End of the road.

After we visited Kokee and Waimea Canyon we decided to drive to the end of the road on Kauai and see the western coast of the island.

This is the straightest and flattest stretch of road we have ever driven on in Kauai. I snapped the picture as we were driving on HWY 50 heading toward Mana on the south western edge of the island.

This is near the end of Polihale beach, a 17 mile stretch of beach that runs along the south western edge of the island. Off in the horizon offshore you can see the forbidden island of Ni'ihau and to its right the small Lehua rock [you may have to enlarge the picture to see the islands].


Ni'ihau is owned by the Robinson family and it is inhabitated by around 200 Hawaiians who speak Hawaiian as the primary language and live a lifestyle without electricity or running water. Visitors are not welcome. The island is almost the complete opposite of Kauai in that it barely gets any rain at about 12 inches a year, barely above desert conditions. The island is infamous for the shell making lei tradition. The best shells are found only on Ni'ihau.

Forever beachcombing...we s l o w l y make our way down Polihale beach toward Ha'ele'ele, the cliffs that start the Na Pali coastline. This beach is a challenge to get to since you have to drive about 5 miles on a pothole ridden dirt road through fields of sugercane. Your kidneys are jello by the time you get to park the car and get out to see the beach. Kids enjoyed chewing on sugercane cane.

This is the end of the line..behind us begins the Na Pali coastline, a rugged cliff edge that runs from along the north western edge of the island. The road ended a few miles back. The picture has the Penthouse centerfold soft focus look because the person taking the photo did not notice the mist on the lens.


The Ha'ele'ele cliffs behind us were believed by the ancient Hawaiians to be the jumping off point for spirits leaving this world. They would leap from these cliffs to join their ancestors. However, if there were no ancestors to meet them then their spirit would wander around this area attaching themselves to rocks or other inanimate objects. This is probably the source of the Hawaiian legend that says it is bad luck to take lava from the island.