Kaua'i: Learn local history or just soak in the scenery, sunshine
• Kaua'i offers variety of land, ocean activities
• Historical tour covers 13 sites in Koloa area
• Kaua'i's South Shore (map)
By Wanda A. Adams
Advertiser Travel Editor
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| The Spouting Horn blowholes at Po'ipu on Kaua'i roar and grumble impressively between each fountain of spray.
Photos by Carl E. Koonce III • Special to The Advertiser |
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| The swinging, swaying, creaking footbridge over the Hanapepe River offers a glimpse back into the past of this historic town, now a center for art galleries and gift shops. |
Po'ipu's hotel row looks and feels a lot like Wailea or Ka'anapali, or parts of the Kohala Coast. Renovated and tourist Koloa town and Hanapepe are reminiscent of Lahaina, Hale'iwa and Hilo.
But like that creaky, crazy bridge, there's always something a little different about Kaua'i, something that throws you a bit off-balance. Something you won't encounter on the other islands.
The South Shore's sights are concentrated within just a few miles and, on a recent long weekend, I was officially sightseeing within minutes of my arrival at Lihue Airport at 8:30 a.m. It was easy to map out a day's itinerary before my afternoon hotel check-in.
9:30 a.m. Lihu'e to Hanapepe
From Lihu'e Airport, take Ahukini Road (Highway 570) out to Kaumuali'i Highway (Highway 50) and turn left. If you're hungry, Gaylord's at Kilohana, on the right just after you pass Kukui Grove Mall, would be a sensible first stop: Their $10.50 breakfast buffet ($7 for children) is generous, and it's the most economical way to check out the historic Tudor-style Wilcox home with its garden courtyard and shops tucked into what were once bedrooms and offices. Dinner here is delicious but pricier. There are tours and carriage rides, too. Reservations recommended (245-9593).
My plan was to head to Hanapepe and then backtrack to Po'ipu, driving amid the scenery familiar from so many movies, past overgrown former sugarcane fields. I dialed in 93.5 FM KONG (a quirky adult contemporary station. You never know what you'll hear next. If you really want a taste of Kaua'i, check out sister station KUAI 720 AM, which covers the island).
My Sprint cell phone beeped aloha as I sped through Lawa'i. By 9:45, I was pulling off the road at the Hanapepe Valley Overlook to drink in the vista — red dirt-faced valley walls, the deep green of gulch and the light green of flat, windswept highlands where a famous and bloody battle took place in 1824 when an insurgent son of King Kaumuali'i, George (Humehume), led an unsuccessful rebellion.
10 a.m. Hanapepe town
Turn off Kaumuali'i at Hanapepe Road to see the old town, founded by Chinese immigrant workers and once the economic center for this coastline. The village actually straddles Highway 50 and climbs up Moi Road to Hanapepe Heights, but "downtown" is a single wide street lined with art galleries, restaurants and shops.
My tour began with a walk across the suspended wooden footbridge, built in 1911 and reconstructed after Hurricane 'Iniki, which serves as a shortcut for folks who live across the river back of town. (It's just off a parking lot on the main drag and marked by a sign.) The narrow span bounces and sways disconcertingly all along its length as you step hesitantly across. When two parties cross at once it's like the confusion of waves where to breaks meet. Nails protrude from the uneven boards underfoot, and below your feet the muddy river glistens in the sun. On the other side, a wide berm is topped by a footpath, and you can stroll a bit up or down the river.
Back in town, an hour flew by as I poked around the place that has dubbed itself "the art capital of Kaua'i."
At Banana Patch Studio, there's a workshop next to the gift gallery. You can watch the pottery being formed and painted. This is the source of many of those "Please Remove Shoes" and "Hula Girl" plaques sold around the Islands. I noted a number of reasonably priced gift items as well as the work of artists I haven't seen elsewhere.
Nearby, at Gallery M., I chatted with artist/owner Millicent Cummings, whom I dubbed the "queen of found objects" for the complex sculptures, masks, paintings, figures, glassware and unclassifiable works she creates from all manner of bits and pieces. In three spacious rooms in this two-year-old gallery, each equipped with at least one sleeping cat, Cummings displays handicrafts as well as fine-art pieces.
She described Hanapepe as "a nice town, a wild town, an artistic town, an intense town," pausing thoughtfully between each observation. But, "it's a changing place," she added wistfully, with rising land values and rents forcing some galleries out of business. "It's still a very community-oriented place," she added.
There are seasonal festivals and each Friday night for the past six years, the galleries open from 6 to 9 p.m., with artists on hand to discuss their work and live music on the street. A guitarist herself, Cummings highly recommended the slack-key guitar of Cindy Combs who appears down the street at the Hanapepe Cafe and Espresso Bar (335-5011; 3830 Hanapepe Road; closed Mondays), my next stop.
