Paradise Found: Incomparable KAUAI
Written: Feb 11 '04
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Pros: Sunny mild weather, spectacular beaches, cliffs, canyons, and mountains; macadamia nut ice-cream following fresh fish
Cons: Prices (no surprise), travel time from mainland, little nightlife or man-made attractions
The Bottom Line: It takes some effort to experience Kauai's magnificence, but the beaches, water, mountains, and canyons are well worth it. We'll never forget those blue, green, and red dirt vistas.
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| drdoney's Full Review: Kauai |
During nine memorable days in January 2004, my wife and I celebrated our delayed honeymoon/fifth anniversary in splendid style on the magnificent island of Kauai.
Kauai is still largely unspoiled. Tourists seeking more than natural beauty go elsewhere, and its reputation for rain discourages visits. But for us, the results of the rain (lush vegetation, navigable rivers, waterfalls) enhance the island’s natural beauty and add to its allure. We planned this trip for six years and had very high expectations. We were not disappointed.
Weather
The weather in mid-January was almost ideal. Our last afternoon at Poipu Beach Park was typical: sunshine with some clouds inland, highs in the upper 70s, and a 15 mph sea breeze. We experience Kona winds (from the southwest) during most of our eight days. Two purported “cold fronts” passed through; each brought rain (one at night and one was the big storm described below), but neither had any effect on the temperature. In mid-January, the average high temperature is mid to upper 70s and the average low temperature is mid to lower 60s. Summers are supposed to be about seven degrees warmer. That might be a little too warm for me.
Given the 70-degree average temperature, constant trade winds, and an elevation of approximately 500 feet at our bed & breakfast, we thought we might be cool much of the time. But the only time we were cool was on our Waimea Canyon day. The rim of the canyon, at 3,500 to 4,000 feet elevation, is 10 to 15 degrees cooler than at sea level. Otherwise, we found the temperature to be pleasant—neither too hot nor too cold.
The humidity wasn’t bothersome. Sleeping was good with no more than a sheet. You get hot when you exercise, but the trade winds, a cool drink, or a dip in the ocean cures that in a hurry. We brought far too many warm clothes and never wore our sweatshirts, windbreakers, and long pants.
On our fourth night on the island, our sleep was interrupted by howling winds. The electricity went off and stayed off for 15 hours. The sole road leading from our b&b to the main island road was closed until a little after noon. There were torrential showers, but the wind was the most impressive feature. The next day’s newspaper said that the sustained winds were 55 to 60 mph. We later overheard someone in a restaurant say that Princeville had recorded a 93 mph gust. Apparently, this was the worst storm to hit Kauai since Hurricane Iniki in 1992. The only positive aspect of the storm was that it scared the roosters into silence.
Since we were stranded for a few hours in the morning, after the rain let up I walked up Kuamo’o Road toward the arboretum. Forty-five minutes into the walk, groaning trees and falling branches convinced me to head back. The umbrella I had borrowed from the b&b clearly would not have protected me from a falling limb. I saw a gorgeous double 180-degree rainbow that lasted for a half hour. Just like we’d seen in Kauai pictures, many waterfalls appeared in the distant mountains.
That afternoon we saw the Navy’s Pacific Missile Range Facility ship half sunk and being slammed against the dock in Port Allen. A very similar picture to the one we took was on the front page of the next day’s newspaper.
Beaches
All beaches in Hawaii are public. Public access, however, can be a sticking point. Some beaches are fronted by buildings and some are a distance from any road, but almost every beach can be accessed by some means other than the ocean. Even the big resorts provide access, although the signs tend to be small and the public parking is miniscule at the Princeville Hotel.
On our first night on the island, we took take-out food to a picnic table in Lydgate State Park just south of the mouth of the Wailua River. We then walked the extensive beach southward, enjoying the mild temperatures, salt air, crashing surf, and fine sand. We could have continued south on the beach for miles adjacent to the Wailua Golf Course. We witnessed Hawaiians surf casting and fishing with a throw net. We also saw a cruise ship leaving Lihue (Nawiliwili Harbor) heading east. Later in our vacation, we drove past the imposing cruise ship Norwegian Star docked in the harbor.
Twice we witnessed what must be a Kauai custom: burning your Christmas tree on the beach.
