Hawaii - Jan 31, 2026 - Day 8 - Na Pali Coast

We had to be at the harbour by 8:30am, and it was about an hour drive so we left our place at 7:10am. We pretty much drove to where we turned to go to the canyon to catch our boat at Kikiaola Small Boat Harbor.  We were excited but nervous after Captain Rob went over how to not get sea sick, and how this likely will be a problem. Lola didn’t bring any med, not even Advil, so she was especially nervous.  Then to see how small the boat was… eeeeee. Others were also nervous by his speech…except for the family of 7 – 5 teenaged girls with their parents who met everyone on the boat before we even got to the boat. 

We took off our shoes and headed on the boat.  Lola picking a spot in the middle of the boat, under a canopy to try and conker the sea sickness.

We pulled out of the harbour, and to our excitement we thought we saw something in the water… nope drift wood, not super exciting.  Although not far after we saw whales. This was not a whale watching tour, but we got to see some!

the drift wood

As we got out into the open ocean, wow the waves were huge.  We tried to get photos and video, but it just didn’t cut it, we were going up and down on the waves like a surfboard, in our boat that our caption kept saying was made of Styrofoam.

We saw whales on our way out to the top part of the island of Kauai that is only accessible by boat or helicopter, or foot.. but no cars.  People are also prohibited to live on the Na Pali Coast there since about 1948 (when they made all the Hawaiian people leave). 

The coast was spectacular, at a height of 4000 ft tall. The wind was “calm” so there was a lot of sea mist, and it just floats there as the wind doesn’t push it inland very fast.

AA went to back/side of the boat to get some photos, while Lola went back and forth, as she felt better facing forward than sideways.  She couldn’t sit at the back of the boat as it was occupied by a lady that threw up well into the first hour of the boat trip. We saw sea caves, ancient burial grounds and the most amazing cliffs of the shield volcano.  The captain was very excited to be able to chat with AA while he was snapping photos.

listening to Captin Rob

We were out on the water for 5.5 hours, the coast was spectacular, and something we don’t regret doing. We ended the trip by going back to the “side” where we had lunch on the boat (Lola even got a gluten free turkey sandwich, she had to take the cheese off though), bag of chips, and juice.

As we were heading back, we saw a pod of spinner dolphins come right up to the boat. After lunch we headed past the harbour and went for a little snorkel.  The water was deep, but we saw a turtle.  It seemed way closer in real life in the water than the photos show (hopefully you can find it).

school of fish

can you find the turtle?

 

A quick 15 minutes back to the harbour we got off found our shoes, and headed back to the car.  What an incredible thing, and Lola didn’t get sea sick.  She knew the tricks, looking at the horizon and trying not to be on her phone too much.

We drove back to the condo and we both had a nap.  Lola doesn’t nap, but wow she slept over 1 hour.  AA had to wake her up, not sure if it was the early morning, or the stress of being out on the boat for 5.5 hours.

We were determined to see the sunset, so we walked to the beach.  The turtles were there, and so was the sunset. The moon was so beautiful too. Once the sunset, we walked in the water to see the sea turtles coming in. The water was calm and so refreshing.

see the turtle?

We made supper at the condo, sausage, rice, veggies and fruit.

After supper we played some cribbage, then walked to the beach to say goodnight to the turtles. 

Lola had some pretty good hands.

Hawaii - Jan 30, 2026 - Day 7 - Snorkel and Golf

It was an "earlier" morning, getting up to see the sunrise. We ate breakfast before 7am and made our way to the beach (we weren't missing it like we missed the sunset the night before).

The sunset took a while, but wow were we impressed with how calm the water was and all the wildlife we saw.  Started out with turtles swimming in the bay where you could see them in the waves, super neat, then we saw some whales, and to our surprise next up was at least 2 pods of dolphins.  We don't know how many there were, but there we so many.  They were swimming around the bay, right next to the rocks.  They were so close that people swam from shore to see them up close. my iphone photos don't show the closeness very well.

Dolphins

A whale hump

The sunrise was pretty cloudy, but wow it was worth the getting up.

We headed to see our favourite turtle spot where the sun was shining just right, and the turtles were so impressive, but only 2 were left on the shore. Lola took more photos…

water was calm!

Back to the condo to get our gear, and we walked back to the beach to do some snorkelling. The water was calm, and before we got out there, to our surprise there was a Hawaiian monk seal on the beach.  We learnt that there are only about 1600 left in the world, and most of them live on an uninhabited island of Hawaii.  They also are nocturnal, so they sleep all day, and hunt for food all night. 

We headed into the water at Poipu beach, it is pretty shallow but the fish and views are pretty amazing.  We didn’t see any turtles in the water, but we saw lots of sea urchins and fish and coral.

We sat on the beach a little to dry off, then headed back to our place for lunch.  Sausage, eggs, cucumbers and fruit.  It was pretty good.

After lunch we headed to the golf course just a 4 minute drive away. Kiahuna Golf Club.  We hit a few balls on the driving range, and then headed to play 9 holes.  All the holes had Hawaiian names and then the English translation, it was neat.  The course was pretty good.  It was a close game with AA scoring 51, and Lola at 53.

The weather was so nice, and we had a great time, although Lola broke her watch band, and didn’t bring a spare… 

We cleaned up and headed into Lihue for some glue and a few items at Target, then drove to Wailua for dinner.  This was a place we went to last time that Lola really enjoyed, so we made sure to make a reservation before we even left Canada. Hukilau Lanai is the restaurant.  We arrived a little early, so we walked around the Coconut Marketplace and bought some shirts and Lola’s favorite Cariloha. There was also a luau performance outside the market, so we saw a bit of that.

Back to the restaurant, we enjoyed the view and the atmosphere with a live entertainer and being able to sit at a table (last time we sat at the bar).  Lola got a Honey Lemonade, salad, gluten free bun, and the mixed grill (3 different fish) in a thai coconut sauce. It was so good. (too bad we can’t remember what kind of fish they were). AA got the spicy sausage soup, and the grilled Mahi Mahi and an iced tea.  Oh and he loved the focaccia bread to start.

We headed back to our place, and walked to the beach one more time... to see how many turtles there were. There were over 60 already beached there. It was incredible. The moon was almost full, so it really lit them up.

To end the night we glued my watch band, and played some cribbage, then went to bed we had an early morning the next day (9:30 pm bed time)

a very close game!