Today I knocked off one of the activities I wanted to do while I am here in Kaua'i. The Na Pali coast is a rugged (but beautiful) section of the northern coast of Kaua'i. The guided Kayak trip along it was rated by National Geographic as the second best adventure tour in the world - this I had to attempt. The trip along the Na Pali coast is a 17-mile paddle and not for the feint hearted. From the moment I turned up at the outfittert to book the trip they emphasised that it was no cake walk. It is 6-7 hours of paddling on a good day and many people who go out get sea sick in the big swells off the coast. So I knew from the outset that this was going to be a challenge.

Turning up at 6am in the morning I registered and went through the safety talk etc where the guides even tried to diswade anyone with doubts about there ability to do the trip. Despite my desire to do the trip at this point I was becoming a bit anxious with all the warnings.

In a group of ten we set off in tandem, open deck sea kayaks. A fter about 20minutes of paddling the guides got the boats together and announced that this beach to our left was our last chance to get out. No takers.

The scenery soon took away any anexiety. The towering spires of rock covered in greenery reaching to the sea like jagged fingers. The scenery looked so primevil I really expected to see a pterodactyl swoop out of the forests. Coincidentally the Na Pali coast was used for a backdrop to the island in the Jurassic Park movies!

We had a few breaks from open sea paddling during the day we paddled into sea caves on the coast line and had a swim in their more sheltered waters and also stopped on a remote beach (only accessible by boat for lunch) where I hikes a couple of miles up a creek to a waterfall). Nature was ever present as during the trip we came to around half a dozen sea turtles (who generally didn't notice us as we had no noisy motors) and saw a couple of monk seals.

With much satisfaction I dragged the kayak out of the ocean in late afternoon having completed this challenge. It was a great trip and though still and sore even after a mix of beer, ibuprofin and white tiger balm (it's sooo good).