CC Travel Blog

This is another first time for us. A new challenge that comes with a ton of fun!

A month before we departed, a friend and me booked a zipline tour online with Skyline Eco Adventures.

Our tour started at 9am but we needed to get to the store half an hour before to get ready. Our group has 12 people in total, each was given a water bottle to keep, validated our weight on their scale and signed our waivers away. Hubby chickened out at the store but the staff reassured/teased him to get him move on.

A van pulled up and picked us up to the field station. The roads to drive on were all dirt roads with flying dusts. The field has vast acres and the zipline company had a special lease to use it.

We had to pass two locked gates to get into the station where we were briefed on the tour, put on the gears and deposited our bags for lockup. We had a hook on the belt where only a camera and the water bottle fit to get strapped on. Off we go.

There are two zipline tours owned by the same company in Maui, one location is the one we went, called Ka’anapali, and the other one is in Haleakala. Our tour lasted 4 hours in total, including 8 ziplines and a continental breakfast in the middle for a break.

Our guides were Troy and Chad, two funny and professional people that made our tour interesting.

We hiked a few minutes to reach the first zipline, which is 350 feet.

Troy did a demo on how to use the belts tied tightly on our legs. The key is never to touch the cable, he called it the “meat grinder.” The instruction is not hard to follow but takes some time to get better at. Once our belts are hooked onto the cable, we use the dominant hand to hold onto the top ring and the other hand to grab the strips. If we need help, we move both hands onto the strips and Troy will help us to land. The dominant hand helps us to control the spinning. I was surprised to hear this part, because I never had this unfamiliar thought before that we would spin on the cable! Once we reach the other side, we run onto the platform to stabilize ourselves and Troy will help us to unhook the belt.

We hooked onto the zipline one at a time. When one of us cleared off Troy’s side, Troy signaled to Chad and the next one got on. Naturally, we walked off from the stairs and let the zipline and gravity take over.

Hubby looked at it and got really scared. He waited and waited and finally agreed to go. Chad encouraged him and said the oldest customer he had was age 93. He was worried about the speed and obviously the heavier you are, the faster you go. He took off alight but landed with one foot lightly sprang.

As I watched others zip, I realized the longer I waited, the less pumped I would be, so I stepped up to take my turn. I was not so scared until I was hooked onto the wire. Then I had the slight panick on what should I really do. However, that step off feeling was soon overtaken by the free flowing coolness on the zipline. It is the feeling of flying and it is amazing.

On each station, there is a board with information about Maui’s geology or ecosystem, hence the “eco tour.” Our guides did not explicitly discussed the boards’ materials on each stop, but they answered our questions when we asked.

Our second station is 400 feet, 50 feet step up from the first one. It is quite similar to the first one, giving us some chances to work on our skills and get familiar with the experience. Then we hiked to our third station and suddenly the view changed! The blue ocean with floating boats and cruise ships fell in front of our eyes and they looked beautiful.

The third zip line is another 50 feet step up and as I got better on my skill, Troy joked that they consider sponsoring me.

The forth zipline is magnificent with the ocean on my right side and the green hill on the other. After Zip 4, it was our breakfast break.

The food was descent with fresh fruits and cake slices coming from an award winning bakery. If anything, the portions weren’t big, but I suppose they don’t want us to throw up on the zipline with too much food churning in the stomach.

After fifteen minutes break, we moved onto Zip #5, which is a big step up at 750 feet. At this point everyone was getting familiar with the ziplines. For some reason, I was doing worse. Once I tip toed to land with no motion running forward; as a result, I almost slided back and Troy had to grab me. “Saving lifes,” he joked.

Zip #6 is Troy’s favorite, for a reason: we had to jump off to start since there is no stairs to walk off from. I started off lously and chickenly but landed OK. Chad said that if I had to re-do, it would be the starting part, I couldn’t agree more.

Throughout the zips and hikes between the zipline stations, the guides were doing funny flips or all kinds of free flowing positions, showing off their skills as well as presenting entertainments. It was fun to watch.

Sometimes they hid behind bushes to scare us and one our of three times I got hit. Honestly they did a good job as guides.

Time flies and we soon came to the last zipline, the ultimate 1000 feet challenge. We would be on the zipline for about half a minute. When I asked Chad what was the longest zipline in the world, he gave me this look and then said “it’s not the length that matters, it’s the experience.” It sounded like a life lesson. In fact, the world record is a 1.5 mile zipline.

Troy and Chad knew what they are doing and they did it nicely. When I got on the zipline, Troy said he would teach me how to do it faster. The trick is to grab the bottom of the safety strips with both hands and lift up my arms, I can even flap them like flapping wings. At first I thought it was just for fun, so I did it to take advantage of the last zip opportunity. This position also got me spinning 360 degrees and saw a very nice view of the surrounding. When I was about to land, I saw Chad pushing down the wire cable and made it easy for me to land. Then it hit me that the reason they taught me to go faster is because with my light weight, I might not get the momentum to reach all the way without some help from the speed. It would be very dangerous to get stuck in the middle.

Overall, it was a very fun experience. Our guides were knowledgable and friendly. The only thing I would add is that the tour is definitely very dusty. By the time I finished, my entire jeans were almost color changed to the maroon dust sand. Besides this minor point, it is definitely a highlight of the Hawaii trip.