A Week in Paradise!

Best Things Nearby:
The airport, downtown Lihue, and Kapaa

Best Things About the Resort:
It sits all by itself, with no noisy neighbors (unless you count the roosters) or traffic.

Resort Experience:
Whereas Honolulu is crowded with traffic and high rises, Kauai is extremely underdeveloped, and it chooses to stay that way! About 90% of the island (I think) is mandated to stay in an undeveloped state. Combine that with a level of biodiversity that you might think impossible for such a small island and you have something very, very special! The units at Pahio's Kauai Beach Villas are spacious and comfortable. When you make your reservation you might want to specify whether you prefer an ocean or lagoon view. We overlooked the lagoon, which is lush and peaceful (as long as you don't mind the occaisional rooster call, but then the chickens are all over the island). But some might prefer the ocean (tomayto... tomahto). There are a number of no or low cost activities at the resort as well. We missed out on the hula lessons, but had a blast painting coconuts to mail home. Yes, you can mail a coconut without additional packaging! The first morning orientation by the resort concierge staff got us off to a great start. Each unit has a washer and dryer, air conditioners in the bedroome (not require, but nice nonetheless), and a full kitchen. Perhaps the best part of the unit layout is that the two bedrooms work extremely well. It's not as if you're going to be tripping over everyone. If you're a family with kids or two couples, you can stay secluded enough to not cross paths in the morning until you've had your bath/shower, brushed your teeth and hair and fully dressed. Ah yes... civilization!

• Unit Type: 2 Bedroom
• Activities: Excellent
• Amenities: Excellent
• Unit Satisfaction: Excellent
• Family Friendliness: Excellent
• Service: Excellent

The best was sitting at your table, looking out over the water and enjoying some truly fine steak (and I'm not a huge fan of steakhouses). If you're lucky, you might see some dolphins or a monk seal frolicking just offshore. The food is excellent and the service very good.

You can eat in the restaurant or make a reservation for what some believe is the best luau on the island. It's the only luau we've ever been to, so it's tough to say if it's the best. But we enjoyed the food and the entertainment immensely!

We had dinner in the bar, which has a more casual menu than the dining room, but the real star in this restaurant is the decor. The food is good (maybe even very good), but the setting borders on island mystical. It's just a beautiful, beautiful restaurant to eat.

For beginning snorkelers, there are two pools separated by rock barriers from the open ocean, although there is plenty of marine life to see within them. Rent your snorkel equipment from Snorkel Bob's just up the road and have a truly memorable time!

Hilo Hattie's is a fun place to shop for "tourist stuff". The prices aren't bad, and the staff is very helpful. The various craft fairs and roadside booths on the island offer similar stuff, sometimes at better prices, sometimes not.

Forget about getting a bargain on pineapple. The prices on Kauai are no different from those on the mainland. And the shipping costs will eat you alive.

And the Oki Pancake House proclaims itself as "The Home of World-Famous Oki Pancakes." I'm not exactly sure why, as IHOP or any one of a thousand other breakfast houses can do them just as well.

Mark Twain called this the Grand Canyon of the Pacific, and it's a fair comparison. Spectacular vistas of the canyon to the east are balanced by a stunning view of the Pacific to the west, including the Forbidden Island of Niihau. Take the road all the way to the end, where you will find the most incredible viewing area looking out over the Na Pali coast that you will ever see!

Within a short stretch of road in Kapaa are a number of shops and galleries that are great for just browsing or buying seascape prints, sculptured glass, wood carvings, and such. There are also a few clothing stores that have great bargains on pareos and other tropical dresses.

Kauai is almost akin to a theme park in that you can see some of the most different and spectacular scenery in such a short time, and the best way to see it is by helicopter. From the almost arid beauty of Waimeia Canyon to the lush vegetation just below the cloud covered summit of Mount Wai ele ele (one of the wettest places on Earth), 45 minutes in the air will make you feel like you've been jetting from one continent to another. Okay, that's an exaggeration, but you will see natural beauty that truly leaves you in awe. It's pricey, although you can sometimes reduce the cost by attending a timeshare presentation (hey, that's what lured me to the island in the first place), but it's worth every penny, whether you do it once or every time you visit the island.

Most of the helicopter services take great pains to enhance the visibility for all passengers. Some offer a videotape (with your own narration) of each trip. There are packages of all kinds, from straight flyovers of the island to multi-hour trips that feature a landing and meal by a remote waterfall. Enjoy!

Do you think you're too old? Too uncoordinated? Too whatever, to try surfing? Forget it!

There are any number of opportunities on Kauai to learn how, or at least get a taste of the experience of surfing. We paid $50 a head (for the four of us) for a 2+ hour lesson (actually, it went almost 3 hours). That included use of the boards, a rash guard (kind of like a wet shirt) and plenty of instruction and encouragement from our instructor Freddie.

We basically stumbled across him and his boss, Mitch, at Hawaiian Surfing Adventures in a park by Hanalei Bay, and it was one of the highlights of a multi-highlighted trip. You might want to check out their web site at www.hawaiiansurfingadventures.com.

We spent about thirty minutes on the beach, learning how to transition from laying on the board to standing and surfing. Then we went out in the water. Freddie handled the most difficult part, that would be picking out the wave and giving each of a push start. It would have been fun just playing around in the surf, but Freddie made it a true learning experience.

And as if we needed validation from unbiased strangers, when we finished and were bringing the boards out of the water, a number of people came up to compliment us on our enthusiasm and style! I don't care if they were sincere or not, it made my day.

I'll gladly take another lesson the next time we return!

If you're an itinerant golfer like me, one who doesn't normally travel with his clubs, you might be surprised to learn that in addition to having a number of pricey, world class courses, the island also boasts perhaps the best golfing bargain I've ever encountered.

Kukuiolono Golf Course was originally the personal golf course of plantation owner Walter McBryde. After his death, the course was willed to the people of the island, contingent upon it being economical for all. At the time we were there in September 2004, the greens fees were only $8 for the entire day! It's a 9-hole course that you can play as many times as you have daylight for. With club rental, the two of us played for $28. That's less than the greens fees for the courses back home.

For the casual golfer, it's a great course. The fairways are wide and relatively forgiving. One might speculate that Mr. McBryde was not the most proficient duffer. In any case, were it not for his generosity you might have to pay over $100 for the privilege of leaving a few golf balls behind in an island rough!

The pictures below don't do the course justice as the day was a little overcast, but it's still a very scenic place to play, an exceptional value.

One final thing to note, if you're suitably impressed with the layout and the scenery, you can offer a heartfelt thank you to Mr. McBryde. Near the 8th tee, in the middle of a Japanese garden, sits his grave. Mahalo!

Do you have repressed artistic desires? Do you like to send oddball gifts to the folks back home? Or do you want to get even with the mailman that you suspect is reading your magazines?

If the answer to any of those questions is yes, you might be interested to know that you can mail a coconut anywhere in the world by simply affixing the appropriate postage on it, no special packing required.

One of the many activity opportunities available through the concierge at Kauai Beach Villas is a coconut painting session. For $5, the Pahio folks provide the coconut, the paint, and the supervision (it's not babysitting, but it's probably adequate for 10 and over). Assuming that a parent is present, it's great for the little ones as well.

The idea is that you paint whatever design you'd like (okay... perhaps a tiny bit of discretion should be observed) on the coconut, then spray it with a clear protectant. You can then tape an address label on it, take it to the post office (there's one just a mile or so from the resort), have them weigh it, and pay the postage.

And that revenge on the mailman? On your last day on Kauai, mail a coconut to each of your neighbors back home. Then wait for the day that they get delivered. Now that's mean!