Kauai - Day 7

Monday November 19, 2018

Monday was the earliest morning of all. We had an hour and a half long drive to do prior to our 7:30 am check-in time for a zodiac boat tour of the Na'Pali coast. It was pretty rough. Once we got on the boat all lost sleep was forgotten though.

There were about 18 of us plus the captain and his assistant. We set sail from a small boat harbor near Waimea with John and I situated in the very back. After clearing the buoys, we took off at full speed heading east for the Na'Pali coast. It was a pretty bumpy ride but looooots of fun. Our captain, Chase, was a very likable guy with some good jokes and interesting tidbits about the places we saw as we were cruising along.

After about 30-45 minutes we can upon a handful of spinner dolphins. Chase was kind of confused about what they were doing, because they usually travel in pods numbering in the thousands. These guys were on their own, and on top of that, they were sleeping (he could tell because of their docile behavior). Cool to see nonetheless.

We made another pitstop just off the beach of the naval base, Barking Sands, for some more cool facts as well as some interesting info on the small island of Puuwai; an island owned by the Sinclair family and only inhibited by native Hawaiians still living the old traditional ways. Pretty cool.

We continued along the coastline and just as we were coming up on Na'Pali Chase took us for a few donut spins and other fun stunts on the zodiac before spotting a large pod of spinner dolphins. These ones, luckily, were awake and we got to see a handful of them do their name-sake spinning jump.

As we chugged our way up the Na'Pali the water got a bit rougher and some people near the front were getting uncomfortable, so John and I gladly traded them spots. Score. Getting a front seat view of the coast was amaaaazing. We had already seen it from the air, but it's totally different getting up close and personal with the lush landscape.

Chase was good at pointing out some unique features as well as specific landmarks. We also lucked out by getting the lowest surf levels they'd had in quite some time, which allowed him to take us right up into a few sea caves.

Eventually we found a decent spot to moor up and try out some snorkeling. The water clarity was decent but not great; we were able to see a handful of different fish and a few people spotted a turtle. The snorkel spot was kind of in the shade though so we didn't last too long before getting a bit cold. Still, it was fun to get out there and swim around. It also allowed me to pull my phone out of the dry bag and snap a few pictures....

I probably should have kept it out the whole time, but it was nice to be able to just enjoy what we were doing without worrying about documenting it.

After the snorkel it was time turn around and start the 1-2 hour ride back to the dock. I sat in the very front on the way back (John was in front of me on the way out) and it was awesome taking all the big waves from that position. We got some legit air a few times, but more often then not the little boat did a good job of staying relatively level. I was impressed with how well the it absorbed the majority of the waves; we'd buck up and I'd be expecting a major drop but it'd just plow right through the wave.

All in all it was a really fun experience and I'm very happy we decided to tour the coast that way rather than on a catamaran style boat. We passed a handful of those sailing past us and they looked kinda boring. We may have sacrificed in comfort, but I feel like we got an extremely immersive experience and wouldn't trade that for a more cushy ride.

Back on dry land we took advantage of the open shower (almost every beach had these and they were lifesavers!) to rinse off the sea salt before heading over to check out old town Koloa. The drive took us through the famed Tree Tunnel, which was fun. Koloa used to be a Sugar Plantation and "Old Koloa" has morphed into a fun little touristy area with lots of shops you can walk through, which we did. It was fun looking through some trinkets, the highlight being the singing bowl store. It didn't take long for us to be ready for something new though.

We made a pitstop at Spouting Horn (cool blowhole with TONS of tourists around) before settling on the Poipu Beach Park to spend the rest of the afternoon. The beach was PACKED, but the sand was nice and weather was great, so we didn't mind.

To finish off the day we got back to the condo just in time to catch an awesome sunset.