Today we went out with Aloha Kauai Tours on their Kauai Backroads 4x4 Tour. We met the group at the Kilohana Plantation where we parked my truck and jumped in their customized 4x4 van. We became acquainted with the other members of the tour as our soft spoken driver eased the van back onto the highway. Our driver explained that he was born and raised on Kauai and that he was over seventy years old. He told stories of his youth, and the many changes that the island has gone through since that time. As he turned the van off of the highway and onto a dirt road, he gestured towards the dense jungle and told the group
“I used to work in a sugar cane field that was once here, where these trees are now.”
The group was silent as they took in the amount of change this man had witnessed that was evidenced
in the height of the foliage alone. Luckily for us he had the keys to the many gates that divided up the large section of pasture that we were traversing in the van so he was able to take us to areas where we wouldn't otherwise have been able to go. The trail turned uphill and we eventually made our way to the top of the Kilohana Crater. We spent some time observing the views before we got back in the van and made our way back to the highway. Once we reached the highway, we turned right and headed to the old plantation town of Koloa. Our driver shared an excellent historical narration throughout this section of the tour. He seemed to be able to time his speeches perfectly, so at the end of every story he would stop the van point out the window and say:
“All that happened right....here”
We continued through Koloa and on to Poipu where we journeyed to a section of Maha'ulepu beach at the end of a long dirt road, quite far down the Maha'ulepu coast from Poipu. Here we spent some time walking around as we tried the various snacks and beverages that our driver had brought for us. The cliffs on the left side of the beach over hung extremely far, and looked like they could collapse into the sea at any moment. I got some cool pictures of this area.
After we were done at the beach we loaded back up in the van to make our way home on a “shortcut” the driver knew of. We drive up a wide dirt road up into what seemed like a sheer wall of foliage. As we got closer to the top, a small hole with a pinprick of light at the far end could be made out in the distance. Our driver explained that when the sugar cane industry was in its prime one of the main producers named “Wilcox” owned the area we were on. His fields were split by this large mountain range, and for years he was forced to drive around it using the regular county roads. This was a great hardship on his production because he had to use “street legal” sized trucks and the loads would cool down by the time they got
to the factory because of the distance around the hill (I didn’t quite understand why, but from what he said it seems that the quality of the sugar was lowered if it was allowed to cool too much after the field was burned). In addition to the longer distance to the mill, he was also racking up fines with the county for over use of the road. To remedy this situation Wilcox brought in laborers from China to dig a private tunnel large enough to fit one of his sugar cane “super haulers” that were on a similar scale to modern day monster trucks. Our guide told stories of the amount of wind these machines would create as they raced their haul back to the factory passing by the field workers at sixty plus miles an hour. As we were dropped off back at the Kilohana Plantation I couldn’t help but to feel like I had a much greater understanding of the island of Kauai. (Click here for more information about this trip or to make a booking)
I had an idea of what we were getting into when I showed up at the headquarters of the Wailua River Guides in Kapaa, but I had no idea how much I was going to really enjoy the kayak and the hike up the river that we did today with Wailua River Guides. The story actually starts before I got to the headquarters when I was getting ready to leave my house. I was having one of those mornings where it was just taking me forever to get everything ready. Then, because I was already behind, I started feeling pressured for time and lost my rhythm. This resulted in a feeling that I needed to be constantly double checking to make sure that I had all my photo equipment (which there is a lot of in my bag). Lets just say, when I got there I was still feeling little bit of lingering anxiety from earlier in the morning. Once I got on the boat and got wet, then paddled for a few minutes and got my blood pumping it felt like the rocky start to the day had never even happened.
When we got up the river to the trail head I opened up the dry-bag that the Wailua River Guides provided and gathered together my camera gear for the hike. It was a slippery hike, but at no point was I worried enough that I was going to fall enough to want to put my DSLR camera back in its pelican case that I had in my backpack. As we traveled through the jungle our guide shared many interesting facts about the plants and areas that we passed along the way. We learned about the "Hala" tree that was used by the ancient Hawaiians to create the thatch roofs that were common in their buildings. We also learned about many of the farming techniques of old as we passed through ancient agricultural terraces on the way to the waterfall.
