Kaua'i Day One

This year for vacation, my bride and I decided to travel to the exotic state of Hawai'i (as the natives spell it correctly). We chose to split our time between the islands of Kaua'i and Mau'i. First came Kaua'i....

Day One was nothing really spectacular. Most of it was spent traveling. First, there was the 7 1/2 hour flight from Dallas to Honolulu, made much more enjoyable by the fact that we cashed in some frequent flier miles for first-class seats. Having made a transatlantic flight in 1995 in coach, we knew better...

Once in Honolulu, we boarded a 737 commuter flight to Lihu'e (Lihue), Kaua'i, site of the island's airport. Picking up our transportation, a green Jeep Wrangler, we began the journey to Princeville on the North Shore on the island's only major highway.

Of the main Hawaiian islands, Kaua'i has the largest proportion of sand beach shoreline. The island is only 553 square miles, with 50 of the 113 miles of shoreline composed of those sand beaches. The interior of the island is mountainous, with very deep valleys and large plains, as you'll see in some of our pictures.

It rains more on Kaua'i than any other Hawaiian island. In fact, the wettest spot on Earth is on Kaua'i, Mount Wai'ale'ale. It receives an average of 440.22 inches per year - that's more than 36 feet, far more than the famed jungles of Kilimanjaro.

We saw quite a bit of rain while on the Kalalau Trail, which you'll read about in the Day Two section. The higher the altitude, the more you'll see rain. Day Three was spent pretty much at sea level, and we saw only a few drops that lasted less than five minutes.

Folks from the Gulf Coast area will feel right at home in Kaua'i - rains for ten minutes at a time and is very humid. Unlike a lot of the Gulf South, however, the temperature rarely hits 90 degrees Farenheit.

Temperature's not so much a problem on Kaua'i as is exposure to direct sunlight. Kaua'i receives more direct sunlight than anywhere you'll find on the mainland, since the continental United States is so much further north than the state of Hawai'i. Minimum strength sunblock here is SPF 15.

Hollywood loves Kaua'i. Because of the low population - just over 50,000 - and the mostly mountainous terrain, there are no large urban centers other than Lihu'e and Port Allen. This means there are lots of great locations for filming. Some films you may be familiar with that have shot on Kaua'i: Jurassic Park, its sequel, The Lost World, Six Days, Seven Nights, starring Harrison Ford and Anne Heche, Mighty Joe Young, George of the Jungle, Outbreak, Honeymoon in Vegas, Flight of the Intruder, The Thorn Birds, Gene Hackman's Vietnam POW film Uncommon Valor, Raiders of the Lost Ark, the 1976 remake of King Kong, Girls! Girls! Girls!, Blue Hawai'i, and the classic South Pacific.

Our accomodations on Kaua'i are at the fabulous Princeville Resort in Princeville, a private community of resorts, condominiums, and golf course and beachfront homes. It is named for Prince Albert, the son of King Kamehameha IV who died at age 4.

Much of the facts that are included here and throughout our vacation sections came from Andrew Doughty and Harriett Friedman's excellent The Ultimate Kaua'i Guidebook, Third Edition. You can pick it up from any of the major booksellers, and we highly recommend it.

Updates will be posted as our regular pictures are developed. We'll let you know when!

You can go on to Day Two.

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