Na Pali Riders — Attraction in Kauai

My wife, daughter and I rode with Na Pali Riders a couple weeks ago in April, 2024. The trip turned out to be even MORE stupendous than we had possibly imagined. It was an adventure, sight seeing trip that was thrilling and provided a special, intimate and visceral experience with the impossibly blue Pacific Ocean and incredibly beautiful Na Pali Coast of Kauai, Hawaii.

The boat is a 35 ft. Zodiak with soft/firm shock absorbing side tubes to sit on that kept us surprisingly dry and comfortable. Though everyone was dressed in shorts, light shirt or swimsuit and barefoot and the seas a little bumpy, the aluminum V hull underneath sliced through the waves. The tubes kept us totally stable and surprisingly dry. The 250 hp Suzuki outboards kept the experience thrilling, redundantly safe, were quiet and odor free. The soundtrack played on the way home (Gimme Shelter, 5446, Gold Dust Woman) etc, was exceedingly special, the highlight somehow.

Captain Dan had a cool hand on the throttles all day, precisely timing each wave, each action of the boat for the smoothest ride possible.... sometimes slowly, sometimes stopped and often at a thrilling rate. Safety remained foremost, and there was a nice mix of fun, rest, quiet, scenery, snorkeling and rocket ride adventure. There was absolutely no pounding of the hull!

Don't let Capt. Dan’s long, blonde locks fool you, he is a Coast Guard Veteran dead serious at the helm, eyes always on the water, conditions, vessel and passenger status. His instructions were calm, informed, with dry humor.

Makalyla was the deck hand this day. She is also a registered captain and her handiness with the lines, the boat, the surf board, snorkel gear and swimming like a cute little spinner dolphin to secure the anchor line, showed her to be the true waterman that she is.

She was also the "face" and 'voice' of the tour that day. She worked hard the whole 4 hour tour to see that passengers were informed, entertained, maintaining good grasps and foot holds, dispensing a little ginger as needed, handing out drinks and taking back trash. She focused on the people allowing Cpt. Dan to focus on his responsibilities. She smoothly set 28 people up with snorkel fins and masks mid-trip, taking scads of beautiful photos to help document the trip, and maintaining and enhancing the morale of the group. As a retired school teacher, I can tell you she knew how to work the crowd, keep them involved and having fun. She was part flight attendant, dive master, nursemaid, and what we call affectionately on Washington’s Columbia River, “bow monkey”. In short, most of the men were in love with her by the trip's end, the women in awe and the children all had a new best friend.

This entire experience was fun, thorough and rendered professionally. I want to go back and do it again!

I have adventure travelled my entire life, made multiple crossings of the Columbia River Bar to the Pacific ocean (the Graveyard of the Pacific) in small, open boats and big boats. I've hiked 30 miles to Sutherland Falls and Milford Sound New Zealand, I've spent the night above 10,000 ft. on Mt. Rainier, WA, I've seen the Arenal Volcano in Costa Rica erupt up close, I've halibut fished on glass calm seas by Yakutat, Alaska gazing at nearby 18,000 ft. high Mt. Saint Elias as orcas swam by... and The Napali Coast stands with the best of what Earth has to offer. It is GOBSMACKINGLY BEAUTIFUL. I was overwhelmed when we first beheld it, tears welling up quietly like when I saw the actual U.S. Constitution for the first time. Pele, plain and apparent. Do it while you can. And hold on, your karma is about to get rocked! All ages had fun. A small number of riders (4?) got sea sick, most LOVED it. We stayed at Waimea Plantation Cottages. Lovely places built in the 1930s, beautiful, large windows and screens and porches for idyllic weather, birds abound, trees with trunks impossibly wide all over the property as impressive as any redwood in the Hall of Sentinels...

The short review… loved it, will do again, don’t do it with back/neck/shoulder problems.

The detailed review will be worth the read i promise! I’ll start off by saying WE KNEW WHAT WE SIGNED UP FOR! This is a rough and wild ride, incredibly entertaining and fun. But not a ride for anyone with back, hip or shoulder injuries. Do some research and don’t hesitate to take the “booze cruise” if you want a more relaxing trip. Captain Brandon and his deck hand Sawyer were incredibly friendly, knowledgeable and helpful. They made it very clear in the beginning that this is not a gentle, easy going trip.

Leading up to our trip we had scheduled the afternoon time slot. They reached out to us a day prior asking to move our time to the morning. With the swell and wind that they have been having, he advised us that the waters were going to be rougher in the afternoon and would not allow for us to go inside some of the caves. He offered us a full refund if we couldn’t make it to the morning which i thought was incredibly generous with how “touristy” attractions can be very stingy with refunding one’s money. We decided to take the morning and it was well worth it.

On the tour itself, Brandon’s first priority was safety. If he wasn’t comfortable with something, he either voiced it, fixed it, or avoided it all together. Example was weight distribution on the boat, shuffling people around who’s backs were getting soar from the ride and making sure they were taken care of. They set us up for some amazing views and gave us all a few fun facts each stop. Got incredibly close with some spinner dolphins on the way out and back in. Snorkeling is what you make of it. I personally was not super into it but I’m also not a strong swimmer.

My suggestions for this trip, bring sunscreen, know you’ll be sore the next day, and accept the fact that the ocean is unpredictable and unforgiving. If you miss out on something, there is a reason to it. Captain Brandon and Sawyer will take...

If you are looking for an adventure up the Na Pali coast you need to go to Na Pali Riders. My family and I were in Kauai on a family vacation last week and wanted to see the Na Pali coast. We contemplated an helicopter tour but decided to go with a more adventurous option. I am so glad we did. Our trip was everything we wanted and more. As Mac will tell you during the pre-trip briefing this trip was an adventure and not a smooth catamaran tour but that is exactly what we wanted.

Na Pali Riders is the best. They are a great operation with talented, knowledgeable and fun people. As a small business they gave us a personalized experience that is simply not available with large operations.

Captain Brandon was incredible. His experience and dedication to safety was evident from the start of the trip. For example, as we were about to start the trip and pull into the ocean, Captain Brandon did not like what he saw so he elected to double back and wait for a better set of waves rather than push through a potentially unsafe sea to get out into the ocean. It may seem like a logical thing to do but I have been on other boats where the captain took a more reckless approach and pushed through regardless. Captain Brandon’s experience made for a great and safe trip. Even in rough seas my family and I felt perfectly safe. That is not to say that he was not fun. His ability to back a boat into a cave with waves crashing around us left my family and I in awe!

Mac was a great mate. She was knowledgeable about the area and took time to speak with each group personally and shared her adventures and experience. She also took some amazing photos and videos which are among the best we have seen from a tour operation.

All in all, my family and I can’t wait to get back to Kauai and see Brandon, Mac and their team again. Hopefully, Brandon’s wife will have had their baby by then and we will get to...