Archive for March, 2008
Hulopo'e Beach
South Lanai,
approximately 13 miles from Lanai City
Hulopo’e Beach on Lanai has been ranked as one of the world’s best beaches. In fact, in 1997 Dr. Stephen Letherman, a professional beach surveyor known as Dr. Beach, ranked Hulopo’e has the best beach in the entire United States. The golden sand beach fringed by palms and protected by fingers of coral, makes it one of the best spots in the islands. When you picture paradise, you picture a beach like Hulopo’e, the blue water sparkling and gently lapping onto the golden sand shores as palms sway in the breeze above. It is truly a magical spot.
Because of the protection provided by unique coral formations, Hulopo’e beach is the safest and best swimming spot in Lanai and offers great snorkeling, scuba diving, swimming and body boarding opportunities. The beach is also part of an extensive marine conservation preserve that stretches all the way from the shores of Maui to the south shore of Lanai The preserve is teeming with colorful tropical fish and humpback whales can be seen off shore in the winter months. The coral and rock formations in the shallower waters also provide great tide pooling opportunities during low tides.
Date: March 31st, 2008 |
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Garden of the Gods
Lanai,
approximately 7 miles outside of Lanai City
Lanai is the often forgotten and much more remote island in the Hawaiian archipelago. Consisting of a gigantic pineapple plantation for decades owned by Hawaii’s pineapple king James Dole, there is less development and fewer places to stay for visitors. But for tourists who want to get off the beaten path in Hawaii, Lanai offers a plethora of unique and interesting landscapes. One popular spot for tourists is the Garden of the Gods in North Central Lanai. The moon-like landscape of red and purple soil and interesting rock makes you feel like you are visiting another planet. The area got its name from the ancient Hawaiian people who thought the rock formations and boulders looked like they had been dropped from the sky by the gods tending their gardens. The unique formations were actually created by thousands of years or erosion, which created the rock pinnacles and buttes in the remote canyon area. The landscape gets an even more eerie feel by the dry wind the often blows through this area.
Date: March 26th, 2008 |
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Haena Beach Park
Kauai’s North Shore,
5-10 minutes north of Hanalei on Highway 56
Haena Beach Park is a favorite camping spot for both visitors and locals. Located on the very end of the North Shore of Kauai, the park sits at the edge of the Na Pali coast and is just a short walk to the famous snorkeling and swimming beach Tunnels. Haena is a small park (about 5.5 acres) situated just at the base of a green velvet coasted mountain looking out over turquiose colored surf. It offers a grassy picnic area with tables and benches, restrooms, cold showers, shady trees and camping spots.
Date: March 21st, 2008 |
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Boogie Boarding
If you’re craving to ride some famous Hawaiian waves, but not sure if you’re up for grueling effort to learn how to surf, than body boarding (aka boogie boarding) might be the perfect activity for your island vacation. Body boards, which are more commonly known as boogie boards, can be found anywhere from drug stores to surf shops. And unless you are looking to haul your boogie board on the plane home, your best bet is probably to rent one at a local shop for about $10-$12 a day. Most shops will even throw in a pair of flippers for free or for a couple extra bucks (which makes trying to catch those waves a lot easier).
Date: March 20th, 2008 |
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Kilauea Point National Wildlife Refuge
Hawaii is an excellent vacation destination for anyone who likes nature - whether that means hiking or surfing over it, or spending time quietly bird-watching. One especially great spot for nature-lovers is in Kauai, at the Kilauea Point National Wildlife Refuge.
Set up in 1985, the Kilauea National Wildlife Refuge is part of the U.S. Government’s Fish & Wildlife Services department and is home to several species of birds. The point itself is a narrow lava rock formation which juts out into the ocean, and it happens to be not only the northernmost point on Kauai but also the northernmost point of the main Hawaiian islands as well. Most wildlife refuges in Hawaii aren’t open to public visitors, but this one is - and it gets more than 300,000 visitors coming through each year.
Date: March 19th, 2008 |
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ATV Tours on Kauai
You’ve seen those pictures of sunbathing beauties on Hawaii’s white sandy beaches, and you’ve thought, “But doesn’t that get boring after awhile?” You are clearly one of the people who needs to get up and do something now and then. So, for you, we offer ATV tours on Kauai.
