Hawaii - Jeff Campbell [391]
Traditional plantation immigrants remain (mostly in Lihu′e and other former sugar towns) but the North Shore population now looks markedly wealthy, mainland-transplanted and white. Indeed, tourism and real estate are booming, but don’t come for the manmade attractions. With only one coastal highway, no town larger than 10,000 residents and no skyscrapers, your attention will target what Kauaians hold sacred: the beautiful ′aina.
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HIGHLIGHTS
Delight your kids at Lydgate Beach Park (Click here)
Scope eye-popping native greenery at Limahuli Garden (Click here)
Take a leap of faith ziplining in Lihu‘e (Click here)
See striking sandstone cliffs along the Maha′ulepu Coast (Click here)
Enter the soggy, muddy, misty otherworld of the Alaka′i Swamp (Click here)
Surf or swim at gorgeous Hanalei Bay (Click here)
Test yourself on the epic Kalalau Trail (Click here)
Behold colossal Waimea Canyon (Click here)
Check out local art and ‘nightlife’ in Hanapepe (Click here)
Cycle or walk the east coast along Ke Ala Hele Makalae (Click here)
POPULATION 63,000
AREA: 555 SQ MILES
NICKNAME: GARDEN ISLE
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HISTORY
Like the other Hawaiian Islands, Kaua′i saw a sea change in all aspects of life with the arrival of Captain Cook, sugar plantations, statehood and tourism. While Kaua′i developed as a sugar town through the early 1900s, it became iconic as a tropical paradise after WWII, when Hollywood glamorized Lumaha′i Beach in Mitzi Gaynor’s South Pacific (1958) and Coco Palms Resort in Elvis Presley’s Blue Hawaii (1961).
By the 1970s, tourism began replacing sugar as the island’s economic driver. Within two decades, Kaua′i’s Gay & Robinson was the island’s sole remaining plantation. In 2008, even this die-hard announced plans to end sugar operations after 119 years in business. While the biggest agricultral industries are coffee and seed corn, an earnest contingent of small farmers is trying to steer clear of corporate monocropping and toward locally owned, locally eaten crops (and a drop in the island’s 90% dependence on imported food).
When Hurricane ′Iwa slammed the Hawaiian Islands in 1982, Kaua′i was hard hit, but that was only a prelude to Hurricane ′Iniki, which devastated the island a decade later. ′Iniki caused more than $1.8 billion (1992 USD) in damages and remains the most powerful hurricane to reach Hawaii in recorded history.
Among the largest four Hawaiian Islands, Kaua′i is the most rural and strives to keep it that way. However, in the mid-2000s, resort and luxury-end development went gangbusters, with over 5000 residential units and 6100 resort units set for development, including the massive Kukui′ula complex in Po′ipu.
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CLIMATE
Mt Wai′ale′ale (5148ft), almost smack in the island’s center, is considered the second-wettest place on earth, averaging 460in of rain annually. However, around the island, rainfall varies markedly by location and season. The South Shore and especially the Westside tend to be dry and sunny, while the North Shore and Eastside see regular showers. An even bigger factor is elevation, and you’ll notice an increase in precipitation as you head mauka (inland).
Seasonally, rain is a given in winter (November to March), particularly on the North Shore. The upside is that showers are usually sporadic, interspersed with sunshine. That said, winter downpours can be torrential, causing dangerous flash floods.
Since the island is only 33 miles wide and