Is a raft or catamaran tour better on Nā Pali Coast? — featuring Wonder Ever After

0:00 The Nepali coast is one of the most beautiful places on Kauaii. If you are planning a boat tour for your upcoming trip to see the coast from the water, you'll have to choose between a raft and a catamaran trip. We've been really lucky and we actually got to go on both this summer. First, we had a friend come

0:14 to visit Kawaii. So, we pay for a raft tour because we all wanted to go on the adventure and while we were in the shop, we saw that they were having a contest for free tour and we ended up winning and going back recently for a catamaran tour. Both were amazing, but totally different experiences.

0:30 So, let's start with the raft. The raft is a much smaller boat. So, I had heard that the raft was going to be really intense. And it is a little bit true, like you sort of you sit on the sides of the boat, you hold onto a rope, everybody gets wet, but you're going to get wet anyways because you're

0:44 snorkeling. Because they had done this really long safety briefing and talked about all the dangers. Obviously, you can just fall out of a raft and it is open ocean that you're out in. But because of that, when we got down to the boat, nobody actually wanted to go sit in the front of the raft. So then I sat

0:58 in the front and I was really happy about it because you get the best view. It's like completely unobstructed. You get to see all of the coast, the Nepali coast, and kind of everything ahead of you as you go. So I loved it. And again, like you're going to get wet anyways. So I don't think it's that big of a deal.

1:10 Raft itself though is low to the water. So when we did see dolphins, you you're almost like parallel with them, but you don't really get like a bird's eyee view of the dolphins. I did stick my arm and camera into the water and you could see how close the dolphins were to us. But again, I guess on the catamaran, you get

1:26 more of an experience where you can look down at the dolphins. From the raft, you can see them next to you, but the experience doesn't feel as full because you really can't see how many dolphins are around you. Because of the weather timing on the day that we were rafting, our captain suggested we go all the way

1:40 to see the viewpoint at the Nepali coast and then come back and go through the sea caves and kind of enjoy the trip that way. So, that was how our rafting trip went. I don't know if that's like normally how they go or if it was just specifically because of the weather conditions for the day. Everyone got to

1:54 take turns going up to the front to take pictures. And then afterwards, we got to go in and out of a few sea caves. And the way that the captain did it was awesome. He kind of just like made it more of an adventure. Like he would sort of wind us up and then like drive straight into the cave, which was really

2:08 cool. I enjoyed it. Again, I guess if you don't want that kind of adventure, maybe you wouldn't like that. And then we stopped for lunch at a snorkel spot kind of close to Pahali. The area that we snorkeled in was pretty deep, so you couldn't really see much coral, but there were some fish and we did see a

2:21 turtle while we were there. I think the big thing that I liked is that the raft can go inside the sea caves and the catamaran can't. But the thing that I did not like as much, if I'm really comparing it, is that you couldn't really see the dolphins from like a bird's eye view because you're so close

2:35 to them. I don't really know if it was the weather condition or what, but overall the ride really wasn't that bumpy. I felt like the raft kind of cut through a lot of the waves that we were going on and the the ride was honestly pretty smooth, especially compared to how they really hype it up in the safety

2:51 information and you know it's dangerous and there can be huge waves. We didn't have any of that experience on the day that we were out rafting. So, it felt like relatively calm and that the captain was kind of making more of an adventure than the than the ocean conditions were. So, again, we could

3:05 have just been lucky that day, but I didn't think that the rafting part was like overly difficult. You're not like holding on for dear life. You're just sort of holding on because you don't have anything to rest your back on or anything like that. Now, the catamaran was a completely

3:20 different vibe. It was much more luxury, fancy, comfortable relatively. You can move around. It's way bigger. It did feel steadier mostly because of the fact that you can kind of get up and walk around and go to the different sides of the boat. There's a bathroom. There was drinks. The crew is larger and the

3:38 service itself just feels more organized. I think because there are more people on the boat. The thing that I really loved is that there was a slide at the back of the boat so that we got to ride it a few times when we stopped at the snorkel stop. Our catamaran tour stopped for a snorkel

3:54 like right away because we had met up at the shop and then gotten on the boat just after 8:00 a.m. It was like 900 a.m. by the time we were snorkeling. We stopped at a different spot which was much closer to Kamakani. I think called Hoka Bay. And the snorkeling there, although it is shallower, we didn't

4:10 really get to see very much. And the other thing that I didn't like about having such an early stop at the snorkel spot was that it was still cold. It was 9:00 a.m. Like it felt like like the sun just wasn't really like fully out yet. But again, that could be either normal procedure or two, just like how it is

4:28 based on the weather. There was some coral there, but overall, we just didn't really have good luck seeing really much of anything. Afterwards, we set off for the Nepali coast and then we did see the dolphins in basically the same spot that we saw the dolphins before. What I really liked about it is it felt like we

4:44 could see the dolphins swimming and kind of dancing in the water around each other and around the catamaran ahead of us. You do get a lot more of a bird's eye view. So, it felt like we could see the dolphins and it was a much calmer experience overall. And again, because the boat is pretty large, you could be

5:01 in a variety of spots and still be able to see the dolphins. So, I really loved that. They did bring the boat close to a small waterfall, but we were pretty far away from the sea caves. And then we got an amazing view of the Nepali coast. Same story. Everyone got to take turns going

5:18 up to the front to take pictures. And then lunch and drinks were served. There was alcohol like my ties and beers for those 21 and older. I'm not sure if we had that on the raft tour, but I'm pretty sure they did not offer that. I think everything was only in cans on the raft tour. We actually had a much

5:32 bumpier ride heading back on the catamaran. I was really surprised. I'm not sure if it was the weather conditions or what, but it felt like every little wave the catamaran would kind of hit it and we were going sort of like up and down on the way back. And I guess I was comparing that to the raft

5:45 trip where it felt like we were just like cutting through the waves. But again, it could have just been the weather conditions. So, which one is better? On both trips, we saw dolphins at the same place. And again, I don't know if it was just the timing of the day because the captain of

5:59 our raft tour specifically said because of the weather, they wanted to do the snorkeling later. So, I don't know if most of the boat tours do do snorkeling in the morning normally where the water condition is just a little colder. I enjoyed that the raft was a lot more of an adventure. And then I also enjoyed

6:16 that the catamaran had a real like luxury experience to it. It was much more like being on a fancy boat with a beautiful view, a lot more mobility. So, it's really difficult to pick which one that I would like more. I think the big thing that was different is that the rafts feel like a little bit more of an

6:34 intimate experience. You can go into the sea caves. You feel in general like you're a lot closer to the experience, the dolphins, everything else. But if you want a more comfortable trip, luxury, or you're really into photography, or you have kids, or you have any like physical mobility

6:49 concerns, then I think that the catamaran would be better for you. I hope you have a great time.