Kauai Kayak Trip

So I'm finally blogging about some things that happened a while back. One to note is our Kauai kayak trip we took in July with some amazing friends! We went with 3 other couples on a 2 day kayak trip (17 miles) along the Na Pali coast on the Island of Kauai. It was very convenient to have my sister living with us at that time to watch the kids for us. So we set off and arrived on the island late on the night of June 30th where we finally found the campground (Kauai is not nearly as inhabited as Oahu) it seemed like we were driving on windy roads forever. We found that our tent was already put up for us! (Thanks Taylors!) We tried to sleep but it was nearly impossible being that we didn't bring an air mattress and the ground was full of rocks, and the wild roosters were crowing all night (I thought they only made noise when the sun comes up?!) Not to mention we were to anxious about the trip itself! Well-morning came early and we had to be at the Kayak office around 6 AM if I'm remembering correctly. We set off and kayaked to the first beach- and a few minutes into our paddle Mike and I were the first to tip and ruin our brand-new "waterproof" camera. Yeah- that's another story. However, thankfully, the Taylors took lots of pictures and thus, we have some proof that we were there!

We spend 2 nights at the first beach. We did see a pod of dolphins from far off on the way, a few sea turtles, and a rainbow! The coastline was absolutely gorgeous, so much so, that there are people who live permanately at that beach and can often be seen showering naked in the waterfalls! Mike witnessed that firsthand! We did some hikes on the first beach which included a swim trip to sacred beach (I opted out of that one seeing that I'm not a fabulous swimmer and my fear of sharks or just big fish wanting to snack on me!) We ate military MRE's which I never want to eat again, watched beautiful sunsets, chatted with friends, and just relaxed.

On the 3rd day we paddled to the last beach with a few stops in between to a Hawaiian burial ground, where we also saw some crazy mountain goats. We enjoyed the last day of paddling and ended up tipping over coming in to the last beach and I got hit in the head with the kayak! Way to go Barnums! All in all- it was the experience of a lifetime! I'm proud to say I paddled 17 miles of coastline that can only be seen by boat or in the air! It was some of the most gorgeous scenery I will probably ever see in my life and I got to do it with my sweetheart by my side, and great friends! Yay for adventures even after kids!