We drove north on our first full day in a quest for the perfect beach. We found it . . . and then we found another and another and another. Other than on the west side of the island (which has the longest continuous beach in Hawaii), Kauai beaches form a cove. Some have sheltering coral reefs, while others are exposed to the thundering ocean swells (predicted surf of 25’ to 35’ on the north shore during our visit). It surprised me to find no shells on any beach. The lava rocks and coral can be treacherous. While roaming an east side beach on our very first morning, I cut my foot on a lava rock.
Anini Beach on the north shore is long, narrow, and protected by a reef. This is one of the few places on the island where houses (i.e., multimillion dollar estates) are adjacent to the beach. (All waterfront homes on Kauai are on life support because of regular devastating tsunamis and hurricanes.) The sand was difficult to walk on because of little coral pieces. We heard later that the reef is dying. The reef calms the water, and Anini was the only beach where we noted older folks wading and sitting in the water.
Hanalei Beach is a picture perfect, wide, and long beach with the cliffs of Princeville to the east and Bali Hai and the Na Pali coast to the west. It’s also the center of beach activity on the north shore with plenty of swimmers, boogie boarders, and surfers. The east side of the beach (near the mouth of the Hanalei river) features a public pier.
Ke’e Beach is located west of Hanalei at the end of the road. It’s a gorgeous north shore beach with Bali Hai in the background. It’s far too rough for swimming in the winter.
Hideaways Beach is below and just east of the Princeville Hotel. The resort provides minimal public parking with an obscure sign next to the tennis courts. Very steep steps (the railing is a Godsend) followed by a steep trail lead to a little used, secluded, lovely beach. We walked east on the beach, and on the way back my wife noticed that a lump we had thought was a rock was actually a beached sea turtle. He eyed us and moved his head several times.
Two of our favorite beaches, Donkey Beach and Secret Beach (Kauapea), are supposedly “clothing optional.” During our visit, everyone (especially us) chose the option of bathing suits. (Later I did note one topless woman, probably European, with her husband and children on a secluded beach east of Poipu.) On the trek up from Secret Beach, we were offered passion fruit from a trustafarian (island name for a hippy-like 20-something living off of his trust fund) who had loaded his pockets with fruit from a wild tree.
Poipu on the south shore of Kauai is known for sunshine, which draws tourists (especially in the winter). There’s not anything to the town other than one small shopping center, many condos, and a few resorts (most notably the Hyatt Regency and the Sheraton). The beaches are not that plentiful, but they serve a lot of people so they are the most crowded on the island. “Crowded,” however, is a relative term. Compared to Waikiki, they’re practically deserted.
Poipu Beach Park has been rated one of the best beaches in Hawaii, and the self-proclaimed Dr. Beach even rated it the best beach in the world. We don’t agree. Aside from a nice sheltered area for little children, there is little to commend it. It’s quite small, and most of the water has a lava rock bottom not very far out. The park is the center of beach activity on the south shore, but its intrinsic beauty can’t compare with many other Kauai beaches.
We walked the length of breadth of the Poipu beaches. Many seem to have a specialty. Brennecke’s Beach just east of Poipu Beach Park is popular with boogie boarders. We saw kayaks with outriggers landing on the beach by the Sheraton. Other small beaches had snorkelers, scuba divers, and surfers. Surprisingly, right in the center of Poipu there is a fenced-off derelict hotel that had not been rebuilt since Hurricane Iniki. A passerby mentioned that the oceanfront land there costs $7 million per acre.
The beaches east of Poipu (collectively known as Maha’ulepu beaches) are highly recommended in the guidebooks, and we heartily concur. The only problem is access. The three miles of sugar plantation dirt roads east of the Hyatt are kidney jarring. Although very wide, the roads are full of largely unavoidable potholes. The destination is worth the drive though—the beaches are gorgeous and the between-beach walking on level sand and pine needle paths is superb. Wildflower strewn meadows reminded me of Paradise in Mt. Rainier National Park. The pounding surf has created caves in some of the lava cliffs, and we saw Hawaiians fishing straight down from a concave outcropping.