This comfortable restaurant in a high-ceilinged space that was once the town pharmacy serves house-made, well-prepared vegetarian fare. The garlicky aroma of baking focaccia lured me in and I was not disappointed. A glass of chilled red hibiscus tea, a beautiful mixed green salad, a hot farmer's pie of herbed vegetables topped by mashed potatoes and I was happily and healthily filled for under $10. Also on the menu: pasta and frittatas, sandwiches on focaccia or Ezekiel (sprouted, no-yeast) bread. They even have peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for the kids ($5). There's live music at dinner time and you can bring your own wine. Breakfasts are said to be great here.
After lunch, I ventured down the street to Santa's Vacation Hale (335-3562; 4545 Kona Road, Hanapepe; open Mondays through Saturdays), a year-round Christmas store that stocks all manner of ornaments and holiday-related goods. As she carefully wrapped my purchases, the friendly proprietor said she gets visitors from around the world.
The headquarters of the famous Kaua'i Kookie Kompany is at the end of town. Stock up on omiyage. Back on Highway 50, you'll see the jungle-like facade of the Green Garden Restaurant (lunch and dinner, breakfast on Sunday) and not far down the road the cavernous Wong's Restaurant (breakfast, lunch and dinner; closed Mondays), both longtime local favorites for plentiful, inexpensive food.
12:30 p.m. Hanapepe to Koloa
The drive back toward Po'ipu began with a short seaward jog to see Salt Pond County Park, where seawater is pumped into settling pans to make salt and a there's a well outfitted beach park popular with locals, safe for swimming (and snorkeling when the waves aren't too big).
Then it was on to Port Allen Marina Center where I watched sunburned tourists coming in from the morning's Na Pali Coast boat excursions and discovered the Kauai Chocolate Co., a seven-month old, family-owned venture that specializes in formed chocolates as well as the richest, smoothest, most decadent chocolate ice cream I've ever tasted. Don Greer told me about the difficulties of learning how to make commercial ice cream and of the family's diligent work, bringing cartons of competitor's ice cream home to taste against their first efforts. "It had to be done," he said cheerfully.
The manufacturing plant for the famous Red Dirt T-shirt, actually made by dipping white T-shirts in muddy water, is across the street in a warehouse. Free tours are offered daily.
On the way back, I took an alternative route, Halewili Road (Highway 540), which branches of the main road to the right and takes you to the headquarters of the Kaua'i Coffee Co. where you can watch coffee roasting, take a tour, have a cup of coffee and something to eat and do a little shopping (in case you didn't spend enough in Hanapepe). It's touristy, but I enjoyed sipping coffee on the open deck and looking out over the coffee groves.
1:30 p.m. Koloa
After reconnecting with Highway 50, I took another alternative route, Koloa Road (Highway 530) to my almost-final destination, the renovated village of Koloa, once a thriving center on the order of Lahaina on Maui, serving whalers from the nearby landing, home to a now-defunct sugar plantation and mill, an economic hub for the entire area. The place was extensively spruced up in the 1980s with an eye to the tourist market and here you'll find the usual Crazy Shirts, Snorkel Bobs, Lapperts, gift shops as well as the modest Koloa History Center (in a courtyard off the main drag) and the Koloa Sugar Plantation Memorial, a haunting bronze sculpture honoring plantation workers set in a small park across from the town center.
Pretty as it is, and steeped in history, Koloa seemed a bit focus-less and shallow. The busiest spots by far were the Sueoka Store and the Big Save, which are both well-stocked with both local- and haole-style takeout stuff for making simple meals in your vacation condo kitchen. Otherwise, tourists wandered listlessly, ignoring the approaches of the timeshare and activities people. Here, as in Hanapepe town, there is an air of dreams failed, with evidence that shops have come and gone, and some spaces sitting empty.
As I climbed back into the car to head for Hyatt and the welcome prospect of relaxing at Anara Spa, I vowed to spend another half day exploring the Koloa Heritage Trail — a walk, bike or drive route designed by local scholars and citizens to introduce visitor to the area's history (see accompanying story).
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If you go ...
Getting there: Aloha and Hawaiian Airlines offer regular service to Kaua'i, but direct flights from Neighbor Islands to Kaua'i are few — book early and be aware you may have to make an O'ahu connection or plane change. Expect to spend about $300 for a three-day, two-night, fly-drive package.
Where to stay: The South Shore offers every level of accommodation from plain, motel-style rooms for less than $75 a night to luxurious oceanside vacation rentals that go for thousands of dollars a week.
