What was your favorite excursion in Kauai?

[mrr210]

I would be interested in hearing about fun excursions in Kauai. Right now I am booked on the tubing the ditch excursion, but from reading some of the threads on this board I am starting to re-think this. I am thinking instead of maybe just going hiking in Waimea canyon. I have a few days on the island and I intend to hike some of the napali coast to. Any suggestions you may have are always appreciated.

[bankofdad]

Her's an extract from my trip review on what we did in Kauai, and I wouldn't have changed a thing if I were to do it again:

 

The first day in Kauai we chose Holoholo Carters for the 5.5 hour morning NaPali tour. In researching NaPali coast tour options, I discovered that NCL buys out NaPali Explorer on days they are in port, and in the summer months (May through September), the ship does not arrive in port early enough to make the check in times for other NaPali Coast operators, because most of them offer two tours daily, with the morning tours leaving around 6:30AM, and the PM tours can be a rough ride because of the trade winds. However, beginning in mid-September that changes. Most operators only do one daily tour, which leaves Port Allen or Waimea Harbor at 8-8:30PM.

 

We had originally booked the NaPali tour through the ship just to ensure we would get a chance to see the coast up-close from a small boat perspective. The NaPali Explorer is a rigid hull inflatable, and unlike the Dolphin Express bout, it does not have side guard rails to lean on (you hold onto ropes when moving). By comparison, the Holoholo is a 49’ sailing catamaran, and was extremely comfortable. During our tour we did see the Explorer up close several times, and we were very pleased with our decision. The trip was fabulous, great crew, great vessel, and fun ride, great food for breakfast and lunch, and open bar after snorkeling (although the snorkeling was not very good). Select this type of excursion for the scenic tour, not the snorkeling. There are better places on the island for that.

The only catch with an early morning tour is though the ship arrives at the dock prior to 7AM, we were not cleared to disembark until 7:25AM. I had pre-arranged a taxi pick-up (through Kauai Taxi), and they were at the pier waiting. We made it to Port Allen for check easily before the 8AM posted check-in time and 8:30AM departure. Had the cruise ship offered this tour, we would have selected it for the convenience. I would highly recommend that if you need taxi service on Kauai, pre-arrange it. I did not see many taxis waiting at all (maybe two).

 

The second day in Kauai, we took a helicopter tour on Jack Harter Helicopters. We took the recommendation of many others, and booked the 90-95 minute tour. This was spectacular, and in comparison to the 60 minute tours, allowed the pilot to spend more time at the scenic sights, and to position the aircraft so that all six passengers got the best view of each beautiful sight. Jack Harter also operates a shuttle to/form the pier. We chose an 8AM flight, and they picked us up at 7:30AM. The staff was fantastic, and our pilot, “Mr. Bill Smooth Operator” was very skilled. Having worked on helicopter electrical systems years ago, and having logged a lot of crew hours, I could easily see what a good pilot this guy was, and how well maintained the aircraft appeared to be. I would highly recommend this particular morning excursion (afternoon wind shear makes it rough up in the mountains).

[jenny368]

We have the movie tour booked for our 3/27 Infinity cruise. Anyone have any opinions on this?

 

http://www.hawaiimovietour.com/

[orcatek]

We did the 4x4 movie tour. We liked it - check out my review for details.

 

We also did the helicopter with Jack Harter. Great tour.

[ukbballfan]

Did a helicopter tour through Safari Air just last week...the absolute hi-light of our cruise!

[Almagetty]

We booked the Napali Explorer trip through the ship, and because so many people had booked the tour, we were transferred to Napali Riders a small Zodiac raft that carried about 14 guests and a crew of two. This was absolutely the highlight of our entire cruise. Moreover, I would say it was the best shore tour we've ever taken in over 20 years of cruising. It's not for the faint of heart, and you should be reasonably fit (as a poster above mentioned, you do have to hold onto ropes as you travel along in order to stay on board). The ride was exhilarating! We had four adults all in our late 30's and 5 kids ranging in age from 13 to 9, and we all absolutely loved it. We saw dolphins, swam with sea turtles, explored caves and all got turns driving the boat. I highly recommend this tour!!!:D

[debtman7]

Our favorite activities were hiking the Kalalau trail and the sunset dinner cruise along the NaPali coast.

 

Some of the other things we did:

 

- helicopter tour (good, but I'd choose the NaPali coast cruise over this in a heartbeat)

- ditch tubing (chilly!)

- downhill bike tour (we had good fun guides, it was a good time but kind of pricey)

- scuba dive (discovered scuba is not for me)

- kayak and hike to secret falls (hint: falls are not secret, river is crowded. go up to hanalie and kayak the river there instead)

- Smith Family Tropical Luau (exactly what you would expect with a 500 person luau...)

 

I'd strongly recommend eating dinner at the Bali Hai Restaraunt up in Hanalei one night near sunset. The service and food were excellent and I don't think you can beat the view and atmosphere anywhere in the world.