Islands of Hawaiii

The Island of Kauai is also nicknamed the Garden Isle. It gets its' name because of all the lush beauty that is there. The Island of Kauai's flower is the Mokihana Berry and Kauai's color is purple. Some of the places to see when on Kauai are: The Menehune Fishpond (according to legend, constructed by menehunes between dusk to dawn), Prince Kuhio Park (Prince Kuhio was born here), Spouting Horn (a shoreline lava tube which has sea water compressed in it and pushes up like a geyser: a moaning sound exudes and legend says the legendary lizard, Lehu, was trapped here and we hear his cries), Waimea Canyon State Park, Koke'e State Park, The Fern Grotto, Sleeping Giant and many other fantastic and legendary sites.

Over 5 million years ago, Kaua‘i took its place as part of an island chain. Magma spewing from a hot spot beneath the floating Pacific Tectonic Plate formed Kaua‘i as it did the other islands in the chain.

The plate, bearing Kaua‘i, moved on, as the destiny of these islands is to remain in motion, advancing in a northwesterly direction at the rate of about 3.5 inches per year while slowly eroding and declining. The tops of most of these islands no longer exist above sea level; many have subsided under the Aleutian Chain in Alaska.

First came the plants. Over millions of years, every 10,000 to 100,000 years or so, a new plant arrived, until a total of about 270 colonizing species bloomed in these islands. They arrived without the aid of people, on wings and in the bellies of birds, or they rafted here on vegetation. These 270 or so colonists evolved over millennia to become significantly different so that by the time the first Polynesians arrived, they saw those 1,300 or so flowering plants mentioned earlier.

The people adapted to life in their new land, where they thrived. Hundreds of years later, in succeeding migrations, the strong, fearsome Tahitians arrived and overpowered them, establishing the Tahitian religion and culture as the basis for Hawaiian society

Hawaiians built heiau, or temples, to worship their pantheon. Among the most famous in all Hawai‘i are heiau they built in an arc starting at the Wailua River on the East Side, ascending to the top of the highest region of Kaua‘i, Wai‘ale‘ale, and down to the West Side.

They considered the entire Wailua region sacred. Royals from other islands came to Wailua to give birth to their progeny at Holoholoku, sacred birthplace of the chiefs. So special was this birthing place that it gave rise to a saying.

Imagine setting out in a double-hulled outrigger sailing canoe from the Marquesas Islands, over 2,000 miles away, and coming upon the emerald spires of Na Pali— it means the cliffs—piercing the azure and cerulean skies.

That’s what early Polynesians who settled Kaua‘i did. On at least one part of the island, they left behind evidence of their existence dating from as early as 200 A.D. to 600 A.D. And by about 1300 A.D., these people lived along Na Pali Coast.

In hanging valleys and near shorelines along Na Pali Coast, they grew their staple crop—kalo, or taro—along with sweet potato, breadfruit and other plants that they brought with them in their voyaging canoes and used for food, clothing, shelter and medicine. They managed resources wisely, practiced masterful irrigation techniques that returned water to rivers, and fished, planted and harvested in season.

When they arrived, early people found what modern-day botanists estimate were 1,300 or so native flowering plant species growing in these islands. Today, many of those plants are endangered, threatened and rare.

Perhaps the ancients saw the only two native mammals found in all of Hawai‘i—the Hawaiian Hoary Bat, or ‘ope‘ape‘a, and the endangered Monk seal, ‘ilio-holo-i-ka-uaua.

The green sea turtle, or honu, now threatened, swam in abundance. Birds and fish were plentiful.

"At least 1,000 creatures that once enlivened Hawai‘i's landscape have vanished since Polynesian voyagers—and later European explorers—first set foot here…"
—Elizabeth Royte
"Hawaii’s Lost World," National Geographic

Kauai

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