CAPTAIN ANDY’S SUNSET DINNER CRUISE

For our third day in Kauai, Christina booked a dinner cruise along the Na Pali coast. The thought of “dinner” sailing along Kauai’s north shore sounded a bit dicey considering the rough waters. In a casual voice I asked what kind of boat. She said it was a large catamaran. Not wanting to scare her, I just kept my mouth shut and figured it would be a VERY interesting day.

Christina had a booked the 4-hour “Captain Andy’s” dinner cruise. The catamaran was larger than I expected, it probably accommodated around 30-40 people and appeared to be a relatively new ship. The crew was upbeat and in good spirits. Before seeing the boat, I have was having some Giligan’s Island flashbacks, but after seeing the boat I expected a pretty easy ride.

As we left the dock, Christina was ready to rumble. I focused on more important things, like ISO, aperture, etc...!... The Canon 1Ds Mark III was armed with the 70-300mm F4-5.6 L IS and the Leica M9 with its life partner, the Leica 35mm F1.4 Summilux-M ASPH. I figured we would be .5 to 1 miles off shore, so the 70-300mm seemed like a good choice. The 35mm Summilux-M was a “just in case” lens. The map below shows the actual GPS track data for the cruise.

The cruise was 66 miles (roundtrip) and lasted 5.25 hours; departure was 3:00 PM. The surf was mild with 5 foot swells. Winds were 20 MPH. About one hour into the cruise, Christina’s epic voyage began with 5 little words - “I’m going to be sick.” For the next 4 hours she puked her guts out. I did not think the water was that rough, but the captain was closer to shore than I expected. Most people were firmly grasping railings or anything else they could. As I was taking pictures (and keeping tabs on Mrs. Barfalot), several other passengers were seasick as well - probably 5 or 6 people in all. If you are susceptible to motion sickness, be sure to take some Bonine or Non-Drowsy Dramamine.

About an hour into the cruise the shoreline became more interesting as we approached the Na Pali coast. In total we sailed northward for about 2 hours (33 miles). The captain turned the ship around, shut off the engines and raised the jib. Our speed was only 3 or 4 knots and it was very smooth at those speeds. This is when they served dinner, so people were stuffing their faces when the absolute best light graced the cliffs. The food really was not that good. Go for the cruise, skip the food!

As we sailed for about an hour (starting around 5:30 PM), golden hour settled in around 5:00 PM and lasted until sunset. Simply phenomenal light. The Canon 70-300L was too long; the 24-105L would been better, but I left the other lens at the condo. Changing lenses would have been hard - lots of wind, LOTS of sea spray. The 70-300L spent most of it times at 70mm along with some random tele shots. The Leica M9 had a nice little work out too. About 6:30-6:45 the captain throttled up the engines and it was all business back to the port. He did stop for about 10 minutes as the sunset.

The scenery was extraordinary and the only way to see it is by sea or air. I thought the $105 was well worth its price, though Christina might have a different opinion! LOL Joking aside, the cruise was well worth the price of admission.