The waterfall was well over a hundred feet tall and had a rather large pool that was calm enough to swim in. It was shallow at the edges and much deeper towards the center. The stones at the edges were loose and slippery which made it difficult to get in and out, but I managed to make it unscathed by staying on all fours and getting low. It is dangerous to swim under any waterfall because it is possible for rocks or even pebbles to fall with the water with enough force to cause injury to anyone in their path. I felt it was worth the risk and went for a shower under the falls, it was amazing!
On the hike back we took a different path that led us next to a small pool that the guide said was man made by ancient people as a private bath. After further investigation, experts now think that it was meant for the exclusive use of royalty. It was an absolutely beautiful place. At first when he said it was man made I was a little skeptical. He continued explaining and pointed out that all of the stones in the waterfall were standing strait up vertically, which is opposite from how nature arranges them. This observation made complete sense and my mind could not help but to imagine what life was like for the people that created this amazing water feature.
The paddle back was a very leisurely one, my friend Chris and I finally got our timing down and ended up making it back in a bit less time then it took us to paddle up the river. We pulled up next to a dock in front of one of the houses and talked with one of the residents that was sitting at the end of his dock drinking a beer out of a green bottle. He was an entertaining guy and we were kinda sad when the rest of the group caught up and we had to say "bye" to him.
After going on the paddle up the river I was in such a good mood. The exercise and the mellowness of the paddle of the river completely erased the rough start to the day. I was already smiling as we were driving home, and then my smile got even wider when I saw a woman on the side of the road selling Ahi. We stopped and picked up an 8lb Yellowfin Tuna for $25 and then went home and spent the rest of the day eating sushi hand rolls and giant sashimi platters. It was a perfect ending to an amazing day!
I remember passing by the sign for Kauai Photo Tours in Kapaa when I first came over to Kauai in January and thinking to myself how much I was looking forward to going on that trip. I noticed on the sign it said they had a photo shop in addition to the tour. That was great information to know because the very next day I realized that I had left my lens cleaner on Maui. I went strait to their store to get more. Being an amateur photographer myself, I was impressed by there selection and ended up walking out with lens cleaner, as well as a UV Filter, and a Circular Polarizing Filter. After visiting the shop and meeting the staff I became even more interested in the photo tour. When I woke up this morning, I was very excited got to finally have the opportunity to go on this tour, hopefully learn some new techniques, and to get some good photography opportunities along the way as well.
When I got there the sky was kind of overcast, there was a slightly gray hue to the day but it looked as if the sun was going to stay out for us at least enough so we were not going to have to deal with any rain. One of my friends was visiting me from the mainland who is also a beginner photographer. My friend had ordered a DSLR for the trip, but because of a shipping delay his camera didn't get to his house until after he had left, so he did not have it with him. It all worked out well because when we checked in at the Kauai Photo Tours gift shop we were pleased to find that they had a very nice selection of rental cameras. He got outfitted with a whole setup, including polarizing filter (which we'll talk more about later) for a little more then $30. As soon as the rest of the group arrived at the gift shop we boarded the van and began our days journey.
The outline of the days activities was very simple: we were going to board the van and go to a variety of beautiful locations. At these various location we were going to be able to take some pictures (and get some photo tips from our guide if we requested them). On Kauai, there are so many world class locations to take pictures that the guides at Kauai Photo Tours usually do not have a hard time accomplishing this task. In addition to taking us to some amazing place our guides were also available to answer questions and offer advice. I really appreciated that the guides made it a point to only offer advice of narration when it was requested, it made for a very casual environment.
