Makapu’u Tide pools is located off the Makapu’u light house trail. You walk up maybe halfway through the trail then have to hike down the side of a rocky mountain to get to the tide pools. It’s a pretty popular local spot, I remember hearing about it when I was growing up, but I actually had never been when I lived there! (I was a sheltered little child.)
A friend and I finished hiking Wiliwilinui Trail by lunch time and had time to make it to tide pools. The hike down to the tide pools goes down a pretty rocky cliff. I couldn’t take pictures because I was too scared I’d drop my phone! There’s some markers on the rocks that point arrows in the direction of the easiest way to get up and down, but definitely be careful and watch out for loose rocks.
The water is so clear, it’s seriously unreal. The tide pools are pretty shallow and they’re surrounded by rocks. When the waves break on the rocks and the tide pools will fill up a little, but it’ doesn’t get deep at all. (This is coming from someone who doesn’t swim very well!) We stayed long enough to dip in the water, enjoy the scenery, and take some pics but it’s definitely one of those places you have to see in person. I may be biased, but Hawai’i is still the prettiest place I’ve ever been and places like this remind me there’s no place like home!
Have you ever been here? What's the prettiest place you've ever been? Let me know in the comments below!
All views and opinions expressed here are my own and are in no way affiliated with Blue Dolphin Charters. I was not compensated in any way for this tour.
On our mini family trip to Kaua’i, we decided to do a Na Pali coast boat tour. If you don’t know, Na Pali is the iconic coast line of Kaua’i. It’s inaccessible by vehicle and the only way to see the coast in all its glory is either via boat or helicopter. It’s everything you dream Hawai’i is – the lush green mountains and big blue open sea. Before I get into my experience, as always, a little TLDR; summary for lazy people (like me) who don’t want to read everything!
TLDR;
Take a 5.5 hour boat tour around the Na Pali Coast in Kaua’i with Blue Dolphin Charters.
Cost is ~$100 – $150. Tours are rain or shine.
They feed you. And give you alcohol (if you’re of age, of course).
See dolphins! (And maybe whales and flying fish).
Be prepared with sunscreen, towels, and dramamine (if you get seasick!).
The sea crew was awesome and definitely made the trip entertaining and comfortable.
Definitely worth the cost, but wish it wasn’t rainy when we went. I’d love to do it again when it’s sunny.
The last time I went to Kaua’i was over 10 years ago when I was in high school. We went for a community service thing so we didn’t really get to do a lot of fun touristy things so visiting the Na Pali coast has been on my bucket list. When we checked into our hotel, we asked the concierge about different tours and she got us a deal through for around $500 for 6 of us (my parents, Aunt, sister, and brother in law). We booked a morning Deluxe Na Pali Snorkel & Scuba Tour with Blue Dolphin Charters. That was a complete steal because if you look on Blue Dolphin’s website, regular price for adults are $147, youths are $127, and children are $97.
View from the boat, a little ways out from the harbor.
The tour starts out at the Blue Dolphin home base in ‘Ele’ele, near Hanapepe on the southern part of the island. You have to check in, sign some waiver forms and wait for the rest of the tour group to get there. Once everyone checked in, the boat captain gave a little safety speech, and we were guided like school kids to the boat. The sucky thing about our trip was it was cloudy, a little rainy and cold, so we didn’t get the best views of Na Pali which is why I mentioned earlier that I would love to do it again. But the views are still amazing and it’s one of those places that you have to see for yourself.
Some of the coastline
Look how rainy/cloudy it was!
The trip took us around the west coast then back towards the harbor with a stop at a little snorkeling area. I did jump in the water when we stopped to snorkel even though it was cold, because I HAD to (we were in Kaua’i, YOLO!) but I didn’t swim far out enough from the boat to go snorkeling because I don’t swim very well LOL! They fed us a continental breakfast on the way out and lunch was served after we were done snorkeling. Lunch wasn’t anything fancy, just sandwiches and potato salad, but I actually really liked the sandwich spread they hand. They also had alcoholic beverages, but those were only served after you were done snorkeling/swimming.
