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Kayak Kaua'i's Cast of Characters
Always a work in progress.....
Staff Directory
The following are a bunch of the characters that have made
Kayak Kaua'i what it was yesterday and sculpting what it will be
tomorrow. We thank them and you for making it all possible
The Office/Front Desk
| Blue Sky (Crystal) Perry: She has been
with us since February 2002. Born in Florida and raised in West
Virginia until age 13, she has lived on both Kaua'i and Oahu for 21
years now. Married since 1999 to Paul Perry and mother to feisty Sierra
Rose amd Michael.. Blue Sky has a friendly and patient demeanor cloaked
in a subtle sense of humor. Most likely when you first call kayak
Kauai... you will be talking to either Blue Sky or Kathleen. Off season
Blue Sky and Marta are running the show. Blue Sky can be reached at o blue_sky@kayakkauai.com |
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Founders
| Chino Godinez: One of the three
founders of Kayak Kauai. A Cuban refugee who grew up in Puerto Rico
surfing and sailing to the sound of the conga. It was during a 5 month
paddle along the Inside Passage (1981), in single Klepper Kayaks with
brother Micco, that they conceptualized starting Kayak Kaua'i.
University trained with a major in International Business which has
proved to be an overkill in our domestic market, Chino has the
imagination and the business acumen that has kept the business
sometimes running in the red…sometimes in the black …and sometimes both
in the “black and blue”. Chino works half of the year and is at the
helm with Micco from May through September.. The other half of the year
he sells real-estate and drives snow-cats in the Cody/Yellowstone area.
Want to buy real estate in Wyoming or taxi through through the winter
wonderland of Yellowstone? He can be reached at chino@kayakkauai.com |
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| Karen Godinez: With Chino and Micco,
Karen help found Kayak Kauai way back in 1984 when it was struggling.
She is presently a silent partner and living in Cody, Wyoming as a
Mountain Woman.. Karen keeps the home fires burning while she is on the
lookout for grizzlies and pole-cats. During the summer she cooks up a
storm for the local fire crews up in the mountain.. Karen keeps
involved by keeping KK in style with our logo line of clothing. |
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| Micco Godinez: One of the three
founders of Kayak Kauai. Born at a very early age in Cuba and raised in
Puerto Rico. With brother Chino, Micco came to Oahu to surf in 1974. He
summited Mt. McKinley in 1979. Frostbite convinced him that paddling
the Inside Passage on a 5 month odyssey with Chino was a more temperate
pastime. Off time he spent moose packing, paddling the Bering Strait,
and with brother Chino, paddled the Hawaiian chain from S. Point on the
Big Island back to Kaua'i in 1988 and later to Ni’ihau. Micco
honeymooned along the Croatian/Dalmatian coastline in 1994 in a double
Klepper kayak. In spite of being a Marketing Major, Micco brings very
little to the business except a love for the paddle. Micco works half
of the year and is at the helm with Chino from end of May until mid
September The other half of the year he is a Mr. Mom to his two ankle
biters in Los Angeles and surfing from Malibu to County Line. Micco
keeps his head above water in L.A. , by renting his Hanalei vacation
rentals. He can be reached via e-mail at kayakkauai@earthlink.net |
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The Boat Yard
| Adam Eichenauer:
hails from the 16 square mile island of
St. John in the Virgin Islands
where he enjoyed the laidback lifestyle and kayaking island to island,
eventually circumnavigating and camping every island in the chain!
Relaxed
island style living and the natural beauty coaxed Adam to the Hawaiin
islands .
