Camping on Kauai

Updated: I have made some changes and additions in the last paragraphs.

Ever since I suggested that people send me questions, I’ve been getting some great topics for new blog posts. Ariane writes:

loved your blog - very helpful and interesting, better than any book info i’ve seen so far

Thanks for the encouraging words. I’ve often thought I should write a book about Kauai, but writing the blog is all I have time to do for now (and barely at that). Posting reviews and critiques of existing guidebooks is something I want to do but haven’t gotten around to either.

any advice on a great camp site that is not too crowded or buggy, near the beach or water would be ideal with some toilet facilities - for our base camp or do you suggest just trying one or two nites in different places?? to get the permits, you have to tell them where you want to camp each exact day…

My wife and I camped every night on my first (her third) trip to Kauai, and we loved it. We had a rental car and moved around every day or two, in order to see the whole island. We backpacked to Kalalau, and except for some shopping and restaurants, we spent the entire 10 days outdoors.

I would at least suggest you split your time between the north and south shores. All campgrounds except Kokee are at beach parks, and you can usually pitch your tent on the grass right next to the sand (camping on the beach is illegal and unsafe). All have toilets, some better than others, but all are useable. I think they all have cold showers (even Kokee!), some with privacy, some not. Bugs tend not to be a problem because it’s often breezy, but they are around so bring repellent if you’re sensitive.

Our favorite campgrounds are Anini in the north (though Haena is better for staging a Kalalau hike) and Salt Pond in the south (Polihale is more beautiful, but more out of the way). And of course, as hikers you should probably consider Kokee if you don’t mind the “cold” (down into the 30’s or 40’s possible at night this time of year). There isn’t much camping on the east side, both Lydgate and Hanamaulu beach parks tend to be overrun with homeless, so hike the Sleeping Giant or kayak the Wailua river (both recommended) on your way north or south. Actually, Anahola beach park is OK and not too far away.

The only other suggestion I have is to double book the state campgrounds (Polihale and Kokee) with county campgrounds as backups. The permits aren’t that expensive, and that way you have the flexibility to change depending on your mood or the weather. Kokee is fairly miserable if it’s stormy, and Polihale is a long drive you don’t want to do in the dark. I realize that double booking is not very respectful of other users, but since campgrounds only fill up on holiday weekends, I don’t imagine you will be keeping someone else out (Kokee does fill up, but it should be your primary choice). We also double booked county parks both north and south, but I don’t know if they’ll let you do that anymore.

I should do a bit of research and ask the county park division about the number of permits they issue for each campground and what they think about double booking. Also, when you’re finally on-island, you can always go to the parks office and change your reservations. I would prefer a self-registration at each campground instead of the advance reservation system, it would make weekend camping more spontaneous. But it does avoid having designated tent sites (most campgrounds are just open fields) and it allows the state to limit the number of consecutive nights, a limit which is intended to make it illegal for homeless and vagrants to stay in campgrounds.

About vagrants in the parks: the booming real-estate on Kauai makes housing very expensive, and several hundred people have nowhere to live except near facilities at beach parks. There are also people who choose to live out of their vehicles, moving around from beach to beach. Most of these people keep to themselves, but they are friendly and you might not even guess their situation. Parks of all sorts also attract late-night drug deals, which by their nature you’re unlikely to witness.

However, like anywhere, you should stay away from drug users and drinkers who sometimes hang out at park pavillions after dark. Avoid going near and being seen by noisy gatherings, never confront or provoke rowdy people, and play down or dissipate any words or actions directed at you. Some people on Kauai do resent tourists, and drinking or smoking ice (crystal methamphetamine) can make them violent. If you are being followed, do not go back to your tent for a while. If you feel threatened in any way, call 911—cell phones usually have reception and I think all parks have a pay phone.

In several years of camping out, we have been had only one confrontation where a drunk yelled something at my wife going to the restroom in the middle of the night in Haena. It scared her and almost ruined her stay, but we were never in any danger. We also once saw a burnt-down tent at Polihale and heard that a camper did something to anger a group of local young men. I read about such instances about once a year in the newspaper, most recently this inconclusive story back in October 2006. While such actions are not excusable, they can almost always be explained by some provocation by the victims, often “homeless” or drug users themselves—in other words, not typical campers.

