Kaua'i, Hawaii - September 2013

Kaua'i was our second Hawaiian stop on our cruise to Hawaii and around the South Pacific a couple of years ago. Kaua'i is probably most famous for being the place where Jurassic Park was filmed and we were going to head out the Na Pali Cliffs which was the actual location for the movies. For me though it was the sheer grandeur of the coastline and the wildlife under the water that I wanted to see. At the same time I wanted to get a bit of a lay of the land because its also the site of a walk that I want to do one day, the awesome Kalalau Trail, a three or four day return walk that traverses long sections of the cliffs before dropping down to idyllic beaches, my kind of trek!

The Na Pali Cliffs.

We docked at Lihu'e on Nawiliwili Bay on a beautiful day, the entrance to the port had us passing close to the scenic golf course that lined the bay on one side, everything looked perfectly manicured and impossibly neat. Once off the boat we met our guide for the day and piled into a mini van for the drive half way across the island to Port Allen, where we boarded our much smaller boat for our cruise around to the Na Pali Cliffs. Leaving the small harbour we were immediately thrown around in the swell as we headed west and then north around the sand dunes that house the Barking Sands Pacific Missile Facility, you don't see that every day in Australia!

We were joined by some Spinner Dolphins on our zodiac trip. 

The water looked very inviting.

Slowly we turned to the North East and the huge Na Pali Cliffs started to loom above us. My words can't really do this scene justice it has to be seen to be believed, the cliffs rise abruptly 100's of metres above the beautiful blue water, the faces of the cliffs fluted where eons of water have eroded them. Every so often we would pass by secluded beaches that were the sole preserve of sea kayakers or intrepid walkers, the beaches were backed by lush green valleys that inevitably had a picturesque waterfall cascading down from the top of the cliffs. Some of the punters on board were getting a bit sea sick in with the swell but luckily Sam and I were going OK, I think the fact that we had so much to look at to take our mind off any queasy feeling in our stomach helped, as well as the coastal cliffs to admire we were also visited by a pod of dolphins that stopped to check us out for awhile.

Its hard to get a good photo while being tossed around on the zodiac.

Every now and again there was a break in the cliffs, this is why I would love to walk The Kalalau Trail.

Eventually we anchored beneath the towering cliffs and it was time to go snorkelling. While the water was pretty deep, probably in the 3 to 4 metres range, the visibility was so good that we didn't need to be able to dive all the way to the bottom to check out the fish and the hard corals. We had to be a little careful not to get to far in towards the shore in case you got caught in the shore break, getting smashed onto the rocks that lined the cliffs wasn't something that I wanted to experience. This was different to any snorkelling that we had done before, we'd definitely never snorkelled in such a heavy swell and it was slightly strange to be floating 4 metres above the coral one minute and then as we dropped into the trough of the wave we'd only be a metre or two above the ocean floor, before once again rising as we floated over the crest of another wave.

Time to go snorkelling.

There was some coral but it you had to be a good swimmer to dive down and get close.

We were fairly close to the base of the huge cliffs so had to be careful not to get swept up in the shore break.

After a couple of hours of snorkelling in this stunning location it was eventually time to start the fairly long journey back to Lihu'e. It was on this leg of the trip, as we passed by the missile facility that we had a very memorable wildlife encounter. Whilst ploughing through the swell the captain spotted a highly endangered Hawaiian Monk Seal, it was lazing about on the surface eating a butterfly fish. The Hawaiian Monk Seal is the only true seal that stays in tropical waters all year, and there are now thought to be only 1100 of them left in the wild, so we were very lucky to see one. After the excitement of the seal the rest of the journey back to the ship was fairly uneventful by comparison. Re boarding the ship we headed to our usual spot and settled in to enjoy the beautiful scenery as we sailed out of Nawiliwili Bay, the cliffs and mountains slowly receding into the ocean along with the setting sun.

The last of the Na Pali Cliffs on our way back.

The sand dunes are part of The Barking Sands Missile Facility, not something you see much in Australia!

The critically endangered Hawaiian Monk Seal, the yellow thing is a Butterfly Fish it was eating.

Yeah, another photo of a seal.

The Dirt.
We did this cruise with Princess Cruises who seem to provide a level of service that both Sam and I can live with! If your interested in some more information on Hawaiian Monk Seal check out this site it explains more about their plight. We organised the cruise along the Na Pali Cliffs from the ship but there appears to be a multitude of companies running excursions along this wild coastline, it really is a very spectacular place and shouldn't be missed if your in the area.
If I've piqued your interest and your considering having ago at the Kalalau Trail then you need to check out the Na Pali Coast State Park site.

The mountainous hinterland behind Nawiliwili Bay.

Sailing away from Lihu'e.

The cliffs to the south of Nawiliwili Bay.

Another fairly average sunset over the South Pacific!