Kayaking the Na Pali Coast

Day 1: July 21st, 2010

I headed off in a double kayak loaded with food, an assortment of liquids, and miscellaneous camp gear. I temporarily blew off my plan to sail around Oahu for a last minute trip to explore Kauai's infamous Na Pali Coast. My starting point was Anini on the Central North Shore of Kauai and then paddle and fish my way down to Kalalau. The first leg was about 15 miles. The conditions were beautiful; glassy with a chest-head high swell rolling in. I could see the intricacies of the coral below and watched the fish meander about. I loved the coastline, it was GREEN and alive. No massive slabs of concrete screeching into the sky. Green mountains filled the horizon.

It took me 3 1/2 hours to get past Hanalei Bay and finally to the edge of the Na Pali Coast. Slugger and I chugged along at a max of about 3 mph. You can infer how she got the name. The next photo serves as a good overview of the next 6 miles. 1000 foot seaside cliffs, waterfalls leading into caves, and solitude. These were some of the most amazing things I have ever seen.

The heaviest experience occurred when I paddled into the cave pictured here. First, I went through the waterfall and then it hit me, like the feeling you get standing on the edge of a cliff or the giddiness that fills your body after surfing a huge wave. My hands were almost shaking. I felt I was entering a very sacred place with heavy heavy mana. A very spiritual experience. Shocked and in awe, I surveyed the scene and breathed it all in.

Paddling ole Slugger was like towing a bucket behind the boat. But I pressed on, the cave experience rejuvenated my spirit and gave me strength. The wind was at my back and small wind chop was pumping along and bouncing into the cliff. This was annoying because the closer you got to the cliffs the bigger the waves. The next two hours were the most challenging of my trip. In an nutshell... Physically exhausted. Surrounded by beauty. Feeling queasy. Solitude. Damn boats flying by with their speedy motors. Hello Bird! Land! Land! Stop eat! Keep on keeping on!

It took me 7 hours to reach my final destination of Kalalau. As I rounded a corner thinking but mostly screaming in my head "Where is this Kalalau!" I saw it, large beach, small waterfall crashing down, people, and kayaks. I beached Slugger and began looking for a place to call home for the next 3 days.

I felt claustrophobic in more ways than one as I walked under the Hau Bush Canopy. Lots of people, lots of campers, weird. I found a spot and set up my hammock, ate a tad bit of peanuts and triscuits, watched the sunset, and fell into a sound sleep.



Day two adventures and more pictures coming soon...

Kahuku Paddle

We explored some new coastline today and took advantage of the lighter than normal tradewinds. Ryan, Becky, Willie, and I stand up paddled from Malaekahana to Kawela Bay. It's about an 8 mile paddle and the cool part is the coastline is pretty much desolate. The adventure stated out a bit sketchy as I was trying out SUP fishing. I attached a lure and 20 feet of line to the back of my board. The allure of surfing was too much. I couldn't resist the urge to catch some waves and after a wipeout that threw me off the board and sent it in towards shore, I realized my fishing lure was a sharp leash I did not want to be attached too. After a long clumsy swim trying not to lose my hat and paddle, I reconfigured my fishing setup.

Several wipeouts later, my lure setup was gone. Somewhat of a relief, now I was free to surf without the fear of hooking myself. We surfed a couple spots and scored some super long rides. Becky and Ryan had their fair share of crazy moments. Becky lost her shades, Ryan lost his board to the rocks near shore which made for a difficult retrieval, Becky got drydocked on a lone rock 300 yards from shore and had the blood wounds to prove it. Willie on the other hand, came out unscathed with sailor like style.

Beautiful stretch of coast. It was great exploring a new area andonly seeing a handful of fisherman and a lone kayaker along the way. Unfortunately, the desolate beaches of Oahu usually have many remnants of society. I went ashore to investigate a Green Sea Turtle Nest and filled my pockets with plastics from around the area. Typical for the east side, with prevailing tradewinds that blow it all to shore. Amongst the rubbish I did find a gem in my eyes, an Opihi shell. So far I have explored 18 miles of the North and East Shores and I have about 140 miles of Oahu coastline left to see by sea. Cannot think of a better way to sea peace in Hawaii.

Logging Water Time

Check out http://picasaweb.google.com/dawilkinson83/LoggingWaterTime# for pictures.

If I were break down an hourly track record of my day, I think about 70% of my daily adventures exist on or in the water...

Sailing adventures have been killllller dudddddddeee! My farthest expedition went down last week. Jenny's mom, Anne, came along on first mate. She was sooo stoked to get out on a boat and glide with the wind. We had some great conversations of past stories and books and peaceful views. It was a soulful ride. We made it down to Keiki Beach and back....alive and afloat...barely... :) We had to make two pit stops at sunset beach to drain the water. Total of about 9 miles. Oh and we Pirated Willy for some beers on the sail back. We came in after the sunset, shivering, and buzzed.

Oh yeah, we had the V-land Midnight flotilla crew going off a couple nights in a row. Stand up paddlers was a great way to balance off the playful energy we were filled with. We Sailed around, SUPed into some waves on the inside rights at Yards. Conor and friends took out some random kayak boat sled and flipped it in the surf zone. Willy had a fire on the beach. We sailed my boat. I lost the plug earlier so I filled a bag with sand and stuff it in the hole. Worked enough. Even with stood a flip generated by Willy showing me how to sail with no wind. Nice job...One eyed Whisky Willie!

Chester has arrived and he is now an honorary member of the V-land yacht club. Our inaugural sail was smooth and dark. As we sailed away from Sunset we noticed an interesting outline of a wolf's face on the horizon illuminated with a unique configuration of lights. Oh yeah, a upgraded my plastic bag for a wind cork plugger. Works mo bettah.

The 4th of July was a great day of logging water time. After a run in the am, I went for a quick snorkel, then did the Hui o He'e Nalu Paddleboard Race from Sunset to Waimea. Great experience! I haven't competed and forgot some of my challenging mindset and how much I push myself in competition. The race was basically a sprint the whole time. my board was quick. Strategy involved trying to catch waves and drafting other people. I got 6th place in my division with a time of 33:51 for a 3.5 mile race (ages 20-29) and 20th overall out of 100 in the stock paddleboard division. I am excited to do some more races. One of my goals is to sea all of the coastline of Oahu by water, either sailboat or some kind of board! There are many different races offered and I look forward to putting some more under my belt as well as training for Indonesia and the winter season!

After the race I went into my daily vampire like state where I sleep and get some shade! I was back on the water around 5pm and sailed to rockies with a fulllll boat. Blake, Chet, Stacy, and I coasted downwind. Sea Peace provided some free entertainment for some other peeps rocking out at Loren's new pad with ocean front Rocky Rights and Gas Chamber views! If you check out surfline.com Rocky Rights cam, that is in her backyard. If you ever see a picture of a small flat day when it's firing, I may have/have not put that there.........Let's see, definitely some booby cruise rides where everyone was Seaing Peace everywhere. Classic adventure sail of the day goes to the fireworks sail. Chet, Kendall, Loren, and I launched as T-bay was exploding there $ into the sky. Very short is my description of the show. SO we made our own action, Chet walked the bow and I tried to make him fall in, but ended up dumping Loren and Kendall. I turn and come back, extend my arm and Kendall just hands me her nearly full and unsalty beer. Classic! and Classy in my book. On the second pass we got them both in the boat. Yew!

Most recent sail was yesterday returning from Rockies. I took Stacy along as a companion and fisherwoman. She always catches fish on Willies boat so I tried her out on mine to no avail. Dangit! Fun sail anyways!

Now I am off to surf! Aloha!