Return to the Garden Isle - Kauai Island, Hawaii

Sunset, Jan, 1997 by Jeff Phillips

News this winter is on the beach. Sheraton Kauai plans to begin rebuilding its 413-room beachfront hotel, with opening scheduled for late '97. But more exciting is the long-awaited reconstruction of facilities and landscaping at Poipu Beach County Park, which should be finished by February.

Recently expanded to stretch over 4 acres of sandy and rocky shorefront, Poipu Beach County Park now includes access to the south shore's best fish-watching (snorkel off the park's westernmost point), best sheltered wading cove for small children (there's a lifeguard), and the once and - it's hoped - future bodysurfing break at Brennecke's Beach. The hurricane stripped this cove of both its sand and its surf, but oceanographers believe a new revetment, 200 truckloads of sand, and a little more time will help restore this legendary break.

Poipu offers plenty of other coastal discoveries. The resort area's main access is Maluhia Road (County 520), which forks 5 miles south of State 50, becoming Poipu Road heading east and Lawai Road heading west. Those looking for (or, more likely, wanting to look at) serious bodysurf and boogie-board action follow Poipu Road east to Shipwreck Beach (access is on the east side of the tastefully opulent Hyatt). Not a place for the inexperienced even to wade, Shipwreck is where you'll see hotshot boogie boarders practice flips and spins and occasionally catch some air.

For more secluded sand, continue east past the manicured oceanfront fairways of the Poipu Bay Golf Course and beyond where the street becomes a gravel cane road. Exactly 1.8 miles from the Hyatt, turn right on a branch road that leads past a gate to Mahaulepu Beach. Walk far enough in either direction on this expansive, sun-washed strand and you'll find pockets of dunes perfect for an intimate picnic or undisturbed nap. (Be sure to leave before the posted closing time.)

To the west, along Lawai Road, the sandy cove next to the Beach House Restaurant is another top snorkeling spot. For some "hydrotechnics" on big-swell days, continue out to Spouting Horn County Park to watch - and hear - the ocean whoosh through a lava blowhole. The west end of the parking lot here is where tours of the National Tropical Botanical Garden begin.

Combining the classic 1930s gardens of a private estate with collections of the nation's only congressionally chartered tropical botanical garden, the NTBG site is the distilled essence of the Garden Isle. From the parking area, a vintage touring car takes you along an old sugarcane train railbed down into Lawai Valley, most of which now shelters a landmark assemblage of rare and endangered tropical plants, including the world's largest collection of native Hawaiian flora - about 690 species. At the mouth of the valley is the lovingly crafted garden of the estate of Robert and John Gregg Allerton, whose fountains, sculptures, and pools are the focus of a guided walking tour.

Tours of Kauai's gardens aren't limited to the NTBG. Just beyond Kalaheo, the Olu Pua Botanical Gardens and Plantation offers an hour-long guided stroll through a pineapple plantation house and its carefully manicured gardens.