I've seen the Napali Coast once before from the water - back in 2006 when Dave and I went on a cruise with Lindsay and Kevin. And while we hiked the Napali Coast earlier in the week (a dream come true for me), I couldn't wait to see it by water. I did some research and talked to some people who visited here earlier and their advice to me..... if you do nothing else, do the rafting adventure with Captain Andy's along the Napali Coast. So I booked it nearly three months before our trip. And then the day of our excursion, it got canceled because of weather. And then got canceled again the next day. And then went out on the water the next day, but not to the Napali Coast because of weather/high swells. So here we are, Wednesday morning, the day we were flying home (but thankfully not until 9:30pm) and we got the all clear to go to the Napali Coast!
Me and my Elli-boo
We headed out on this motorized raft that holds up to 14 people plus two crew. So it was the nine of us and another family of five.
And on our way to the coast, we saw a pod of dolphins!! It was so awesome! They swam all around us!
The Napali Coast with my loves!
Being in this small raft, we were able to go in and out of sea caves, see hidden waterfalls (lots of them!), listen to the Jurassic Park theme song as he angled the boat to the spot right where the helicopter goes over the coast in the movie. Every single second of this entire experience was nothing short of magical. And I told my kids over and over and over again to sear this in their memories because nothing gets better than this!
Time for lunch!
Lunch with a view!
Since we knew we were going to spend the entire next day (Thanksgiving) in an airport, we considered this our Thanksgiving meal, which is the second Thanksgiving meal we've had on a boat. Our first being nine years ago in St. Thomas with the Strom family and Lindsay's family. I'll forgo a traditional meal around a table for this kind of Thanksgiving anytime!
Time for a swim stop (Lacey in the background) and some relaxation (Riley).
Becky and Lacey living their best lives.
My bookend babies and cousin Becky.
Soaking in the rays with my awesome sister-in-law Heidi.
Daddy's girl.
All smiles!
And then we wrapped up our adventure with them taking us to an awesome snorkeling spot!
And Lacey was the last one back in the boat because she loved it so much!
But alas, all good things must come to an end. So we boarded a flight that night, flew all night and landed in Seattle, where we had a brief layover and then got on another plane headed for....
Minnesota. We had another layover here and then finally arrived home at 5pm on Thanksgiving night. It was a long exhausting night/day of travel. But totally worth it!
This Thanksgiving, I'm grateful I had the opportunity to spend week leading up to it in one of the most beautiful places on Earth with my family. We are so blessed!