One of the first locations that we went to was a waterfall. The waterfall was located down a trail, behind a locked gate in the middle of the east Kauai jungle. When I asked our guide what he recommended as far as camera settings go, he suggested that I play with some slower shutter speeds to "Smooth out" the waterfall. Lowering the shutter speed does two things. The most noticeable effect is that the slower shutter makes for more of a motion blur from anything that is moving in the image. The second result which is less apparent, is that the slower shutter speed also requires using a higher aperture setting (in most conditions), which will result in a greater depth of field. This deeper depth of field will allow more to be in focus in the final image. I was able to get some nice shots here, where a good portion of the background was in focus and the waterfall had a nice motion blur to it. The motion blur on the water really smoothed out the appearance of the falls nicely. From here we moved onto another spot, where I got to learn how to use polarizing filters.
We pulled the van down a dirt road that dead ended right before it reached the coastline. We got off the van to find a beautiful view of the bay with some of the clearest water I have ever seen. I asked our guide what he recommended doing to get a good shot here. He suggested a couple different locations to get a good shot from before he mentioned that I should be using the polarizing filter. The polarizing filter is a device that you attach to the end of the lens. It consists of two polarized pieces of glass that are attached to each other in a manner that you can swivel the outer piece of glass to adjust its position in relation to the inner piece. The result of using this filter is the user having complete control of the amount of polarization in the shot. The difference it can make on a shot is astounding.
After we finished at the bay we stopped at some beautiful beaches and lookouts before we stopped for lunch in the town of Hanalei. We ate at a local plate lunch place. There were many choices on the menu (mainly local Hawaiian food), I had a delicious Kalua Pig and Poi plate lunch that I enjoyed immensely. After eating I took some fast shutter speed shots of the chickens that were roaming in the yard of the restaurant before we all got back in the van to check out some more spots.
We went to many amazing locations throughout the afternoon. I think one of my favorite was the Kalo fields just outside of Hanalei. Kalo was one of the staple foods that was brought over by early Polynesian settlers that originally inhabited Hawaii. Poi (a staple food in the early Polynesian diet) is made from a mixture of ground up Kalo root and water.
Poi tastes rather bland and is meant to be mixed with other items (it looks kind of like pudding, and most people who've never tasted it before expect it to have a flavor like chocolate pudding for some reason). My favorite way to eat Poi is on a plate of fresh Ahi Poke that is drowned in one finger poi (where the poi has a very thick texture from being more concentrated).
We got some great photos of these fields from many different angles. Eventually, after our great photo session was over, we had to make our way back to Kapaa. After we finished the tour, my friend and I discussed the details of it as we drove back to the house. He had literally never even used a DSLR once prior to this trip, and he had a very good understanding of how to use them after we returned. We also both picked up some great shooting techniques from our guide on how to compose landscape shots. If you're going to be on Kauai, and you are even remotely into photography.....you should take this trip.
I love the sunset sails on Kauai. I really appreciate that with these sails, there is an actual destination to the whole adventure. You get to sail all the way to the Napali coast while you watch the sun go down. The enjoyed this much more then some of the other sunset sails that just sort of aimlessly travel around in circles watching the sun go down. We saw dolphins and whales along the way were pretty amazing, but the sight of the 3000+ foot tall cliffs is what I've always considered to be the highlight of these trips.
The cliffs of the Napali Coastline extend from sea level to over 3000ft into the sky. They are so rugged, that the state never even considered trying to construct a road here. They make up a stretch of about 17 miles in length that goes from Polihale Beach on the south all the way to Ke'e Beach on the north end of the Napali Coast.
Today we went on Kauai Sea Tours which has been a major player in the Napali Coast Tour industry on Kauai for quite some time. Their boat the "Lucky Lady" is a very stable catamaran that has large motors as well as sails. We checked in at their office in Port Allen. Once everyone had arrived we walked down to the pier and boarded the boat. After a quick safety briefing the crew untied us from the pier, and we motored out of the harbor.
The trip leading up to the cliffs is amazing. The land that we passed was for the most part undeveloped. Most of the land was used during the last century to cultivate sugar cane. This stopped when the mill closed down in 1999. Most of the land now lies unused. We passed the towns of Waimea and Kekaha that were at one point central hubs to the sugar cane industry of the west side of Kauai. Just past Kekaha begins a magnificent stretch of sand that extends about 17 miles from Kekaha Beach Park all the way past the military base to the end of Polihale State Park. It was about half way through this stretch that we began to see the dolphins.