On Gillin’s Beach (the first Maha’ulepu beach) and at Poipu Beach Park, we discovered monk seals. These seals are endangered. They must hang out on the beach for an extended period because both of them were roped off so tourists knew to keep their distance. One of the seals rolled over down to the surf level and then lifted his head (seemingly annoyed) when an incoming wave touched him.
We passed Lawai Bay Beach on our way to the McBryde Gardens on Kauai Coffee Company land. It is an absolutely beautiful pristine beach. Unfortunately, it’s accessible only from the ocean or on the Allerton Gardens tour. And doubly unfortunately, surveyors’ stakes for a multimillion-dollar-home development and a golf course are already present.
The glass beach at Port Allen features small pieces of colored glass that wash in apparently from the nearby island dump. The glass wasn’t weathered all that much. We weren’t impressed. Adjacent to the beach is an old and decrepit cemetery divided into Chinese and Christian sections.
Salt Pond Beach Park, just west of Hanapepe, is an extensive beach with a lifeguard. Unfortunately, like all of the southwestern beaches, it’s not particularly scenic. We visited on the afternoon after the big storm. The strong Kona winds (southwesterlies) kicked up the sand and sandblasted our legs. We observed the salt ponds (not operating in winter) but had no clue how the ponds are used to secure salt from the ocean.
Water Activities
The ocean temperature was a little cool at first, but it was easy to adapt to, especially if you were active in the water. We swam and snorkeled Lydgate State Park (both in the sheltered lagoon and just south of the lagoon) and at a couple of beaches in Poipu. The snorkeling was OK, but nowhere near as good as my previous snorkeling experience in Jamaica. The number and variety of the tropical fish wasn’t that impressive. Also, it was too rough to get near any reefs, which I believe are not as beautiful as in the Caribbean.
I carried a boogie board in the trunk of our car, but I never tried it, both because of fear of rip tides/undertows and self-consciousness of sticking out as a grandfather among teenagers. On Kauai beaches, I really felt like an old white guy.
I was surprised by the amount of body jewelry and tattoos on women. Clearly, I’m behind the times. Where we live, people walking the beach are more likely to be wearing parkas than bathing suits.
We saw only one small marina (at Port Allen). The Pacific is not usually very pacific, so sport fishing and recreational boating may not be very appealing.
Hikes
Sleeping Giant. Sleeping Giant is the prominent close-in mountain on the east side. It can be hiked from the east or west sides. We chose the east side because it is supposed to be less steep, even though the 1,400 foot elevation gain was more than on the west side trail. We spent three hours on the trail for the 3.5 mile roundtrip. My wife made it to the picnic tables on the shoulder, 95 percent of the way. I made it to the top and enjoyed a panoramic view. The mountain is steep, and the trail is a series of switchbacks with many views along the way. A couple of places were a bit hairy where the trail had washed out and not been repaired. The steep drop-offs brought on my wife’s fear of heights. She did slide at one point and skinned her knee. We met approximately 20 people on the trail. It was a good day to hike—the trail was neither very muddy nor too dry.
Kalalau Trail to Hanakapiai Beach. It took us a little over an hour to drive from our b&b (4.5 miles west of Wailua) to the end of the road on the north shore at Ke’e Beach. The road after Hanalei deteriorates and includes several one-lane bridges. Because of descriptions of steep drop-offs and a muddy slippery trail, my wife was apprehensive about the two-mile hike to Hanakapiai Beach. But she’s a trooper and she made it. The trail varied from rocky to quite muddy to wet hard-packed red clay. We were “wall huggers” (meaning we consistently walked on the upland side of the trail even when it was considerably more difficult). Our fear was not unreasonable. The trail wasn’t ever really steep, but it was hazardous if you slipped and slipping was very possible if you were careless.
The trail is very popular; we must have met 300 people. We were surprised at how many people started the hike in new sneakers or flimsy flip-flops. We passed two young women walking back barefoot carrying their flip-flops.
Hanakapiai Beach is entirely rocky in the winter. It’s in a spectacular setting, bordered by cliffs and pounded by high surf. It’s also chicken free, although several feral but tame cats were roaming the beach area. Possibly the best scenery of the entire vacation was the vistas of the Na Pali coast from several spots along the trail, even though the highest mountains were obscured by clouds. It took us almost four hours to walk a total of four miles and eat our lunch at the beach.
My wife trashed her sneakers after this hike.
