Kauai, Hawaii

 

Once in a while everyone needs to get away from the everyday grind and all the responsibilities that go with it but it’s rare that we actually go “off the grid” and just get lost. Part of the problem with taking a true vacation is that there is a finite list of places that afford you a vacuum of time and space devoid of the frenzy often associated with our modern lifestyles. I’m happy to report that Kauai is on that list. For one week you can live the carefree life you dream about during long days at work, the life that people on the island call being “down in the hole.”

The first thing that newcomers notice about Kauai is its greenness. If you’ve seen Ireland then you’ll know what I mean; Kauai, however, is different. The sun may shine more in one week on Kauai than perhaps the whole year in Ireland, and everything is lush. It is the Garden Isle after all. But that’s not what’s stayed with me, now back in my day to day. To me Kauai represents a feeling of being isolated in a laidback paradise, happy and content with what you have at any given moment.

Because cheap foreign labor outside the U.S. brought about the collapse of the sugarcane and pineapple industries, Hawaii’s central industry is now tourism, which is both a plus and a minus. It means that everyone there welcomes travelers to their island with open arms, but on some you’ll also be overwhelmed by over-priced touristy things. But Kauai has always been the quietest and most secluded of the four major Hawaiian Islands and it maintains a laidback, casual atmosphere. If you’re looking for designer shopping, massive resorts, and nightclubs, go to Honolulu.

Kauai is the kind of place that has a single-screen movie theatre showing a movie that already played in New York months ago and has a dinner dress code allowing for flip-flops (“slippers” in Hawaii) and swim trunks. Yes, they have wireless internet, cruise ships, and posh beach resorts, but it’s the kind of place that forces you not to care about those things, the kind of place that pulls you happily “down in the hole.”

With just under 70,000 people on the entire island, you won’t find big cities, but the island is rife with natural wonders to enjoy. You won’t miss the disco after you’ve watched the sun set golden and red over the water or felt the cool ocean breeze sweep through the tall grasses or stared up at misty clouds clinging to cliffs looming high above you.

Perhaps the most essential natural wonder of Kauai is the beach. On the southern tip of the island, the Poipu Beach area is the perfect place to experience the laidback Kauai lifestyle. Spending the day in the sun with green sea turtles, hundreds of colorful fish, the occasional Monk seal, and a good book is one of the most satisfying ways to relax and unwind. Native Hawaiians and tourists alike mingle on the beautiful white sand or crowd around the grills in the big, grassy park, filling the air with the aroma of seasoned meat and the sound of laughter. If you’re looking to challenge yourself physically, check out the easternmost bay along the Poipu Beach park. This narrow bay funnels sizeable waves toward the small strip of sand making it prime boogie boarding and body surfing territory.

There are some excellent restaurants in the Poipu area, but one of the most fun ways to eat is to make your own dinner on the beach and watch the sun set. You’ll find lots of great Hawaiian products at the grocery stores (Hawaiian pineapples are better than any you’ve tried … just trust me) but the freshest produce is found at the tiny street-side stands and farmer’s markets all over the island. The Kalaheo Sunshine Market, just up the road from Poipu, happens every Tuesday afternoon at 3PM. You have to get there early for the best selection of produce but what you find will be excellent and it’s a great place to experience the Kauai atmosphere.

It’s held in a community center parking lot stained red by the iron rich soil that’s tracked in by trucks from the farms. Six or seven vendors sit on the beds of the parked trucks or under the protection of large umbrellas and tarps with the week’s produce laid out in front of them. You can find all kinds of interesting things including apple bananas, guavas, butter avocados, Okinawa sweet potatoes, mangoes, dragon fruit, and Surinam cherries.

As we perused the wares, one sun wrinkled Hawaiian lady regaled us with a cautionary tale about tourists who bought some of her Okinawa sweet potatoes (delicious sweet potatoes with a unique, bright purple interior) without letting her explain the difference, boiled them at home, then tried to return them next week because they were purple. She kept up a pleasant string of chatter and gave us helpful instructions with a big grin, “Here, here, put a couple of these chiles in your soy sauce, then dip some chicken or beef in it, and you’ll fall in love. That’s what I do!”

The nearby town of Koloa, which was the sight of Hawaii’s first successful sugar mill, is also worth exploring. There was live music along the bank of the Waikomo Stream, protected from the sun by a massive tree. And you can get a shave ice, a famous red dirt T-shirt or any number of other gifts at some of the Old Town shops, but the Koloa Rum Co. just down the road is the real treat. It opened only a few years ago but the distillery already produces a line of excellent rums from white to gold to dark. If you visit the company store and tasting room you can even get free tastings of the different rums while chatting with the bartender at their on-site bar. Nothing helps beat the heat like a couple shots of rum mixed with their signature Mai Tai mix!

You should definitely go up to the northern tip of the island also. The road is narrow and windy because the area is sparsely populated but at the end you’ll find must see beaches like Ke’e and Tunnels. Ke’e Beach is a picturesque, white strip of sand perfect for tanning and looks out on sapphire blue water that begs for a swim while Tunnels Beach is a snorkeler’s paradise with beautiful corral formations, complete with deep trenches and lots of turtles and fish.

But perhaps the most famous landmark on the island is Waimea Canyon. Known as the “Grand Canyon of the Pacific,” this magnificent, high-elevation canyon may not rival the Grand Canyon in size but it definitely does in beauty. The long and winding Waimea Canyon Road provides several stunning lookout points where you can gaze on the bright red and green spattered cliffs. As you hop from one lookout to the other, absorbing the grandeur of Kauai’s crown jewel, you may find a whole afternoon disappearing and you won’t mind a bit. That’s the thing about Kauai. You cherish the lazy, carefree way in which time passes there.

As you descend from Waimea Canyon, you’ll go through a cute, sleepy little town named Waimea. There are some sizeable beaches nearby but no major attractions, except for a tiny yellow shack on the side of the road. Jo Jo’s Shave Ice is the best shave ice in Hawaii so people come from all over the island to get their fix. Even a place this popular, which could probably spawn a chain, remains a simple shack with ridiculously low prices and a sign that lists their hours as:

“9 or 10, sometimes 11, mostly 12 or 1,”

until

“5 or 6, sometimes 4, mostly 2 or 3”,

and then

only if the surf is low, there aren’t any luaus, and the employees feel like working.

Maybe they’re serious and maybe they’re not but you get the feeling that it doesn’t really matter. You’ll get your shave ice at some point and there’s plenty to do in the meantime. The sun is shining, the waves are rolling in, and people are having a good time. So, can you really blame them if they skip out on work once in a while? Sometimes, even Hawaiians need to disappear “down in the hole.”