Dolphins have used the waters off of Polihale Beach and the Napali Coast as their feeding grounds since long before the first settlers canoes reached the shores of Kauai. This coastline is abundant with marine wildlife and the dolphins feast on the large fish populations. We saw the smaller Hawaiian Spiner Dolphins and at one point were completely surrounded by them, with the majority of them crowded in the water surrounding the bow of the boat. We also saw the larger Bottle Nose Dolphins. We encountered so many dolphins on this trip that people literally got bored of seeing dolphins before we even got to the Kalalau Valley.
Kalalau Valley is where the boat turned around and began heading back towards the harbor. This valley is where the Napali Coast hiking trail (that begins 11 miles to the north at Ke'e Beach) ends. The Kalalau beach is nestled under one of the most beautiful cliff faces that you will find anywhere on the planet. It is one of the most beautiful spots on Kauai and can only be viewed by air, sea or from the Kalalau Beach. The Napali Coast Trail was rated a 10 out of 10 in difficulty by the Sierra Club.
As soon a we turned the boat around and started to go with the swells of the ocean the ride smoothed out considerably. The crew took advantage of the smooth sailing conditions and set up a delicious buffet dinner. When they were done setting up they took turns manning the open bar that was serving beer, wine and cocktails until we got back to the harbor. Mai Tais were definitely the most popular drink of the night.
We ate dinner and enjoyed the incredible views of the sun going down behind the distant island of Niihau. As I sipped cocktails and made new friends from far off corners of the globe I couldn't help but to catch myself enjoying a moment of sheer bliss as I realized how happy I am to be able to have such incredible experiences in my life.
Today we had something happen that was slightly out of the ordinary. We were on an air tour around Kauai with Airventures Air Tours, when out of the depths of the ocean underneath us appeared a pod of massive Humpback Whales. The pilot saw them and made a massive figure eight around them so people on both sides of the plane could see them.
Not that long before our whale encounter we checked in at the Airventures hanger in the Lihue commuter terminal. Upon arrival we were greeted by their receptionist and then taken out onto the runway and seated in the aircraft. The plane was very comfortable with 3 rows of 2 seats next to each other and one seat in the back. I was lucky enough to get the copilot seat so in addition to having my own side window like everyone else, I also had a good view out of the front windows.
As soon as we lifted off from the tarmac in Lihue I began to snap away shots out the window with my camera. The first place we passed was the "private" coastline of Kipu Kai. After we passed here we moved on to the coastline of Poipu before we veered inland to get a better look of the Waimea Canyon.
The Waimea Canyon was absolutely amazing. While you're on Kauai you definitely need to schedule some sort of outing to see the Waimea Canyon. I've hiked all over Waimea and done my best to see all I can from the ground and I have yet to find a vantage point from anywhere on the ground that rivals what you can see from the air. There is one place where we saw an entire sequence of waterfalls making their way down the cliff. Another where we could see the canyon split and a side canyon go off into the distance with waterfalls cascading down the side of the valley. The Waimea Canyon was a great place to warm us up for the sight we were about to see, the Napali Coastline.
After passing by the large golf ball shaped radar domes on the edge of the military base the bottom dropped out and we found ourselves suspended off of the edge of a 3000+ft cliff. As I turned and looked north I was greeted with the classic aerial perspective of the Napali Coast. We circled and banked our way through the major valleys in the coastline as we worked our way north towards the picturesque Hanalei Bay. Once we got to Hanalei we made one final circle over the ocean before we turned inland up the Hanalei Valley.
Once we got into the Hanalei Valley we admired all the waterfalls and cliffs untill we eventually got the the Puhi area where we made a turn towards Kapaa. We flew over Kapaa and the Wailua Falls to the Lihue Airport. In just over an hour we basically circled the entire island and saw virtually everything that there is on Kauai from the amazing perspective of a plane. For a seasoned repeat visitor to the Garden Island, or a first time visitor to Kauai a flight on a plane is something you might want to consider doing to acquaint (or reacquaint) yourself with the island.
