TL; DR: LOT of wasted time, disorganized, do NOT recommend for good kayak experience. Be ready to carry your equipment a long distance over sand.
The best way to summarize this experience was different, and not in the must do way. The day started out in a weird fashion after checking in when we were fitted for the snorkel fins and informed to meet the guides and the rest of a group at the green church next to soccer fields on the main road. So, we drove ourselves with the fins to this location, which we were not given a physical address to, and had to wait 20-30 minutes for the rest of the group and the guides to arrive. Once everyone was here, we had to go to a different spot while trying to follow the guides van, in which we lost a group and had to wait another 20-30 minutes for the guides to find this group. Once we were all present and accounted for, the time was around 1030/1045 and we have not kayaked or snorkeled yet. Now we had to walk a little over half a mile on the beach to the kayak spot in which we received a very brief demo on how to kayak and then we were finally off. We only kayaked a short distance down the river before stopping for pictures and turning back to snorkel in the bay. Friendly heads up, lunch was not served until after snorkeling, not before as stated in the description. Lunch was served around 1:30/1:45 and then we kayaked a short distance to the beginning point where we had to wait 15+ minutes for the guides to put the kayaks up before walking back to the starting point which was about a half mile walk on the beach, which we had to carry our own life jackets and fins. Overall, I personally felt there was a lot of "dead" time in which we stood around and was wasted. I would recommend not doing this tour if you are looking for a good kayak experience. The snorkeling aspect was beautiful because of the location they took us to, however, this spot is easy to drive to since it is behind a major hotel.
Odpowiedź od gospodarza
Jul 2019
Aloha Bobby,
Yes...sometime things "are not as expected".
Before the April 2018 floods that devastated the Hanalei area, we were comfortable and efficiently running our Hanalei Blue Lagoon tour from the convenience of Black Pot County Beach Park.
The Park closure has forced us to take a curve and make it a plus by incorporating a short hike along the East side of beautiful Hanalei Bay to gain access to our kayaks and launch area; all adding time, effort not only for clients but for guides
None of the above was expected and we have rolled with the punches and mentioned much above on our www site specific for this tour.
If you scroll down Trip Advisor reviews you will find many folks, in-spite the inconveniences, having a generally good time, including enjoying the Hanalei beach walk.
As a convenience we will meet at time folks up in Hanalei. Hanalei is a rural area and often specific addresses don't work. Seems the Fate's further conspired when you lost sight of the KK van.
As for lunch...not a good idea to go snorkeling with a full stomach.
Thanks for highlighting that we could improve our time management.
Good news is by 21 of July County Beach Park will be open once again and will make it easier for this outing to be more efficient and run like the trains in Europe.
Glad you enjoyed the snorkeling.
Thanks again,
A hui hou,