Kauai : The Garden Island Grows : The Greenest Isle Has Two New Resorts but the Cottages--and Cachet--of Old Hawaii Remain

It was dawn and a lone surfer rode a wave onto the beach at Kapaa as distant clouds reflected the sun’s first rays.

For another hour, the Kauai I’d known years earlier would be caught in the morning peacefulness and gentle breezes that bathe the island with the fragrance of ginger and plumeria. A light rain had fallen during the night so that dewdrops glowed on hibiscus flowering beside the ocean. Soon workers would be hurrying off to jobs at hotels and resorts from Princeville to Poipu. The island of Kauai would come awake and the gentle dawn would vanish until tomorrow.

I can recall when one rarely passed another car on Kauai. Now, during rush hour, a steady stream of traffic crowds Kauai’s main coastal road in both directions.

While Kauai was a slow starter, the developers who first turned to Maui are now concentrating on the so-called Garden Isle, the wettest and lushest of all Hawaii’s islands. Only recently, a huge Hyatt resort opened on the sunny south shore at Poipu. Other hotels are planned.

On the rainy north shore, the new $125-million, 252-room Princeville Hotel--the old Sheraton, which was virtually dismantled and rebuilt--is wrapped in tiers around Pu’upoa Point. From here, one can take in the scenes filmed for the movie “South Pacific,” including Lumahai Beach, where Mitzi Gaynor “washed that man right out of my hair,” and the promontory that became “Bali Hai.” Floor-to-ceiling windows capture unobstructed views of the awesome Na Pali Coast, particularly from a bar perched at the tip of Pu’upoa Point. No matter if it is sunny or (frequently) raining, the picture remains indelibly etched in the memory, for few scenes on earth surpass its beauty.

While the setting is pure Polynesia, the Princeville Hotel, unfortunately, is not. Granted, the grounds are lush with tropical blooms.Great bursts of bougainvillea tumble from the cliff, and coconut palms arch overhead. But inside it smacks of a grand European hotel, with sufficient marble, it appears, to rebuild the treasures of Rome itself. Doormen in starched white uniforms with gold buttons and pith helmets greet guests. A fountain beneath the porte-cochere--otherwise known as a car port--could be a transplant from Versailles. Afternoon tea is served in a lavish lounge, and more often than not the background music is classical rather than Hawaiian.

But although the Japanese-owned Princeville may not be Hawaiian in design, the guest rooms are magnificent. Especially those with ocean views and others facing valleys choked with rainbows. Baths feature his-and-hers vanities with gold-plated fixtures, and there are speakers that deliver melodies while one is showering or shaving. It’s doubtful that “Sweet Leilani” will come across, but Pavarotti is a good bet. Guests sink into custom-designed sofas, and there are suites with French provincial themes and one in particular with a Chinese-Chippendale mix, with Oriental accessories, gilded mirrors, antiques and walls swathed in silk. The Royal Suite, with still more marble and antiques and its own spa, can be booked for $2,100 a night. (Patience. Beyond the Princeville, we will look in on a number of surprisingly inexpensive little inns.)

At the Princeville Hotel, butlers respond 24 hours a day, unpacking luggage, shining shoes and pressing clothing. Should you ring, a mai tai will be delivered as a reminder of the early Kauai that some of us recall. Meanwhile, the hotel’s Cafe Hanalei serves pancakes with macadamia nuts for breakfast, and the dinner menu features selections ranging from poached onaga (a Pacific snapper) in a saffron almond broth to coffee-roasted lamb with sweet potato and garlic confit. In addition, the hotel’s Italian restaurant, La Cascata, turns out a risotto with prawns and radicchio, as well as a seafood ravioli in a tomato-and-basil sauce.

The 9,000-acre resort at Princeville spreads into the green countryside with residential homes and condominiums and two award-winning golf courses designed by Robert Trent Jones Jr.

Down the road at Hanalei, a town that remains quintessential Old Hawaii, Auntie Louise Marston Corelle continues to attract big crowds to her Tahiti Nui restaurant. With its tin roof and hurricane lamps, Tahiti Nui is the sort of place where one expects to bump into a runaway sailor. Or perhaps a burned-out Broadway star. Tahiti Nui is 110 years old. The floors creak. Rain blows through the windows. But on a stormy evening, you won’t find a cheerier spot on the entire island. And the ono and mahi-mahi fish dinners are excellent. Locals still arrive with their ukuleles and guitars to play for drinks--or just for the hell of it. Sometimes till dawn. When Auntie Louise remarried last year, 3,000 islanders showed up for her luau. The party, which went on for three days, nearly bankrupted her.

