Napali Kayak Tours

Kayaking the Napali coast is one of the most amazing experiences of my life, and Napali Kayak made it extremely enjoyable.

Arranging our tour with one of the owners was easy and straightforward. He did a great job explaining the risks and expectations on us for the trip.

We showed up at the shop on time and set off not too soon later. One thing I wish was stressed slightly more was the importance of using motion sickness pills. I have never had problems with motion sickness on boats or kayaks, but everyone really should take some pills (preferably the evening before your trip). Luckily there were some nice people on our trip with us that had extra that they were willing to share.

We had two great guides for our trip (Todd and I forgot the woman guide's name (she owns a burrito shop up north of Hanelei)). They were super friendly and did a great job making it a fun, safe time for everyone. My wife and I were on our honeymoon, and were initially dissapointed that nobody else volunteered to split up and paddle with the guides. So my wife and I split up and went with each of the guides. Probably the best decision of the day. One of the pluses of splitting up is that you can take pictures of each other that don't involve one person spinning around on the kayak. Also, the guides are great paddlers and make the trip more efficient.

We saw some incredible sights during our 17 mile paddle:
--Incredible scenery along the Napali coast. I have done the catamaran trip before, but kayaking is the best way to see it. It allows you to go into caves that are not accessible to larger boats. You also get to go onto a beach for lunch (more on that later)
-- We also had multiple dolphin sitings and sea turtle sightings. There was an elephant seal taking a nap on the beach at lunch. I also had a run-in with some tendrils from a Man'o'war, which was not so fun. Its part of the trip, and something that I'll never forgot, but I'm just glad nobody had to pee on me.
--A bit over half way through the paddle we stopped for lunch. Surprisingly, this was the best "tour lunch" I have ever had. They bring sandwiches from a local caterer that makes his own cold cuts, bread, and sauces. It was awesome and totally hit the spot after 11 miles of kayaking. We got to chill on the beach a little bit, take a short nap, and then head out to finish our kayak.

It took us (only) 7.5 hours to kayak the coast... which the guides said was pretty quick given we had a light current working against us. We set in around 7am and put out around 3pm. The guides and Napali Kayak employees did a great job us brining us in on the beach. I've done ocean kayaking before, and the beaching is always tricky. Previous guides have always just said "paddle like hell" and I wind up flipping over. Despite pretty decent waves on the day we paddled, the guides that were on the beach waiting for us got everyone in without any flipped boats... pretty impressive.

Even after the paddle we had a fun time. All of the Napali Kayak employees seem like really awesome people that simply like to enjoy the beauty of Kuaui and meet new people. On our way back up to Hanelei (its a long trip), we stopped at a grocery store, picked up some Ahi poke and a few beers, went to a nearby park, and re-energized.

Hands down an incredible experience. I would definitely do this again and would recommend to anyone that has the physical capacity to handle this. We are in decent shape (work out multiple times per week), but we were exhausted for days after this (probably 3-4 days). Its extremely physically taxing, there are points of the trip where you just have to go on auto-drive to keep going, but this is truly the best way to see Kuaui.

We made our reservation after our catamaran tour was canceled, and I'm glad it was. I'd gladly pay the extra $$ for this over a catamaran tour. Hands down this trip MADE our honeymoon and is something we will never forget.

Seems like they delete their 1 star reviews, so I'll try again. I'm sure all the '5 stars' are just friends and family..Ivan was one of the rudest people my family and I have ever had to deal with. Very belittling and impatient and bossy. He rubbed me the wrong way during the check in process in the morning and he just got worse as the day went on. The trip itself is very beautiful but the crew will leave you behind and you're pretty much guaranteed to flip over multiple times along the way. One flip of my uncle and cousin and they lost all their water for the trip because the clips didn't work. The equipment is overly used to say the least and the life jacket smelled of BO which was making me nauseous. On paper, this seemed like the trip of a lifetime, but it was far from it! Save your money and to the tubing in the caves or rum tour or anything but this! You'll thank me later.

Props to Ivan, Ahja(sp?), Mitch, and Matty. Was a little nervous going in, but we paddled the coast safely and had plenty of time to take it in and take a dip. Why spend your money on a big boat or copter zipping by when you can immerse yourself in the water and interact with nature. Thanks for a great time, highly recommend if you're on the fence (you can do it)!

