Before our trip to Hawaii, I spent plenty of time planning and booking our flights, hotels and rental cars. I made sure we had a way to get there and get around.
It wasn’t until about a month before the trip that I started looking at what we would do while we were there. As it turned out, there were plenty of activities we were interested in. Before I knew it, we had plans for four of our five days on the island (I left one day open in case of inclement weather.).
For our first full day, we booked a sunset sail which included dinner. We’ve been on a few sunset trips in Key West (like this one and this other one). With these trips, you head out from the dock, sail back and forth for a while and get drinks and snacks before watching the sunset and heading back.
That wasn’t this trip. The four-hour sunset sail is described as follows:
A romantic experience along Na Pali Coast on a custom 65′ Star Class luxury catamaran. Enjoy a relaxing downwind cruise and sunset at sea. Freshly prepared dinner & cocktails
I knew this would be different when we were told to check-in at the office in Port Allen by 1:45 PM. Pretty early for a sunset trip.
Capt. Andy’s Star Na Pali Dinner Sunset Sail
After checking in and being assigned a color, the staff told us to wait around the office until they called our color. Two trips were leaving, and you wanted to make sure you got on the correct boat. (The other trip is on a 55′ catamaran and costs slightly less.)
Once our group was together and we had one last chance for a bathroom break, we walked to the dock. If you’re concerned, there are two full bathrooms onboard which are very nice.
Before leaving, we received the safety speech and a breakdown of what the afternoon would be like. The first 2 hours of the trip would be a sail around the Kauai coast until eventually reaching Na Pail. The seas were a little choppy so they wouldn’t serve any food or drinks until we got to calmer water.
Sharon and I grabbed bench space at the front of the boat. While the southwestern side of Kauai is mostly former plantations, it provided a lovely backdrop with the blue skies.
As we got towards the northern turn, the waves got higher. The people standing against the rail were in the splash zone and some other guests headed to the stern while some of us stayed up front for the ride. We stayed well clear of where the waves were breaking before the shore.
Eventually, the ride evened out and we caught our first look at the coast.
We did turn towards the coast to get a closer look. You can see the other boat already there. That’s how large the mountains are.
Jacob, our captain, made sure to position us so that we were in excellent places for pictures. The crew was more than happy to take as many of them as you wish. Of all of them, at least we got one good one.
Eventually, we reached Kalalau Beach, which was our turnaround point. I prefer seeing it from this side rather than hiking there and camping overnight on the beach, as some adventurers prefer to do.
We stayed for a while, looking at the scenery, and headed back. While the waves were down, the dinner service started.
We moved inside to the bar area, which was also the staging area for the meal. For beverages, they served beer, wine and a pre-prepared rum cocktail (which was a little too sweet for my taste.).
The first course was a salad with a vinaigrette dressing.
The main course was a beef filet and shrimp with grilled asparagus and carrots.
A simple key lime cheesecake was served for dessert.
The meal was excellent. Even more impressive was that our chef prepared the meal at this grill located off the stern.
As we headed to see the sunset, we were met by a group of dolphins which followed us for a while. They were seemingly everywhere and there had to be over 30. Since they were just underwater, it was hard to catch a picture.
We also saw several whales and while we could have stayed and watched for longer, we needed to keep going back to port.
As it got closer to sunset, it looked as if a distant storm would block our view. But would you care if this was the crappy sunset?
The sun did peek out through the clouds before disappearing under the horizon.
Final Thoughts
Capt. Andy’s sunset dinner sail isn’t cheap, at $205 for adults and $185 for children over 3. The catamaran was not packed but most of the outside seating areas were taken during the sail. IMHO, it’s worth it because you get a scenic trip up the Na Pali coast, chances at whale watching (in season), a delicious dinner and a classic Hawaii sunset over the ocean.
Kudos to our captain Jacob, who besides getting us through the waves also provided commentary throughout the voyage and to the crew of Brayden, Gaby, Kevin and Garrett.
If you’re visiting Kauai, check out Capt. Andy’s. Besides the dinner sail, they also have daytime picnic snorkeling trips and other excursions around the island.
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