Na Pali

I've already forgotten most of the facts I originally intended to put into this post.

See, Layla and I went on a 6-hour raft¹ tour this morning to the West side of Kauai and, specifically, the cliff-lined Na Pali coast. We saw dolphins and giant sea turtles swim within 10ft of the boat on the ride out, heard a ton of interesting facts from our guide, landed at an abandoned pre-modern Hawaiian fishing village, saw loads of neat geological features, went snorkeling, and came back. Oh, and we stopped again at Kauai Coffee again on the way back since it was on the way and since they have awesome sandwiches (... and coffee).

So that part in the last paragraph about "facts" was buried in a bunch of other stuff, so I really can't recall much of it.

Here's what I remember: the lava rock that compromises most of this part of the island is laced with veins of lava that cooled slowly (not quickly, which yields porous and delicate rock) which resulted in lines of super-hard rock. You're looking at two intersecting veins, one of only three such intersections known in the world (one is in Tahiti, the other is somewhere else that I don't remember where it is).

What a day.

¹ Raft == rigid-bottomed 16-person inflatable boat, which was way more fun than a traditional boat, although the ride was a good deal rougher more exciting.