| The business
began in 1991 under the name of Kayak Historical Discovery Tours.
In 1998 we changed our name to Hawaii Pack and Paddle when we added
hiking and multisport adventure trips. We paddle and hike on the
island of Hawaii, also called by some the Big Island. I am fully
insured and have permits from all county, state, and federal agencies
and parks. All guides are up-to-date on First Aid and CPR and we
are Certified Lifeguards.
The Hawaii paddling kayak day tours, day hiking tours, and kayak/hiking
camping trips take place on sunny bays of the Kona coast north
or south of Kailua-Kona on the Big island of Hawaii. The Hawaii
kayak and hiking multi-sport adventure trips are "round the
island" trips exploring the very best and most interesting
parts of the island in a way you would find difficult to do on
your own! We safely explore the slowly flowing red hot lava of
Kilauea Volcano in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, and hear the
native birds in the lush upland jungle forests there.
Our trips last anywhere from a half-day Hawaii kayak paddling
tour or hike to the seven day "Hawaii Pack and Paddle special."
I also create with you your dream family trips, youth group trips,
school and college trips, educational trips for teachers or students
for credit, convention tours, and special interest group tours.
BETSY MORRIGAN, the company owner:
Our Guides
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Our Guides (Left to
Right: Jeremiah, Katie, Betsy, Grady, and Scott. Ned
not in photo)
|
I have been guiding kayak and hiking trips on the island of Hawaii
since 1992. I love to meet new people, paddle, hike, explore,
pack, cook and learn about the natural history of the island along
with Hawaii history and culture! Before I moved here from Alaska,
I had the Ruby Roadhouse tourist lodge and did river and dogsled
trips on the Yukon River where my three children grew up. Here
in Hawaii I am also a part-time professor of writing and Hawaiian
literature at the University of Hawaii in West Hawaii. I'm now
hiking and researching for a book about Hawaii's ancient trails
and have helped Audrey Sutherland revise her book Paddling Hawaii.
For many years I have been a competitive Hawaiian outrigger canoe
paddler with Keoua-Honaunau Canoe Club. I was a founding member
of the Hawaii
EcoTourism Association. I am the vice-president of the E Mau
Na Ala Hele trail and environmental group.
In 1996 I founded the Hawaii Island Paddlers' Alliance (now Hawaii
Island Kayak Association / Kayak Alliance of the Islands) with
local kayak tour operators. We are active now in putting into
practice a better management plan for Kealakekua Bay. In 1997-98
I had the pleasure of hiking around the whole island with the
E Mau Na Ala Hele trail group on two hundred miles of the Ala
Kahakai coastal trail. This is the ancient Hawaiian trail that
linked together all the coastal villages in the six districts.
Our trail group--E Mau Na Ala Hele ("preserve the trails to walk
on")--succeeded after almost twenty years of work in getting this
very special trail designated and accepted with the National Park
Service as a National Historic Trail in 2000. Our club is now
working with the communities along the way and the NPS to develop
a trail management plan before this 170 mile trail is officially
opened by the National Park Service. See the Ala
Kahakai Web site for photos and a record of the trail hikes
or the National Park Service website at http://www.nps.gov.alka.
I love the feeling I get when I am in my kayak and I look out
at the huge mass of land rising to volcanic mountains, dotted
here and there with tiny farms and houses, and I think--I'm out
here, so happy, warm, secure, traveling with the current on the
water, the sun dancing on the waves, and I've packed up my troubles
and forgotten them. Away from papers, bills, cell phones ringing,
voice mail, and e-mail, we're just going to paddle and relax!
I love darting into caves, coming around a point and seeing a
beautiful curved horseshoe-shaped bay, lunching in little coves,
and resting after paddling on the warmth of a black sand beach.
Our style here at Hawaii Pack and Paddle is low-key and relaxed,
and I'd just as soon enjoy hearing your stories as to entertain
you with mine. I think that it's important to know how to paddle
correctly and people say that all my guides and I are good teachers
of paddling skills.
Snorkelers enjoying
the clear Kona water. |
Other Hawaii Pack and Paddle kayak and hiking guides you may be
lucky to enjoy your trip with or who may be working with Betsy include
JEREMIAH G, GRADY, SCOTT, KATIE, and NED. All of these guides are
devoted to hiking and paddling the island of Hawaii and each has
a unique specialty to share with you. All are in top physical shape,
know their skill well, are certified in First Aid/CPR and are all
Certified Lifeguards. They will care for you like members of their
own family.
These Hawaii Pack and Paddle guides have helped a number of less
than confident and some disabled people enjoy hiking, paddling,
and snorkeling on this island they love so much. It is one of their
biggest pleasures to help someone who has never snorkeled before-
by swimming closely with them--and to see their joy in underwater
beauty they are experiencing for the first time as the bright-colored
fish dart in and out of the coral and the turtles flap lazily by.
JAY is another one of our snorkel guides. He has great success in
helping first-time snorkelers feel safe and comfortable in the water.
Each guide is also a gourmet camp cook, emphasizing Hawaii's bounty
of fresh and natural foods. We always have local bananas, papayas,
and pineapple ripening. You will be treated to lychee and mango
in the summer months and to fresh Kona oranges and tangerines in
the winter. We serve local, organic produce and buy fish directly
from the fishermen. |
ABOUT THE GUIDES and THE
BUSINESS
Betsy Morrigan:owner & chief guide
About the trips.
List of Trips and Rates.
Make
a reservation. 
Equipment
List. 
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