A swell journey by kayak on Kauai's rugged coast

NA PALI COAST, Kauai, Hawaii — The second time we capsized, my canteen went east and our kayak headed west.

"Better grab it," said my boat mate, Carlos Holguin, as the Nalgene bottle bobbed in 4-foot swells. Our guides had said we would need two quarts of water for the 17-mile paddle along Kauai's dramatic Na Pali Coast. Now half my supply was at sea.

Of course, they also had told us to get back on the two-person kayak immediately if we capsized. After snagging the canteen, I could see why. The wind-driven swells that helped propel us were now taking our ride west without us.

The kayak trip last summer was the highlight of a 10-day trip to Kauai, perhaps Hawaii's most beautiful island. National Geographic Adventure magazine rated Na Pali by kayak No. 2 on its list of America's top 100 adventure treks a few years ago, topped only by rafting the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon.

Unspoiled by roads and only partly accessible by trail, the Na Pali Coast — with its sheer, jungle-green cliffs soaring above turquoise waters — is best seen by boat or helicopter. Kayaks get you into sea caves and hidden coves that larger vessels can't reach, and there's the satisfaction of seeing the Na Pali Coast the way Hawaiians did centuries ago.

Outfitters

Na Pali coast kayaking daytrips cost about $200 person. Among the companies:

• Kayak Kauai, Hanalei; 800-437-3507 or www.kayakkauai.com.

• Napali Kayak, Hanalei; 866-977-6900 or www.napalikayak.com.

• Outfitters Kauai, Poipu Beach; 888-742-9887 or www.outfitterskauai.com,

Just be prepared: This isn't a pleasure cruise.

"I had no idea what I was getting into," said Amy Jubelirer, 52, who took the kayak day trip with her husband, Rob, also 52, and their 25-year-old son, Matt. "I was so out of my league physically."

Outfitter Micco Godinez, who co-owns Kayak Kauai with his brother Chino, conceded that the trip is "perverse." For the pleasure of taking what the Godinez brothers call the "longest and roughest ocean-kayak trip in the world," you'll pay about $200 and paddle to the point of exhaustion. And there's always the threat of being hurled into the sea.

"The common denominator is, you should be comfortable in the water," Micco Godinez said.

At the moment, I wasn't.

Holguin and I swam to the kayak as quickly as we could. Soon we righted our craft (a sit-on-top kayak, not an enclosed one), and I clambered aboard. Whoosh! The kayak flipped back over.

"Don't panic," Holguin said.

Panic? Well, perhaps I was overly eager to get back on the kayak. Besides fretting about my cameras (they were in a "dry bag" lashed to the kayak and did come through undamaged by water), I wasn't too thrilled about being tossed into 40 feet of heaving water, half a mile from shore. Just a couple of miles away, teen surfer Bethany Hamilton had lost an arm to a 14-foot tiger shark in 2003.

Even so, I let Holguin get on first this time, and then hoisted myself up. Success. A few minutes later, another wave flipped us into the sea again.

A week earlier, it had looked so easy. After hiking to remote Lolo Vista Point, Holguin and I had peered down on a flotilla of kayaks in calm, turquoise waters about 3,000 feet below. We had talked about a Na Pali kayak trip back in Los Angeles. Now, hot and sweaty from our walk, the small boats seemed the perfect way to see Kauai's roadless northern coast and the steep, fluted cliffs known as "pali."

We knew the waters off Na Pali Coast could be treacherous. The season for touring it by sea, even by motorboats and sailing vessels, generally runs from May through October. Even in summer, trips can be canceled if the waves get too strong.

Kayak Kauai, based in the north shore town of Hanalei, is one of three companies offering Na Pali kayak treks; the company pioneered the treks 21 years ago, but Micco Godinez says the experience offered by all three is comparable.

We were advised to each bring two quarts of water, a snack and plenty of sunscreen. The outfitters would provide sandwiches and drinks at our lunch stop.

We were surprised that we weren't questioned about our physical condition, kayaking experience and so forth. The company does warn about the rigors of the trip on its Web site, but it doesn't try to scare people off, and no kayaking experience is required. That was good for us because I had spent only two hours kayaking before this, and that was two hours more than Holguin.

Our guides included Melissa Hosono and Web Godinez, the 22-year-old son of co-owner Chino Godinez. Web Godinez would be paddling the coast for a sixth day in a row.

We piled into a van for the short ride to the launch point at Haena Beach Park, about a mile before the end of the road. After a mile of kayaking, anyone can bail out and return to Hanalei, we were told; after that, dropping out isn't an option. (In an emergency, the kayaks can be beached elsewhere, but it essentially ruins the trip for everyone.)

After a quick lesson, Hosono and Godinez launched each of our kayaks, which had foot-controlled rudders operated by the person sitting in back. Soon, the capsizing began. This is fairly typical, Hosono said later, because the swells tend to be bigger on this stretch of coast, and kayakers are still figuring out what to do.

The views were indeed stunning — those verdant cliffs rising like skyscrapers from the water — but Holguin and I were preoccupied with the boat. After our fourth turnover, Hosono pulled up with some advice: Ease up on the rudder. I'd been steering too much, making the kayak less stable in the swells. We never flipped again.

Soon, we went into the first of three caves, called Pamawaa. Paddling into the dark cave was a bit like taking the Pirates of the Caribbean ride at Disneyland. Later, a second cave called Hoolulu provided more of a challenge. We had to time our entrance and exit to avoid being swamped by surging waves. But we all managed the maneuver.

By noon or so, we reached a high point of the trip — the Open Ceiling Cave. There's no roof above, allowing the sunlight to play on calm, blue waters. Here, most of the crew took a quick swim.

Dolphins swam alongside us as we continued west, heading for our lunch stop at Milolii Beach.

The final four miles seemed endless, as the wind was no longer at our backs. It was after 4 p.m. when we finally landed at Polihale State Park, the end of the road on Kauai's western side. Everyone took a swim before getting in the van for the three-hour ride back to Hanalei.

Our fellow kayakers' reviews were almost all positive.

"We tried pretty much everything on Kauai — the helicopter trip, hiking — and this was definitely the highlight," Robert Oxley, 34, said.

Amy Jubelirer, although annoyed that the trip was tougher than she expected, had to say she was never prouder to make that final landfall.