Kauai: Na Pali Sunset Cruise

It goes without saying that Kauai is beautiful, but it's hard to truly appreciate that label without witnessing the beauty of the Na Pali Coast.

The lush green Na Pali cliffs rise straight up from the Pacific Ocean, acting as a fortress for the beloved garden island. Their majestic ridges tower over the frothy white waves that crash into their rocky shoreline below. Every so often, the peaks open up to reveal flourishing valleys untouched by man. And scattered here and there along the coast lie tiny white sand beaches who made their home in the protective shadows of the cliffs. The scene is as perfect as it sounds.

It's a sight that every human soul should be able to see, and we could hardly visit Kauai without taking that opportunity. Since the only way to really view to Na Pali Coast is from the ocean itself, we booked a sunset cruise aboard a catamaran and prepared for an unforgettable afternoon on the water.

As we sailed further and further away from the port, Matt began to take pictures of the shore. And who could blame him? It was pretty. But I advised him to put the camera away for a minute and wait until we reached the Na Pali coast. "It gets prettier," I promised. He had a hard time believing me. That is, until we made the turn and caught our first glimpse of the fabled cliffs.

It seemed the further we sailed along the coast, the more incredible the views became--they just kept getting better and better. Na Pali literally took our breath away.

Unbelievable, isn't it?

After more than three hours of enjoying the gorgeous scenery, the sun began to set and it was time to turn around.

This timing proved to be rather serendipitous, as a certain stomach of mine seemed to have had its fair share of the slow rolling waves. Yes, there I was, on a romantic sunset dinner cruise with my husband in one of the most picturesque places on the planet, and I was sea sick. (Yeah, this girl--the one who never gets motion sick and who felt perfectly fine on multiple cruises and adventures on the ocean--was sea sick!)

My only recourse at that point was to drink ginger ale (yuck!) and quote Madagascar 2--specifically any part of the movie which referenced dying holes. Because when you are sea sick and an hour away from land, few things in the world sound better than your own personal dying hole. Also, few things make you feel better than laughter and let's be honest, Madagascar 2 quotes provide plenty of that business. And though my fellow grown-up cruise passengers were probably laughing at me and not with me when they overheard said quotes, I'm pretty sure they all wanted a dying hole at that point, too.

Luckily, the laughter and ginger ale, along with an added focus on a single point in the distance, seemed to cure my ailments in just enough time to enjoy the final pieces of sunlight. And enjoy it we did :-)