Kauai: Jurassic Park Set, the Largest Coffee Farm in America and 4000-Foot Cliffs Entered Only by Boat
Round the entire Na Pali Coast by catamaran seeing sea caves and waterfall cliffs inaccessible by land, recognize Allerton Garden as Jurassic Park and Lumahai Beach as South Pacific in the most filmed island on earth, taste and tour the 3100-acre Kauai Coffee Estate the largest single coffee farm in the United States, book your Haena State Park day-use permit months ahead for the Ke e Beach snorkel lagoon and Kalalau trailhead, stay at the St. Regis Princeville above Hanalei Bay with waterfalls cascading off Na Pali ridgelines, and rent a car because there are no traffic lights on this island of 73000 people and hundreds of thousands of visitors.
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Napali Coast Boat Tours
The Na Pali Coast seen from the water on a boat or zodiac raft tour is arguably the most dramatic coastal scenery in the United States, with 4,000-foot fluted lava cliffs descending directly into the Pacific, sea caves accessible only by water, and waterfalls emerging from the cliff face during wet periods. Catamaran tours from Port Allen on the south shore in calm summer conditions round the entire Na Pali Coast to reach Kalalau Valley from the sea. Zodiac raft tours enter sea caves inaccessible to larger vessels. Whale watching from these vessels from December through April adds humpback sightings to the coastal scenery. Spinner dolphins regularly accompany boats along the coast. The coastline has no roads and no development, preserved as the Na Pali Coast State Wilderness Park.
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Kauai Film and Television History
Kauai is the most filmed island in Hawaii and one of the most filmed landscapes in the world, with over 70 major films and television productions shot on location since 1933. Jurassic Park was filmed primarily at the Allerton Garden, Manawaiopuna Falls accessible only by helicopter, and north shore locations. Raiders of the Lost Ark opening sequence was filmed at Honopu Beach on the Na Pali Coast. South Pacific was filmed at Lumahai Beach on the north shore. King Kong, Tropic Thunder, Pirates of the Caribbean, and many other productions used the dramatic valley and cliff landscapes. The concentration of film production has made helicopter tours over the Na Pali Coast a standard Kauai activity since the 1980s. Blue Hawaiian Helicopters and Papillon offer tours departing Lihue Airport.
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Kauai Coffee and Agriculture
The Kauai Coffee Estate on the south shore near Eleele, covering 3,100 acres and producing over 4 million pounds of green coffee annually, is the largest coffee producer in the United States and the largest single coffee estate in the country. The estate grows arabica coffee varieties including typica, yellow catuai, and blue mountain and offers self-guided tours of the plantation and free tastings. Kauai historically had a significant sugar industry with plantations covering most of the flat coastal land until the last plantation, Gay and Robinson, closed in 2009. The agricultural landscape of former sugar fields, now used for cattle ranching, seed corn production, and diversified farming, gives the island a rural character unusual among Hawaiian destinations. Kauai also produces taro, vanilla, cacao, diversified vegetables, and tropical fruits for local and export markets.
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Ke e Beach and Haena State Park
Ke e Beach at the end of Highway 560 on the north shore of Kauai, within Haena State Park, is the trailhead for the Kalalau Trail and one of the most beautiful small beaches in Hawaii, with a sheltered reef lagoon providing safe snorkeling in summer. A day-use permit system implemented in 2019 limits visitors to 900 per day and requires advance reservation. The Taylor Camp at Ke e Beach, an informal commune that occupied the land from 1969 to 1977 and was home to over 100 counterculture residents, was the most famous hippie community in Hawaii. The adjacent Limahuli Garden, a National Tropical Botanical Garden unit in a deep valley above the coast, preserves native Hawaiian plants and ancient taro cultivation terraces. Maniniholo Dry Cave and Waiakapala e Wet Cave at Haena are lava tube formations with cultural and geological significance.
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Princeville and North Shore Resorts
Princeville, a master-planned resort community on a plateau above Hanalei Bay on the north shore, was developed beginning in the 1970s on former plantation land and takes its name from Prince Albert, the infant son of King Kamehameha IV who visited the area in 1860. The St. Regis Princeville Resort on the cliff edge above Hanalei Bay occupies one of the most dramatic resort settings in the Pacific. The north shore receives more rain than the south shore, particularly in winter, which keeps the landscape dramatically green and produces the waterfalls cascading off the Na Pali ridgelines that make the scenery spectacular. Anini Beach County Park at the base of the Princeville plateau is a sheltered reef beach with excellent windsurfing conditions. The Princeville Makai Golf Course designed by Robert Trent Jones Jr. has ocean cliff views.
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Kauai Practical Guide and Access
Lihue Airport on the east coast of Kauai receives direct mainland flights from Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, and Phoenix in addition to frequent interisland connections from Honolulu in 20 minutes. There is no public bus system adequate for tourist exploration; a rental car is essential. Kauai has no traffic lights and few traffic signals, reflecting its rural character. The north shore Highway 560 to Haena State Park requires advance day-use permits for the peak season. Kauai has only 73,000 permanent residents, far fewer than the hundreds of thousands of annual visitors. The island is roughly circular with a diameter of 25 miles. The interior mountains are inaccessible by road. Water activities including kayaking, snorkeling, and surfing are the primary outdoor pursuits. Hurricane Iniki in September 1992 caused the most severe damage of any hurricane to strike the Hawaiian Islands in recorded history, destroying much of the island infrastructure.