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The splish splash of
By Stephanie Kendrick
feet on water echoes
through Waihee Tunnel
Star-BulletinBeyond a sunlit clearing in a Kahaluu Valley stands a door to a tunnel in the Koolau range. Entering the mouth of this tunnel means leaving the light of day and the sounds of birds and the wind through the trees for a cool, dark, silent and damp journey into the spine of Oahu.
Well, that might be true if you were alone.
It is damp and cool, but on a recent tour, the dark was broken up by the beams of flashlights; the silence by the excited giggles and nervous bravado of 18 adults who had signed up to explore the Board of Water Supply's Waihee Tunnel, not to mention the sound of feet sloshing through ankle-deep puddles.
The floor of the man-made tunnel, with its lava-rock walls, runs with a slow but steady stream of 69-degree water 1 to 2 inches deep.
About 1,300 feet in, a second tunnel branches to the left, but the tour heads straight first, to a heavy metal door set into the dike stone 1,500 feet from the mouth of the tunnel."We call this one the dry bulkhead. Ironic isn't it?" says community relations specialist Kanoe Wilson as members of the tour dodge water dripping from the ceiling to take pictures of each other in front of the door.
But at the end of the branch tunnel, the steady streams of water pouring from the ceiling explains why this one is the wet bulkhead. Paper cups are passed around and tour members get a taste of water fresh from the source. It's delicious.
Also at the wet bulkhead, Wilson makes an attempt to let the tour participants experience the tunnel as if they were there alone. With the almost deafening sound of water around us, past the bend in the tunnel and away from any source of light, she asks everyone to turn off their flashlights and keep quiet for just a moment.
Lots of luck.
Although this is an all-adult tour, nervous noises begin the moment the lights go out. There are ghost sounds from one direction, a pseudo-zen mantra from another. Only after Wilson begins a Hawaiian chant to the gods Kane and Kaneloa -- a chant of thanks for the life-giving waters -- does the group quiet.After the tour, Wilson says adults often have trouble being still in the dark. More so than kids.
Fellow tour guide Aaron Wenska, community relations aide for the board, agrees. "The kids I had this morning were good. They were quiet."
They were first graders. How embarrassing for us "grownups."
Tunnel tours are usually restricted to those 12 and over, but Wilson Elementary School first grader Rory Kakuna won the board's poster contest, so he got to bring his class on the tour.Historically, the only way to get a tour of Waihee was to win the poster contest or the board's annual plant sale drawing. But the tunnel is open for tours through November because the Halawa tunnel the board typically uses for public tours is closed for renovations.
No matter the location, BWS tunnel tours begin with a brief and interesting explanation of Hawaii's natural water system. Then, in the case of Waihee, participants are shuttled up to the tunnel entrance.
Umbrellas are not allowed in the Waihee tunnel, but other raingear is optional. Aside from your feet, however, you really only get as wet as you want to get. Footwear is required and should be chosen with the water in mind.Demand for the tunnel tour is always high, according to Wilson, but it has spiked since the announcement was made that Waihee would be open. "We've been flooded, no pun intended," she said.
Water works
What: Waihee Tunnel and Watershed Tour
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