Rick grew up in Wisconsin in an old farmhouse at the end of a long gravel road, on a big lake with a corn field across the road. As a boy he loved to play on the water in the summers sailing and canoeing, and enjoyed winter sports like skiing, skating, and iceboating. He became a lineman as a young man and was able to fulfill his boyhood dream of being an every-day skier in the Rocky Mountains by working on the road during summers climbing poles, and skiing everyday all winter. When he was offered a line job on Kauai in 1982 he jumped at the chance to live near the ocean and learn about Hawaii watersports.
Julie is a Northern California girl who grew up waterskiing, riding motorcycles, and snowmobiling. She graduated from Chico State University with a degree in Recreational Therapy, and moved to Kauai, also in '82, to be with friends and windsurf. She worked as a social worker and became the Director of the Kauai Shelter for Family Violence Victims. She and Rick were fixed up by a mutual friend on a blind date and soon were having fabulous times together in the early days of windsurfing, kayaking, and mountain biking on Kauai. As they discovered new places to go and new things to do, they started to dream about sharing their wonderful experiences with island visitors, and decided to see if they could make a go of it.
They wanted to do it right, and began to pursue acquiring governmental permits to operate guided tours on Kauai, and in 1988, received the first permit in the State of Hawaii to run guided sea kayak tours from State facilities. They opened Outfitters Kauai, in Poipu, in the fall of that year, and in the ensuing years have had a great time developing fun new things to do and making people's vacation dreams come true. Outfitters Kauai was also an initial permitted operator of guided kayak tours of Wailua River State Park and Na Pali Coast, which is a 15-mile wilderness coastline on Kauai's North Shore. Waimea Canyon Bicycle Downhill tours were started up in '94. In 1999 Outfitters negotiated land and water use agreements to enable an innovative guided kayaking tour on Hule'ia River that allows participants to paddle downwind through a National Wildlife Refuge location that was a backdrop to the film Raiders of the Lost Ark. The tour group hikes to waterfalls located at the famous Kipu Ranch, and returns to their private dock by an exotic doubled- hulled motorized Hawaiian canoe.
Rick's past work as a pole climbing lineman and his cable handling skills came in handy when, in 2003, he was inspired by a National Geographic article about canopy tours in Costa Rica, and constructed and opened Kauai's first zipline alongside a Kipu Ranch site used in the filming of the movie Jurassic Park. Since then, Outfitters has continued to innovate, bringing together more ziplines, waterfalls, canopy walkways, treehouses, rappelling, suspension bridges, and even waterzips for the enjoyment of their guests. After over 20 years, Outfitters Kauai is still doing new things all the time, and still making people's vacation dreams come true.
The Havilands reside at a garden home in Oma'o, just outside the Poipu resort area, with their two dogs and two cats. Their daughter Nalani, who came along in 1990, is a dean's list college student-athlete in California. And they still go kayaking together every chance they get.
Cesare Lucente developed a love for travel and adventure at a young age when he began spending high school summers away from his hometown Kansas City, Missouri to work for a family friend in Belize City, Belize. After obtaining a BA in Sociology from Regis University in Denver he set out on several years of working vacations spent hiking, skiing and rock climbing around the western United States and Central America before heading back to Kansas City to help run the family restaurant. Here he met his future wife of part Hawaiian descent and was introduced to Kauai on a trip to meet her family. After seeing the beauty of Kauai the couple packed their bags and took up permanent residence on the island in 2001.
Answering a want ad for a bicycle/kayak guide position landed Cesare at Outfitters Kauai where he found his true calling. Taking guests on adventure tours around the amazing island of Kauai seemed a job too good to be true. His tales of past rock climbing adventures caught the ear of owner Rick Haviland who asked him to help develop a zipline tour program. Their diverse experiences with rope and cable management along with a mutual passion for adventure and innovation produced a unique and exciting product. Over the years the two have collaborated on many more tour development projects and created amazing adventures for their guest to enjoy. Cesare has moved from Quality Assurance Manager to Operations Manager to his current role as General Manager.
