So as I was travelling through the Waimea Canyon I was deciding what to do the next day- go on a hike or take a boat âcruiseâ along the dramatic Na Pali (Translation: Many mountains) Coastline. Having an included snorkelling trip convinced me to the cruise. I figured that I could do a shorter hike that afternoon or early the next morning.
On a side note I only travelled to Kauai with hand luggage and realised late that my sunblock couldnât travel with me as it was too large. This meant that I had to bum sunblock off random strangers. Some of these strangers happened to be a large Polish family from Canada that were also doing the cruise, but on a smaller, private boat. So it was a good conversation starter and chatted about my travels.
Anyway, I digressed. Our 32 seater got underway somewhat late due to late guests. It was luckily only about half full, which was a nicer experience. There was another single lady who was travelling alone and we started chatting and didnât quiet stop. Our guide- Adam noted this and asked if we wanted to sit on the bow of the boat. I asked him if he wanted to kill us, but apparently not đ . So we slid on over and had THE BEST view! It was pretty soon off the bat that we saw our first large pod of spinner dolphins. They were great and started becoming more playful âespecially the youngsters. The best bit was that they were swimming around the bow- and thus right under our feet!! What an unforgettable experience!! Short video below. As we turned the corner, heading further north and east we saw stunning Jurassic landscapes- eroded lava flows that are covered in vegetation. More worryingly, there were also heavy clouds in the distance that looked laden with rain!!! We cruised part waterfalls and spotted many boobysâŚyes they have brown boobys and red footed boobys here!! YAY! There are also two species of tropic birds with their streamer like tails.
We got to the spot that we were supposed to snorkel but the captain broke our hearts when he stated that the water just was not clear enough to snorkel đ my little heart broke. However, life carried on. We pushed on further, where my friend was stating that she hadnât seen sea turtles yet- and BAM! â just there in the water were two of them! Ask and ye shall find.
We saw loads more dolphins and headed further up the coast and it started to rainâŚand pour âŚbut we had a vote and decided to carry onâŚwith the hope that it would stop- but these stoppages were short.
We did go into some roofless sea caves- really tight ones and normal caves that were stinky in the back. With the rain came additional waterfalls and what I defined as our above water snorkelling experience đ
On our return trip we came across several large groups of birds made up of boobys, shearwaters, tropic birds and others.
With all the continued rain I was reconsidering my hiking plan- and just as well as it continued to rain well into the early evening before our parking meeting of new friends in Kokee State Park. I decided against hiking as there are too many warnings of the dangers of the hiking in these parts. Most tracks are along super narrow ridgelines that hikers slip to their death on after rain and the slippery nature of the soil when wet and soaked. And one will drop a few hundred meters âŚ.no thanks:(
One reply on “Na Pali Coast Cruise”
Even just for these dolphins you trip to Hawaii was definately worth doing. It is a bit that rain spooled a bit your trip