Hawaiian eyeful
The island of Kauai provides sights, smells, activities you can’t get in a Northwest autumn
CRAIG SAILOR; The News Tribune
Published: October 30th, 2005 03:00 AM
When the days in Puget Sound get shorter and colder, the siren song of Hawaii gets stronger and louder. A weeklong trip to Kauai earlier this month gave me and a couple of friends seven more days of summer – with a tropical beach thrown in.
Here, in no particular order, are some of the highlights.
Waterfalls
Kauai has so many there are probably still a few you can discover and name yourself. On the east shore, you can see Wailua Falls and ’Opaeka’a Falls without even having to get out of your rental car. Others are so remote the nearest you’ll get depends on the skill of your helicopter pilot. The most satisfying are found after a long, hot hike.
Our favorite was Ho’opi’i Falls – not easy to find with even a guidebook’s help. Two local dogs showed us the way. The trail was steep and slippery in places, but it didn’t slow the barefoot hippies we met on the way. An upper falls and much larger lower falls are separated by a shady river walk.
National Tropical Botanical Garden
What is it about the tropics that makes both fish and flowers stretch into outrageous shapes and colors? The Allerton segment of this three-unit garden near Poipu boasts hundreds of rare and unusual plants – almost all of which are not native.
It’s here I learned that the Kauai that existed before Capt. Cook’s arrival survives only in scattered and isolated pockets. The gentle native flora and fauna of the island have been shoved aside by muscle-bound invaders from other lands. But those marauders are darn pretty.
Na Pali Coast
So famous and yet so darn hard and expensive to get to. There are three ways to see it: by helicopter, by boat or by foot. The most spectacular option, a helicopter, will take you to places only goats and birds can readily reach. An 11-mile-long trail traverses much of the coast, but it’s strictly for backpackers with sure feet.
However, the first two miles in from Ke’e will take day hikers to secluded and beautiful Hanakapi’ai Beach. Just don’t go in the water. A sign nearby keeps a tally on drownings. I stopped counting at 75. If you do want to get wet, several island charters offer Na Pali coast snorkeling tours using catamarans.
Snorkeling
There are plenty of spots for getting wet with the fishies. With our rental car’s trunk full of rented snorkels and fins, we hit many of the major spots. But an offshore storm made the water cloudy and filled one breakwater-enclosed area (Lydgate) with driftwood. Our best luck was in Poipu on the south shore, where we saw enough neon-colored fish, squid and an eel guarding a huge brain coral to put the Point Defiance aquarium to shame.
Up on the north shore, underwater tunnels near Ha’ena provided abundant fish in a spectacular Bali Hai setting. Many consider that Tunnels offers the best snorkeling on the island. Ha’ena State Park, a quarter-mile away, provides facilities and a gigantic cave to explore.
Hurricane Henny penny
Hawaii is no stranger to them. It’s been more than 10 years since the last major hurricane, but their ghosts still haunt the island. One of my fondest memories is staying at the Coco Palms resort in Kapa’a when I was 11 years old. Now, it’s a fenced-off, boarded-up shell of itself. The descendants of chickens emancipated by Hurricane Iniki in 1992 cluck and scratch everywhere. I mean everywhere. Warning to sufferers of alektorophobia (fear of chickens): Do not vacation in Kauai.
Wailua River
This island is the only one in the chain with navigable rivers. And this is the biggie. Tourist-filled
boats take visitors to the Fern Grotto, where they’ve been singing “Tiny Bubbles” for decades. If you’ve been there pre-hurricane like I have, you might not want to go again. The storms did their damage.
For a more personal river trip, outfitters rent kayaks. You can paddle two miles up the river with side trips to waterfalls and picnic spots.
Consider the coconut
Never miss a local festival, I always say. I’m rethinking that policy. We hit the Kapa’a Coconut Festival. During our morning visit, the event had more craft vendors than festivalgoers. One was selling T-shirts emblazoned with the slogan “Grown here, not flown here.”
