`Fluming the Ditch' ride offers unique Big Island adventure

HAWI, Hawaii - For four generations the boys and girls of North Kohala, on the Big Island of Hawaii, have been climbing over barbed-wire fences and dodging security guards in search of an illicit thrill.

On inner tubes or boogie boards or anything else that floats, they've drifted down the 22 miles of man-made channels and flumes built nearly a century ago by the Kohala Sugar Co. to carry water from the rain-soaked Kohala Mountains to the thirsty sugar cane fields on the dry lowlands.

They even invented Pidgin terms for their pastime: flumin'; the canal was "da ditch." So an afternoon's fun would be "flumin' da ditch."

"We all did it, and we'd stop and have a picnic along the way," said Chris Carvalho. "We'd gather up lots of fruit from the sides of the ditch and bring it home to make jellies. It's what we did for fun around here."

Now grown up, Carvalho, 41, and his North Kohala pals are earning a living guiding tourists in inflatable kayaks down the irrigation canal where they once trespassed.

The tour, called "Fluming the Ditch," has become a showcase of Hawaiian ecotourism, and is bringing a small measure of economic success back to a region still reeling from the closure of the sugar plantations 25 years ago.

To take the tour, I drove an hour around the northwest corner of the Big Island, from the beach resorts on the sunny Kohala-Kona Coast to the picturesque plantation town of Hawi (say "Haw-vee").

Kohala Mountain Kayak Cruise, which runs the tour, operates out of the sugar company's old headquarters in partnership with the Japanese corporation that now owns the 23,000-acre plantation.

After being fitted for a life jacket and signing the usual legal waiver, we were given a short presentation on the history of the Kohala Ditch.

Clinging to mountainsides and tunneling through rocky cliffs 1,000 feet above the sea, the irrigation canal was built about 100 years ago to slake the thirst of the North Kohala cane fields, which need 500 gallons of water to produce a single pound of sugar.

Completed in 1907 after 18 months of work and a cost of $700,000, the canal features 57 tunnels and 19 wooden flumes over 22.5 miles. It was an immediate success, quadrupling harvests and transforming the North Kohala sugar plantations into some of the most prosperous in Hawaii.

The good times lasted nearly 70 years, until cheap overseas competition forced the plantations out of business in the mid-1970s. Entire communities in North Kohala were thrown out of work.

After the history presentation we piled into four-wheel-drive vans for the drive to the ditch.

The tour, which lasts about three hours, covers about a third of the canal's length. As we slid into five-person inflatable kayaks, I was handed a sawed-off paddle and a miner's headlamp.

"I know what the paddle's for," I said, "but what about the headlamp?"

"You'll see," said Carvalho as we shoved off.

I anticipated a thrill ride, with frothy, fast-moving water and a high yahoo factor.

Instead, we floated at a gentle, leisurely pace, alternating between open grassland and canopied rain forest. Mostly I used my paddle to keep the kayak from hitting the sides of the ditch as we swung around corners.

Rounding a corner, the ditch disappeared into a dark tunnel and I understood what the miner's headlamp was for. The curving, dripping tunnel was hundreds of yards long and pitch-black for most of its length.

Excavating it was obviously arduous, and the laborers who dug and blasted it didn't make it any bigger than they had to. I had to lean my 5-foot 8-inch frame back to avoid scraping my head on the wall.

In a second tunnel, Carvalho shone his headlamp into a tiny grotto and pointed out big, black, freshwater prawns, descendants of the crustaceans planted by the canal's builders to feed themselves.

Unlike most tourist excursions, this one didn't feel contrived. The boys and girls of North Kohala have been floating down this canal for years, and now visitors are being invited to share the experience with a natural history lesson as a bonus.

Local kids still trespass onto the property to "flume da ditch," but Carvalho and the other guides do nothing to stop them.

Back when he was a boy, those who were caught were given a summary judgment and a stern paddling. I asked Carvalho if he ever suffered that fate.

"Nah," he said. "My dad was the police chief."

If you go

Getting there: Hawi, where the tour starts, is about 90 minutes from the town of Kailua-Kona, at the intersection of Highways 270 and 250. Check-in is at the Chalon International headquarters, off Highway 250 opposite the Kohala Village Inn.

Tours: There are two three-hour tours a day, with check-in times of 8:15 a.m. and 12:15 p.m. Prices are $85 for adults and $65 for children.

How hard is it? The ride is easy and gentle, suitable for young children and seniors. No previous kayaking experience is needed.

Word to the wise: After a morning tour, or before an afternoon tour, leave time to eat lunch and poke around the town of Hawi, which sports a number of inviting cafes and galleries.

General information: Contact Kohala Mountain Kayak Cruise, P.O. Box 190573, Hawi, HI. 96719; 808-889-6922. Web: www.kohala kayaks.com.