I remember the first time I stood up on a wave. It was a sunny day at a break near Oluwalu on Maui. It was in the middle of one of the summertime adventures with my uncle Dennis that were commonplace during my childhood. I was about 5 years old and the surf was a little over waist high on me at the time. I was on an old short board that was probably about 3 inches thick so Dennis had no problem pushing me into the wave. I remember standing up and putting my arms above my head, screaming and feeling so proud of myself as I proceeded to ride the wave strait in all the way onto the shallow reef where I crashed, cutting my arm and ending my session. Too bad I did not have a nice sandy place like Hanalei Bay to learn, or I probably would’ve been able to catch more then one wave and enjoyed a much better first surfing experience (regardless of the cut, that first wave I stood up on was still amazing!).
My Girlfriend and my friend Chris (who was visiting from California) had never really surfed before, and really wanted to do a surf lesson. The waves seemed to be more active in Hanalei then down in Poipu, so we got in touch with Hawaiian Surfing Adventures and arranged for a lesson the following morning. We were told that the days lesson was going to be at the Hanalei Pier and we agreed to meet them there bright and early in the morning.
As we arrived to the Hanalei Pier, I could tell it was going to be a great day for my friends to learn. There was the remains of a large swell that was still bringing consistent (although small) surf into the bay. There was no wind, which left the surface of the ocean as smooth as a sheet of glass. We could see Mitchell Senior and Mitchell Junior unloading boards from their truck, so we made our way over to meet them.
Hawaiian Surfing Adventures is a family owned and operated business. Mitchell Alapa Senior and his son Mitchell Alapa Junior jointly own and operate the business. Mitchell Senior is a delightful older Hawaiian guy that was born and raised in Hawaii. Throughout his youth he supported his family for the most part by doing construction, and surfing on his time off. His Son, Mitchell Junior was lucky enough to grow up surfing the sandy breaks of the north shore of Kauai with his Dad and has developed quite an amazing talent on his stand up paddle board. This winter he’s been busy collecting footage of himself taming some of the largest waves on Kauai with his SUP. Many years ago the father son team decided they would be able to have more time in the water by starting a surf school. Together, the Alapa's have combined their skills, talents and passion to create one of the premiere schools on the north shore of Kauai. How they run their lessons is simple and effective.
Beginning on land, they went over the basics of surfing. They wanted to make sure that everyone had a firm understanding of exactly what they were going to be doing before they got in the water. They went over the basics of positioning yourself, paddling, standing up, steering, crashing and getting back on the board before getting into the water.
Once the land lesson was over the group got into the water and paddled out through the surf. Mitchell Junior did a great job of explaining where the rip current was and how to use it to your advantage to make padding out easier. Once everyone was positioned in the lineup (the best place to catch the waves, right where they break) he huddled everyone together and had a final discussion before he started pushing the students into waves. Mitchell Juniors experience and skill was evident in the results, all 3 of the 3 students in the class stood up and surfed all the way to the shoreline on their first attempt.
Something that I really appreciated about the Alapas operation was their commitment to educate their students enough so they could catch waves on their own. Mitchell Junior repeatedly told the class:
“It’s easy for me to just push you into waves all morning, but my goal is to educate enough so you could go surf out here, catch waves and have fun on your own.”
Mitchell achieved his goal because by the time the lesson was over I saw each student not only catch a wave, but lineup and catch a wave and ride it in completely on their own. Ever since the lesson both Simone and Chris has continued surfing and catching waves which I think had a great deal to do with the amazing introduction to the sport that the Alapa team at Hawaiian Surfing Adventures provided them with.
Thinking about my own early experiences surfing over 20 years ago, I can’t help but wonder how my surfing career would’ve been like been altered, if the first time I had caught a wave had been on the soft sandbar of Hanalei Bay, instead of the sharp reefs of Oluwalu…….
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