Sunset Dinner and Wale Watching, Kauai - Day 7

Day 7: Sunset Dinner and Whale Watch trip up the Na Pali Coast.

 

I don't even know where to start with how amazing our tour was. It was definitely the highlight of our trip. We met at Port Allen at 1:45 and boarded our catamaran at around 2:30. We saw whales immediately out of the harbor, so that was definitely a sign that it was going to be a great trip! We've done a few whale watching trips in Monterey, but this was a whole different experience. I was looking forward to seeing the Na Pali Coast since it's practically unreachable by any other mode of transportation other than boats. The only ways it had been described to me was "Jurassic-looking" and "gorgeous". There is a hike you can do to reach on of the beaches along the coast - it's an 11.2 mile rigorous hike from Ke'e Beach up North near where we stayed down to the beach. You can hike it, turn around and go back, or you can camp out on the beach. During our trip we saw some campers from our boat. The hike might have to be a bucket list item for me. Maybe. 

Anyways, the crew on the boat was amazing - we went through Captain Andy's Sailing Adventures and they were phenomenal! They were very personable and a lot of fun to talk to, and they were constantly walking around checking-in with everyone, making sure everyone was comfortable and had what they needed - drinks, snacks, food, etc. They were incredibly knowledgeable of the history of the island and gave a lot of interesting facts throughout the duration of the tour.

{Humpback fin-slapping}

{Sun starting to set over the Hawaiian island of Ni'ihau}

We sailed almost all the way up the Na Pali coast, stopping a few times to check out waterfalls, caves, whales, reefs and some other cool stuff. When we got to our "turn-around" point they hoisted the sail on the catamaran and opened the bar! Dinner was served shortly after that - it was delicious!!

After dinner and drinks we headed back up the coast to see more whales and see the gorgeous sunset. 

It was the perfect way to spend our last full day on the island...well, I guess on the ocean around the island. Our advertised 4-hour tour turned into almost 5&1/2 hours. We saw A TON of whales and some Hawaiian Spinner Dolphins. 

It. Was. Awesome.