UPDATES
Our new 18th edition is now off the press! To date our Kauai Underground Guide Campaign for Kids has raised more than $80,000 (getting close to $100,000 for island non-profits helping island children. Thanks for your support in buying our guidebook (each copy raises money) and spreading the word! You can help a lot! Submit our link (www.explorekauai.com) wherever you can!
Check out Mirah's Kauai Adventures including Ziplining and Scuba
Island News Stories
Taqueria Nortenos has been sold! The popular Mexican take-out restaurant in Poipu is now called called Poipu Grill. It is a popular take out restaurant for burgers, sandwiches and fries. That area is undergoing heavy construction but the restaurant still is popular due to its convenienient location, quick service and good food. Great place for grabbing a quick lunch and taking it to nearby Poipu Beach State Park and sitting in the picnic pavillion, which is exactly what we did. (Thanks Marianne!)
Will Squyres Helicopters has merged with a company from Maui. Will himself will be leaving the island for the mainland for a long awaited break.
A Pacific Cafe is closed Rumors abound about where Jean Marie will surface again, but the most obvious idea seems to be as part of the Coco Palms when it re-opens with the island's first parking garage. A major concern is traffic. One idea is a bypass road from the Wailua River to Waipouli and Kapaa behind the hotel's grounds. Another idea is a widening of Rt 56 to 4 lanes, but it will shrink down again when it gets to the 2 land bridges.
Keali'i Reichel has a wonderful new a CD restrospective album, Kamahiwa. Look for it at mele.com
WIll Squyres Helicopters has merged with a company from Maui, and Will himself no longer flies scenic tours. The name may be the same but the company is different now.
National Transportation Safety Board has finally reached its decision regarding the helicopter crash of 2003 involving a bell jet ranger aircraft operated by Jack Harter Helicopters. NTSB has determined the cause of the crash to be pilot error, specifically that the pilot, a respected Navy veteran, falied to maintain proper altitude in the Waileale crater. 5 people including the pilot died in the incident.
Norman Ka`awa Solomon (see below) has come out with a CD of favorite Kauai songs, Na mele o' Kauai. Profits benefit children on Kauai. find it at songsoftheislands.com or at borders on Kauai.
New Surfing Hall of Fame on Kalapaki Bay features surf boards, film clips, beach party memorabilia, and the international surfing hall of fame. 808 632-2270
Hawaiian Blizzard shave ice stand next to Big Save in Kapaa makes wonderful flavors, and snow cap. www.hawaiianblizzard.com Say hi to Aaron!
Farmers Markets: Update the schedule to include the Hanalei market on Saturday 9:30 am; Kilauea starts at11:00 on Saturday.
For sweets, be sur to try a taro-based sweet called kulolo. It's available on the island at Pono Market--but only on thurs mornings.
East side: Lots of action here!
Blossoming Lotus ('vegan world fusion cuisine') on the main corner in downtown Kapa'a continues to win awards for inventive cuisine. Vegetarians, even vegans, and even diners with more ordninary tastes will find some great choices. Each day you can choose from healthful, homemade entrees, wraps, salads, baked goods, featuring fresh island fruits and vegetables. The Dining Room is built with environmentally friendly materials and often features local entertainment. Owner Mark Rendeld offer a beautiful new cookbook and an interesting website wowrldfusionweekly.com. He devotes a portion of his income to helping children on Kauai.
The old Blossoming Lotus location now features the bakery items that were so popular, and is still nextdoor to Mermaids Cafe which makes the largest, juciest, tasties ahi wrap on the island!