Anini Beach park tends to have the least incidents because it is surrounded by multi-million dollar houses and vacation rentals. I think this leads to more police patrols, and I’ve heard that residents will report suspicious vehicles. Though it’s a fine line between protecting the public and harassing ordinary people, as demonstrated by this week’s news story. I’ve also heard about noisy drunks threatening someone at Anini, but I don’t know the whole story. In conclusion, don’t let your camping trip be dictated or ruined by fear, but exercise normal precautions and avoid any situations.

Update: here is a link to a 2002 travel journal that corroborates much of what I say about vagrants (start reading at 17.03.2002; there is a photo link but they do not display).

Snorkeling Photos

I don’t know whether I’m more excited to have an underwater digital camera or to show you the photos I took with it. I’ll start with the photos here and present the camera in another post.

Yesterday, we went snorkeling at Beach House beach, the tiny beach in Poipu that has the best snorkeling on the south shore. And because the waves are too high to swim on the north shore right now, it’s the best place on the island. It’s also in all the guide books, so it gets pretty crowded, but the fish are still there and don’t seem to suffer. We sometimes feed them fish food that we buy at the dive shop on the road to Poipu (Koloa Rd.), it attracts a big swarm of fish, although not the prettiest ones. Without food, you’ll still see lots of fish, just perhaps not as close:

During the fish feeding frenzy, I was able to catch this close up of a racoon butterflyfish (kikakapu in Hawaiian, meaning “strongly prohibited” apparently because they were sacred):

Later, I photographed this threadfin butterflyfish (also kikakapu in Hawaiian) by itself:

Then we swam out to where it was deeper and there are a few heads of coral. In this photo, my pregnant wife is pointing out the fish to her mother.

At the End of Kealia

Kealia is a long beach just north of Kapaa on Kauai’s east side. The Kapaa stream begins in the Makaleha mountains and reaches the ocean here. The bay is fairly large and has good swells for surfing. At the far north end of the beach is a rocky point that shelters a calm and usually safe swimming area. I’m not sure whether this rocky point is natural or a sort of man-made jetty (update: I now know it is man-made, probably as a sort of breakwater to provide somewhat sheltered anchoring long ago–but I can’t remember where I read about it) . Here is a quickly stitched panorama looking south and inland from those rocks. It would look better in the morning light:

It was also at this end of the beach that I met Kyle, who has a talent for balancing rocks. He also has an eye for picking out the interestingly shaped ones and making temporary sculptures out of them. He doesn’t use any sand between the rocks, just adjusts them until they stand up on their own:

Update: Similarly, I once saw dozens of balanced rocks further up the Kapaa stream, on the Hoopii hike. It’s a mesmerizing scene to walk through the forest and see such subtle man-made “art” in an otherwise natural setting.

Rainbow Wrasse

Sorry for the hiatius, I’ve been very busy with my day job.

I was even working over the weekend, but we still had time to go snorkeling down in Poipu. We went to Beach House beach where there are always so many fish to see. There are two things I like there: the Beach House restaurant is gracious enough to let people lay on their manicured lawn under the palm trees, which keeps down the amount of sand we carry back to the car and the house, and while it’s reputation attracts a crowd, we almost always see new fish.

Yesterday’s new fish was the rainbow wrasse, called hinalea by the Hawaiians. The only picture I could find on the internet is from the “marine aquarium trade,” but it is almost exactly what we saw:

Photo credit: reefkeeping.com

P.S. I just recieved an underwater digital camera for (early) Christmas, so I will soon be taking these pictures myself, I hope.

Discoverer’s Day

Here in Hawaii, the US holiday of Columbus Day (the second Monday of October) is called Discoverer’s Day, to commemorate the landfalls of many peoples in Hawaii. After many waves of Polynesian migration, the British Captain James Cook was the first recorded westerner to sight the islands and land here (the actual date was January 20, 1778). He first came ashore and met the inhabitants at the mouth of the Waimea River on the west side of Kauai. Understandably, it is also a time of protest by the kanaka maoli, those of indigenous ancestry, who feel they have been disposessed by the westerners since then.

Coincidentally, we had stopped at the landing site last Saturday, on the way back from our day in Kokee. The plaque marking the spot has been partially toppled by waves, and the local beach-goers have adopted western vehicles:

The plaque reads:

To get there, or to find the most convenient public restrooms in Waimea town, take the first left after crossing the river as you arrive in town from the east. The restrooms are in Lucy Wright Park, which is also a reservable campground, and the plaque is on the beach beyond.

There is also a statue of Captain Cook in a little park in the center of Waimea town, but I didn’t get a picture of it. It is interesting to note that both Australia and New Zealand have preserved Cook’s landing sites in their respective countries as well.