The most interesting entertainment was on the children’s stage where a Tongan, “Vili the Warrior,” and a Samoan were demonstrating the proper way to cut open a fresh coconut to an appreciative crowd. The Samoan man held out the juice-filled coconut to a young Polynesian boy. The boy just shook his head. “All they drink these days is soda pop,” the Samoan lamented.
Waimea Canyon
This is what the Grand Canyon would look like if it had water rights. Hiking trails, waterfalls, helicopters buzzing like mosquitoes, mosquitoes buzzing like helicopters. It’s out of place and jaw-dropping.
Turnouts and full-scale parking lots provide plenty of viewpoints. A restaurant and small museum are near the end of the road. Trails follow ridge lines where clouds sweep by like passing trains. The cooling mists expose, then hide, views that drag your eyes down to the Na Pali Coast. I hiked for an hour until my flip-flops were no match for the mud and twisted roots.
Hanapepe
There are few things that money and tourism haven’t touched on this island, but this small south shore town comes close. Old Hawaiian plantation houses rest behind a hodgepodge of storefronts. It feels like a small Hawaiian town 60 years ago – the main difference being the economy is based on oil paintings instead of sugar cane.
Friday night is Art Night. It’s a sleepy town with a swinging bridge over the Hanapepe river that seems to go nowhere. But, maybe that’s the point they are trying to make. Nearby is Glass Beach – once a seaside garbage dump, it now sports a beach made entirely of glass sand.
Guava plantation
It’s not the easiest fruit to eat – imagine a pear full of shotgun pellets. “Avoid the seeds,” the lady at the fruit stand tells me as I buy a couple. “They plug you up … or the opposite. I can’t remember.”
Up at the Guava Kai Plantation near Kilauea, they sell everything guava-related and always have a pitcher of the fresh pink juice on the counter. You can view their production facilities and walk through their orchards. You’d be hard-pressed to find folks more into guava than these. God bless them.
Island food
Most Hawaiian cuisine won’t be making it into Cooking Light magazine any time soon. But, hey, you’re on vacation, and what happens on Kauai stays on Kauai. Try the kaula pig, saimin (noodles), passion fruit (liliko’i) pie, poi (taro) and other Hawaiian specialties. A luau will feature most of these, but several diners and restaurants on the island specialize in this food.
Shave ice
Don’t call it “shaved” – the “d” went missing years ago in this island version of a snow cone. So did any semblance of flavor in this overly sweet concoction. The guidebooks and tourist brochures hype it so much you feel like a loser if you don’t try it. This is not crushed ice, they implore, it’s shaved! I think it’s just a scam to rejuvenate the sugar cane industry.
Fruit stands
Papayas that cost $3 in Tacoma are 50 cents here. Star fruit, coconuts and sugar cane are some of the Kauai crops you’ll find for sale in stores and the ubiquitous roadside fruit stands. Be wary of the mangos – some have a “grown in Mexico” label on them. One stand near Hanalei sells a taro and coconut-flavored version of the Japanese confection mochi. We went back for seconds.
Shopping and money
Just about everything here is more expensive than the mainland. We paid $3.50 a gallon for gas in early October. However, a pair of new swimming trunks at the Lihue Kmart was $3.50 on sale. There are T-shirt stores on every corner, with some specializing in shirts dyed in the distinctive orange-red mud that covers most of the island.
Just take a tumble down a few muddy slopes like I did, and you can dye your own.
In Lihue, Hilo Hattie has the tourist trade honed to an assembly line. Most of the stuff for sale is forgettable, but it’s darn hard to leave the store without something made with macadamia nuts and chocolate. Where to eat
Aroma’s (Lihue): 1-808-245-9192. Probably not the best restaurant on the island but the best we ate at. Seared ahi tuna with a wasabi-based sauce to die for.
Tokyo Lobby (Lihue): 1-808-245-8989. Good sushi, sukiyaki.
Oki’s (Lihue): 1-808-245-5899. Get your Hawaiian food with a side of attitude here. Kalua pig, lau lau and suriname. You won’t leave hungry.
