Here we are. Our last day in Kauai.
After a great night’s sleep, we are ready for the final day. We packed up our stuff into our car and prepared to execute a genius plan.
The master plan
We had to be out of our hotel room by 11. However, we had an ATV tour scheduled at 2 with our flight at around 9. The ATV tour warns you that you will get dirty. So, how would we shower off between our ATV tour and our flight?
We figured we would have small bottles of bio-safe soap and shampoo ready and shower at the outdoor showers at our hotel. It was a perfect plan.
Killing time before the tour
We had some time to kill, so of course we went back to Deja Vu to see if there were any clothes I had missed since the last 5 times we had been there. I got me a nice, large sun hat that my friend Brandon still makes fun of me for.
We spent most of our time around the southern part of the island since that is where our tour would start. After perusing several stores, we headed to the tour company’s building.
We checked in and they gave us a bandana thing to keep the mud off our face (see later pictures) as well as the directions to the real start of the tour, so we drove another 5 minutes there.
Pre-tour fun
We got to the facilities where all the ATVs slept. It was pretty groovy. One couple in a rented Camaro somehow high-centered on a rock. It wasn’t even in the parking lot. It was behind one of the garages. I’m not entirely sure what they were even doing over there, but the lady who high centered it (hold your sexist female driver jokes people…) refused to drive an ATV. She and her husband made an uncomfortable amount of jokes about it throughout the tour. I get it. They were embarrassed.
There was another family next to us speaking in an accent I recognized. I asked them (in Russian) if they were Russian. They said they were and we had a nice little chat (back in English). I rarely get to use my Russian anymore, and when I do, it’s usually asking people I think are Russian if they are Russian, and then we switch back to English because they speak better English than I do Russian at this point of my life.
Let the tour begin!
This ATV tour was wicked fun. It felt like a mix between the Jurassic Park and Indiana Jones rides at Disneyland. You’re sliding around on these muddy, deeply rutted roads and seeing all kinds of cool stuff.
We drove down the road that is the motorcycle scene in the more recent Jurassic Parks with Chris Pratt. They have a little dinosaur skeleton and Jeep to mark the spot.
We drove through a 1/2 mile long tunnel with a cool backstory on how it was made. At this point, you all get out of your ATV and the guide tells you the story. You also introduce yourself to all the other riders. The usual… where you’re from, what you’re doing there… etc.
Met a cool guy from Detroit who works on the Corvette. My family has always been big into Corvettes so he and I spent some time talking cars.
Don’t go chasing waterfalls
The tour is called the “waterfall tour.” It is a bit of a stretch because there is only one stop with a waterfall. At about the halfway point, the group jumps out and there is a set of 3 waterfalls, each falling into the other, that you can frolic around. One was deep enough to jump into (see video). Not a big jump, but you do have to jump out over rocks to get to the deep part.
We had a little snack of granola bars and some pineapple juice drink that is fantastic.
We stopped by an old World War II bunker in the middle of a mountain. It was super cool to me. I love history stuff, especially WWII. You’ll have to check it out and see the petrified crackers.
Moving along, we stopped at a big open space where several movies have been shot. Jurassic Park, Indiana Jones, King Kong, and several others.
The last stop on the tour was the serene Waita Reservoir. This was a peaceful place with a bike zip line (sold separately). You jump on a bike and ride it across a zip line. Pretty nuts.
If you notice… there is a lot of mud. Luckily, you already know about the master plan.
They had some showers to rinse the mud off your clothes and shoes, so we blasted ourselves off in that. We grabbed a quick ice cream bowl and then we headed back to our hotel.
You might be expecting a big plot twist, something like, “Oh no! We couldn’t get back in the hotel!
But everything went exactly as planned. We showered off at the outdoor showers in our swim suits. We changed clothes in the public restroom, and enjoyed one last meal at the Lava Lava restaurant with our friends, the chickens.
We still had a little time to kill, so we drove around to a part of the island we’d never been, just west of the airport. We drove through some neighborhoods trying to imagine what it would be like to live here, then, we had to return our car and head to the airport.
Returning home
The airport and flight home were fine.
That’s a lie. The flight was miserable. It is a red-eye flight. I am 6’4″. Me and airplanes don’t get along well. I couldn’t sleep at all so I am grumpy as can be for the 6 hour flight and subsequent day, but all in all, everything went nice and smooth. We were happy to be home, but planning our next trip to Hawaii as soon as we can.
I hope you enjoyed the recap our our little trip to Kauai!
Erik Soderborg 