Canyon hike in Waimea Canyon. There’s parking available for the canyon hike where the Waimea Canyon rim road noticeably deteriorates proceeding toward Koke’e Museum. (The first .8 mile of the trail is a very rough dirt road that can be driven in a four-wheel-drive vehicle, but our rental Chevy Cavalier didn’t qualify.) The signage throughout Kauai is marginal, and it’s no better in Waimea Canyon. Before finding the trailhead from the dirt road, we proceeded down a wrong trail to the right that petered out at a creek.
After the dirt road, it’s a rigorous one-mile hike to Waipo’o Falls. My wife again experienced a fear of heights and falling. At one point, I scouted one easier trail hoping that it was the correct branch to take. Passersby told my wife that I had taken the wrong trail and pointed in the distance to a bare red dirt ridge with steep cliffs on either side, saying that the trail went there. My wife called it the “barren brow,” and it was a bit scary.
We eventually reached a 15-foot waterfall with a pretty pool in a lush tropical setting. Close by was the very top of Waipo’o Falls which is one of the hallmarks of the canyon. The falls has two drops that fall a total of 800 feet. To see anything more than the very top of the falls, you have to scramble up a ridge to the east. We didn’t even attempt that. We were on the trail for almost 3 hours.
Kayaking
Due to river crowding, rowdy behavior, and probably complaints from the commercial tour boats, only six unescorted kayaks from each of two different companies are allowed on the Wailua River daily. Other kayaks must be led by a guide. The guide either does no more than ensure that the kayakers know how to paddle and stay together or, on the expensive trip, provides a lot of running commentary and a catered meal at the waterfall. (The catered meal we saw didn’t look that great.)
We rented a double kayak from the Wailua Kayak and Canoe Company for $80. We picked up the kayak at the mouth of the river at 9 A.M. and returned at 3 P.M. We packed a lunch and gear in two dry bags and followed the laminated map ($3 charge if lost) upstream. We first explored an estuary to the north of the river under the heavily traveled Kuamo’o Road bridge. We spotted a few wading birds. We then paddled further upstream and took the north fork of the river leading to the trail to the “secret falls.”
We beached our kayak where we saw others on the shore. We should have proceeded a little farther upstream to avoid two stream crossings. The river was high after the preceding day’s tropical storm, and the crossings, with water up to mid-thigh level, were a bit tricky. The one-mile trail was indistinct and quite muddy in places. We ended up at a beautiful waterfall, complete with the ubiquitous chickens. No one was swimming, so I didn’t try. On the way back, we saw our fellow b&b houseguests on the trail, and they told us that later visitors did swim under and in the falls. (We had been warned about falling rocks during high water periods.)
We paddled past Fern Grotto (which, conveniently for the commercial boats, does not have a kayak landing) and stopped at the so-called “swimming hole.” A few folks were jumping off a 20-foot cliff into the water, but the water was murky from the preceding day’s rains and we weren’t overheated, so we didn’t swim. We tried to locate a very indistinct path back to Fern Grotto. The downed limbs made it very difficult to follow, and we wouldn’t have made it if we hadn’t met a young German couple who had fine directional instincts. Small mosquitoes attacked us in the woods, but the bug repellant borrowed from our b&b kept them at bay. After a 15-minute scramble, we found the paved path to the grotto, a tourist attraction that wouldn’t be worth a trip in its own right. The ferns have a long way to come back from the devastation of Hurricane Iniki. We walked back through the woods past more chickens to our kayak and paddled back to the mouth of the river.
Gardens
Kauai is known as the garden isle. Quite a few garden tours are available, including three separate National Tropical Botanical Gardens. We chose the McBryde Gardens, both because of the lower price ($15 apiece) and the fact that the tour is self-guided. The garden is in the upper Lawai Valley with the Lawai Stream running through it. The valley is located in the dry southern part of the island, so the garden has to be watered almost every night.
The starting point for our tour (as well as for the guided Allerton Gardens tour) is a visitors’ center close to the Spouting Horn in west Poipu. The grounds at the center are lovely (and free). We were driven to the McBryde Gardens in a 1941 Dodge wagon-like vehicle that had been used for public transportation in Hilo on the Big Island. The Dodge seemed to be on its last legs mechanically, but it had a classic look with its roof, steering wheel, and pedals made of wood. The tour, including the transportation to and from the garden, took us three hours.
