Our next stop of the day took us to a much more familiar location. Wailua Falls is located at the end of Maʻalo Road, (Highway 583), just about 10 minutes from Līhuʻe. While the view from the lookout is not ideal, it remains impressive.
Wailua Falls is a three-tiered waterfall officially listed at 80 feet high, but measured by one guidebook at more like 170 feet.
What you might not recognize from the lookout since the third, lower, tier of the waterfall is mostly hidden from view is that this is the waterfall made famous in the opening scene of the long running TV series Fantasy Island. While you won't hear Tatoo yelling "De Plane! De Plane!" to Mr. Roarke, you may well hear the sound of helicopters off to the east giving their riders an excellent view of the falls.
Wailua Falls and the surrounding area have also been seen in Castaway Cowboy, the Season 3 Finale of The Amazing Race and in a short lived Coca Cola commercial. Guy, our guide, had absolutely amazing stories to tell about how reality TV in the form of The Amazing Race definitely "bent" reality on Kauai.
Guy also relayed a tragic story of three young men from California who tried, stupidly, to duplicate a feat shown in the Coca Cola commercial. I won't tell the details of either story. You'll have to take the tour!