Plantation Gardens (Poipu): 1-808-742-2216. One of the higher-end restaurants on the island but worth it. Ono comes in a bamboo steamer, the fresh catch is served up over the tastiest soba this side of Japan and the pupu platter is not to be missed.
Coconuts Island Style Grill and Bar (Kapa’a): 1-808-823-8777. Touristy, but don’t hold that against it. The staff definitely acts like they’ve seen one too many tourists, but the food, heavy on the coconut theme, is good.
Where to stay
Princeville Resort (Princeville): 1-808-826-4400. Has Steve Wynn moved to Kauai? Grecian urns and Egyptian columns fill the lobby of this ritzy hotel, where rooms start around $500 a night and go up to $5,000 (if you’re royalty or want to be treated like one).
Outrigger Kiahuna Plantation (Poipu): 1-800-688-7444. For a big resort, it has an intimate feel. On the beach, with water gardens and buildings that don’t rise “higher than a coconut tree” as the brochure says. It’s also the home of the Plantation Gardens restaurant. Rooms start at $225.
Kauai Marriott Resort and Beach Club (Lihue): 1-808-245-5050. Gardens, pools, golf and the prerequisite beach make this a centrally located resort. Rates start in the high $200 range.
Banyan Harbor Resort (Lihue): 1-808-245-7333. This time-share and condo development is across the road from the Marriott and Kalapaki Beach and a lot cheaper.
Sites of interest
Allerton Garden, part of National Tropical Botanical Garden, Koloa; reservations required, 1-808-742-2623
Guava Kai Plantation, Kuawa Road, Kilauea; open daily, 9 a.m.-5 p.m., 1-808-828-6121
Kokee Natural History Museum, park headquarters, Kokee Park, Waimea Canyon; open daily 10 a.m.-4 p.m., 1-808-335-9975
Hilo Hattie, 3-3252 Kuhio Highway, Lihue; open daily, 8:30 a.m.-6:30 p.m, 1-808-245-4608
CRAIG SAILOR; The News Tribune
Published: October 30th, 2005 03:00 AM
When the days in Puget Sound get shorter and colder, the siren song of Hawaii gets stronger and louder. A weeklong trip to Kauai earlier this month gave me and a couple of friends seven more days of summer – with a tropical beach thrown in.
Here, in no particular order, are some of the highlights.
Waterfalls
Kauai has so many there are probably still a few you can discover and name yourself. On the east shore, you can see Wailua Falls and ’Opaeka’a Falls without even having to get out of your rental car. Others are so remote the nearest you’ll get depends on the skill of your helicopter pilot. The most satisfying are found after a long, hot hike.
Our favorite was Ho’opi’i Falls – not easy to find with even a guidebook’s help. Two local dogs showed us the way. The trail was steep and slippery in places, but it didn’t slow the barefoot hippies we met on the way. An upper falls and much larger lower falls are separated by a shady river walk.
National Tropical Botanical Garden
What is it about the tropics that makes both fish and flowers stretch into outrageous shapes and colors? The Allerton segment of this three-unit garden near Poipu boasts hundreds of rare and unusual plants – almost all of which are not native.
It’s here I learned that the Kauai that existed before Capt. Cook’s arrival survives only in scattered and isolated pockets. The gentle native flora and fauna of the island have been shoved aside by muscle-bound invaders from other lands. But those marauders are darn pretty.
Na Pali Coast
So famous and yet so darn hard and expensive to get to. There are three ways to see it: by helicopter, by boat or by foot. The most spectacular option, a helicopter, will take you to places only goats and birds can readily reach. An 11-mile-long trail traverses much of the coast, but it’s strictly for backpackers with sure feet.
However, the first two miles in from Ke’e will take day hikers to secluded and beautiful Hanakapi’ai Beach. Just don’t go in the water. A sign nearby keeps a tally on drownings. I stopped counting at 75. If you do want to get wet, several island charters offer Na Pali coast snorkeling tours using catamarans.