The garden trip was well worthwhile. McBryde covers a 186 acres and features four specialty gardens with 20 or more plants described in our brochure in interesting detail. The brochure carefully distinguishes between native plants, plants introduced by Polynesians, and plants introduced by Europeans. Even though we were there in January, there were quite a few plants in bloom.
Prices
Before departing for Kauai, you should tell yourself that it will be expensive but you’re going on vacation so don’t let the prices bother you. I analogize it to airport pricing: you’re stuck in an airport and you’re hungry, so you eat at a restaurant and enjoy your meal even though you know you’re being gouged.
At the shopping center in Lihue, the Dollar Store is a Dollar Plus Store—everything costs $1.29. That would lead one to believe that merchandise costs about 29 percent more on Kauai than on the mainland. (Once I said “the states” instead of “the mainland,” and our b&b host sharply reminded me that Hawaii is a state.) The price of gasoline (exclusively Shell and Chevron) varied from $2.21 to $2.23, a 40 percent premium over the $1.58 price of gas at home.
Regardless of costs, vacationing on Kauai is worth it. For an experience at least 100% better than elsewhere, why worry about paying 40% more?
Living part of the year on Kauai has great appeal. The problem, not surprisingly, is cost. You would have to be relatively wealthy to live a middle class Kauai lifestyle. An “ordinary” (noncelebrity) millionaire is not conspicuous in the least. Even buying a condo, reserving it for the family for a month or two of the year, and renting it out the rest of the year might be a money-losing proposition. Our b&b host told us that monthly maintenance fees run about $700 (and that doesn’t include taxes or insurance). Renting requires percentage rental fees to agents, cleaning fees, taxes on income, etc., etc. And condos have to be air conditioned, with electricity costing almost five times as much as at home.
Probably the most practical means of living part of each year on Kauai would be to buy a retirement home in a desirable location on the mainland and then try to work a temporary house swap with a Kauaian family.
Shopping
We didn’t spend much time shopping. My wife knows from experience that, due to my lack of patience, it’s no fun to shop with me. We nosed around several shops but bought very little. My wife did buy a top at Crazy Shirts in Koloa.
We stumbled upon the Red Dirt Shirt Factory and Outlet in Port Allen. The retail price for a standard Red Dirt tee shirt is $20. At the outlet, I purchased a long sleeve tee shirt (irregular) for $3 and a first run polo shirt for $10. We also brought back some genuine westside Kauai red dirt in a plastic bag as a dirt shirt restorer should the color or his shirt ever fade.
We visited the Kauai Products Fair in north Kapaa. It’s like a bazaar or a Saturday market but has no used merchandise. There was a lot of jewelry, Hawaii print clothing, and artwork. We enjoyed browsing but we didn’t buy anything.
We wanted to stop at one of the roaming Sunshine Markets for produce, but we never seemed to be in the right place at the right time.
During our free two hours before we had to be at the airport on our last day, we stopped at the Lihue Wal-Mart, which everyone agrees has the best deals on standard Hawaii souvenirs. We bought obligatory edible gifts (mostly featuring macadamia nuts). My wife found two small stuffed gecko toys for our grandson at the Kauai Products Store in the Kukui Grove Shopping Center. We also stopped at Hilo Hattie where we received free shell leis (probably made in the Philippines) and Kona coffee samples. I bought a Kauai calendar for $1.
We looked for but never found a kitschy Kauai chicken refrigerator magnet. Someone could make a fortune by specializing in merchandise sporting a stylized Kauai chicken—recognizable but cute (and mute). Possibly, the logo could have two chickens and be called “Kauai Chix.” I offer this moneymaking idea to anyone because, unfortunately, I’m not the entrepreneur to pull it off.
Restaurants
I was determined not to spend an arm and a leg eating at restaurants. An arm or a leg maybe, but not both. As a consequence, we didn’t eat at the swankiest places. But we did try to find places with open air and views, and we really enjoyed our meals. The combination of being on vacation and engaging in a lot of physical activity made the food taste extra good. We specialized in fresh white fish (ahi, ono, and mahi mahi).