Did you know part of Jurassic Park was filmed here?
I would recommend bringing sunscreen, a towel, and Dramamine. My Mom and Aunt got sea sick on the boat ride, so if you’re prone to that, definitely take some Dramamine or other preventative medicine beforehand. They did take some before, but because of the weather and how choppy the ocean was, it was pretty rough out there. You’re not allowed to wear shoes on the boat unless they’re boat shoes and if you didn’t have boat shoes, you had to leave them at the dock. Don’t worry, they’ll have a little place for you to put them!
Probably my favorite pic of the day
I think one of Blue Dolphin’s guarantees is that you’ll see dolphins – and we definitely saw some! I didn’t get any good pictures of them, but it’s always fun to see them out in the wild. (Totally normal for a Hawai’i girl like me.) We saw a couple different pods of bottlenose dolphins (groups of dolphins), but I remember seeing this baby dolphin that was a complete ham! He kept jump out of the water and twirling, it was the cutest thing!
one of the crew members messing with me
Overall, even though I didn’t get the amazing pictures that I wanted, the tour was a great experience and I would definitely recommend Blue Dolphin. The crew was super nice, entertaining, and helpful. When my mom got seasick, the crew members constantly came over to make sure she was okay. They were great hosts, super funny (as you can see from my picture above), and even pretty good photographers. I’ll just leave you with some pictures we took on the trip.
Me and my sisterOne of the crew members taking candids of usI seriously don’t know how people take pretty pictures in the wind.Me in my element – totally awkward.I love the ocean
Recent travels really got me thinking about how much travel really feeds my soul and how awesome it is that I’m pretty well traveled – I think so anyway. My last post was about the YOLO Trip, but my most recent trip was a planned ahead 10 day trip to Greece – which was ABSOLUTELY AMAZING! My first time ever in Europe (definitely not my last) with great company and a real local tour of part of the country. I kind of prefer not traveling alone for the sheer fact that you have someone to share the experience with, but traveling with 6 was like multiplying the awesome-ness. Our first stop on the trip was to an island in Southeastern Greece called Kythira – see map below:
After being awake for roughly 24 hours but finally arriving to Kythira, we napped pretty hard before hanging out for a while at a bar in “downtown Kythira.” The next morning we went to my favorite spot that we visited the whole trip – The Bath of Aphrodite in Avlemonas. Avlemonas is on the eastern side of the island and I love that it was a hidden gem. No tourists, no crowds to battle – nothing but the clear blue ocean.
Not to mention that the bath itself was SERIOUSLY unreal.
According to agreekisland.com – The Bath of Aphrodite was the birthplace of the Greek goddess of love. This was probably my favorite ocean spot of the whole trip, I wished we could’ve stayed longer or even gone again. The water was warm and crystal clear – you could see little fishies swimming around and even the coral on the bottom. There’s no sand, so you literally just jumped from a rock into the sea. Where we were, it wasn’t really deep either which was a big plus because if you know me, you know I don’t swim very well!
Next to the bath there was a little string of cafés and restaurants. I loved that it wasn’t super touristy or crowded. I wish I could describe in words how gorgeous it was – as beautiful as the pictures are its even better in person.
I spent 10 days in Greece and even though we probably spent the shortest time here, it was most definitely my favorite stop. I’m almost 2 months late posting my Greek trip, but hey, better late than never, right?
Recent travels really got me thinking about how much travel really feeds my soul and how awesome it is that I’m pretty well traveled – I think so anyway. My last post was about the YOLO Trip, but my most recent trip was a planned ahead 10 day trip to Greece – which was ABSOLUTELY AMAZING! My first time ever in Europe (definitely not my last) with great company and a real local tour of part of the country. I kind of prefer not traveling alone for the sheer fact that you have someone to share the experience with, but traveling with 6 was like multiplying the awesome-ness. Our first stop on the trip was to an island in Southeastern Greece called Kythira – see map below:
