Tubing!

 "...grab a tube, don a headlamp, and jump in for a leisurely cruise. Witness Kauai's spectacular engineering feats as you float down the tropical waterway consisting of open ditches, tunnels and flumes all of which were engineered and hand dug circa 1870." So says the flier for Kauai Backcountry Adventures (www.kauibackcountry.com)

The tubing adventure actually floats down an irrigation channel fed by cool clear waters from the "wettest spot on earth", Mt. Wai'ale'ale, where it rains almost 400 inches a year, almost as much as Cleveland.

Getting ready to tube!

These photos are from three different cameras and are sort of in chronological order, but maybe not.

After a 20 minute ride in a 4WD "Pinzgzuer", with a brief stop at a scenic overlook,  we were ready to float!

Here is the whole tubing crew.

Getting started.

Lorri, Edith, Tom, Jack, Lorri

The tube guide in the air on his way to cannonballing the unsuspecting tubers at the start.

Mostly, it's a relaxing float down the stream but occasionally there is a slight ripple.

Inside one of the tunnels. The tunnels are dark. The miner's helmets with the flashlights on top came in handy.

Getting out and going home...