Outdoors adventures abound in Kauai

On my third visit to Kauai, it was time to embrace the wilder side.

Instead of lolling on the Hawaiian island's delectable beaches last month, I hurtled through the air on ziplines; kayaked down a river into the ocean; and zoomed along the wild Na Pali coast aboard an inflatable boat.

Throughout Hawaii, there's a boom in such small-group adventure tours. Most last a half-day or day. Some have an ecological or cultural focus. Some are just adrenaline-fueled fun. They're all an enticing way to enjoy Hawaii beyond the pool or beach.

Zip through the air

"Aaaahhhhhh" squealed one of a dozen adventurers as she surged along a zipline at Princeville Ranch on Kauai's lush north shore, zooming high above a stream and trees.

Ziplines have been popular for years in Costa Rica, where visitors soar through the tropical forest along the steel cables, dangling from individual pulleys. Now Hawaii is on the bandwagon, and Kauai alone has four zipline operators.

The 2,500-acre Princeville Ranch offers ziplining and horse rides, yet it's still a working cattle ranch. A fenced-in bull gazed balefully at the ranch van as we headed down a dirt road to the nine-line zipline course, set on a rolling bluff above the ocean.

Each zipliner dons a helmet and a sturdy harness with a detachable pulley. A guide clips the pulley onto the zipline. Then, taking turns, each zipliner launches off a small platform and careens along the cable.

Each zipline takes under a minute — even though Princeville Ranch's longest cable is 1,200 feet — since zipliners hurtle along at up to 40 mph. Gravity takes zipliners whizzing down the cable that sinks in the middle: Momentum propels them up to the landing platform on the other side where another guide awaits to help them land. Some zipliners shriek and yodel; the more blasé pose for photos, arms flung out.

For Joelle Machia, a Seattle cancer-research nurse and frequent visitor to Kauai, it was her first time ziplining.

"My family had done it before and I remember thinking 'no way.' But they came back intact, didn't ache and they were so exhilarated."

"This year I decided to do it. You're out in the scenery ... it's fun and special. It's safe, but feels like you're taking a risk. For me as a 50-year old, it's something I thought I'd never do," said Machia.

Princeville Ranch: www.adventureskauai.com or 808-826-7669. The Zip Express is $125 per person; it has nine ziplines. Other zipline tours and horse-riding are available.

There have been cattle operations in the area since the 1830s; the sprawling Princeville Resort, with luxury hotels, condos and golf courses, is next door.

Other ziplines: Other adventure-tour companies with ziplines are Outfitters Kauai, www.outfitterskauai.com; Just Live (which also offers rappelling and a rock-climbing wall), www.justlive.org; and Kauai Backcountry Adventures, www.kauaibackcountry.com/

Zoom along

Na Pali coast

The Na Pali coast is Kauai's natural crown jewel, a wild and staggeringly scenic 16-mile coastline of no roads, no buildings, nothing but 3,000-foot cliffs and narrow furrowed valleys that plummet to the turbulent sea. A handful of sea caves and white-sand pocket beaches pierce the rugged shoreline.

Tropical downpours and mist can sweep across this northwest shore of Kauai, preserved in the Na Pali Coast State Wilderness Park. But wait a bit and the sun will poke out again, making rainbows glisten and turning the waterfalls that cascade down cliffs into shimmering skeins.

Truly adventurous visitors can backpack part of the Na Pali coast on the 11-mile (one-way) Kalalau Trail or kayak the whole coast in a marathon day (summer only; winter seas are too fierce).

At the other end of the tour spectrum, big motorized boats cruise the coast on half-day tours, some carrying almost 50 people. Flight-seeing helicopters (so prevalent they've ironically been nicknamed Hawaii's state bird) and even ultralight aircraft soar overhead. You won't be alone however you explore the Na Pali coast.

My muscles weren't up for the long kayak trip and I couldn't get a backpacking permit. So I opted for an adventurous half-day ride along the coast with North Shore Charters aboard a 27-foot, rigid-hull inflatable boat.

The Zodiac-like boat, powered by two growling 140-horsepower outboards, can hold 14 passengers and surge along at up to 30 mph. We perched on the rubber sides of the open boat, gripping safety ropes when it hit big waves on part of the ride.

