Na Pali Coast

Laurel and I went on a Na Pali Coast boat tour. It was a sunset cruise, and we left in the afternoon. It was such an amazing trip. So so much fun. It was meant to be a snorkeling trip too, but it was too cloudy from the rain storms. We did get to open ocean swim for a bit, which was equal parts fun and scary.  Here are some pictures from the day. LOTS of them, because it was too beautiful.

Our guide knew tons of stories, local legends, and actual history of this place. It was awesome hearing about it. Plus there were lots of locations used in movies, which he told us about.

See this big 'X' on the side of the mountain? Pele leaves it on each island she has made. Pretty cool.

A car drove too near the shoreline and got trapped in the soft sand as the tide was coming in. It was up to the axles, and not looking too good. It was gone when we came back and had likely been towed. I hope.

This area is called the cathedrals, and the most striking area to see. This is also where the story of the valley of the lost tribe comes from. Just lovely to see in person.

At one point, a large pod of dolphins joined our tour. They stopped the boat, and they jumped and played near it's edges. There were lots of mothers with their new babies too. So cool!  Even as our boat started moving again (very slowly), they stayed with us for 30 minutes.

This is what we thought of the dolphins. We were pretty excited!

Then it got bumpy, as we went back into the really choppy waters on the west side of the island. They had to get us back in and the wind and the bumps were hilarious. We were laughing so hard!

Our guide grabbed this (already dead) parrot fish out of the water. They eat coral and have sharp beaks. Really cool to see up close.

We went for a swim, and enjoyed the lovely day we had. It was so much fun. I will definitely go again.  I tried really hard to lure the dolphins back to us when we were swimming, but no such luck.

We were on the boat until almost sunset. It was a long ride and we were sore from all the bumps, but SO glad we went. It was awesome.

Then we got to drive home with this amazing view behind us. The west side has some really great sunsets.  Thanks Laurel for the fun adventure!