Kauai, Treasure Island

If you are considering a Kauai Hawaii vacation, I have some information for you. Our family of six stayed there for two weeks not long ago. We explored much of the island. Here's some inside info for those who haven't been there.

Sunny Poipu on the south shore has a great beach, with surf not too high, and the best weather on the island. There is a variety of places to stay nearby, from five-star hotels to condos.

We most loved snorkeling on Kauai. You can do this at any beach--just get a mask and put your face in the water! You will be amazed at the colors of the fish.

Don't miss a boat trip or air view of the Na Pali cliffs on the northwest side. Those are just awesome. There have been some helicopter crashes lately, including two in March, so you might want to consider a fixed-wing aircraft.

If you like hiking, there is a hike along the eastern end of the Na Pali cliffs, and also hiking at Kokee State Park just inland from the cliffs.

You can rent kayaks and kayak the rivers, or the ocean if you are an athlete. There are zipline tours, where you zip down a line held up by a harness and tackle. These ziplines go through the rainforest canopy and are said to be delightful. You can even do it by moonlight.

As for an aerial view of the spectacular northwest coast, consider a fixed-wing aircraft. There were two helicopter crashes in March, 2007. If you really want a helicopter, check out the outfitter's safety record!

There is plenty more information at Kauai-Treasure-Island.com.

If you love a mystery, consider a vacation on Kauai, Hawaii.

Here's the mystery: what's it like on the neighboring Hawaiian island of Ni'ihau? This 550-square-mile island is the westernmost of the main Hawaiian islands and has been privately owned since 1864 by the Robinson family, which forbids tourists.

Ni'ihau (Nee-ee-how) is visible from the southwest shore of Kauai, lying low on the horizon 17 miles away. There are 200 or so native Hawaiians who live there and speak the Hawaiian language. In fact, it's the only place the language is spoken any more. It is taught in the island's only school, which goes K-8.

Islanders of course are free to leave and come back, so many of them do. They need to in order to get provisions from Kauai to live on the dry island, which is in the rain shadow of the ancient volcano cone on Kauai, Wai-ale-ale, "the wettest spot on earth" at 460 inches per year of rainfall. The Robinson family, which owns Ni'ihau, has maintained sheep ranches there.

A stunning form of folk art comes from Ni'ihau. These are Ni'ihau shell leis, tiny shells strung from many strands. These tiny luminous shells come in various colors, and so whole families collect them and sort them for size and color. Then the artist, usually a woman, sets to work, punching a hole in each shell using an awl often made from a bicycle spoke (there are no cars on the island). About half the shells shatter at this point. She chooses colors in such a way as to make a final product that is textured with color.

These tiny shells are still found on Ni'ihau, but not on neighboring Kauai where agricultural runoff has tended to kill off the shell-makers. The resulting shell leis are rare, hard to find, and precious. But if you look hard on Kauai, you can find them!

Hawaiian legend has it that the volcano goddess Pele had her original home on Ni'ihau. Then she traveled to Kauai, Oahu, and moved eastward until she found the Big Island of Hawaii, where she is today. Scientists say that the Hawaiian islands were formed as a plate of earth's crust moved slowly across an active lava vent. But Kauai was formed before Ni'ihau, which is sort of a side vent from the volcano that formed Kauai. As the crust moved slowly, Kauai was formed, then Oahu, and so on. Ni'ihau's current form is as an eroded lava dome on the eastern side of the island. Much of the rest is flat and sandy, with a couple of freshwater lakes.

It's possible to find a map of Ni'ihau, and pictures of its rock formations. But how can you go and see? In fact, the Robinson family is allowing a few forms of tourism now. Some helicopter tours from Kauai are allowed to land on remote beaches. And you can take a hunting safari, to control populations of feral bighorn sheep and Polynesian boars. In addition, scuba divers regularly dive off Ni'ihau.

All that is available from Kauai, Ni'ihau's big sister island 17 miles away. Kauai has immense charms of its own; not only does it have the usual beaches and surf, but it has incredible beauty on its northwest coast, called Na Pali, or The Cliffs.

Article Copyright 2007 by Phyllis Wheeler.

Phyllis Wheeler is a writer and webmaster who lives in St. Louis, Missouri, USA. Find out more about Ni'ihau and a Kauai Hawaii vacation at her Web site, http://www.Kauai-Treasure-Island.com .

We'd love to return to Kauai soon, and are planning some adventures. My teenage sons would love to do the strenuous sea kayak trip along the wild and beautiful Na Pali coast. I think my daughter and I will just kayak in the rivers and lagoons. We'll do a lot more snorkeling, of course, and perhaps try scuba off Niihau, the forbidden island.

The zipline through the trees sounds wonderful too. This is where you are strapped into a harness that dangles from a pulley on a slightly downward sloping horizontal cable. You move pretty fast, hence the name. On Kauai, there are ziplines through the rainforest canopy. This might get a little damp, I guess! But how else can you see a rainforest canopy? My biologist daughter and I want to try this.

And my husband, well, he loves popsickles in the afternoon and hanging out at the beach. So we'll do a lot of that too!