Monday, June 17, 2024
The flight from Las Vegas to Kauai was long but uneventful, and we arrived in the afternoon. We picked up our rental car and then headed over to Duke’s in Lihue for an early dinner. Once our bellies were satisfied, we headed up to Princeville and checked into the Hanalei Bay Resort.
We were shown to our condo on the third floor of our building, which consisted of three bedrooms and had beautiful views of Hanalei Bay. Each bedroom had its own balcony, with the master sharing the balcony that extended from the living area.
We were too exhausted to do much else, so we decided to call it a night.
Tuesday, June 18, 2024
We were up bright (well, not too bright) and early on Tuesday morning to head over to Hanalei. It was drizzly and a little dreary. We drove over to Na Pali Catamaran, where we had a short wait before boarding our boat for a tour of the coast.
To climb aboard, you must wade through some water and then climb a short ladder. Neither LS (6 years old) or my mother (in her 70s) had issues with this. The catamaran was mostly covered with open sides, so we picked some seats in the middle.
Almost immediately after heading out of the bay, we came across a pod of Hawaiian spinner dolphins! They were adorable. I took lots of photos. Then there was a beautiful rainbow! More photos.
At this point, I started to feel a little nauseated. We had all taken Dramamine before the trip, to be safe, and I had never experienced seasickness before. One of the guides, who had been talking, must have noticed a green look on my face, as he paused to ask if I was all right. I said I was feeling a little off, and he directed me to stand up on the side of the boat and look out at the coast. I did this and started to feel better.
We went a little further and entered into a sea cave, which was pretty cool. I took more photos. I began to feel sick again, and my morning coffee ended up going overboard. I slowly started to piece together that it was looking through the viewfinder of my camera while the boat was stopped and rocking that was making me feel sick, so I had to stop taking pictures at this point.
The coast was beautiful, nonetheless! And the ride back was bumpy but so fun. We stopped at one point to snorkel. I got out for a bit but it had started to rain again, so after a brief viewing of the reef, I got back aboard the boat and ate lunch.
Soon after we were back on land. I had hardly been able to talk to LS since I was standing the whole time and mostly trying not to throw up more than I already had, but she LOVED this tour. In fact, now that we have returned home, she still says this was her favorite thing that we did the entire trip! She had been very nervous at first because she had never been on a boat before, but the guides made her feel at ease, giving her a job to count all the waterfalls she saw. She counted 27!
We stopped by Chocolat Hanalei for some treats and then returned to the resort to recover. After some relaxation time, we returned to Hanalei for dinner at Tahiti Nui. I got my first mai tai, which was delicious. Then we drove over to Hanalei Beach to play in the sand a bit before heading back for the night.
