set up to get into the tubes made the process easy.

Overall, the guides did a great job keeping us together and safe all while having fun. As a bonus, they all had a great sense of humor.

Unlike typical mountain tubing adventures, the water source isn’t a river — it’s an irrigation ditch. This ditch was originally hand dug in the late 1800’s to water the booming sugar plantations. Now that the plantations have all gone, the flow is used for Kauai’s drinking water.

The ditch flows through a green forest with some tunnels. The water moved fast enough to have fun, but slow enough to enjoy the green canopy of ferns and trees in between tunnels. I believe we traveled approximately three or four miles of the irrigation ditch, though in total, it’s much longer than that.

After our float, we boarded the van for a short ride to a picnic spot for lunch and a swim. Lunch consisted of a make-your-own turkey sandwich, chips and a cookie. (Since our adventure, I think they may have changed from offering lunch to offering snacks and drinks, which I actually think works out better timing-wise. Plus, there are plenty of great lunch options in Lihue and Kapa’a.) We had the option to swim again, but no one in our group did that. From there, we boarded the van to go back to the Lihue office where we started.

Our video will give you a better idea of the pace of the water and the scenery.

Overall, we loved this unique tubing adventure on Kauai. We think this is a super fun activity for couples and families. For more insights and reviews, check this link to Kauai Backcountry Adventures TripAdvisor reviews.

What to know when you go:

– Check pricing, availability, and book directly with Kauai Backcountry Adventures via their FareHarbor booking engine link. We have noticed that this tour tends to book up quickly, so booking ahead of your Kauai vacation is advised.

– You must be age 5 years or older, 43 inches or taller and weigh less than 300 lbs for this adventure.

– Don’t be surprised that you must weigh before heading out on the adventure. The weight is needed for the guides to choose the proper size tube for you.

– Bring/wear sunscreen and bug repellant.

– Wear swimwear and/or quick dry clothes. Ideally it’s best to wear a long-sleeved rash guard to prevent sun burns from possible irritation from skin rubbing on the tubes.

– Wear shoes that are designed to get wet like these. If you don’t have water shoes, the company rents reef shoes. I wouldn’t recommend wearing flip flops as they’re easy to lose and they don’t offer much protection if your feet scrape against the tunnel walls.

– There’s no need to bring a hat or visor as you’ll be wearing a helmet.

– Avoid sitting in the back of the van unless you want a very bumpy ride and don’t want to be able to hear the guide’s commentary on the drive. Unfortunately, we learned that lesson the hard way.

–  If you enjoy the assistance that the guides provide, bring along some cash for gratuity.

– Check out all our photos from the tubing adventure 

– Check pricing, availability, and book directly with Kauai Backcountry Adventures via their FareHarbor booking engine link.