Napali Kayak is THE place to go for Na Pali Coast kayaking tours! Seriously: not only do Ivan and Josh care about making your kayak adventure the best experience possible, but they really want to tailor it as much to your needs as plausible (difficult, at best, for a family of four from Chicago!). It's also clear that they really care about Kaua'i, and honoring the beautiful paradise that the Garden Island is. Napoli Kayak has been in business for almost 20 years; through the thick and the thin - they're reliable, responsive and responsible.

Napali Kayak should be your first choice for kayaking tours / rental in Kaua'i!

What a wonderful adventure. The weather was perfect and we got to see all the awesome caves. It is a long day, and isn't for the faint of heart.... take anti nausea meds... it helped alot.
The crew, I'm not sure if we have ever met better people. They were so helpful nice...and even funny. They made the 17 mile paddle interesting and fun. This was a bucket list item for my husband and me, lifelong kayakers...this was a level up for sure for us. Beautiful scenery and funny Dad Jokes along the way made this a great day. Highly recommend this team if you are choosing to adventure in kayak on the Napali Coast.

Our family of 6 had an amazing time on the Napali Coast Kayak trip. Sadie and Mitch were our guides and Sadie told us all the stories about the various caves, Hawaiian history and made it a fun 17 mi trek. We would highly recommend this experience for any adventurous family/individuals. Memories for a lifetime

Spent the day with Sadie and Mitch from Napali Kayak doing a father and daughter trip. They were awesome guides. Never felt unsafe, both were excellent with the history of the ancient Hawaiians, and both provided an excellent tour of the many caves that we explored. The scenery was spectacular. Definitely recommend it to all who have a love for exploring and a desire for an epic adventure.
Mahalo Gene and Gigi Fischer

What a day! This trip is full of amazing scenery, truly knowledgable guides, and 17 miles of bliss on the water. We highly recommend Napali Kayak tours as part of time spent on Kauai. It was spectacular! Thanks to Ivan, Annie, Sadie, Jeffrey, and Jake - y'all made the experience the best experience! Mahalo from Buddy and Sheila

We booked kayaks to camp kalalau as soon as we were able to get our camping permits locked in. The week before, we watched the surf report, which was consistent the whole week for our launch and landing dates. Part way through, josh was teetering on having us go out, but on Tuesday, he said it looked fine. Come Friday, we dropped by the shop to get everything finalized, and suddenly he was back to oh surf is too high, and suddenly he and Ivan were talking about "7 foot waves." The forecast was exactly the same as it had been before. 3.5 ft waves with single digit winds and 10s swells, which is actually on the low side for swells.

It was pretty clear what the issue was when josh asked us if we had men coming with us. Suddenly, we were inexperienced girls who say "woo" just looking for an easy downwind paddle. His solution was for these same girls who came prepared to kayak to instead go on one of the most dangerous hikes in the world.

I consider myself a novice hiker, and I certainly didn't bring my best hiking shoes to kayak. But I made it up and down 14 miles of hills with a 60L pack on one of the world's most dangerous hikes. I consider myself an advanced paddler, and with the benefits of paddle tracking technology, I have objective proof to back it up. We volunteered this along with the fact that we had other advanced paddlers to demonstrate and then guide any others who might need extra direction on certain parts. I went in well aware surf might be big and I couldn't predict exact conditions. We were all prepared to tackle unexpected waves, winds, etc as an expected part of the deal. It didn't matter because all josh and Ivan saw were little girls who they apparently also thought couldn't read a basic surf report.

I've attached multiple surf reports for the day they thought was so "unsafe." Being that they're currently the only ones running kayak tours on na pali specifically, it's a pretty good bet it was them sending groups out on Saturday (when the surf was 1/2 a foot higher, and I told my group we'd be staying put all day) and Monday (when the surf was about the same, but the winds were 10mph higher and would potentially make conditions worse). It was never about safety.

Attached are the "7 foot waves" and the day's surf reports, which were actually 3.5 (or about upper waist to chest high depending on your height).

The staff and guides were very nice, professional and great communicators. You can tell they care about this amazing place!

5 stars all around. Staff was amazing, professional and fun. The highlight is ANNIE! find out when she is guiding and go with her, brings such positive vibes and professional kayaking skills. The highlight is her local knowledge of Hawaiian History of the coast. Will definitely do again. Mahalo nui loa Napali Kayak is the best!