North Shore
On Fridays starting at 4pm, don't miss happy hour at Hanalei Bay Resort's Happy Talk Lounge. You can hear Normon Solomon play wonderful Hawaiian and contemporary music. A gifted composer, Norman will play songs from his latest album--you'll love Kalapaki which is really special. Norman's partner Darren plays great music as well, and his daughter sometimes dances. The free food is nothing to write a postcard home about, but the music is wonderful and the sunset, beyond compare! Come early to get a seat. A new Day Spa has opened at the remodeled Hanalei Colony Resort in Haena, including treatment rooms on the beach "hale" and yoga classes at 8:30 am (M, T, Th) in the ocean front dining room. (80) 826-6621. www.hanaleidayspa.com. This is a center for ayurveda, an ancient tradition of healing. An established Ayurveda center in Kilauea, Tri Health, can be reached at www.oilbath.com, with amazing synchronized four-hand massage.
South Shore
Piatti has re-named itself Plantation Gardens, back to its original name. Piatti chain owner Bob Harmon has given the business over to his son, so you will find some things changed. Bread comes with simple olive oil and vinegar instead of Piatti's strongly flavored olive spread, for example. The kitchen has kept its focus on fresh, local ingredients, and light, rather than heavy sauces. Not much for the vegan besides fresh salad, though vegetarians have some choices on the appetizer and entree menu.
New Adventures
Ziplining
Soar above the trees and rocks! Backcountry Kauai Adventures has developed a new adventure linking 7 ziplines across Kauai's verdant sugarcane land. Even the not-very adventurous soon get the hang of it and feel empowered, zipping across the jungle from platorm to platform. A second company Princeville Adventures also offers the zipline tours. See Mirah's Kauai Adventures
The same company has developed the Tubing adventure. Explore Kauai's upcountry lands via innertube, floating through the network of irrigation canals that once brought water to the sugar cane lands from the mountains to the sea. The adventure includes several tunnels (headlamps provided). Great fun for the whole family!
Just for Kids! The Na' Aina Kai Gardens has opened a section just for children. Enter the rainbow gate and explore kid-friendly features like a treehouse, a gecko-shaped maze complete with Jack and the Beanstalk. Visit the children's garden as part of the famil walking tour of the gardens, which includes the formal gardens, the poinciana maze, the tropical lagoon, japanese tea house, Shower Tree Park, and orchid house ($15/children and $25/adults). For those older than 13, longer tours range from 2-3 hours ($35) and 5 hrs ($70), to see all kinds botanical discoveries-a desert garden of cactus, an enormous shrubbery maze, even a garden of carnivorous plants which are misted by a clever overhead system, as well as groves of 40,000 hardwood trees of different varieties, an exhibit of beautiful statues, and a gazebo with a great ocean perch overlooking the spectacular north shore coastline just south of Rock quarry Beach (available for weddings). On Wailapa Road, Kilauea. The 3-hour tour by tram and on foot ($35/pp), as well as a 5 hour tour ($70/pp) which includes a box lunch). For more details, visit www.naainakai.com (808) 828-0525 Sierra Club organized Kauai hikes are published online at www.hi.sierraclub.org/Kauai/kauai-hikes.html
Kauai's Sugar Past and Present
Betsy and Doug from Tennessee consider the Gay & Robinson Sugarcane Plantation Tour the find of their trip! "This is one of the best tours we have taken on the island. It was scheduled for 2 hours but we stayed for 3 hours. The tour included a bus tour into the plantation with stops in front of the manager's home, then into the fields for information about growing the cane from seed cane to harvest (including observation of ongoing current harvesting activities & a sample tasting of fresh sugarcane cut from the field ). From the field, we went into the processing plant with hard hats & safety glasses (also required to wear closed toe shoes- tennis shoes). The tour of the plant include seeing every part of the process from unloading the cane to spinning into granular raw sugar. We were able to sample the simple sugar products in three stages of processing, from simple syrup, a thicker molasses like stage & then in raw sugar form. back at the field office, we were given a mall sample of the finished refined, raw washed sugar. Our tour guide was named "Audey" (spelling?). Great tour - best kept secret they we have found in our 6 trips to Kauai.For further information, the telephone number is 808-335-2824. The tour costs $30/person. I talked with Chris at the field office." The web site has lots of great info about sugar production and Hawaii: www.gandrtours-kauai.com or toursgnr@aloha.net