Budget: To get rock-bottom rates, you'll need to go inland from Po'ipu. One option is the renovated Kalaheo Inn (332-6023) in Kalaheo town behind Kalaheo Steakhouse; kama'aina rates range from $65 for a single room to $125 for a two-bedroom suite. Also in Kalaheo, Classic Vacation Cottages (332-9201; www.classiccottages.com) rents studios and cottages equipped with kitchenettes, snorkeling equipment and TVs, starting from $45 a night for a studio to $100 a night for a house that sleeps up to seven people. No credit cards.
Mid-price: Kaua'i Vacation Rentals handles condominiums and houses that start at $125 a night for a one-bedroom, second-floor condo that sleeps four in the Prince Kuhio on Lawa'i Road, right on the beach, all the way up to fancy houses. Their Web site (www.kauaivacationrentals.com) is well-designed and allows you to specify area, type of accommodation, number of people and so on, and to see photographs of the units. Kiahuna Plantation Resort, on the sprawling oceanfront grounds of what was once the Moir Estate (and which includes the Moir Gardens), is a fully equipped condominium complex with hotel-like amenities (concierge desk, daily housekeeping) with some units managed by Outrigger and and some by Castle Resorts. Depending on number of beds and time of year, rates start at $200 a night, with two-bedrooms running around $250 in the slow season.
Luxury: The Hyatt Regency Kauai Resort & Spa is a property so commodious that you really need the 36-page booklet they hand you at check-in, with its maps and guide to services, restaurants and shops. When I think of this, one of my favorite Hawai'i hotels, I think of the parrots in the courtyard, the network of ponds and pools that offer everything from splashing to seclusion, the bathroom literally awash in orchids upon check-in (they tuck them into every possible spot — even float them in the toilet!), the country estate-style, book-lined Stevens' Library bar and, of course, Anara Spa. The well-designed spa takes greater advantage of the Island setting than perhaps any other here: It's a U-shaped structure built around an open-air courtyard and swimming pool with men's and women's locker rooms on either side and a ring of treatment spaces at the rear that open onto private gardens; the Kupono Cafe serves spa cuisine next to the pool and there's a fitness room and beauty salon. Spa services include massages, wraps, facials, beauty treatments, soaks and scrubs in a Hawaiian/New Age motif rather than the European white coat style of the Grand Wailea or Ihilani spas. Rates begin at $395, up to the four figures for suites and the club floor, but ask about kama'aina rates and specials.
If you prefer the feeling of a private home, Grantham Resorts is considered the creme de la creme on the South Shore, with premium vacation homes (www.grantham-resorts.com, (800) 325-5701).
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Kaua'i offers variety of land, ocean activities
If you're up for more than a stop-and-see experience of Kaua'i's South Shore, here are some ideas.
Be aware that in Koloa town and other tourist-saturated areas, you may be offered really great deals on various attractions and adventures. The catch is, you have to sit still for a timeshare sales pitch. Such purveyors must by law display a sign indicating this.
Sailing or kayaking the Na Pali Coast — Several companies leave from Port Allen or other South Shore points in the early morning. Others go out at mid-day. Expect to spend about $100 per adult, $75 per child. There are too many purveyors to list them all here. Whichever you choose, reservations are recommended. Have your travel agent set it up or surf the Web (plug "Kauai boat charters" or "Kauai snorkeling or kayaking" into a search engine such as Google.com. Most companies have toll-free lines). Ask about kama'aina discounts.
Snorkeling and scuba-diving — Bring your gear or rent in Koloa. Recommended are tame, family-safe Po'ipu Beach (entry to right side of sand spit); Koloa Landing, for scuba and sea-turtle sightings; Prince Kuhio Park on Lawa'i Road (also a turtle favorite) and Lawa'i Beach near Spouting Horn.
Horseback riding — CJM Country Stables in Po'ipu (742-6096, www.cjmstables.com) or Red Dirt Trails Co. (652-4045, www.reddirttrails.com) in Koloa offer daily morning and afternoon beach and ranch rides (about $100 for 2 to 3 hours). They'll also design custom tours for groups.
Garden touring — The doorway to the 80-acre Allerton and 259-acre McBryde National Tropical Botanical Gardens is in Po'ipu right across from the Spouting Horn Park. Trams depart every half-hour for guided tours from the Bill and Jean Lane Visitor Center, a restored 1920s plantation house(4425 Lawa'i Road, Po'ipu, 742-2623; www.ntbg.org). You're also free to take a walk through the demonstration gardens. There's a particularly nice gift shop here. The Moir Gardens at Kiahuna Plantation Resort on Po'ipu Road, originally the work of a plantation manager's wife with a passion for cacti, cover 35 acres and include thousands of varieties of flowers and plants.
