Na Pali Coast, Kauai

In the middle of May 2000 five of us took a trip to Kauai -- Greg, Andrea, Maurice, Ed and I. It was a bit of an adventure just getting ourselves and our kayaks up to the North Shore while leaving the rental cars back at the airport in Lihue... but that was only the beginning. We slept at Ke'e Beach (right) and got up early in the morning to take off down the coast. The weather was beautiful and we were excited to start our journey. The ocean was calm so we were able to hug the coast (below) as we paddled. We even managed to paddle through a couple of sea caves and got up close to the waterfalls coming off the cliffs.

We went past Kalalau since we didn't have camping permits and though that it would be less likely for the Ranger to check Honopu... shows how little we knew!! We pulled our kayaks up close to the rocks so that they would be difficult to see from the water and we set up camp under the rock archway in such a way that the tents would be hard to see from the water as well. But none of that mattered -- the ranger came to check the beach anyway and we got the ultimate rude awakening early one morning. Luckily though... we had already spent two nights there and were getting ready to leave anyway!

We had the whole beautiful beach, a great waterfall, and a plentiful supply of watercress in the stream ALL to ourselves. We were spoiled and had 3 stoves and 3 water filtration pumps between us... so we feasted on hot meals and had lots of sweet tasting water. It was amazing. If you think the beach looks a little familiar, that is because it was featured in the movie "Six Days Seven Nights" -- it was the beach that the couple ran up on when they were being chased by the pirates.
On the second day that we were there, we swam over to Kalalau valley and hiked up the stream. It was a gorgeous day and we spent a lot of time sliding down the waterfalls! We tried to find the really big waterfall that is supposed to be near the back of the valley, but we kept getting confused by the forks in the trail and didn't know where to go. You could spend several days exploring that valley without ever getting bored.

Playing in the stream! Counter clockwise from top: Greg, Andrea, Maurice, Ed.