. . oh yes, and the waves!! A talented woodworker, for fun on Kauai he
enjoys
the beach life : surfing, kayaking, hiking and playing guitar. Adam
keep the yard ship shape and is there severa days a week helping you
launch from our dock in Hanalei. |
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The Guides
| Andrew Belt: I am a long term resident
here on the Garden Island and am an outdoor enthusiast. I've been
paddling the Na Pali Coast ince 1995.You can find me skateboarding,
surfing, hikeing or kayaking all over Kauai. I have a huge connection
with the aina of kauai and love to share that with people. I have 2
beautiful kids both born here that sometimes accompany me on
adventures. I am a returning college student studying teaching and
HAwaiian studies. you can check me out on KKCR every Monday 10-midnight
hosting the reggae train since 1999. I am also a drummer in an island
reggae band. |
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| Web Godinez: Web has been journeying
down the Na Pali since he was a baby. Web had worked with us over the
last few years teaching surfing, guiding the Blue Lagoon, our one day
Na Pali sea kayaking trips and Secret Falls. He guides often our
in-house multiday Discovery Tour. Very personable and competent, Web is
often requested and is carrying on the family tradition. |
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| Patrick Gmelin: On the field you can
find Pat guiding to the Secret Falls on the Wailua River. When not on
the Wailua River he could be snorkeling on our Blue Lagoon tour, and
during the summer guiding folks by sea kayak along the challenging Na
Pali coast. We are very lucky and happy to have him on the staff and on
the field. He is a charming dude and good water man and has a wonderful
dog that sometimes goes on the tours. We actually prefer his dog. |
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| Yuto Hoshino: Fun loving, Yuto was
born in Tokyo, Japan in 1965. Yuto moved to Hawaii 1988 and to Kaua'i
in in 1997, where he began guiding for Kayak Kaua'i. In addition to
guiding on our Wailua river tours and teaching surfing, he accompanies
our water and trekking tours that require his Japanese language skills.
When not at Kayak Kaua'i he is an artist based out of Hanalei and
selling home made fudge next to our shop. When the surf is up you will
find both Yuto and Micco at a "board meeting" in Hanalei bay. |
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| Cody Idding: Presently in college in
California. Cody is serious and industrious. Trained in the boat yard,
we have been grooming Codyfor our Na Pali guided tours. Cody also
guides our other tours and surf lessons. When not working and studying,
Cody can be seen ripping the waves with his father and mother. Cody is
an upcoming surf star and we are looking forward to working with him
next summer. |
|
Doug Killpatrick: Doug has a calm,
cool and wry sense of humor. Over the years, Doug has become one
of our top naturalists and Napali Coast Guides. He also guides the
mellow Blue Lagoon snorkel tour. Doug can be reached at tameseabird@yahoo.com.
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| Steve Preibisius: Enamored by the Na
Pali, Steve has put his many years of solo paddles down the Na Pali to
good use by guiding our Mavericks and One Day Na Pali sea kayak trips.
Off season he is our main surf instructor. Soft spoken and competent he
is great to work with. We are fortunate to have him with us. |
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| David Spier: our senior guide works
during the Na Pali season guiding several times a week our rental
Mavericks and one Day Na Pali tours. He brings to Kayak Kaua'i his
years of sea kayaking and guiding in the Channel Islands off Santa
Barbara. A former lifeguard in the Ventura area, David is now a
permanent resident of Kaua'i where he is gainfully employed as a finish
carpenter when not paddling and surfing. With Kathy Valier, he guides
periodically our multi-day Discovery tours. David and Kathy make a
great team. |
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| Aki Stanley: was born in Sukuoka Japan
in 1975 and lived there for 19 years. In 1994 she moved to Memphis,
Tennessee where she spent 5-6 years. She moved to Kaua'i at the end of
1999 and has been here ever since. She has been married to a wonderful
man named Christopher Stanley for 3 great years. They own a motorcycle
shop in Kapa'a town, where they rent motorcycles, scooters and have
recently become Suzuki distributors. In her free time she loves to ride
motor bikes as well as to swim, paddle, and of course ...hike! (She
doesn't like to run!!) Working at Kayak Kaua'i has helped her share the
Kaua'i outdoors. She really enjoys sharing her knowledge and love for
Kaua'i with visitors. She especially likes to work with the Japanese
tourist, it gives her a chance to speak her native language. |
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| Kathy Valier: Our resident academic
and top naturalist, Kathy was born in Hawaii in pre territory days and
is a graduate of Punahou. The author of the book "On the Na Pali
Coast", Kathy has worked with Kayak Kaua'i since the late '80's. Her
bio in her book, On the Na Pali Coast, (on our order page) says she was
hiking into Na Pali before 1960 at the age of six and camped in
Nu'alolo Valley at thirteen. Because of her broad knowledge of Kaua'i,
she is an excellent choice of a guide for week-long trips. She
continues to explore Kaua'i and often guides for the the local Kaua'i
Chapter of the Sierra Club. She also is a massage therapist. We know
that many a client have availed themselves, after a tough day on the
trail or water, of her magic touch. Kathy is semi retirement and guides
for us on special occasions or when we beg her. |
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Our Alumni
| Dominic Bender:: our trouble shooter.
