TheAZRichardsonAdventures: Our Kauai Adventure-Day 3

On Monday, we woke up bright and early to head out to a raft tour of the Napali Coast. We had gotten word that we should take a raft versus a catamaran tour because it could get closer to the shore and the caves. They weren't joking! We chose Kauai Ses Tours because they were the only tour permitted to make a beach landing and explore an old fisherman village. Sounded cool to us! When I first saw the boat we were to being riding on out in the open waters, my first thought was, "Are they serious?". "They must be crazy!" And yes they were totally serious and ready to show us what they can do with their navy seal boats

This was our boat!!!

Here is our Hawaiian born captain, Manu. He looks like a mainlander, but has lived his entire life on Kauai. He was very knowledgeable and laid back (the island way).

Is was a pretty crazy ride, especially on the way back (as the seas picked up a bit in the afternoon). I can tell you we were all definitely hanging on to the rope with our hand (so tight that we probably could have squeezed out some orange juice if we'd had oranges in our hands), with our one foot under a foot rope, and trying to ride the waves as we sat on the edges of the raft. A serious adventure, and back adjustment! So fun!!!

As we rounded the corner into the Napali coast, we came upon a pod of Spinner Dolphins. They were amazing and graceful to watch. It was super cool to watch them as they jumped out of the water.

Wow!

The water was like glass. You could see them everywhere.

Looking back to the west from where we came. Love the cliffs and water beating on them.

Oh man, here was our first cave that we came upon. He kept getting closer and closer until I thought he was going to drive us right under the waterfall on the left entrance of the cave. Luckily he missed the waterfall, but did drive us into the back of the cave to where I was a little worried I was gonna hit my head. I guess I did ask to sit in the most adventurous part of the raft😉!

This is the back of the cave.

And this is looking from the inside, out!

Love how this pictures show the strength of the water. It looked and sounded like a washing machine as the water would bang upon the rocks.

Then Manu brought us to another cave. I thought for sure that this was a cave we would just drive thru, but no. I was wrong. The waves were really big and crazy in here! The was called an open ceiling cave because long ago the cave fell in. As he pulled the boat inside it was breathtaking. Very cool! I kept thinking what a cool cave and big rock in the middle until before I knew it, he floored the gas and zoomed around that rock. All I could do was hang on and think, "Man, he is one crazy, amazing driver!"

Trying not to look nervous. Good thing I had shades on, but seriously, this was one of the coolest things we did!

Here's a view from the inside looking out.

Steven got this nice shot of a waterfall (that we got up close and personal with). The boat got about 2-3 feet away from the wall at one point!

Love this picture of the double caves. In the back of the left one is the only beach on the island with no sun. We went in it, but not far enough to see the sand.

This arch has been in several movies. Airplanes and helicopters have flown thru it. Can you see the waterfall in the back?

Beautiful Napali coast!

Gotta love our crazy hair! Especially Steven's Mohawk created compliments of the wind.

This was our beach landing. We got to take a tour of the village, eat lunch and snorkel out in the reef. The water always felt cold (probably from our thin Arozona blood), so you just had to jump in and go for it!

View looking at the reef.

Love this picture with the ocean in the background. The tree was loaded with coconuts (seen better from the other side).

(The other side)

This was probably the Chiefs home at one time. These grounds are fairly sacred and we had to stay on the trail.

X marks the spot! This boat tour was definitely a highlight of the trip!

Once we got back from the tour, we explored the beaches and town nearby on the west shore of the island.

Steven and I collected sea glass for Kailyn from this beach, called Sea Glass Beach. The pieces were pretty tiny, but it was fun to find them.

Looking back the other way on the beach.

This was a blow hole along the Swiss Cheese Shoreline. We waited until is sprayed us. Ahhhh!

This was Keyhole Cave along the Hanapepe shoreline. The water here was so powerful as it would surge through this cool arch.

This picture made my knees weak as Steven stood on the edge.

This was another arch in the area.

Here it comes!

After exploring this cool area, we went into Hanapepe to see this cool swinging bridge.

These are called the Salt Ponds. They dig these pits and fill them with sea water, let the water evaporate, and repeat the process 4-5 times until there is a nice layer of salt. The salt is then gathered for seasoning of the luau pigs. Pretty cool and resourceful!

We finally starting making our way back toward the condo, exploring more "gems" along the way. This town, Po'ipu is home of a PGA Golf Course. It was amazing to see how many times Tiger Wood's name was on there (7 times)!

These cool trees were on the shore by the Spouting Horn.

When we parked our car to actually walk up to the viewing area, Steven noticed this rooster had jumped into the trashcan looking for food. So crazy! These roosters were EVERYWHERE! When we got back into the car, a male was chasing a female and jumped into a tree right beside our jeep. I told Steven I was going to chase that male away because the female needed a break from his aggression and when I went to open the door to chase him away, they both jumped on top of the jeep. All we could hear were their claws scampering on top of the jeep. We were like, "Now what do we do?" I finally decided I was going to now chase them both off of the top of our jeep and as soon as I opened the door, they flew right over my head causing me to scream and jump back into the car. It gave us both a good laugh!

This is a picture of the current day Spouting Horn. Many years ago, the main spouting horn's edges were blasted away by sugarcane plantation workers because the salt spray was harming the canes. The original one doesn't really spew water in the air like it's smaller neighbor (in this picture).

Pretty sunset picture looking back toward the west!

This hole in the wall place called, Da Crack, was recommended by our boat captain. Is was actually pretty good and one of the few meals we bought on the island.

This sea turtle is a little hard to see, but this was at "Break Neck Beach" (Brennecke beach) in Po'ipu. It was really cool to see the turtles' silhouette in the waves. And no, we did not attempt to swim on Break Neck beach. The name was enough for us!