Kauai Mountain Tubing

[DCwom]

Has anyone done the Mountain tubing on Kauai? It sounds interesting and unique. I've read that its a 4WD trip to the ditch on unpaved "bumpy" roads. I tend to get motion sickness, so I'm a little concerned about the ride.

 

Also its looks pretty close to the pier, so I suspect an Uber would get you back & forth pretty easily.

[keichman]

Following!  This is high on our list for our September cruise!

[KeepCalmBearOn]

31 minutes ago, DCwom said:

so I suspect an Uber would get you back & forth pretty easily

 

I love The Kauai Mountain Tubing, but the entire island of Kauai only has 70 Ubers to cover the whole place. Do not count on being able to use it. You would want to pre-arrange transportation.

[Silver Sweethearts]

5 hours ago, DCwom said:

Has anyone done the Mountain tubing on Kauai? It sounds interesting and unique. I've read that its a 4WD trip to the ditch on unpaved "bumpy" roads. I tend to get motion sickness, so I'm a little concerned about the ride.

 

It is up to what one considers fun. If you don't have claustrophobia, don't mind bouncing off the tunnel walls and off other guests in darn cold water, don't mind the darkness and length of the tunnels, etc., go for it.  Rather expensive for what it is though, but YMMV.  Do your homework well on this one!

[DCwom]

22 hours ago, Silver Sweethearts said:

 

It is up to what one considers fun. If you don't have claustrophobia, don't mind bouncing off the tunnel walls and off other guests in darn cold water, don't mind the darkness and length of the tunnels, etc., go for it.  Rather expensive for what it is though, but YMMV.  Do your homework well on this one!

I agree, valid points that one should consider, myself I hate just sitting on a beach, while others love it. Personally I find the the history & engineering of the ditch/tunnels interesting and unique to Kauai, we also did cave tubing on Belize in the Caribbean, which was pretty fun. There are a lot of pictures on the Kauaibackcountry website that might give a feel.

[princeton123211]

On 3/10/2024 at 10:11 PM, Silver Sweethearts said:

darn cold water, don't mind the darkness and length of the tunnels, etc., go for it. 

This needs to be repeated. It's chilly (although you do get used to it) and personally I am a little claustrophobic and had a couple of the tunnels (mainly the bendy ones as opposed to the straight ones) that gave me pause. I'm glad I did it once but wouldn't necessarily do it again-- if you are more than moderately claustrophobic I would give it a thought. There is a spot to bail out along the route though. 

[Panhandle Couple]

We did it earlier this month, and loved it.

If they had an offer to go back to the start and do it again for 1/2 price, I would have taken it.

 

The company does this every day, they are very efficient at moving you around. 

The truck moves slow over the dirt roads.  There are a few bumps along the way, taken slowly.

The old plantation is overgrown, and the guide gives you some history of it. You might see wild pigs/boars.

 

Yes the water is cool, they give you lights (on helmet) to turn on for the caves.  You move pretty fast at some points.  Yes you are pinballing around a bit, part of the fun.  Adults were acting like teenagers again enjoying it.  You go through 5 miles much faster than on a average canoe trip.

 

We had 2 day rental car, so can't say for taxi there.  Maybe start a roll call for that week?

[kluv2cruz]

I’ve done this twice and other than the logistics of getting there and back, would happily do again. When I did it, it was a ship excursion so didn’t have to worry about transportation. I get motion sick and the ride up and down was a bit edgey for me, but I survived! Yes you ping off the walls and each other, but it’s a hoot. Like a good kids camp leader, the tour guide said, as we were getting in the water, no “F” words, ie, no saying it’s freezing! That just set the tone! No whining! I’ve done similar in Belize and there, some poor human walked through the waterway towing us tourists all tethered together. Much more lame. Kauai was fun!

[DCwom]

On 4/25/2024 at 3:24 PM, kluv2cruz said:

I’ve done this twice and other than the logistics of getting there and back, would happily do again. When I did it, it was a ship excursion so didn’t have to worry about transportation. I get motion sick and the ride up and down was a bit edgey for me, but I survived! Yes you ping off the walls and each other, but it’s a hoot. Like a good kids camp leader, the tour guide said, as we were getting in the water, no “F” words, ie, no saying it’s freezing! That just set the tone! No whining! I’ve done similar in Belize and there, some poor human walked through the waterway towing us tourists all tethered together. Much more lame. Kauai was fun!

Thanks for the mention of potential motion sickness, I too am a little concerned about the ride. I've got my prescription for motion sickness patches anyway, so I'll just keep wearing it for the tubing.

[DCwom]

Just got back this week. This was the wife's favorite excursion, lots of fun and unique, well ran, the outfitter has their act together. No motion sickness issues, just a bumpy ride on "farm" roads.

[kluv2cruz]

On 6/1/2024 at 6:16 PM, DCwom said:

Just got back this week. This was the wife's favorite excursion, lots of fun and unique, well ran, the outfitter has their act together. No motion sickness issues, just a bumpy ride on "farm" roads.

I can’t remember- did you taxi to their offices or was it a ship excursion? That hiccup has stopped me doing this lately as it’s just another complexity layer.

[DCwom]

5 hours ago, kluv2cruz said:

I can’t remember- did you taxi to their offices or was it a ship excursion? That hiccup has stopped me doing this lately as it’s just another complexity layer.

We had rented a car on the 1st day and kept it overnight, so we used that to get to the place, but it is very close to the port (4.5 miles), it shouldn't be a very long taxi or Uber ride. The ports are all starting blend together in my mind, but I think Kauai had an ride-share (i.e. Uber pick-up "curb"), unlike the other ports where you had to walk out of the port, but even if you have to walk out of the port, it was pretty easy and not too far of a walk.

 

You might also contact Kauai Backcountry Adventures, they may have transport options from the port and local hotels as well, it was a pretty big operation, and pretty well organized, larger than I was expecting.

Edited June 9 by DCwom

[KeepCalmBearOn]

On 6/9/2024 at 2:07 PM, DCwom said:

 The ports are all starting blend together in my mind, but I think Kauai had an ride-share (i.e. Uber pick-up "curb"), unlike the other ports where you had to walk out of the port,

 

My memory for Nawiliwili is that you have to walk outside for an Uber, but the walk is very short.

 

https://maps.app.goo.gl/AFPaW1Moekc3x2kG6

[DCwom]

5 hours ago, KeepCalmBearOn said:

 

My memory for Nawiliwili is that you have to walk outside for an Uber, but the walk is very short.

 

https://maps.app.goo.gl/AFPaW1Moekc3x2kG6

Yeah, you're right, I forgot that we used Avis on Nawiliwili, which had a shuttle that picked us up in the port, we only walked in and out of the port on the overnight, the Uber lane was probably on Hilo.