Much of the island of Kauai is uninhabited and wild, making it perfect for exploring from the back of an All-Terrain Vehicle. Even if you’re not an experienced ATV rider, you can sign up with a guided tour and get all the instruction and safety equipment you’ll need to have a fun adventure trip through the Garden Isle. Or, if you prefer not to drive at all, there are also dune buggies which seat six people, so as long as someone else in your group is interested in being the pilot you can sit back and relax. Well, maybe not relax…
Each ATV tour on Kauai includes different sights, so make sure you look at what each company is offering to make sure you’re going to get what you want out of it. Some of the destinations included on the various tours include former sugar cane plantations, rain forests with secluded waterfalls, working cattle ranches and points along beautiful valleys. Generally speaking, the tours last several hours and include a meal or snacks in the price of the ticket.
Date: March 27th, 2008 |
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Maui's Best Restaurant? Hali'imaile General Store
When you hear the name Hali’imaile General Store you probably aren’t thinking of fine dining. You’re probably thinking of a place to pop in and grab a carton of milk or loaf of bread on the way home. But that’s part of the charm of the Hali’imaile General Store - it’s a three-star restaurant in Maui, routinely listed as one of the best restaurants on Maui.
Executive chef and mastermind behind the Hali’imaile General Store is Bev Gannon, who is a Hawaii transplant who has become an award-winning chef. She’s known for her excellent Hawaiian recipes and has even published a cookbook full of them. To sample some of her famous food yourself - without the work of actually cooking it - having a meal at Hali’imaile General Store is a great idea. A meal at Hali’imaile isn’t cheap, but if you’re looking for a special place to have a great and romantic meal with your sweetheart, this is the place.
Date: March 25th, 2008 |
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Molokini
When I first saw the name “Molokini” I assumed it was either a new kind of tiny swimsuit or a fruity but potent cocktail. Thankfully, I was wrong on both counts.
Molokini is a tiny crescent-shaped island off the coast of Maui, and it’s a great spot for snorkeling and diving. Its distinct shape is half of a volcanic crater being above water, although Hawaiian legend holds that the island is part of the body of the goddess Molokini. Regardless of the island’s origins, Molokini is a beautiful spot off the southern coast of Maui. The Molokini volcano underneath the water reportedly last erupted more than 200,000 years ago, so visitors shouldn’t worry too much about it.
The tiny island - an islet, really - of Molokini is a haven for diving and snorkeling, partly because of the abundance of sea life that just naturally exists around Hawaii and partly because the volcano’s crater means that waters in certain parts are only 35 feet deep. This makes it a great spot for beginners, although even experienced divers will appreciate what Molokini has to offer. For instance, there’s an underwater wall that goes down 70 feet, and around the back side of the crater the ocean floor drops down 350 feet. One of the charms of Molokini that makes it such a great spot for checking out what’s going on underwater is that the water around the island is stunningly clear most of the time.
Date: March 21st, 2008 |
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Free Hawaii Travel Guide
Even if you’re one of the people who has stopped getting travel guides in book form, instead planning all your trips by using the vast resources available on the internet, you might find yourself wanting some actual paper in your hands when you’re staring at a building and you don’t remember why it’s important. Sure, you read it online before you left home, but how are you supposed to remember all that stuff? Well, just because you don’t want to carry the extra weight of an entire guidebook doesn’t mean you have to give up on paper altogether. Let us …
Date: March 19th, 2008 |
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Nu'uanu Pali Lookout on Oahu
Oahu may be dreadfully overcrowded, especially as compared to some of the other islands in the Hawaiian chain, but there is plenty to see and do here which can make it worth a trip. One of the more spectacular views on the entire island is from the Nu’uanu Pali Lookout on the Pali Highway. It’s the highest point along the highway, and has historic importance as well as just being beautiful.
The Pali lookout is part of the Nuuanu Pali State Park, which is open every day. The lookout point is roughly 1,000 feet up, and it’s incredibly windy up there - so you are well advised to leave anything that might blow off in the car. That means hats of any kind, and any scarves that aren’t firmly tied down. In fact, when you go, keep a tight hold on the kids, or any light-weight members of your family!
Date: March 17th, 2008 |
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