Chapter 21, Kauai, Hanalei, “The end of the road.”

 

Unlike Maui and the Big Island, the road ends at the Na Pali coastline nine miles from Hanalei. A life guard shack at Ke’e Beach will stop you on route 560.

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Great snorkeling at Ke’e Beach, but not today with the high waves.
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A small wave in comparison to some that we have seen. But, this wave had a lot of power.

People come here to swim and snorkel. But, the major activity is to walk the Kalalau Trail. It goes for 11 miles, but it is rugged. We did two miles of this trail back in 1998. There are some beautiful vistas but the trails in Kauai are very strenuous and only for the very experienced hiker. At each trail, the signs indicate that the trail is dangerous with steep drop-offs!!

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My 2012 picture of looking down the Na’Pali coastline.

The Na Pali coast is where many of the Hollywood pictures have been filmed like Jurassic Park and the classic, “Six days, Seven nights.” There are parts of these mountains that get over 400 inches of rain—the rainiest spot in the world allegedly.

A few miles from Princeville, across a one lane bridge, is a small village of Hanalei. The bridge has not changed for years. With the amount of traffic, the custom is to allow “five to seven” cars go through at a time. The system works, but we did see a few abuses of eight and ten cars at a time.

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A local custom of five to seven cars at a time. It works pretty well.

There are way too many trucks in Hawaii. Trucks of all types. You can tell the tourists because many of them—not us—drive jeeps and convertible mustangs.

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I thought this was an awesome design for this truck. Most trucks are dirty red from the soil.
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This is not a truck, but one of many “odd” cars you may see in Kauai.
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An Austrian military truck known as a “Pinzgauer.” The owner purchased it in Florida for 10k, shipped it to Kauai for 4K. The elephant design on the truck is a symbol to “protect the elephants.”

Since our first visit in 1998, Hanalei has changed very little—and people want to keep it that way. It has a “hippie” motif. Let not the old buildings fool you. The homes are extremely expensive in the area.  I liked the street named, “Mahi Mahi.”

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This home was right on Hanalei Bay.
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This home is known as “The Surfboard House.” It is on a side street.
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Many of the homes are up on stilts. This guy exaggerated those stilts. Must be a haul to go up and down.
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One of the larger homes on Hanalei Bay area. A big Norfolk pine does not make it into the picture.

We found the GMO issue to be very important to many Hawaiians.  Much of the farming is done right here on Kauai.  Many feel strongly against GMO.

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This issue of GMO has been an on-going debate in Hawaii for several years. I only learned about it through Dr. Oz.

Hanalei Bay, a block away from the village is a wonderful beach filled with incredible views.

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In the summer time, it is calm enough to moor sailboats.
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There are many paintings, photographs and even movies that picture this pier in Hanalei Bay.
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I was impressed that the wheel chair did not stop this man from boarding around Hanalei Bay.
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During a rain storm, we caught this rainbow over Hanalei Bay

Every Saturday morning there is a Hanalei farmers market. We came across Keoni Durant at the Saturday market. He is known for his wood carvings.

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We first saw Keoni in 2012 and he is still at it in 2015

The first Saturday of every month is a “surfboard swap.” It is really neat to see all the surfboards and people looking at them. Surfing is the major sport here.

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The first Saturday of every month is a “surfboard swap” in Hanalei.
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The mountains are an incredible backdrop to Hanalei Bay.

Andy Irons came from Hanalei. He was a famous surfer. He died in 2010. Andy is highly remembered in these parts.

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Andy is well loved in Kauai.
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A mural of Andy Irons made recently in 2015 shows his likeness.

We have met several interesting people. Kelly Confers has lived in the area for 22 years. He is a well-liked carpenter. We have seen his work at one of the restaurants. He was born in 1955—the same year as Steven Jobs and Bill Gates, and myself—and will turn 60 this year. Kelly refuses, though, to own a computer, and thus he will never see his picture.

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Kelly Confers, a friendly local for 22 years in Hanalei. He is also a super carpenter.

It seems the Hanalei Gourmet Cafe is the place to meet people. We met Renza and Donald.     Renza has a beauty salon in San Francisco. We connected to her immediately—as Kathie once owned a salon—but Renza actually once lived in Port St. Lucie, a community just north of us. It is a small, small world!

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Renza in the middle once lived in Port St. Lucie. Both Renza and Donald live in San Francisco.

We ran into Ken and Cindy Johnson, not once, but four times. They live 30 miles north of Manhattan and both worked on Wall Street. They also own a home on Martha’s Vineyard which they rent out for 9K a week during summer season. They are right across from the ocean where the movie “Jaws” took place.

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Cindy and Ked Johnson retired from Wall Street. We shared memories of “Super Paradise” Beach in Mykonos, Greece. They go camping in their classic 1991 VW camper.

You may have seen the movie, “Descendants” with George Clooney which was partially filmed in Hanalei Bay area. There is a restaurant scene that took place at a restaurant named Tahiti Nui. The restaurant is known for its good pizza. Some people describe Tahiti Nui as a “dive bar.”

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This photo from “Descendants” hangs in the Tahiti Nui restaurant. Notice the red flowery bar area.
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Ok, I know it is “cheesy” to sit in the same area as George Clooney…..

The bartender, Julia, actually had a small part in the movie. She lights up as she tells the story.

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Julia has been working in Hanalei for 42 years. She was actually surprised to find out that her speaking part was not cut-out from the movie, “Descendants.”

When it rains off the mountains, you can see “waterfalls” of white streaks coming down.

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Plenty of waterfalls off the mountains when the clouds roll through.

We met a lawyer from Nashville at Akaka Falls on the Big Island who said, “It’s an AFW.”  “What do you mean by AFW,” we asked.  “You see so many waterfalls in Hawaii, the experience becomes, as he states, “Another F…king Waterfall.”  We have never felt that way.  Just down the road we saw the beautiful Wailua Falls.

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The Wailua Falls actually had a “rainbow” across. The sun came out!

There is a reason why everything is so green, it does rain in the northern part of Kauai. We have been here when we have had plenty of sun. For the last 13 days, though, we have had rain every day. We see now why people vacation in a sunnier area of Kauai, known as Poipu. Every once in a while the sun does show itself and we caught another nice sunset over Hanalei Bay.

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Sunset over Hanalei Bay, May 2015

 

 

 

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