Dominic has been doing time with us for many years and will be back
with us when the summer revs up again with the promise that he would
not put beer in the soda machine. Dominic speaks German and French
fluently, and a smattering of other languages. He is also our resident
mechanic who helps keep our vehicles purring. Dominic is branching into
guiding our Blue Lagoon and Secret Falls tours. Dominic is in charge of
island wide promotions. When not spending time with us you can find him
river paddling with his son Max, or managing Dominic's Diplomats, his
rent a wreck business. He can be reached via e-mail at captainkook02@hotmail.com |
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| Gerry Bernabe: spent the Summer of '99
co-managing our Kapaa shop. Gerry joined Kayak Kaua'i in 1997 after his
freshman year at Gonzaga University where he later received a degree in
exercise physiology. He is currently working on his masters at UNLV in
sports management. A former Eagle Scout and lifelong resident of
Kaua'i, he lends a view of the island that can be enlightening to a
newcomer. |
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| Julie Chase: Julie got bit by the
outdoor adventure business bug in one season with us in 1997, and now
owns and operates Nehalem Bay Kayak Co. in Wheeler, Oregon. She comes
back to Kaua'i on a periodic basis. Her e-mail address is outdoor@nehalemtel.net. |
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| Sarah Clemensen....well if there had
been snow on Kaua'i we would have realized the rising star we had in
our midst. Sarah spent a fun summer working in the office turning
visitors to the joys of the Kaua'i outdoors. Apart from some
intra-office water figths, we were sorry to see Sarah leave us for the
snowy slopes, where she is one top ranked telemark skiers. You can see
her in action in the ski flick, Unparalleled 3: Soul Slide. One of her
sponsors is Nike. Check out Nike's page at
http://web.archive.org/web/20040806184030/http://www.snowbird.com/pages/shared/viewer.php?category_id=020709.
Sarah came back during the summer of 2003 and with family paddled the
Na Pali. Maybe one day she will let Kayak Kaua'i be a sponsor. Sarah
can be reached via e-mail at mailto:sarahlarae@hotmail.com |
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| Clay Culver: Clay spent two years with
us after graduating from Southern University. 1999 found him working
for Nantahala Outdoor Center in Asheville, North Carolina where he ran
a touring kayak symposium that summer. Currently, he and wife, Kelley
have Alakai Outfitters, based out of Savannah, Georgia. They have plans
to run sea kayaking tours on the Georgia Coast near Savannah as well as
guide tours in other locales. His e-mail address is outside@alakaioutfitters.com. |
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| Roland DeFries: was a welcome addition
to Kayak Kauai in 1997. Growing up on Hanalei Bay at "Pine Trees", he
had one of the first fiberglass surfboards on Kaua'i. When he's off
work in construction, he can be found surfing or spear fishing. Often
requested by clients, Roland is a classic with a calm and composure
that is full of aloha |
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| E. J. Gorman: joined us in 1998 to
work in our Hanalei retail store and did promotional sales before
joining the team of Na Pali ocean guides in 1999. E.J. returned to
Chicago to seek a more remunerative corporate life, but away from his
beloved surf. The surf has called him back and he now leads our weekend
Na Pali paddles as well as periodically our multi-day Discovery Tour.
When he is not guiding he is selling real estate. E.J. is presently
selling real estate in Panama. |
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| Kathleen Henandez Martinez: We have
been blessed to have Kathleen with us for over a year at our Hanalei
Shop. Born in California and raised in Sacramento. She moved to Kaua'i
in 1989 where she finished intermediate and High School. Has been
married for four years to a cool dude by the name of Monico. Mother to
two girls by the name of Sierra (5) and Sienna (1). Kathleen knows
allot about Kaua'i, but says she has learned allot in the last year of
working at KK. She loves to work with tourist and enjoys learning and
sharing what she has learned about Kaua'i. She has opened with her
husband an excellent Mexican restaurant in Kapa'a. |
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| Lourn Hess. Lourn is the heart and
soul of the boat yard; our Hawaiian troubadour...our sheriff from
Waianae, who will greet you at our dock and get you launched and landed
from your kayak. Lourn has rubbed elbows with Pierce Brosman and other
luminaries. Lourn brings much aloha to Kayak Kaua'i which he readily
shares on a daily basis. Apart from teaching the paddling stroke,
Lauren is our summer Maverick driver for Polihale. He is an
accomplished musician and readyto talk story and presently in the
landscaping business and doing his musical gigs. |
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| Melissa Hosono: Feisty, spirited and
competent. Melissa is one of our first female Na Pali sea kayak guides.
