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American Morning
Hawaii Offers Adventurous Vacations
Aired May 11, 2001 - 9:50 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Picture this one: swaying palms and sunny beaches. For years, travelers have visited Hawaii to enjoy those relaxing aspects of island life. We have our travel correspondent Gail O'Neill. She was recently on the big island of Hawaii, and she's here to tell us about a new trend in tourism, and I have to say: if I didn't get to go to Hawaii, at least you got to go.
(CROSSTALK)
GAIL O'NEILL, CNN TRAVEL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, well, it turns out that people really are moving away from the Mai Tai on the beach type vacations, and going more for the adventure-oriented vacations.
Now, my favorite in this vein, something that teaches you about the history and culture of Hawaii, it's called "fluming the ditch."
KAGAN: God bless you.
O'NEILL: Yes, exactly. It's a kayak ride that takes you down to 3.5-mile stretch of a 22-mile irrigation system. It was built nearly 100 years by 600 Japanese laborers, paid just $1 a day for their work. They completed the job in just under a year, and they used picks, shovels and dynamite to do the job, but the workmanship is extraordinary.
Now, it took local kids not long to figure out that on hot summer days, it was a great way to cool off, so they would just grab anything that could to float and go fluming down these ditches.
KAGAN: Got it. That's where that comes from.
O'NEILL: The penalty of the time was that if your parents found out what you've been up to, you get a good, old-fashioned spanking, and now the government would fine you $1,000, unless you take a guided tour and go fluming.
KAGAN: So, you want to go on a guided tour of that? Also, it doesn't looks like it doesn't look that strenuous.
O'NEILL: It's not strenuous at all. It's beautiful. You're going through the rain forests, the sights are incredible, and the young man who is giving us a tour actually did this as a kid, illegally of course. So he knows every inch, every nook and cranny in these tunnels and flumes. KAGAN: And very fun. OK. Now, you're in Hawaii, you can't not go out to see -- what you did, how did you find the fun out there?
O'NEILL: It was incredible. I went out intending to catch a 600-pound marlin.
KAGAN: Really?
O'NEILL: And I won't tell you whether or not I was successful, you'll have to watch tomorrow morning to find out, but I'll tell you that I never had so much fun just waiting and anticipating catching something. And that's because there is so much more to Hawaii and its ocean besides fishing.
Now, our captain had mentioned the fact that there were whales out there, but I thought, who cares, I wanted to catch a fish. We were not prepared for the fact that we'd actually see one, reaching, seeming to suspend itself in the air for 10 seconds and then come crashing down.
On top of which, there were dolphins, school of dolphins just swimming right by the side of our boat, putting on a show for us, dancing, leaping and bounding in and out of the water. It turns out they were freeing parasitic fish from their bodies, but we didn't know. It was just like fun and beautiful. I'm still thinking about it now.
KAGAN: Now, when I dream of the Hawaiian vacation, which I do often, mules are not the first thing that comes to mind, and yet somehow you found mules on the big island of Hawaii.
O'NEILL: We found mules, and we also found a region in the northern area which is known as cowboy country. Cattle ranching is a big industry in Hawaii, and most people don't know about it. You go up a little bit higher altitude, it's very, very cool weather, extremely green.
And from these pictures, well, here we are picking some guava, but we were surrounded by the Pacific Ocean, had rolling hills -- it looked like anything you'd see in Montana and Wyoming, but of course, with tropical fruit everywhere and incredible view.
KAGAN: So fun. Now, if people want to live more vicariously through you and your due dates, your -- things -- fun things they found in Hawaii, when can they tune in?
O'NEILL: Tune in tomorrow morning, 6:30 and 11:00 Eastern time, "CNN TRAVEL NOW" and join us.
KAGAN: Very good. I look forward to it. Very good. Gail O'Neill, thanks for joining us and bringing those beautiful pictures and adventures.
O'NEILL: You're very welcome.
Daryn: I appreciate it. Thanks very much. TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