Aussie Tim’s Barbeque
on the main highway in Wailua
Zero atmosphere but good beef brisket. Medium BBQ sauce was plenty hot enough for me. My wife ate half of a chicken (not a wild Kauai chicken). No alcohol served, but you can bring it in from outside.
Banana Joe’s
west of Kilauea on the south side of the main highway
My wife had an expensive tropical smoothie that was not as good as those served at our b&b.
Bull Shed
in Kapaa right on the water
Even though the dining room doesn’t open until 5:30 P.M., we arrived at 4:40 for a drink and to reserve a waterfront table. Our table was truly waterfront; we read that high surf can splash patrons. The atmosphere is not pretentious, and the food was good. We both ordered shrimp on the barbie and the catch of the day (ono). I saved half of my ono—it tasted great on our Waimea Canyon hike two days later. After dinner we walked south along the Coconut Palms paved beachfront sidewalk. Although the ocean view is to the east, there was red in the sky from the sunset. It was very romantic—a memorable honeymoon moment.
Brick Oven Pizza
in center of Kalaheo
We ate all but one slice of a medium smoked ham and pineapple pizza with whole wheat crust. The guidebooks say it’s the best pizza on the island. We agreed—it was one of the best pizzas we’d ever eaten. Of course we were ravenously hungry after hiking in Waimea Canyon earlier that day.
Duke’s Canoe Club and Barefoot Bar
adjacent to the Marriott in Lihue
The bar at Duke’s (lower level) has it all: location, atmosphere, and food that never disappointed us. One night when we weren’t very hungry, our dinner consisted of a drink and a split appetizer of ribs. Another night’s dinner was a drink and Caesar salad for my wife and a drink and another fishwich for me.
Fish Hut
in the Coconut Marketplace in Kapaa
My wife ate fish salad there twice, and I ate a fish burger. The fish was excellent and a good bargain at $7 to $8. I also enjoyed a root beer float with Lappert’s vanilla ice-cream.
Hanalei Dolphin
in Hanalei on the north side of the road next to the river as you enter town from the east
This was our most expensive mai tai ($7) and meal ($72 for two including tax and tip). My wife had teriyaki ahi and I had butaguchi (Japanese name for a white fish). My wife described her meal as “absolutely superb.”
Jo Jo’s Clubhouse
in Waimea
This is the most overrated food on the island. The guidebooks all call this the best shave ice anywhere. We endured a long line in a stuffy small shack (for some unknown reason, the door had to remain closed). The staff was indifferent. Each shave ice has three flavors, but ours didn’t have nearly enough syrup to reach the bottom of the ice. My wife’s was better because she at least was smart enough to order a scoop of Lappert’s macadamia nut ice-cream on the bottom. Jo Jo must be one of the richest men in Kauai—more than rich enough to pay off the guidebook writers.
Kauai Kookie Kompany
on the north side of the main road in Hanapepe
On a whim, we stopped to purchase cookies for our day in Waimea Canyon but were disappointed that no fresh cookies were available (everything is prepackaged) and the cookies themselves were too dry.
Lappert’s Ice-Cream
several locations, including Koloa and the Coconut Marketplace in Kapaa
Very rich and creamy and, no surprise, overpriced. On a day that we had a big lunch, my entire dinner was a beer and a $5.80 Lappert’s macadamia nut milkshake. Our last extravagance was a $3.43 scoop of Kauai Pie ice-cream at the Honolulu Airport.
Poipu Tropical Burgers
in the Poipu Beach Shopping Center
This is another open air lunch spot with good fish and salads.
Tomkats Grille
in Koloa
We liked the atmosphere (open air courtyard with fruit trees) better than the food. Good fish sandwich but less-than-memorable french fries.
Zelo’s Beach House
in Hanalei at the intersection of the main road and the road that leads to the beach
The open air, laid-back ambience was perfect for Kauai. The tropical drinks were excellent (if overpriced, even during happy hour). The ahi was tasty, and we basically had a very enjoyable time.
Mai Tais
My wife was on a quest for the perfect mai tai. Her ratings follow:
1. Duke’s Canoe Club and Barefoot Bar adjacent to the Marriott in Lihue, $6, the best mai tai on the island made with fresh local juices and generous portions of rum.
