Day 12: The Na Pali Coast

Friday July 7th was our last full day on the cruise, and our second day in Kauai. We were in port until early afternoon and then we were sailing past the Napali Coast before heading back to Honolulu. 

Ah yes, the Napali Coast. I like Hawaii. I had a good time in Hawaii. But, Napali Coast day was the day I probably should have taken the hint from the island gods and headed home. But hey, at least I've got some good stories!

But before I get to the first of many stories about the island gods either telling me I should get out or never leave (depending on how you want to look at it), lets rewind back to Thursday night. I was so excited the boat wasn't moving, I wanted to do lots of ship things! As a result, Cort, Holly, Asa and I were playing ping pong well into the evening when we made official plans to get up early and take the rental car to the north shore of Kauai. The car was due back at 10 AM, so we decided we'd need to plan on leaving the ship around 6AM. 

I knew my sleep would be limited, so when I went to get in the shower a little after midnight, I was already doing the 'sleep count down' where I'm like 'If I go to sleep RIGHT NOW I'll get 'X' amount of sleep'. But then there was NO WATER coming from any faucet or shower head. We called down and found out there was 'emergency maintenance on the water main' and it would be out an hour. As an OCD girl who HAS to shower before bed (not to mention I still had crunchy salt-water hair), I knew I wasn't going to sleep until the water came back on. I think I slept about 4 hours before we were up a little before six. 

But you know, adventure. The Na Pali Coast. Yay! 

Peyton did make it out on the balcony all night, but the roosters were not so pleasant at 6 AM, and he was up and grumpy, and back in the room as we were leaving. Asa meanwhile, had to walk past all those roosters on the way to pick up the rental car from the Marriott about a mile away. 

He wasn't exactly pleased with this development. But, he did it. So, thanks Asa! 

It took about an hour to drive to the north side of the island, and I wish I had some of Cort pictures here, because he took some nice one's of a full rainbow we saw on our drive. Basically you drive around the island, past beaches and cliffs and over one lane bridges and blind curves until you can't drive anymore, because the road dead ends to the hike of the Napali Coast. (Which, look, we've talked about how I'm not a hiker. But I was promised snorkeling. So I went. And I hiked. At 7 AM, on four hours of sleep- in what apparently isn't the safest/flattest trail I'd ever been on). 

But, adventures! 

 

We calculated just how much time we could be up there before we'd have to get the car back, factored in some snorkeling time, and headed up the trail....

.... the very steep, side of a cliff, trail. Where we got rained on. Yay, adventures. (Do you guys see that drop off? It doesn't even photograph as crazy as it is in person). 

And, I didn't complain this much ON the hike, I swear. I promise. The views were awesome. I mean, just gorgeous. But, I finally understood Peyton's fear of drop offs. I just hugged the other side, holding on to tree branches where I could, and trying not to look down- except, I had to look down because it wasn't exactly a flat trail, and I had to see where I was putting my feet. 

Asa and Holly, sprinted up the trail, while I very dorkily hugged the trees. Cort brought up the rear, and I said I felt like I was on I-4 with someone behind me wanting to go 100 MPH, while I was like 'HEY! I am going a reasonably safe speed here!' (Cort was totally nice about it though, and kept telling me I was fine). 

To be clear, I am glad I went. I'm just not sure I would do it again. And I probably would have had a panic attack had the kids come along. Hayden falls walking on flat ground. I just couldn't have taken watching him try and do this. (And Peyton would have refused, anyway). 

I'm not sure how far we went, but we decided we better turn around and start heading back in order to have any time for snorkeling before the rental car had to be back. 

Now some of the trail had nice little wood beams creating some semblance of steps. But, a significant portion was rocks. Rocks that got even wetter while we were hiking because of the rain, rocks that now went through little waterfalls/streams coming off the mountain.  I tried to snap pictures to show Peyton just how crazy it was, but again, it doesn't LOOK as terrifying as it actually WAS. 

I did survive climbing down slippery wet rocks, some covered in wet leaves, right next to big giant drop off, so there's that. And the views were lovely. 

Even if I sound complainy, I don't think I was that bad on the actual hike, I swear! And it was an awesome hike, as far as hikes go.  But, it was also terrifying for me. It's more of a thing I can go ahead and do once, and that's enough for me. 

The very last beach at the end off the road is Kee beach, it's right at the base of the trail. Clint said it would have good snorkeling, but we really didn't see too much. A few fish and some coral. 

But we really only had about 15 minutes to snorkel before we had to get in the car and head back. 

And now, it's story time. 

So, we start walking back to the car, and by now the parking lots are all packed, and cars are packed up and down the side of the road. One guy was looking for spot and said 'hey, where are you guys parked? Can I have your spot?' We tell him we're in the next parking lot down, in the middle row. So he heads down there to wait for us to make the walk. 

