Maui and Kauai in September

Want to plan a kiting trip? Just got back from one? Post you experiences, questions and information here.
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mephastopholes
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Re: Maui and Kauai in September

Post by mephastopholes » Sun Sep 13, 2009 5:27 pm

So my wife and I just got back from Maui & Kauai late last night and I just wanted to give a big thanks again to those that provided the heads up and the info mentioned earlier in this post. :)

Kanaha (Kite/Naish) Beach is just incredible and put out all seven days that we were there, regardless of the hour. It worked out great: my retired dad was with us for the first five days, so we would take him sight seeing all over the island for a good part of the day. I'd then be able to sneak off and kite in the afternoon or evening for an hour and a half or two and still have plenty of time to head back to our cheap but central Kahului hotel (5-10 mins away), shower, chill, and head out for dinner anywhere.
I was perfectly powered on my 9 for 95% of the time and had fun on both the twinny on the inside and on the surfboard on the outer reef with some small sets rolling thru...

On Kauai, although we scoped out all of the beaches that were mentioned, there was no wind (but a good north swell) which was a bummer, but it worked out as my wife and I were already pretty occupied exploring the entire island. We did end up doing the Napali kayak trip and several hikes (thanks again) in both Waimea Canyon and Kokee SP; ya'll weren't kidding; the scenery was AMAZING!

All in all, an awesome trip and the only downside was being harrassed at the Maui airport (by the same ticket gal on two separate occassions) about my NSI golf bag. I'm sure that the separate Dakine surfboard bag set her off, but thankfully I did throw in one golf club: "what's in the bag, sir?" "uh, some golf clubs and other sporting equipment, ma'am :liar: " and even after she had me open the bag and saw just the one club with two kites, harness and pump she was nice enuf to let it go both times...... but the bag ended flying to Sacramento instead of OAK... ooops...

d.b.
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Re: Maui and Kauai in September

Post by d.b. » Mon Sep 14, 2009 6:47 am

Glad you had a good trip. I'm lucky enough to go a couple times a year. After finally finding a surfboard I really like, I'm wondering if I should take it with me or continue to try to rent an equal while on the islands. Who did you fly and how much extra $ did the surfboard cost?

I always fly with my "putter and 3 iron" since some of the "career" airline employees seem to be getting wise to the kite-golf bags.

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Re: Maui and Kauai in September

Post by mephastopholes » Mon Sep 14, 2009 10:11 am

I was thinking the same about the airlines getting wise to the golf bags, especially at a kite heavy place like Maui. Its great how you can see kites in the air from the plane as it lands...
We flew Hawaiian and it was $100 each way. :cry: The price made me really cringe initially, but I got over it quickly given that I was able to use it everyday at Kanaha whenever I wanted and not have to deal with picking it up/returning it, etc. Additionally, I love riding this board but being a first year surf rider, I've got a long ways to go in the skills department (still only nailing 50-60% of the jibes, ungraceful bottom turns etc, crashing off the lip instead of smacking it, etc...) and decided to stick with my own board and have fun working on these things instead of figuring out a new and different board. Totally a personal preference, but on the flip side, renting would give you the opportunity to demo a bunch of boards...

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