Na Pali Coastal Cruise

At brother Bob's suggestion, we made reservations for the sunset dinner cruise of the Na Pali Coast. These cliffs can't be reached except by boat or extensive hiking, which Mom wasn't up to. (I also couldn't convince her to take the raft that would let us go into some of the sea caves either. Next time...) Fabulous experience. They let me drive Mom down to the dock and even park the car there. We left our shoes behind and her walker. The crew directed us over the top (Mom climbed down the ladder backward with a crew member below her) to "the best seats in the house"--starboard side with a wall to lean against.

Starboard side meant we had a great view of the coast all the way up and the sunset on the way back. And believe me, the coast was well worth looking at.

The red streaks are where waterfalls were diverted for inland irrigation a hundred and fifty years ago.

Note one of those sea caves Mom didn't feel like exploring in the lower left hand corner.

This coast has been filmed by Hollywood over and over.
I couldn't tell you what movie this mountain is in, but I'm sure it is.

Dinner was delicious--terriaki chicken, pulled pork, Caesar salad, fresh pineapple and cookies. The coconut cookies were good enough I saw one young man go back at least four times. To be fair, he ran a half marathon yesterday. Mom took a couple for us for later.

The crew filled Mom's plate from the buffet so she wouldn't have to move around. The girl even took her to the bathroom when she needed it. I needed both hands to hold on myself when moving around the boat, so I didn't think I would be much help holding Mom up.

By dinner time we had turned back into the open sea. I used to get sea sick as a child, but I must have outgrown it. I drank a ginger ale early on as a preventative measure and felt fine the whole trip. (I didn't want to take a Dramamine because it makes me so sleepy.)

Sun started to go down.

And just got more and more beautiful.

I told Mom I wasn't going to keep all the many pictures I took, but I lied. I think I threw away two. But I won't bore you with all of them here.

A totally awesome afternoon and evening. We pulled into the hotel at 7:15, and I think Mom was asleep by 8. Tomorrow is a new adventure.