Bouncing and getting soaked with spray mean it's not for the faint of heart, the pregnant or anyone with a bad back or neck. But it's an exhilarating way to see the Na Pali coast, and the teenagers in the bow hooted with glee. We all ooh'ed and aah'ed when a half-dozen spinner dolphins leapt above the waves just off our bow.

Our captain, Glenn Stalker, expertly steered us through reefs and waves. He gently nosed the boat into sea caves, darkly spooky chambers of stone carved out of the dark lava by eons of pounding surf. Along with showing us the natural beauty, he told of ancient Hawaiians who sheltered in the caves while canoeing the coast and of fishing villages and taro fields that once were tucked into the remote valleys.

Like many Na Pali boaters, we stopped at Nu'alolo Kai beach to snorkel. Donning masks and fins, we slipped over the sides of the boat into a tropical water world. Convict Tang fluttered past, an aptly named yellow fish with black stripes. The blue-gray Hawaiian Chub nosed around the coral reef — and us. But it was the Lagoon Triggerfish I liked best, with its pig-shaped, yellow-streaked snout and wonderful Hawaiian name: Humuhumunukunukuâpua'a.

Back on the boat, I practiced pronouncing it — HOO-moo-HOO-moo-NOO-koo-NOO-koo-AH-poo-AH-ah.

I'm still practicing.

North Shore Charters: Its Na Pali boat tours in a rigid-hull inflatable last 4 to 4 ½ hours and depart from Anini beach on Kauai's north shore, just 20 minutes from the start of the Na Pali coast. $140 per adult. www.kauainorthshorecharters.com or 808-828-1379.

More boat tours: Many other companies offer Na Pali tours — by kayak, motorized catamarans and more. See the website of the Kauai Visitors Bureau, www.kauaidiscovery.com (click on Activities). The state parks website also lists some tour-boat operators, www.hawaiistateparks.org/parks/kauai/ Many other tours depart from ports at the south end of Kauai; they have farther to go to Na Pali and some may not cover the whole coast.

Paddle to the sea

Bright-yellow kayaks skimmed along the Hanalei River as it meandered through the junglelike greenery of Kauai's north shore. Some paddlers followed the leader, a guide from Kayak Kauai. Others in rental kayaks headed off on their own along the gentle river.

I'd signed up for a guided half-day of kayaking down the river and out into the open waters of Hanalei Bay.

"Don't take the waves sideways," hollered the guide at two first-time kayakers as our group emerged from the river mouth into the bay's waves.

We all made it in our sit-on-top plastic kayaks, sturdy but heavy boats that are easier for rookies than conventional kayaks with their sit-in, closed cockpits.

Hanalei Bay stretched around us, a two-mile curve with white sand beaches backed by steep, deeply green mountainsides.

If you've seen the movie "South Pacific," this is Bali Hai country.

Mount Makana, arising beyond the bay, served as the mystical island of Bali Hai in the 1958 film. Sailors frolicked near the pier that pokes out into the bay from the laid-back little town of Hanalei. Actress Mitzi Gaynor washed that man right out of her hair at Lumahai Beach, just beyond the bay.

I warbled (badly) a movie-lyric medley as I paddled: "Bali Hai will call you ... Some enchanted evening ... I'm gonna wash that man ... "

I shut up when we landed at Hideaways Beach, a pocket beach tucked under a bluff and reached only by boat or a steep trail, and spent a blissful 45 minutes snorkeling and lazing in the sand.

Heading back, our guide — who had been informative on the way down, telling us of plants, landmarks and Hawaiian legends — paddled rapidly and far ahead, rather like a horse bolting for the barn. We didn't care. We'd had our happy time in Hanalei.

Kayak Kauai: Prices range from $60 per person for the three-hour "Blue Lagoon" river/bay tour with snorkeling to $95 for a five-hour version. The company also offers the rigorous all-day Na Pali sea-kayak trip and a popular and family-friendly Wailua River tour.

Other kayak tour companies include Outfitters Kauai, www.outfitterskauai.com and Na Pali Kayaks, www.napalikayak.com

Kristin Jackson: kjackson@seattletimes.com