26 miles.

So. The cruise came and the cruise went. Other than not finding a bloom, running away from a hurricane, chasing after said hurricane only to find seas were indeed 34 feet and un-sample-able, heading home and finding a bloom two days before port thus forcing two 14 hour work days back to back, the cruise was rather uneventful.

Then came kauai. Where to begin? at the beginning I suppose. The first six days we spent at the marriot resort…aka amazing and incredibly fancy hotel/timeshare/villa with brett’s parents (who happen to be some of the nicest people ever). so sweet. we rented stand up paddle boards and paddled (and fell) all around the bay, went kayaking down a river into hanelei bay(home of puff the magic dragon, if anyone’s a fan) and went snorkeling, and then went ziplining through 200 foot pine trees planted by captain cook himself. pretty dang impressive. not to mention every night was a new taste sensation at a fantastic and delicious restaurant. living the life.

then. came the na pali coast. if you have never heard of it, hear of it now. imagine the most amazing  beaches and waterfalls you can think of, take every picture you’ve seen of hawaiian coastlines, remember the scenes (sans dinosaurs) from jurrasic park, gather every description you’ve heard of lush tropical forests where trees are brimming with fruit and you can live off the land…take all of this, multiply by 100 and you come close to imagining how amazing the na pali coast is. it’s an 11 mile trail to kalalau beach, a beautiful sandy beach with a waterfall flowing onto it, with several trails back into valleys to explore hidden waterfalls along the way, and plenty of friendly hippies living along the beaches and in the valleys. the trails are treacherous, going from clambering over lava rocks to sinking into thick, red mud to scaling ridges to wading through streams to sliding down slippery slopes with nothing between you and hundreds of feet of sheer wall straight to the ocean but an 8-inch ledge you walk on to hopping across hot sand to land in a cool, clear waterfall surrounded by tiny baby frogs. for us it was a four day affair, the first day spent hiking to the first beach, then back to a waterfall, then back out and over to the halfway point. the second day was a quick hike to the end of the trail, destination kalalau beach. there we stayed two nights. one day we walked all the way to the end of the beach, past tons of sea caves carved in the walls,  swam around a rocky point to get to a practically deserted beach with a huge arched rock which if you climb through leads to a hidden waterfall. amazing. we hiked the whole way out on the last day. so. four days, 26 miles, 103+ mosquito bites (on my legs alone), and innumerable slips, trips, and falls, I have conquered the na pali coast. and it feels damn good.

next time, i’m kayaking.

peace and love, all.

ps we made a video journal of our hike which we have to edit together and then that will be posted as well. so be patient and you’ll get to see what i’m talking about soon enough.