Captain Cook Never Sailed Here It’s a long line from the old salt to the swarms at Waikiki. So real Hawaiians head for the far sides of paradise.
Our boots begin to smolder as we walk across the beach. All around, pinpricks of light bob in the darkness as other hikers hop gingerly from foot to foot. Then, with a noisy hiss, crackle, and spit, another wave of molten rock hits the Pacific, rolling instantly into glowing, red-neon balls. The 2,100-degree lava burns for a moment beneath the Hawaii is constantly being remade. Large swaths of it have become everything that adventuresome travelers dread: crammed, canned, plasticized, mai taied. But other pockets of Hawaii remain as they always have been: serene, lush, silent. And empty. Paradoxically, the more tour groups and honeymooners crowd Waikiki and Honolulu, the quieter the island backcountry can seem. Too But you can have this Hawaii 鈥 and have it to yourself 鈥 if you’re willing to leave behind both established resorts and voguish preconceptions of the islands. Pack a lunch and a tide chart and kayak out to an evanescent sandbar. Swim to a remote beach accessible only by boat. Stare out for hours over a sea devoid of ships, populated by humpbacks, and ————————————————–
Puu Kukui, Maui For most of this century, Puu Kukui has been off-limits to outsiders. Considered by early Hawaiians to be the connecting point between heaven and earth, this high, clouded mountain has been owned by the Maui Land and Pineapple company since the late 1800s. When it proved poor for pineapple cultivation, the company turned it into Hawaii’s largest private nature preserve. Until now. Beginning in 1996, this 8,661-acre plot, home to more rare native plants and birds than anywhere else in Hawaii, has been thrown open to visitors once a year 鈥 but only to the few and the lucky. Under the auspices of the Kapalua Nature Society, a lottery is used to choose 12 hikers per year (out of about 35 applicants). This exclusive little group gathers in For our once-in-a-lifetime trek, it’s gently raining. It usually is. Puu Kukui is one of the wettest places on earth. This perpetual sogginess discourages deep root structures, so most of the plants, including trees, are miniaturized, bonsai-like. We clamber from the helicopter landing onto a wooden boardwalk, the only evidence of human presence in this tropical wetscape. As we To enter the lottery for next year’s Puu Kukui hike, call 800-527-2582 for an application. The hike will be held June 14. Cost to the winners is $500, including helicopter transport to and from the forest. ———————————————————————————————–
The Forbidden Island, Niihau extraordinarily isolated, home to only about 230 native Hawaiians, 8,000 wild boars, 12,000 wild sheep, and no alcohol (the island is dry). It’s also a stubborn redoubt of Hawaiian culture. Most of the residents speak dialect. They work for the Robinsons. They live in houses without running water or indoor plumbing. And many of them leave Niihau rarely, if at all. All of which makes a visit to the island memorable but troubling. This is Hawaii as fiercely private fiefdom. It’s also Hawaii as collective tourism dream: beautiful, sun-drenched, undeveloped. Should you decide to visit, Niihau Helicopters will take you from Burns Field, on Kauai, to Niihau’s Keanahaki Bay ($250 per person; 808-335-3500). You can beachcomb and snorkel until If you’re uncomfortable with the rules of Niihau, set as they are by the unseen Robinsons, you can still enjoy the island’s unspoiled nature by remaining nearby 鈥 but offshore. Less than a mile north of Niihau, at the half-sunken crater island called Lehua, is one of the finest, least-known dive sites in Hawaii. It’s also, appropriately, forbidding, though not forbidden. ———————————————————————————————–
Ahu O Laka, Oahu Because to find the best of Oahu, you need a kayak. One of the loveliest spots in all of the Hawaiis sits only intermittently at the edge of Kaneohe Bay, on Oahu’s Windward Coast. The bay, as pretty as any in Tahiti, indents the coast for miles at the foot of the spiky Koolau range. Its cobalt and turquoise waters harbor unmatched snorkeling and swimming spots. Unfortunately, You can escape them 鈥 you can, in fact, have your own private Hawaiian island 鈥 by paddling to tiny Ahu O Laka, a four-acre islet on the fringe of the bay. At low tide Ahu O Laka provides a spectacular vista, a sweeping 360-degree view of Kaneohe Bay and the green mountains behind. Then, at high tide, Ahu O Laka disappears. To reach this lovely but submersible bit of real estate, rent a kayak at Kailua Sailboards and Kayaks ($28 per day; 808-262-2555). Then head for funky Heeia Pier, about ten miles north of Kailua. The pier’s version of overdevelopment is one bait shop/snack bar/gas pump. Try to reach Heeia early, when pinkish sunlight glints off the Koolau range’s corrugated cliffs and ———————————————————————————————–
Haleakala, Maui there’s a parched, desert look to this landscape, beautiful, but in a gaunt, Wild West kind of way. This ain’t honeymooning country. But it is Hawaii. We’re on the southern flanks of Haleakala, spiritual center of Maui. Most visitors make the standard pilgrimage to the peak’s summit for sunrise. But equally impressive, while much less frequented, is the smoldering, ashy crater we’re riding toward, midway up the mountain, site of the volcano’s last great eruption. We rein in. We’ve been riding for two hours since leaving the stables. Now, just ahead, a jagged, dirt-banked crater rises. A telltale swirl of 200-year-old lava laps its top like dried frosting. We dismount and soberly stare into its depths. Somewhere far below, lava bubbles. Haleakala remains the world’s largest dormant volcano. Remounting, we ride back down the dirt path to the shore. At trail’s end, we enter the Ahihi-Kinau Natural Area Reserve. Fingers of lava reach all the way into the waters here. Neon-bright fish play in the volcanic tidepools. This is the Hawaii honeymooners seek. The crater we just left created it. To arrange a horseback tour of Maui’s volcanic backcountry, call Makena Stables in Makena (808-879-0244). A two-hour trail ride costs $99; a guided three-hour sunset tour is $130. ———————————————————————————————–
Milolii Beach, Kauai Kauai’s Na Pali coast 鈥 inevitably called the “rugged” Na Pali coast in guidebooks 鈥 has stood in for paradise in everything from King Kong to Gilligan’s Island. A beachscape that adaptable can accommodate all variety of run-away-from-life dreams, especially since Na Pali’s beaches are accessible only by boat, and semi-accessible even then. An inflatable Zodiac To arrange your own island drop-off, call Captain Zodiac Raft Expeditions (800-422-7824 or 808-826-9371). The boats leave from Kauai’s Tunnel Beach at prearranged times for prices from $68-$120.
Rick Carroll is the author of Great Outdoor 国产吃瓜黑料s of Hawaii and the editor of Travelers’ Tales Hawaii, to be published next fall. |
Captain Cook Never Sailed Here
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