South Pacific Kayaks

Welcome to South Pacific Kayaks. To truly understand the significance of this location, we must first look past the modern inventory of brightly colored plastic boats and life jackets, and cast our minds back over a thousand…

Before we approach the water, we must engage in a detailed mechanical analysis of your primary engine: the double bladed kayak paddle. At first glance, it appears to be a simple stick with two plastic blades. …

As you paddle away from the shoreline, it is essential to understand the unseen geography beneath your hull. The study of underwater depth and topography is known as bathymetry, and the bathymetry of Maui is radically different…

While the humpback whales dominate the winter months, another extraordinary marine mammal frequently encountered by early morning kayakers is the Hawaiian spinner dolphin, or Nai'a. Unlike the migratory whales, these dolphins are…

As your kayak pushes further offshore, away from the immediate protection of the bays and the shallow coral reefs, you cross an invisible boundary into the pelagic zone. This is the open ocean water column, an environment that is…

If you are paddling these waters in the winter, the pelagic zone offers another, invisible layer of complexity: the acoustic environment of the humpback whale. The ocean is not a silent place; it is a highly conductive acoustic…

As we begin to navigate back toward the shoreline, we must turn our analytical gaze from the deep ocean back to the landmass of Maui. The health of the pristine marine environment we have just explored is fundamentally and…

Your kayak slides onto the sand, and the journey concludes where it began. The physical act of stepping out of the boat and standing on solid ground often feels strangely unbalanced after hours spent accommodating the continuous,…