There was James Bond, just 50 yards offshore, seemingly walking on water with a wide grin on his face, gliding atop Hawaii's hottest water toy, the stand-up paddleboard.
"Mr. Bond, are you having fun?" a nearby swimmer asked actor Pierce Brosnan, who owns a home on Kauai.
"More than any secret agent deserves," the actor replied.
Mitchell Alapa, who operates Hawaiian Surfing Adventures next to the pier in Hanalei, understands the joy of stand-up paddling, or SUP. "Everyone likes to walk on water," said Alapa, who has operated his business for eight years. "What's old is new again."
The number of stand-up paddlers as well as water-sports businesses stocking the rental gear has quadrupled across Hawaii in the last two years.
The sport's roots are a half-century old. Alapa remembers seeing beach boys paddling off Waikiki to take photos of tourists surfing for the first time. But it wasn't until about four years ago that a large number of local surfers adopted the sport for times when waves were too small to surf.
Kauai, in particular, is experiencing an SUP boom, with several watersports businesses noting SUP customers have at least doubled in the last year. The same businesses have tripled their inventory of the paddleboards to accommodate the clients.
"It's been phenomenal," said Kamal Salibi, owner of Kauai Beach Boys at Kalapaki Beach adjacent to the Kauai Marriott. "There are days when we just don't have enough stand-up paddleboards, so we have to rent out our 11-foot and 12-foot-long surfboards."
The same response is heard from other Kauai watersports businesses, many of which were hesitant to make such an expensive investment for what could be a fad. The other problem is the difficulty in obtaining the boards, which are made in Asia, because there's more demand than supply.
"I have 15 stand-up paddleboards now, and I want 15 more," Alapa said, on a busy day at Hanalei Bay. "If I ordered them today, I might get them in two months."
Two years ago the epoxy boards -- usually 11 to 12 feet long, 29 to 31 inches wide and 5 inches thick -- cost as much as $1,800, not including a few hundred dollars more for a nonskid deck patch and paddle. The price has dropped to $800 to $1,000.
Some Kauai businesses are considering collectively buying an entire container of 50 boards for speedier delivery and to lower the individual board price to about $300 apiece, Alapa said.
"I haven't seen a watersport catch on as much as this since the invention of the body board," a Kauai business owner said.
There are sound reasons for SUP fever.
"There's instant gratification in doing this," said visitor Petra Thompson, 49, from Lake Tahoe, Calif. "It takes a few minutes to feel comfortable, but you stand up immediately, find your balance, then paddle and you're off."
Alapa and Salibi, whose Kalapaki Beach concession is leased from the Kauai Marriott, said women make up the majority of their SUP clients.
"Women like standing up and paddling," rather than being confined in a kayak, said Salibi. "Standing up you have a better view of the surroundings, and when you're wearing polarized sunglasses, the reef, fish and turtles just pop out."
Most of Kauai visitors who try paddling range in age from 21 to 59, though Salibi this summer had a 68-year-old male customer from the Midwest.
"He stayed out two hours the first day and was the first one back the next morning to do it again," Salibi said. Some of the SUP fever can be attributed to its being "great adventure the whole family can do," he added.
Surprisingly, the clients with the most difficulty taking to SUP are surfers. "They have a learned behavior, so they only know one way," Alapa said.
The sport also is one of the best core body workouts found outside a gym, according to Micco Godinez, owner of Kayak Kauai along the Hanalei River. "Weight loss and strengthening occurs more than with surfing or kayaking. It's an overall workout."
A small portion of Kayak Kauai's business are referrals from neighboring resorts, such as the Princeville Resort, where Godinez has given presentations. But most Kauai business owners agree that SUP "sells itself."
For more on Hawaiian Surfing Adventures, call (808) 482-0749 or visit www.hawaiiansurfingadventures.com. For Kauai Beach Boys, call (808) 246-6333 or visit www.kauaifun.com. For Kayak Kauai, call (808) 826-9844 or visit www.kayakkauai.com.