Putt-putt golf — The kids will enjoy a round of mini golf at the Lawa'i Beach Resort in Po'ipu at $5 per person per round (10 a.m. to 6 p.m., 240-5350, 5017 Lawa'i Road, Po'ipu).
ATV tours and adventuring — Another activity that young people will enjoy are the all-terrain vehicle tours offered by Kipu Ranch Adventures (246-9288, www.kiputours.com). The rides take place on this working cattle ranch that is also the site of scenes from "Raiders of the Lost Ark" and "Lost World" — note that you need long pants and closed shoes. Outfitters Kauai, which has office in Lihu'e and Koloa, offers a variety of adventures — sailing, kayaking, bicycling, swinging by ropes in the jungle, picnicking, a covered wagon ride across Kipu Ranch (742-9887, www.outfitterskauai.com). Both companies have tamer tours for elders.
Golf — The South Shore sports three golf courses: Kiahuna Golf Club in Po'ipu (742-9595, under renovation so special rates now in effect $25 for 18 holes, $15 for nine holes — normally around $45); Po'ipu Bay Golf Course (742-8711; kama'aina green fees, $75 for Neighbor Islanders, $65 for Kauaians); and the beloved, quirky and much-played Kukuiolono Golf Course (332-9151, green fees $7), once the personal nine holes of sugar magnate Walter McBryde, now property of the people of Kaua'i — there's a Japanese garden that's a favorite for weddings. McBryde is buried on the eighth hole.
Additional sources: Moon Handbooks Kaua'i; Ultimate Kaua'i Guidebook
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Historical tour covers 13 sites in Koloa area
On a blustery Saturday on Kaua'i, I set out to trek the Koloa Heritage Trail — a rather grandiose name for a self-guided historical walking, biking or driving tour that exists mainly in the mind.
The Heritage Trail — essentially a free map to 13 sites in and around old Koloa town, each described in a short, fact-packed, gracefully written mini-essay — is a different kind of tourism. It's not only go-and-see but go-and-think, go-and-remember.
In the case of "Ka Ala Hele Waiwai Ho'olina O Koloa" (which roughly translates to Heritage Trail), some of the sites are invisible (the sealed-off lava tubes and pre-contact traces along Hapa Road, for example), some are hard to get to (the Pu'uwanawana Volcanic Cone can be seen from Ala Kino'oike Highway but sits on fenced private land) and some have changed out of all recognition (the Yamamoto Building is no longer a camp store).
The map was designed by a committee that included a scientist, cultural experts, an archaeologist, a librarian, a storyteller and local ministers, and was paid for by community businesses. It's distributed by the Po'ipu Beach Resort Foundation (742-4444) and can be found where tourist brochures are stocked. It's designed as a loop that could be a day's walk for energetic volksmarchers, an easy bike ride for experienced bikers or a morning's drive.
Beginning at Spouting Horn Park, the route heads east along the shore to the Makawehi and Pa'a Dunes, then inland to various sites around Koloa town.
Just to touch on a few, I enjoyed the Spouting Horn, natural blowholes in a lava outcropping that roar and breathe white spume as though a real mo'o (lizard or dragon) lived below the surface, as one Hawaiian legend says. But Spouting Horn Park is marred by a row of tacky booths selling made-anywhere-but-Hawai'i souvenirs that have no place in such a beautiful and historic setting. The trail guide explains that the area's English name comes from the spouting whales that can be seen offshore in season.
Po'ipu Beach Park was a favorite of Hawaiians who lived here long ago, and is a favorite of locals now. If you spent a day here, swimming, snorkeling, talking story, watching the humpbacks in season and the monk seals who regularly haul out here, you wouldn't be wasting your time.
In Koloa town, I spent quite a bit of time examining the faces in the circular bronze sculpture that makes up the Sugar Monument. It's made up of two curved walls facing each other. From outside, it doesn't look like much. But when you walk into the sculpture, the weathered bas-relief brings to life the people and tasks that characterized the sugar era. It was in Koloa that sugar was first successfully milled commercially in Hawai'i. After whaling, sugar assured Koloa's place as the economic center of the South Shore. McBryde Plantation's last harvest in 1995 ended an era that had lasted 160 years.
Reading about activities along Hapa Road — which was home to Hawaiians as much as 800 years ago — made me wish I had visited during Koloa Plantation Days, when guided tours are given along the narrow, meandering 1.3-mile road.
The map would be improved by a line or two for each location explaining its current use and whether or not you are welcome to tour it. Picking up the map, the visitor assumes they'll have access to all the sites, and that there will be traces of the site's historic significance. But that's not always so.
Still, if you are one who craves context and perspective when you travel, this is exactly the information you need to fully appreciate Koloa's history, which is in many ways more intriguing than its touristy present.
