Napali Riders - Kauai

Na Pali Riders is a must-do rafting tour of the Na Pali Coast on the Hawaiian island of Kauai. You can find their advertisements in most of the Kauai magazines found throughout the island and actually, I overheard someone on another excursion talking about their experiences with the Na Pali Riders and it sounded really fantastic.

They are located on the west side of the island in the small town of Waimea which is above 40 minutes from Po'ipu which is where we were staying. It was easy to find and there was a total of 30 people in our boat, a large Zodiac raft. We were greeted by a new crew member, Lilly, who sported a wonderfully deep and dark brown tan. As we were the last to arrive Lilly joined us on the drive to the Kikiaola Small Boat Harbor where we would board.

It is highly suggested that you wear plenty of sun screen as the tour was a 4 hour trip along 17 miles of the Na Pali coast (map), a beautiful and rugged line of cliffs that are inaccessible by car. It is one of the most beautiful and rapidly erroding coastlines in the world and the cliffs rise up out of the brightest blue waters I have ever seen. Our captain laughingly offered that this is where Windex is bottled and I can see why.

The tour guides promise views of turtles and dolphins and we were not disappointed, a family of dolphins did side up to us and green turtles are everywhere on Kauai. We also ventured into sea caves, some of which had been used in James Bond and Popeye movies.

On the trip back we also had a chance to try out snorkeling off the coast and I will say that this was the one area that could use some improvement. It seemed like we had just put on our masks and flippers and jumped into the ocean when we were called back in. I think they could spend more time on the snorkeling but for the time allotted I did feel like we got to see a lot.

Lily, the new Na Pali staff member, was so helpful, she made sure we put our camera into the dry bag whenever the ride got bumpy, which was most of the time and she called us by name which, although it might seem small, was really nice. Our captain and owner of the company, mistakenly called me mama, but when my girlfriend told him I was her woman he reddened and then said smilingly, "hot mama is what I meant."

The cost for the 4-hour journey, which included cans of soda (Coke was on the menu, yay!), bottled water, fresh cut up apples and oranges, and Cheetos and Lays was $108 per person including taxes. We also opted to give the crew a $40 tip (for six people in our group) primarily due to Lily as she was so friendly and helpful.

You can contact Na Pali Riders by phone at 808.742.6331 or by email napali@hotmail.com. They also have website: www.napaliriders.com