When we get back to the parking lot, the guy is like 'I don't know how you guys are going to get out of your spot, you're totally parked in'. We're like 'Yea, ok' and smile and nod, because of course there's a way out. 

Then we start looking around. The sort of rectangular gravel parking lot has no spaces, there's three rows of cars, a single row on the top and the bottom, and a double row of cars in the middle. But nobody left either of the side's empty. Meaning everyone on the backside of the parking lot, AND the backside of the double row have no way  out. We were in the backside of the double row. The guy was right, there was no way out. 

At one end of the parking lot, there are rocks and a rope. Both easily moveable. But after that, there was a huge metal padlocked gate. That padlocked gate led to a dirt road where there was a creepy abandoned/empty farm/shack. 

On the other end there was a grass helipad in case of emergencies. It was enclosed by chicken wire fencing secured with metal poles in the ground on our side, with a large padlocked metal gate on the other side. 

There were rocks and ditches all around the exits. There really was no way out. It then dawned on me, the car was not getting back in time. We attempted to call the rental place, but apparently our phones don't get a signal in the middle of nowhere. Or the edge of nowhere. Or, whatever. So, that was not ideal. An unforseen cost was incoming (which in my mind was a whole other day- ugh!) 

There were some places where instead of a double row of cars, there was only one car. (They must have parked in the back two rows before those sections got completely full). We tried to find this smallest one and push it. It wasn't budging. 

Holly ran back to the beach to ask the lifegaurds what to do. 

We took stock of our best bet, and it was moving the rocks and rope and going out the padlocked gate, if we could just get it open. 

Cort was convinced a key for the padlocked gate by the creepy abandoned shed was hidden somewhere, so he looked for it all Survivor Immunity Idol style. 

Meanwhile, I took out my hair clip and tried to pick the lock. 

Asa went back to the creepy shack to see if anyone was there to unlock it. 

We all came up empty. 

By now there were about two more families who had come back to their cars to find out they were in the exact same situation we were. Of course, just like how we blew off parking spot guy, they blew us off at first too. 

One of the families were also on the ship, and when Holly came back she said the lifeguard said 'either call the police, or flip the car' (and he was totally serious about flipping the car). 

Well, we weren't going to flip the car, but we, along with the other families did try and push some more cars. Still nothing. 

One of the families were on our ship, and the Australian woman got a signal on her phone, so she called the police who said 'We'll come up there, but there's not much we can do'. And, there was no sense of urgency. 

At this point, it was less about getting the car back on time, and more about missing the ship. Had this been any other day, it wouldn't have been as disastrous, but mom was on ship with all of our kids- and if we missed it we'd have to fly back to Honolulu and she'd have to pack everything up for everyone. I was getting nervous. 

Holly decided she was going to take note of all the single cars, where we would just need one of to move to get out, and go up to the beach to see if they belonged to anyone. Chances were slim, since most people were surely hiking the Napali Coast and not anywhere to be found. But, it was worth a shot. One of the other people on the ship went with her. 

Cort and Asa turned their attention away from the rocks, rope, and gate over to the helipad. He started to undo the chicken wire fence, peeled it away, and pulled one metal steak out of the ground. 

But, there was still a chained and padlocked gate to get through. But then Asa discovered we were looking at the wrong side of the gate. It wasn't the padlock we should worry about, it was the hinges. A little finagling and they pulled it up off the hinges, and swung it out. 

Sure, it said it was like a federal offense to mess with it. But, We were free at last! 

Us and about five other cars made their way out. We didn't stay to put it back together, and we drove down to the beach to get Holly so we could head back. (We did notice on our way back past the parking lot, someone had at least put the gate back, though not the chicken wire fence). 

We made our way back the curvy, one lane bridges and back to the ship. We weren't really in danger of actually missing it, I think we got back to the ship a little after 11 (two hours before we had to be), because the whole ordeal was only about an hour. 

But it was quite the ordeal, and it seemed like way more than an hour. 

Yay, adventures? 

Asa actually gave the rental car lady our story, and she didn't even charge us extra. Then, on his way back to the ship, he found $14 on the ground, so actually it was profitable! 

Another (shorter) fun story: His trip back the day before involved a lift in a Hawaiian Police car--- apparently if you look like a tourist somewhere you shouldn't be, the nice Hawaiian officers will take pity on you and drive you back to the ship. They will however, not turn the lights on for you. (Asa apparently asked). So he had some extra adventures. 

But anyway, we made it back to the ship, so grandma didn't have to worry about being the only adult with five kids the last night on the ship. The kids were spoiled all morning, anyway. Nobody even missed us. 

Cort was so stressed by the events, we had to talk him down off the ledge. 

Anyway, we did make it in time for lunch at Cagney's. It was the only day it worked out for us to collect the suite perk of getting to eat there. 

It didn't disappoint. I got the Caesar Shrimp Salad, and it was one of my favorite things I had the whole time. Asa liked his mozzarella and prosciutto appetizer too. 

