By Ken Van Vechten
It’s tropical. It’s exotic. And you don’t need a passport.
It’s not nearly as catchy as the official tagline – “the Garden Island” – but it is an apt way to sum up a Kauai getaway.
The oldest of the main Hawaiian Islands, Kauai is fourth in some key areas – size, visitation, golf course tally – yet first for many in the way that matters most: heartstrings plucked.
Kauai is what most people picture Hawaii to be – a lush, rugged landscape, lightly populated, full of white sand beaches, and plenty of Hawaiian mana.
“What makes all the islands special is the spirit of aloha,” says Diann Hartman, director of marketing communications, Grand Hyatt Kauai Resort & Spa. “This truly separates it from other island destinations. It’s just a warmth in the land and the people. You won’t find a busy nightlife scene here.”
In that regard, Honolulu … Kauai is not.
Go Golf Kauai is a consortium of the island’s most notable daily-fee, resort, and public courses reflecting a not-always-seen attitude in the cutthroat world that if each grabs an oar, all get farther when rowing together. If you’re map-minded, the five arc clockwise in a verdant-north-to-sunny-south half-circle: Princeville Makai Golf Club, Wailua Golf Course, Puakea Golf Course, Ocean Course at Hokuala (formerly Kauai Lagoons), and Poipu Bay Golf Course.
Kauai golf is green, green like most golf settings only think they are green, with the backdrop inspiring lyrical visions and exotic movie settings, from Puff the Magic Dragon to dinosaur re-engineering gone wholly wrong. Waves crash right at hand at most courses, and John Jacob Audubon would have trouble naming the plenitude of birds, flowers, trees, and shrubs.
Cliff-edge and seaside holes provide postcard moments, make players gasp and scurry over to the bag for the Kodak moment courtesy of a cellphone. Be it Princeville Makai, county-owned Wailua – yes, a true, old-school muni highlighting what often is best about that noble concept, not the least of which is value – Hokuala or Poipu, each delivers a compelling stretch or two where a double isn’t really all that disheartening because you just saw a whale breach or a majestic Laysan albatross come in for an only-a-goonie-bird-can-do-that controlled-crash landing. Yet a course is 18, and like Pebble, it is the linkage that makes the whole, even if the only oceanic sensation in parts is the scent of sea on a trades-trending wind. Puakea, an inland track displaying immense vertical play within a riot of jungle despite the pancake-flat allusion of the clubhouse, range, and opening/closing holes, needs no white-wave moment to stand on equal terms. (If the ahi wrap is on the grill menu, by the way, have it. Have two.)
“One of the things we’re really fortunate for in Kauai is the effort that was made to site so many courses with the ocean,” says Michael Neider, general manager, Princeville Makai. “You see that on the other islands, but it is truly in play here. By the shore or just inland, the one thing that really makes our collection of golf courses stand out is that every course in Kauai has amazing views. Every course is on the ocean, or you can see the ocean, you know it is there, and the mountains. It’s the setting and not just the great golf. You’re gonna see things that you just don’t see many places. Heck, I’m sitting in my office right now, and looking out the window, I can see five waterfalls. I was just back in Florida, and you expect Florida to be green. Kauai is green.”
Kauai isn’t square but it has four “sides,” as do all the major islands in the 1,500-mile-long mid-Pacific archipelago. Generally, north is wet, south is dry, west is really dry, and east is wetter than south and drier than north. Given the variability, savvy visitors often book a two-side stay, yet even when planted up north in Princeville or Hanalei, or down south in Lihue or Poipu, the island is also compact enough for multi-side or other-side sightseeing and play days to easily be do-able; avoid “rush hour,” such as it is.
Small inns to luxe-home rentals, motor-hotels to chic, cool, or whatever manner of resort is desired, Kauai understandably delivers. Following the bracket theory, one combo to consider is 1 Hotel Hanalei Bay – a few Rory drives from Princeville Makai – and Poipu’s Grand Hyatt, twins in the family of stellar resortdom, but fraternal and not remotely identical.
1 Hotel is the stunningly reimagined one-time St. Regis, the stately but staid edifice cascading down the cliff above Hanalei Bay now turned over to an open, airy, calming aesthetic. The built setting is one with the island, with many common-area walls and roofs removed; flora, waterways, and pathways transitioning in and out so out and in are nearly indistinct. The approach is holistic and restorative, stressing wellness of spirit, body, and mind for its guests, and respect for local mores and nature. And where else can a person witness both sunrise and sunset over the Pacific with a view of “Bali Hai,” the towering edifice across the bay that marks the start of the north shore’s Na Pali Coast and inspired a certain song by Peter, Paul and Mary?
Spin the compass 180 and jigger the script a bit … Grand Hyatt.
“Grand” in many ways – size, scope, 600+ room count or more than twice 1 Hotel, amenities, off-site activities – go ahead and affix “parent” to the end of that word, for however stunningly audacious the resort appears, it wraps every guest in an embrace that will feel like it came straight from the elders. Set upon a broad crescent of beach, with acres of pools and a salt lagoon, water slide, lazy rivers, myriad kids and cultural activities, spa and fitness center, this is a resort where golf – Poipu Bay adjoins – and family go together like plumeria and leis.
Remember, this is not a big island.
Golf, waterfalls, rain forests, lava, Mynah birds, flowering ginger, turtles, palms, reefs … every (main) island has all of that. Yet Kauai is different. Even by Big Island of Hawaii standards, which annually sees a bit more in the way of visitors than Kauai but can spread them across a landmass bigger than all the other islands combined, Kauai is different.
We’ll let a local take the lead, Kauai native Chad Dusenberry, director of golf at Poipu Bay: “I think the big reason travelers choose Kauai is that it brings them back in time to an earlier Hawaii. Kauai isn’t 100 years behind; it’s more like 10 or 15 years compared to the other islands, more for Oahu. It is easier to get in touch with the island, with her people. You get rejuvenated just being in Kauai.”
Mahalo, Chad. Mahalo, Kauai.