Recommendations for Na Pali Coast Tour with 4 year old

Aloha,

My husband and I will be visiting Kauai in July with our 4 year old daughter. This is our first trip to Hawaii and we will stay 9 nights on Kauai and 4 nights on the BI. One of the activities we would like to do on Kauai is to take a boat tour of the Na Pali Coast. I know that the blue book recommends Na Pali Catamaran and Captain Sundown because they both leave from the North Shore. Captain Sundown has an age restriction so we can not do that one. I will find out if Na Pali has one but I am curious if anyone has any feedback on any of these tours with young children? I like the idea of departing from the north to ensure the most scenic views but I want to be sure that the trip is enjoyable for my 4 yr old.

When we visit the BI we will take the Fairwinds snorkel trip out of Kealakekua Bay and they seem to really offer a great trip for young and not so young alike. I would love to hear what experiences TA members have had on the Na Pali coast tours with children onboard.

Thank you for all of the great information on this forum. As I firm up our plans, I am sure that I will have more questions and I will be sure to post a trip report in July!

Colleen

Recommendations for Na Pali Coast Tour with 4 year old

We did the Capt. Andy sunset Na Pali trip from the southside a few years back. Our kids were then ';almost 4'; and 7. It was fine, but I think we could have skipped it. Mostly, I think that kids aren%26#39;t as ';wowed'; by scenery as adults are, one look and they say ';Oh yes, that%26#39;s pretty'; and on to the next thing. 4+ hours is quite a long time to be on a boat for a little kid. Our boat had 2 levels, an inside and an outside so you could get away from the wind and move around some. We motored for at least a good hour before hitting the nice Na Pali scenery.

Also, the seas can be quite rough, as it is the unfettered Pacific Ocean. I didn%26#39;t really fell like it was rough, but we had several very miserable people throwing up violently over the edge on our boat. People told me to be very cautious of taking children on a NaPali boat trip that stopped to snorkel or stopped for any other reason, because the people left on a stopped boat tended to get seasick very quickly.

We did a lot of hiking from both ends of the Na Pali coast with the kids, so they got good views from that.

We were on a power catamaran. The ones that were TRUE catamarans with the deck that is kind of a trampoline thing between the hulls........man, I cringe to think of a child onboard that for a few hours. There just simply wasn%26#39;t much room to move around on those. Plus, those are often treated as ';booze cruises'; which might be a bit much for a family with a young child. So make sure what kind of boat you%26#39;ll be on!

You might want to just do one boat trip instead of two, unless your child eats and breathes boats. I don%26#39;t think my kids would have had any interest in 2 boat trips at their age, and they%26#39;re boys!

For the snorkel trip, don%26#39;t be surprised if your young one won%26#39;t get off the boat and snorkel on the boat trip. My kids are still COMPLETELY FREAKED OUT about stepping off a boat into suddenly deep ocean water to snorkel. Any my oldest is 12! Yet they will snorkel like madmen from the shore, even going into very deep water. It%26#39;s the suddeness of the depth from the boat that makes all the alarms go off in their heads. Even at 3 1/2, my youngest snorkelled with me (we each had a noodle and he held onto my back and snorkelled over my shoulder) and we had a great time! The boat launch near the Place of Refuge on the Big Island was great for this.

Recommendations for Na Pali Coast Tour with 4 year old

Hi DrDebi

Thanks for the reply. Although our daughter loves boats we are rethinking the boat tour and we may opt for a heli tour over the Na Pali coast instead. I know that she will love the snorkeling trip we will be taking on the BI but I am not that sure with the potential for a rough ride how the Na Pali tour will go. You are right, scenery alone will not keep them entertained well enough for such a long ride.

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