A graduate of University of Colorado at Boulder with degrees in
anthropology and environmental science, Melissa is an avid outdoors
woman who camps, hikes, mountain bikes, rock climbs, and surfs. We
sometimes can talk he into working in the Shop. She has recently added
white water kayaking to her list of activities. Future plans of
trekking with hopes of summiting Mount Everest, have been put on hold
as she, and husband Jason, raise their baby Sage. Her e-mail we don't
presently know and when we did, she never answered it. Melissa is
presently running a delicious catering company on the North shore. |
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| Henry Kamaunu: Lovingly know as the
“Reverend”, Henry has been with us on and off since 1994. He recently
came back to us with a degree in divinity. To Henry we come for solace
and sage advice. He recently became the Army National Guard Chaplain on
Oahu. Praise the Lord! |
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| Cody Idding: our "weekend warrior".
The rest of the week Cody improves his mind in high school. Cody is
serious and industrious. During the summer he works full time both
launching, greeting customers, and teaching our surf lessons. Cody
keeps our equipment ship-shape and hope in the future to work him into
guiding. When not working and studying, Cody can be seen ripping the
waves with his father and mother. Cody is an upcoming surf star. Bruce
Irons watch out! |
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| Don Logan: A lawyer by trade and a
veteran of many self-inflicted wars, Don comes to KK via Alaska where
he was one of the main players on an ill-fated (happy ending) Bering
Strait sea kayak voyage. He later sailed to Kauai and fell in love with
the Garden Island. Don was one of our first Na Pali guides. He lived
through Hurricane Iniki and ended up refurbishing a 31 foot, wooden
ketch. A year later he sailed away to the South Pacific. He was in
Tanzania with his significant other, Moe, and inching his way around
the world. He can be reached via e-mail at donald_logan@hotmail.com
Last heard he was sailing from South Africa to South America. |
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| Joel Punzal: is a student from Kaua'i
who spent the past five Summers guiding river tours and dispatching and
maintaining equipment. A June 1998 graduate of Seattle University, he
is currently in an Optician course at Indiana University and hopes to
continue toward his goal of being an Optometrist here on Kaua'i. |
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| Marlene Sanderson: Ran our Kapaa shop
from 1994 to 1998. She's now in San Diego. She and Don can be reached
at dosande@ibm.net. |
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| Kristen Sturm: spent 1999 to 2000
teaching English at a University in Indonesia. An avid skier, snow
boarder and mountain biker, she stumbled in to Kayak Kaua'i after
hiking Na Pali during her semester at University of Hawaii in 1998.
Last we heard she was studying in Poland. She came back to work and
guided during the summer of 2000. Her address is mailto:ksturmindo3@hotmail.com |
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| Simon K Tetlow: Simon grew up surfing
and sailing on the Atlantic and Gulf coasts of Florida and in the
Bahamas. After a few years of braving the cold waters of the Northern
Pacific, around Bolinas and Stinson Beach California, Simon moved to
Hanalei in 1988. He has been surfing the big waves, kayaking, fishing
and diving in Hawaiian waters ever since. Simon has traveled and surfed
extensively throughout Europe, Mexico and South East Asia. He began
working with us in 1994 as a guide and marketing director and has
logged many hours on the Na Pali coast. Simon returned to school a few
years ago and is currently pursuing a degree in Environmental
Engineering at the University of Hawaii. During the summers Simon
returns to Kauai to guide our Na Pali day trips and multi-day tours.
Simon is a powerhouse with a calm and confident demeanor. His e-mail is
tetlow@hawaii.edu |
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| Peg Svrcek: Our office manager for
well over a decade, Peg beckoned to the call of the wild. Peg gave up
bucolic Hanalei for the wilds of homesteading on the Kenai peninsula of
Alaska. She chops wood, X-country skis, and takes saunas. She has given
up Jack Daniels for Yukon Jack. We miss her friendly demeanor and
wicked sense of fun. She can be reached via e-mail at G.girl@gci.net |
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For More Information or reservations contact us at:
On Kaua'i call 826-9844
Or call us toll free at 1-800-437-3507
For more information: E-mail Kayak Kaua'i
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