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Although no point on
the tiny island of KAUAI is as much as a dozen miles from the
sea, the variety of its landscapes is quite incredible. This is
the oldest of the major islands, and erosion has spent that many
more million years to sculpt it into fantastic shapes. The
mist-shrouded extinct volcano Mount Waialeale at its heart is
the world's wettest spot, draining into a high landlocked swamp,
full of unique plants and animals. Nearby is the chasm of Waimea
Canyon , while the north shore holds the vertiginous green
cliffs of the awe-inspiring Na Pali coast, familiar to millions
from films such as Jurassic Park and South Pacific but the sole
preserve of adventurous hikers . Kauai is a place to be active,
on sea and land; and if you only go on one helicopter flight in
your life, this is where to do it, despite recent restrictions
on how low they can fly.
Flights to Kauai
arrive at the capital, LIHUE , which stands slightly inland of
little Nawiliwili Harbor. It's roughly at the midpoint of the
round-island highway (prevented from completing a loop by the Na
Pali cliffs), but as a base it's pretty undistinguished. The
population is just five thousand, and downtown consists of a few
tired plantation-town streets, well back from the sea and
surrounded by anonymous malls.
Most Kauaians
live between Lihue and the overlapping communities of WAILUA,
WAIPOULI and KAPAA , whose malls, condos and hotels blend into
each other a few miles north of the capital. All the way along
there's an exposed thin strip of beach; only Wailua is
especially aesthetic, and you have to go further north for
snorkeling.
That part of
northern Kauai that is unique and unspoiled seems to be
diminishing all the time. The astonishing valleys of the Na Pali
coast itself must surely remain inviolate - though accessible
enough by canoe to sustain large Hawaiian populations, their
awesome walls shield them from any attempt to build roads there.
But the bulldozers are inching ever closer. Only temporar ily
did 1991's Hurricane Iniki manage to slow the growth of the
resort of Princeville , which began life as a sugar plantation
in 1860.
POIPU , Kauai's
principal beach resort, was hard hit by Iniki, but is now
finally back to normal, offering great surfing and snorkeling.
Its finest hotel is the sumptuous Hyatt Regency.
Two of the major
scenic attractions in all Hawaii, the gorge of Waimea Canyon and
Kokee State Park , with its views of the Na Pali cliffs to one
side and the sodden Alakai Swamp to the other, can only be
reached from the west coast of Kauai. The coast itself, however,
is nondescript. WAIMEA , the largest town, is just one short
street at the foot of the poorly marked road up to the canyon.
The statue of Captain Cook , which commemorates his "discovery"
of Hawaii here on January 20, 1778, is an exact replica of one
in Cook's home town of Whitby, England.
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