"4 Hour Na Pali Sunset Dinner Sail." Can you feel it? The beauty? The grandeur? The peacefulness of gliding over the water? Forget all of that.
I'll start by saying that Matt, Chris, and Brooke likely have different impressions of the trip, so I speak only for myself.
Our dinner sail was rescheduled from last Tuesday when Hurricane Flossie whipped up a Small Craft Advisory and canceled the trip. We drove around to the south coast yesterday to make sure we got to the port by 2pm to check in. We had a great time driving down a long dirt road to some alien-landscape cliffs and took amazing pictures, while my hair was whipped in every direction. I brought along pretty clothes so I could dress like a girl for our quiet romantic sail up the coast. We forgot to bring the Dramamine for Matt, so he picked up some Bonine as a substitute and took one right away. I've never had problems with sea-sickness, so I tucked the rest away in my bag. (Do you hear the ominous music?)
Surprise #1: Take off your shoes.
They gave us a whole list of information about the trip, but at no point did they indicate that we would be required to be barefoot the whole time. When we sailed around Puget Sound last year, we had to take our shoes off, so it wasn't that much of a surprise in itself. I was just shocked that they didn't disclose before you paid your $100. They waited until you were standing on a hot dock, right in front of the gangway and then provided laundry baskets for your shoes.
Surprise #2: Sailing?
As we pulled away from the dock under motor power, I figured the sails would come out as soon as we hit open sea. An hour later, we were still pounding through the waves at 15 or 20 knots. When I say "through," I mean through, with water splashing up over the entire boat. It was brutal, loud, and not enjoyable. I would say the sails were up at the midpoint of the trip for about 40 minutes.
Surprise #3: Danika gets sea-sick.
It started as a general feeling of uneasiness. I thought I was just annoyed with how the day was turning out, but I was getting dizzier and wobblier and felt like crap. It was at that point that I took a Bonine, but it was really too late. I spent the next several hours on the back deck with the sickly trying to keep standing. When I was completely exhausted, they finally served dinner. I ended up sitting towards the back, ravenous, but not trusting myself to take more than a few bites. The second Bonine started me improving, but then I made the mistake of standing up, and got worse again.
Surprise #4: 4 hours means 5 hours.
The sun went down as expected at 7:30 (4 hours after departure), but we were nowhere near the end of our trip. The surf got worse, and the splashes got colder. We were caked with seasalt. My pretty girl clothes looked pathetic. I just wanted it to end.
In summary: Na Pali was lovely, but my memories will always be tainted by how annoying the Captain's patter was and how sick I felt. We even got to see dolphins and turtles, but it was horrible seeing them with the thunder of the enormous diesel engine pounding. It just felt wrong.
Never again. (Until Thursday when we go on a north shore snorkel trip. I don't know what I'm thinking.)