2. Zelo’s Beach House in Hanalei, $5 during happy hour, also uses fresh juice
3. Bull Shed in Kapaa $6, too much pineapple juice, but plenty of rum
4. Hanalei Dolphin in Hanalei, $7, biggest but not the best
5 Hula Girl Bar & Grill in Coconut Marketplace in Kapaa, $5, just fair
Resorts
We walked through the five major resorts on the island. Although at everyone we were dressed like stumblebums from the beach, we didn’t feel out of place because even the most posh places are basically informal and they encourage people who might one day book a room to look around.
The Hyatt Regency in Poipu is elegant and has beautiful grounds and many connected swimming pools on terraces at different elevations.
The Princeville Hotel is equally as elegant as the Hyatt. To comply with the four-story limit on building height (no higher than the tallest coconut palm tree), the hotel is built down the edge of a cliff. The western view of Hanalei Bay, beach, and Na Pali coast mountains is unsurpassed. The downside is that Princeville is predominantly a golf resort and not oriented toward families or beaches. The hotel was clearly out of our price range—the dining room was touting the $46 Friday fish buffet.
The Marriott in Lihue is probably the largest of the resorts. It’s located on a picturesque bay near the landing area for cruise and commercial ships. After parking in a huge lot, you take a long escalator down to a not-so-impressive lobby. Lovely gardens and pools fill up a large courtyard. We found the layout confusing and got lost both times on our way to Duke’s Canoe Club and Barefoot Bar.
The Sheraton in Poipu is the least fancy of the four major resorts but nonetheless very nice. It’s nestled among condos, and its first floor is completely open air. The hotel fronts a rocky beach, but it’s close to a busy sand beach. There is an easily accessible public walkway between the hotel and the ocean. We watched some of the happy hour Hawaiian entertainment and a wedding reception from the walkway.
The Radisson Kauai Beach Villas is located between the airport and Wailua. There is a hotel on the premises, but it’s not really a topnotch resort. The only reason we visited is that a friend has a condo there that she said we could use in the future. The grounds and pool are very nice. The landscaping and architecture reminded me of Florida. We were surprised to learn in the office that most of the units are timeshares. We walked the narrow beach to its end in the south. Because there is coral right up against the sand, this is not a swimming beach. At a very little used public park along the beach, we saw Hawaiian squatters living in tents. They claim property rights as indigenous peoples and apparently aren’t hassled.
Waimea Canyon
Based on the recommendation of our guidebook, we drove to the canyon from the little town of Waimea rather than from Kekeha. At our first viewpoint, my reaction was the same as my reaction to the Grand Canyon, “Oh wow!” The 3,500 foot canyon with red dirt cliffs, a smattering of tropical greens, and narrow waterfalls is spectacular. That view is forever recorded in our memories.
We proceeded to the informative Koke’e Museum ($1 entrance fee suggested). The cashier gave us two short hiking recommendations. We first drove to the Kalalau lookout at the end of the road for a fantastic view of the Na Pali coast and the forbidden island (Ni’ihau). We then walked for 20 minutes on a road closed to traffic for another view to the northwest, but at that location the view was completely obscured by swirling clouds. We waited 20 minutes, but it didn’t clear. We were told that fog is a frequent occurrence later in the day here, so it’s best to drive to the end of the canyon first.
Combining a trip to the canyon with a picnic lunch and a hike made for a memorable day.
Kilauea Lighthouse
The lighthouse sits on a bluff on the northernmost point of the island. As you approach the area, there’s a parking area with spectacular views of the lighthouse, cliffs, and crashing surf. There’s no shortage of tourists, but it’s definitely worth a stop. You then proceed down a narrow, twisty road, park, and pay $2 to walk in the lighthouse area. Just north of the lighthouse is a small craggy island (Mokuaeae Island) that serves as a wildlife (mostly bird) refuge. We saw a sea turtle swimming in the channel between the lighthouse and the wildlife refuge island, and several humpback whales farther out at sea. This is a great place to take pictures.
Spouting Horn
The spouting horn in west Poipu is a lava tube that spouts like Old Faithful with each wave. We drove by at a propitious time—high tide and high surf. The show was pretty good (even if my pictures aren’t). A bus load of Japanese tourists was there at the time. They were about the only Japanese tourists we saw during our entire nine-day stay.