Snorkeling
There are plenty of spots for getting wet with the fishies. With our rental car’s trunk full of rented snorkels and fins, we hit many of the major spots. But an offshore storm made the water cloudy and filled one breakwater-enclosed area (Lydgate) with driftwood. Our best luck was in Poipu on the south shore, where we saw enough neon-colored fish, squid and an eel guarding a huge brain coral to put the Point Defiance aquarium to shame.
Up on the north shore, underwater tunnels near Ha’ena provided abundant fish in a spectacular Bali Hai setting. Many consider that Tunnels offers the best snorkeling on the island. Ha’ena State Park, a quarter-mile away, provides facilities and a gigantic cave to explore.
Hurricane Henny penny
Hawaii is no stranger to them. It’s been more than 10 years since the last major hurricane, but their ghosts still haunt the island. One of my fondest memories is staying at the Coco Palms resort in Kapa’a when I was 11 years old. Now, it’s a fenced-off, boarded-up shell of itself. The descendants of chickens emancipated by Hurricane Iniki in 1992 cluck and scratch everywhere. I mean everywhere. Warning to sufferers of alektorophobia (fear of chickens): Do not vacation in Kauai.
Wailua River
This island is the only one in the chain with navigable rivers. And this is the biggie. Tourist-filled
boats take visitors to the Fern Grotto, where they’ve been singing “Tiny Bubbles” for decades. If you’ve been there pre-hurricane like I have, you might not want to go again. The storms did their damage.
For a more personal river trip, outfitters rent kayaks. You can paddle two miles up the river with side trips to waterfalls and picnic spots.
Consider the coconut
Never miss a local festival, I always say. I’m rethinking that policy. We hit the Kapa’a Coconut Festival. During our morning visit, the event had more craft vendors than festivalgoers. One was selling T-shirts emblazoned with the slogan “Grown here, not flown here.”
The most interesting entertainment was on the children’s stage where a Tongan, “Vili the Warrior,” and a Samoan were demonstrating the proper way to cut open a fresh coconut to an appreciative crowd. The Samoan man held out the juice-filled coconut to a young Polynesian boy. The boy just shook his head. “All they drink these days is soda pop,” the Samoan lamented.
Waimea Canyon
This is what the Grand Canyon would look like if it had water rights. Hiking trails, waterfalls, helicopters buzzing like mosquitoes, mosquitoes buzzing like helicopters. It’s out of place and jaw-dropping.
Turnouts and full-scale parking lots provide plenty of viewpoints. A restaurant and small museum are near the end of the road. Trails follow ridge lines where clouds sweep by like passing trains. The cooling mists expose, then hide, views that drag your eyes down to the Na Pali Coast. I hiked for an hour until my flip-flops were no match for the mud and twisted roots.
Hanapepe
There are few things that money and tourism haven’t touched on this island, but this small south shore town comes close. Old Hawaiian plantation houses rest behind a hodgepodge of storefronts. It feels like a small Hawaiian town 60 years ago – the main difference being the economy is based on oil paintings instead of sugar cane.
Friday night is Art Night. It’s a sleepy town with a swinging bridge over the Hanapepe river that seems to go nowhere. But, maybe that’s the point they are trying to make. Nearby is Glass Beach – once a seaside garbage dump, it now sports a beach made entirely of glass sand.
Guava plantation
It’s not the easiest fruit to eat – imagine a pear full of shotgun pellets. “Avoid the seeds,” the lady at the fruit stand tells me as I buy a couple. “They plug you up … or the opposite. I can’t remember.”
Up at the Guava Kai Plantation near Kilauea, they sell everything guava-related and always have a pitcher of the fresh pink juice on the counter. You can view their production facilities and walk through their orchards. You’d be hard-pressed to find folks more into guava than these. God bless them.
