Awful! 4 of us flew to Kauai for the day for this trip. ( we are on the islands often and this was something we wanted to do) The sea caves looked fun and beautiful on the web site/face book. Go by helicopter! Captain Chris is rude, curt, and obviously sick of his job. His poor first mate was bleeding on his head by the end of the trip. We are 52, 51, 27, and 21 years of age and the stories have been fun to relive. Calling the trip "Satans ride" "trip f om hell" etc. bloody knuckles, strained necks ( younger ones). Don't do this trip go by helicopter!!!! Save your selves!
Knowledgable, trustworthy captain, engaging first mate and a fun adventure with stunning views.
It seems that all of the Kauia boat trips are almost double what is charged for the same type of excursions on Maui and the Big Island, with fewer frills ( no lunch, just fruit, chips and water). So the price of this company compared to others is the same,. There was no snorkeling and we did not go to Ke'e beach as promised because the water was too rough and they were concerned for 2 boatsick passengers. Those are valid reasons but then a partial refund should have been offered. We did get really close to whales and that was GREAT! If we had not spotted them, this would be a one star review. The rigid hull is a 3.5 hour ROUGH boat trip, so you need a strong stomach and sense of adventure, unless you are able to go in the summer when the waves are mostly flat. I would recommend skipping boat trips on this island ( other than summer, those should be great) until the prices come down. I think all boat companies should reduce their winter rate when they are unable to provide the advertised product. Go for the helicopter tour- money well-spent on Kauia.
Amazing tour. Dolphins and unmanned coast. Don't feel bad if you don't feel comfortable taking photos on the bumpy ride - they have a ride along photographer you can buy a CD from.
If you're considering booking this trip, here are some facts and opinions that I wished I was warned about in advance. The boat was a zodiac type that was packed with far too many people, making the long 3 hour ride very uncomfortable. You basically sit on the side of it, facing inward, as your neck strains to face the front so you can anticipate oncoming swells that jolt the raft, and you have to sit on top of a rope, or on one of the multiple metal fasteners that secure the rope (as in my case), that you bounce on while at the same time as you hold onto with both hands to keep you from being bounced out as they power thru the swells. There is another rope along the rubber floor mat between which you wedge your feet for the same purpose. Just before you get on the boat, they make everyone remove their footwear, regardless if they are flip flops or soft bottom watershoes, however the captain and crew member keeps theirs on. Without any protection, the rope under which you wedge your bare feet, constantly rubs against your skin that produced a very painful feeling after a short while. As you hold the tightly strung rope that everyone is sitting on, your bare knuckles rub back and forth against the material of the raft, which caused most passengers to end up with scraped knuckles, as if you were to rub them against sandpaper. After the 1st hour the pain is really bad, and after the 2nd hour you begin to get really pissed that they didn't provide you with, or even suggest that riders bring some type of glove protection to prevent blistering. The captain basically kept the throttle pegged down, as if he were in a rush to get through the trip so they could squeeze in and sell a max number of trips per day. The trip is essentially a race up the coast, with about a half dozen pauses as the captain points out some land formation with a factoid, as though he's checking off a box on a list of mandatory checkpoints. Occasionally he slowed down as we passed by some dolphins. We sped in and back out of a cave that was maybe 100 feet deep, that was dark, but interesting. After about 1.5 hours, we finally stopped. The other crew member opened an ice chest with water bottles to grab yourself, as you try to walk to the other side of the raft tripping over eachother since the boat never stops rocking. We were finally allowed to climb out and jump into the water to cool off, and to snorkel. After all the misery to get to this point, I was expecting to see a bunch of colorful fish and interesting coral reefs. We saw neither. Totally anticlimactic. The break lasted a short time, and then we all piled back onto the boat. The crew member then opened a tupperware filled with merely apple and orange slices. He 1st helped himself, then handed it to a passenger to take some and pass along. A trash bag holding Doritos and similar chips was then circulated. Throughout the trip, if anyone tried to tell the captain they felt uncomfortable or were in pain, he either ignored them, or tried to make a joke about it that only reinforced how unprofessional the operators of this ride treat the clients. We passed by other boats that each had forward facing seats for each passenger, that made us very jealous. The seatless type of boat we rode on is all respects merely designed to take a group of people on a brief ride to get from point A to point B; and definitely not for a prolonged excursion to see the sights and snorkle. The highlight of the trip was the smile that appeared on all our faces when we finally saw the dock to disembark at the end. That was yesterday, and now I have lower back pain and my wife's neck hurts her. I see I'm not the first of the reviewers here to express disappointment, so it appears the operators of this ride haven't taken any steps to improve customer satisfaction, and they obviously are not trying to encourage repeat business or positive referals. I would rather have a tooth extracted by a drunk dentist going through a nasty divorce than go on that trip again!
Na Pali Riders Raft Tours is a US Travel Agency based in Waimea, Hawaii. Na Pali Riders Raft Tours is located at 9600 Kaumauli’i Highway, Waimea, HI 96796, USA.
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