Kauai, the Garden Island

Kilauea Point Wildlife Refuge (discussion following Kalalau lookout)

We flew to our last destination, Kauai on January 25 arriving at the Lihue Airport. We were immediately greated by the feral chickens running everywhere. The jungle fowl were originally introduced to the Hawaiian Islands by the Polynesians over 1000 years ago. They have thrived on Kauai due to the absence of the mongoose. which was introduced to control the rats and mice. The chickens are found on the other islands, but in much smaller numbers.

Feral chicken (jungle fowl)

The first day we travelled along the north shore pssing through the Town of Hanalei. Hanalei was made famous in Peter, Paul, and Mary's song "Puff the Magic Dragon". This is one of the most beautiful regions on the island. Taro is a major crop grown in valley (picture below). It is grown as the food source for the starchy food, poi. This region is where most of the movie "South Pacific" was filmed in the late 1950s.

Hanalei taro fields

We then proceeded to the end of the road at Haena Pt. (photo below). This area is a favorite of the tourists. The winter surf is high and the view to the west of the Na Pali coast is magnificient. The Na Pali cliffs are as high as 2000 ft, second to those on the Island of Molokai.

Na Pali coast from Haena Point

The next day we headed south through the Town of Waimea, the landing site of Captain James Cook. We drove north to Kokee State park. This road climbs to an elevation of approximately 4000 ft. with great viewpoints of Waimea Canyon along the way (photo below). Mark Twain called it the "Grand Canyon of the Pacific". It is the largest Canyon in the Pacific at 3500 feet deep. Tropic birds were seen flying around the Canyon.

Waimea Canyon

We stopped to eat at Kokee State park and were entertained by a large population of chickens. This popultion is considered the only wild population in the Hawaiian Islands. We drove to the end of the road at the Kalalau Valley outlook. The southern outlook (piccture below) was out of the clouds. This is a magnificent view of the largest valley along the Na Pali coast. The upper viewpoint was in the clouds.

Kalalau Valley at the Na Pali coast

On our last day we revisited Kilauaea Point, home of the Kilauaea lighthouse and National Wildloife Refuge (first picture). This site is a great viewpoint for whales and seabirds. Birds seen here were Red-footed Boobies, white tropic birds, and the Laysan albatros. On the first day we had to cut short our visit due to closing time of 4:00pm, but we were able to view three of four humpback whales breaching offshore. These whales would literally "stand" straight out of the water, with at least 1/3 of their body out of the water, before falling over. On our second trip a Fish & Wildlife volunteer showed us through his telescope, the extremely rare monk seal basking on the rocks.

On Kauai we finally saw the Nene, Yea Yea! These rare birds were first seen at the Hanalei Valley and then at Kilauea Point (picture below)

Hawaiian rare goose, the Nene

Along the shore south of Lihue we visited the Spouting Horn at Poipu Beach. At this time of year the waves were causing the spouts to be quite large. We also watched a whale offshore going through quite a performance. We counted it slapping its tail 32 times in a row!

Poipu Beach Spouting Horn

On next stop was a cruise up the Wailua River to the Fern Grotto (photo below). This is an old lava tube with a large overhang with "Boston ferns". This is a favorite site for weddings. The Wailua River was the site where Harrison Ford jumped onto the float plane in "Raiders of the Lost Ark". The Fern Grotto was also the site where the "large ball" rolled though the forest in "Raiders"

Fern Grotto

We visited two waterfalls in the Wailua area. The first was Opaekaa Falls at 151 ft. (first picture below) and then Wailua Falls at 173 ft. (second picture below). Wailua Falls was a location in the T.V. show Fantasy Island.

Opakaeaa Falls

Wailua Falls

We flew home the evening of January 23 with a direct flight to Los Angeles, then on to Albany via Chicago. We had a great time on the trip. It was especially nice to spend two weeks with Barre's cousin, Jeff Hall and his wife Linda. Linda added a number of birds to her life list and also took many photographs. We were amazed at the great weather throughout the trip, with wonderful sunny days and only a few brief showers that did not interfere with our plans. The temperature was constantly in the high 70's to low 80's F with cooler weather at the higher elevations on Mt. Haleakala and at Volcanoes National Park. Each of the Islands is entirely different. Oahu is noted for growing pineapple, surfing on the North Shore, Waikiki, and Pearl Harbor. Maui has Mt. Haleakala, the Hana Road, historic Lahaina, and sugarcane. The Big Island, the youngest island, has two active volcanoes, Mouna Loa and Kilauea, snowcapped Mauna Kea, extensive lava flows, and South Point. Kauai is noted for Taro growing, the Na Pali coast, Waimea Canyon, Mt. Waialeale (wettest place on earth), and Kilauea Point. Of the four islands visited, Kauai was the favorite for all of us. Our 50th state is fabulous and friendly!