Island food
Most Hawaiian cuisine won’t be making it into Cooking Light magazine any time soon. But, hey, you’re on vacation, and what happens on Kauai stays on Kauai. Try the kaula pig, saimin (noodles), passion fruit (liliko’i) pie, poi (taro) and other Hawaiian specialties. A luau will feature most of these, but several diners and restaurants on the island specialize in this food.
Shave ice
Don’t call it “shaved” – the “d” went missing years ago in this island version of a snow cone. So did any semblance of flavor in this overly sweet concoction. The guidebooks and tourist brochures hype it so much you feel like a loser if you don’t try it. This is not crushed ice, they implore, it’s shaved! I think it’s just a scam to rejuvenate the sugar cane industry.
Fruit stands
Papayas that cost $3 in Tacoma are 50 cents here. Star fruit, coconuts and sugar cane are some of the Kauai crops you’ll find for sale in stores and the ubiquitous roadside fruit stands. Be wary of the mangos – some have a “grown in Mexico” label on them. One stand near Hanalei sells a taro and coconut-flavored version of the Japanese confection mochi. We went back for seconds.
Shopping and money
Just about everything here is more expensive than the mainland. We paid $3.50 a gallon for gas in early October. However, a pair of new swimming trunks at the Lihue Kmart was $3.50 on sale. There are T-shirt stores on every corner, with some specializing in shirts dyed in the distinctive orange-red mud that covers most of the island.
Just take a tumble down a few muddy slopes like I did, and you can dye your own.
In Lihue, Hilo Hattie has the tourist trade honed to an assembly line. Most of the stuff for sale is forgettable, but it’s darn hard to leave the store without something made with macadamia nuts and chocolate. Where to eat
Aroma’s (Lihue): 1-808-245-9192. Probably not the best restaurant on the island but the best we ate at. Seared ahi tuna with a wasabi-based sauce to die for.
Tokyo Lobby (Lihue): 1-808-245-8989. Good sushi, sukiyaki.
Oki’s (Lihue): 1-808-245-5899. Get your Hawaiian food with a side of attitude here. Kalua pig, lau lau and suriname. You won’t leave hungry.
Plantation Gardens (Poipu): 1-808-742-2216. One of the higher-end restaurants on the island but worth it. Ono comes in a bamboo steamer, the fresh catch is served up over the tastiest soba this side of Japan and the pupu platter is not to be missed.
Coconuts Island Style Grill and Bar (Kapa’a): 1-808-823-8777. Touristy, but don’t hold that against it. The staff definitely acts like they’ve seen one too many tourists, but the food, heavy on the coconut theme, is good.
Where to stay
Princeville Resort (Princeville): 1-808-826-4400. Has Steve Wynn moved to Kauai? Grecian urns and Egyptian columns fill the lobby of this ritzy hotel, where rooms start around $500 a night and go up to $5,000 (if you’re royalty or want to be treated like one).
Outrigger Kiahuna Plantation (Poipu): 1-800-688-7444. For a big resort, it has an intimate feel. On the beach, with water gardens and buildings that don’t rise “higher than a coconut tree” as the brochure says. It’s also the home of the Plantation Gardens restaurant. Rooms start at $225.
Kauai Marriott Resort and Beach Club (Lihue): 1-808-245-5050. Gardens, pools, golf and the prerequisite beach make this a centrally located resort. Rates start in the high $200 range.
Banyan Harbor Resort (Lihue): 1-808-245-7333. This time-share and condo development is across the road from the Marriott and Kalapaki Beach and a lot cheaper.
Sites of interest
Allerton Garden, part of National Tropical Botanical Garden, Koloa; reservations required, 1-808-742-2623
Guava Kai Plantation, Kuawa Road, Kilauea; open daily, 9 a.m.-5 p.m., 1-808-828-6121
Kokee Natural History Museum, park headquarters, Kokee Park, Waimea Canyon; open daily 10 a.m.-4 p.m., 1-808-335-9975
Hilo Hattie, 3-3252 Kuhio Highway, Lihue; open daily, 8:30 a.m.-6:30 p.m, 1-808-245-4608
posted by ams at 1:48 PM
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