I got the brie burger for my entree, and Asa got the Salmon, and we were both happy with those too. I wish we had more lunches on the ship, because I would have been at Cagney's a lot more. 

It does take longer than the buffet though, so the kids are usually ancy by dessert time. We bailed on dessert at Cagneys to go down to the buffet to get all the desserts. 

We returned to our room to find one last towel animal, and more snacks (which we put in our mini fridge for later). 

And then it was time to set sail. 

There was an afternoon of swimming before we headed to other events. 

Garrett went to a Magic Workshop while Hayden and Gwen went off to kids club. We met him in the Mardi Gras Lounge after so he could show us all the tricks he learned. 

It was convenient, since the kids club circus that Gwen and Hayden had been practicing for all week, was immediately afterwards. The magician's son was also in kids club, so he was sticking around to watch the circus too. While he did, he noticed Garrett had purchased his bag of magic tricks after the workshop, and gave him a quick little one on one lesson with a few of the items. 

And then it was time for the circus! Gwen and Hayden did a great job with the Devil Sticks. 

Sadly, for me, it was time to head back to the room and start packing up. I should have done this BEFORE the boat started moving, but what can you do? 

The reason the boat leaves the port in Kauai so early in the day, is so they have time to sail past the Napali Coast (you know  the place I had just hiked a tiny little section of, and then nearly got stranded at). I want to say it's like a 15 mile stretch of coastline, but it's all jagged and raises up from the Pacific in a pretty spectacular fashion (I think in spots its like 4,000 feet- it's bananas!). We might not have gotten to see the lava flow from our balcony, but this time the Napali coast was on our side, so we had our own place to watch it from. 

Above us you could see everyone who didn't have their own balcony, gathering to watch it

We also took this opportunity to break out our snacks of cheese, bread, olive tapenade and veggies- and our very last bottle of champagne. 

Holly brought out the binoculars to get a closer view. 

While Cort took pictures that I'm sure are way more awesome than mine. 

Because really, you can't capture it in a photograph. I mean, even Asa's panoramics look cool, but they don't even begin to do it justice. 

I tried to take some self taken pictures with the Na Pali Coast in the background, but I kept cutting off the top of it. 

Eventually, we came up with better plans for pictures. 

And ta da! Better, right? 

Really though, this whole coastline is amazing. I guess Clint and Jess kayaked all along it. We hiked a little teeny tiny piece of it, but I guess to go the whole way you need a permit. 

Peyton was MIA during the whole thing. He was watching, just somewhere else with his friends. By the time he showed up the boat was turning. 

I wanted a picture of the boys and all of us, though, so we went out to the other side of the boat and snapped a few. 

By now, Garrett was all pictured out (I think they were one day 16 of vacation, and Cort takes just as many pictures as me, if not more, so I can see why he had had enough). But, here's the rest of us- I got us in the best I could. 

Dinner that night was at the Liberty Dining Room. It's just upstairs from Skyline, the main dining room, but it's a bit fancier. 

We rounded everyone up in their best cruise clothes to go to dinner one last time all together. 

But, I proposed that we needed to have a 'backwards' dinner. I had gotten screwed out of a lot of desserts at the restaurants this trip, and I didn't want to miss out. I was just going to do it myself, but everyone got on board with the idea of having dessert, then dinner, then an appetizer pretty quickly. Our waiter said it was the first time anyone had done that. (Yay, trendsetters!) 

Mom and Cort got creme brulee, while I finally got that chocolate lava cake everyone had talked about (it was delicious). 

Gwen ordered cookies and they brought her a plate of NINE of them, and Peyton got a mousse. 

But the Boston Cream Cake was also very popular. 

After dessert, we ordered our entrees, and shenanigans with grandma's glasses ensured while we waited for our food. 

And we had our last dinner on the cruise ship. 

After dinner, most of the kids ran off- and Cort was like 'what if instead of getting our appetizers now, we just order another dessert?' And so, another round of desserts was born. 

Asa and I packed up some more and enjoyed a quiet night on the ship while the kids were all off on their own. 

And of course, there was one more stop to get crepes. 

Fun fact: Toward the end of the night Devin, another butler on the ship, stopped by our room. He was the guy who brought us up the first day. Anyway, Asa and I were the only one's there, so we were asking him all kinds of 'what's it like to work on a cruise ship' questions. Apparently, if you can hack it, you make bank. But, it's a 7 day/70 hour a week job, and you have to commit to 5 months of it. We then ended up telling him our Na Pali Coast story. He said people miss the ship all the time, it's really pretty common, you just fly to the next island, and hop on at the next stop (or even better on the Big Island, you just rent a car and drive to the other side). 

Anyway, Asa picked the kids up from kids club one last time and took them to the Cadillac Diner for late night snacks. 

And that was pretty much that for our last day on the cruise. It was rather eventful. 

Next Up: Back in Oahu.