The Garden Island

This was my first trip to the garden Isle and I was amazed that such diversity could exist on a small 30 mile island. Kauai offers some of the world's most beautiful beaches... but when you venture away... you see the real Kauai. Approximately 90% of Kauai is undeveloped jungle and it is totally amazing to see. Photos in this journal are by Jana Scott.

Quick Tips:

Kauai offers many cottages... the difference in price being whether they are on the water or not. The jungle cottage was only about a night... and the drive to the ocean was only 10 minutes.

Purchase "the Ultimate Kauai Guidebook" by Wizard publications. This should be available at Barnes & Noble for about and is loaded with great maps and info on sights off the beaten path.

You can buy fresh tuna and Mahi Mahi very reasonably (I paid /lb)... take advantage of this as well as the plentiful fruits. Steaks, milk, eggs and other grocery items are expensive.

Best Way To Get Around:

Rent a jeep or truck with a high wheelbase, some of the roads have a lot of potholes. I saw a Lincoln town car rental get trashed on these roads... don't make this mistake!

Many tourists spend a lot of money to go to exotic locales... only to have views of beaches, condos and traffic. I prefer to get away from the congestion and see things that are not so easily found. Although I did not hike the Na Pali coast trail (I wanted to but had knee troubles), I spent a bit of time in the national forest area northwest of Kapaa.

Kauai has very few animals in the woods and no snakes. One of the animals that is found on the island is wild boar. Hogs were brought on ships hundreds of years ago and they turned into wild, feral pigs. These are hunted very heavily because they do so much root damage... allowing erosion to take place.

As we were hiking I accidentally stepped into a trap for wild boar. This was a noose hidden in the grass that was supposed to hold the pig until a hunter came and shot it. When the noose snapped up and caught my leg... I about had a heart attack! No harm was done, and I soon learned to avoid any fruit on the trail (bait for the boars). Later on this hike we came upon a wild boar, fortunately he was as scared of us as we were of him!

The dense foliage in the jungle was unlike anything I have ever seen! There were "elephant ear" plants with leaves bigger than a person.

An afternoon was spent cooling off in the juggle river, hiking through the jungles to a mountain, and learning about the real Kauai.

The Na Pali coast is a desolate area on Kauai's northwest side. There are no roads because the terrain is too rough. This area is literally a "no man's land." With cliffs rising 4,000 feet up out of the Pacific Ocean, this is a majestic site, but shrouded in mystery because of the desolation.

On this tour we had a school of Hawaiian Spinner Dolphins swimming alongside the boat. It was amazing. They wanted to swim right beside us! Another treat on this trip was seeing a baby whale. At a snorkeling stop I also swam with huge Green Sea turtles. Although there are no guarantees, you will normally see wildlife.

Another specialty this tour did was taking us into the caves on the Na Pali coast. This is only done when the seas are calm. We were told that Baywatch had recently filmed on the exact cave we were in, and they had crashed their waverunners against the rock wall!

Although this trip is around $100-$150... I would highly recommended it!

A helicopter tour of Kauai is costly... but it is the only way to see the entire island since so much of it is inaccessible.

This tour was in a 6-passenger helicopter and I was lucky enough to sit in the front next to the window. As the turbine began to whir, we gently lifted off the ground and took off on a very smooth 65 minute ride.

The helicopter took us down inside of Waimea canyon. The pilot was extremely skilled... but at one point he had me wondering. We were down near the bottom of the canyon flying straight towards a huge rock wall. When it seemed like we were going to fly into the bluff... the helicopter instantly jumped straight up 1,000 feet to safety. That was a little too exciting, but I still enjoyed the flight.

On this flight we also passed over the taro fields near Hanalei, and the Na Pali coast.

The helicopter tour company will try to sell you a video of your flight. The disappointing part is this is not your exact flight. They take pictures of you beforehand and splice it onto a generic helicopter tour tape while you are in the air. I know this is more efficient... but I did not care for it.

I am glad I did it once... but for the money, there are much better things to do.