Wailua Falls
We drove to Wailua Falls northwest of Lihue on the afternoon after the big storm. Wailua Falls is the double waterfall pictured in the opening scene of the 1970s TV show Fantasy Island. Predictably, 9 tourists out of 10 feel compelled to echo Tattoo’s line “Da plane, da plane” while they’re there. Equally predictably, none could match the voice of Herve Villechaize. We expected a large volume of water, but we hadn’t expected the water to be so brown and for the water level to be so high that the two falls combined into one.
West Side of Island
Except for Waimea Canyon, the southwest and western side of the island appealed to us far less than the other parts. Winter is the rainy season, so it was fairly green. But we heard stories of blowing dust in the summer, and almost everything out in the open is shaded the color of the red dirt. The presence of fewer tourists in the west does not result in diminished traffic. We think that the cost of housing is less in the west so a lot of Kauaians live there and commute east.
The red earth looks very fertile. In contrast to scrub land on the rest of the island, we saw acres of agriculture, especially sugar cane and sorghum (looks like corn). The Kauai Coffee Company has extensive fields starting just west of Poipu. We stopped by the visitor center but it had closed at 5 P.M.
Hanapepe is a sleepy little town. It’s rather run down, but there are quite a few art shops. The swinging suspension bridge north of downtown was fun. East of town we stopped at the Hanapepe lookout for a preview of the Waimea Canyon.
We took a picture of the Captain Cook monument in the public square in downtown Waimea. North of town we stopped at the Menehune Ditch, a stone remnant of an irrigation ditch built by ancient Hawaiians. It was impressive only insofar as it represents an extant piece of Kauai history.
We drove past the Navy’s Pacific Missile Range Facility to the start of the sugar plantation dirt road leading to Barking Sands and Polihale beaches. It was getting late, and the road looked no better than the road leading to the beaches east of the Hyatt in Poipu. We turned around, leaving the extreme western beaches and their sunsets and views of the southern Na Pali coast for another day.
Miscellaneous
The Kauai economy is based predominantly on tourism. Tourist arrivals remain fairly steady throughout the year, peaking a little during summer and around Christmas. At any given time, of the 75,000 people on the island, 15,000 are tourists.
In January, daylight lasted from 7 in the morning until almost 7 in the evening. That’s a full 2 hours more daylight than we experience in the northwest U.S. We tried to make the most of the daylight hours, but when daylight ended, we headed back to our comfortable bed and breakfast room. We stayed at Hale Tutu, a bed and breakfast 4.5 miles inland from Wailua. (Please see my separate review: Hale Tutu: Kauai’s Gem of a B&B.
Kauaians complain about congestion on the roads. While we were often in long lines of cars, the traffic seemed to keep moving, usually at 50 mph in the country. The problem is that there’s only one main road with very limited passing. Tourists who aren’t sure where they’re going can slow down a lot of people. Kapaa and Lihue each have about eight traffic lights on the main road and can be bottlenecks in the late afternoon. There are no traffic lights north of Kapaa. Our bed and breakfast hostess complained about how badly people tailgate, but that may be because she’s older and drives slowly. My only complaint was how cars pull out in front of you, probably because they know that long lines of cars can make for long waits.
Conclusion
Kauai is not for everyone. Go elsewhere if you require abundant upscale shopping and nightlife, if Disneyland is your ideal vacation, or if you believe that if you’ve seen one beach you’ve seen them all. But if you cherish magnificent unspoiled natural tropical beauty and you’re willing and able to make some effort to enjoy it, Kauai is your kind of island.
We never tired of locating another pristine beach, stunning view, or fresh juice tropical drink. The beach, water, mountain, and canyon vistas are etched in our memories. We loved the nearly infinite shades of blue and green. We walked, hiked, and paddled our way over and through much of the island, and we’re eager to do it all over again. Departing Kauai on Hawaiian Airlines with other reluctant tourists was more than a bit depressing. We left a piece of ourselves on that jewel of an island, and we plan to return to retrieve it someday.
Aloha!
Recommended:
Yes
Best Suited For: Couples
Best Time to Travel Here: Anytime
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Epinions.com ID:
drdoney
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Reviews written: 2
Trusted by: 2 members
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