A few doors from Tahiti Nui, Kathy Ham Young Sousza Pfeiffer holds forth in a hole-in-the-wall joint called The Black Pot, which consists of a three-stool bar and six picnic tables. That’s it. Nothing else. And although it’s not fancy, everyone gives Pfeiffer high marks for her Kalua pig and fresh ahi (tuna).

Near Haena, where the north shore road ends at the Na Pali Coast, crowds continue to gather at Charo’s Cuchi Cuchi Cantina, the restaurant operated by the feisty Spanish singer-entertainer who owns a house on the island (as do Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Sylvester Stallone and Bette Midler). Guests relax in rattan chairs and study breakers that pound the shore just outside the window while they dine on chimichangas, quesadillas, sashimi, ceviche, seafood enchiladas and macadamia fried shrimp. (Charo’s reminds me of Bloody Mary’s in Bora-Bora, except that at Bloody Mary’s, sand covers the floor and there are more mosquitoes.)

Next door there’s a reasonably inexpensive inn, the Colony Resort, that still has a reputation as one of the best buys on the north shore, what with two-bedroom units available for as little as $95 a day, with the seventh night free.

Returning to Kapaa, near Kauai’s main town of Lihue, I passed valleys grown over with taro and others where cattle grazed. Beside the road, TV antennas stuck up from the rusty tin roofs of houses surrounded by beefsteak hedges, hibiscus and plumeria. By the time I got to Kapaa, it was raining, so I stopped for lunch at a favorite restaurant, Fast Freddy’s, where the prices haven’t changed in the four years since my last visit. For $2.22, you still get two pancakes, a couple of eggs, sausage and bacon. A couple would be hard put to part with $20 for dinner, and if the customer is dissatisfied, Fast Freddy won’t take a dime for the meal. The restaurant is a crackerbox of a place: Tables are covered with oilcloth, the linoleum is scarred and Christmas lights blink year-round. Fast Freddy Rivera is assisted by his mom, Adeline (a full-blooded Hawaiian from the Forbidden Island of Niihau), dozens of cousins and his pa, Slow Freddy (who’s slowed down considerably since my last visit). A new sign over the door announces: “No grumps allowed,” and Fast Freddy still discounts your bill by 10% if you donate a snapshot for the wall.

Kapaa is where tourism on Kauai initially took off in the ‘50s at the Coco Palms, where guests staying in thatch-roofed cottages still shave in giant clam shells and bathe in lava tubs. Grace Guslander, Coco Palm’s former proprietress (a Japanese firm now owns the resort), initiated the torch-lighting ceremony that became an institution at resorts across Hawaii. With a mixture of show business and Polynesian magic, her production was a big hit for legions of vacationers seeking a substitute for high-rise Hawaii. Hidden in the palms is a tiny wedding chapel where couples continue to repeat their vows. And Larry Rivera--who’s been here so long it seems he came with the resort--still croons “The Hawaiian Wedding Song.”

At Poipu, on the island’s sunniest side, the upscale Hyatt Regency became Kauai’s newest resort last November. Scattered across 50 acres at Keoneloa Bay, the 600-room extravaganza is a series of low-rise buildings (on Kauai, nothing can be taller than a coconut tree) with green tile roofs. Waterfalls surround artificial islands, and there’s a water slide like the one at the Westin Kauai back at Lihue, except that the Hyatt Regency has escaped the carnival-like, Fantasy Island atmosphere that prevails at the Westin. This isn’t to say that the $220-million Hyatt Regency resembles the early hotels of Kauai, with their tin roofs and peaceful verandas. But its plantation-type furnishings and natural-looking saltwater lagoons at least project style and good taste.

The hotel’s Tidepools Restaurant, with individual thatched hales (huts) set in a lagoon, smacks of Old Hawaii. The menu features such island specialties as ahi with pineapple relish, grilled scallops with saffron sauce and asparagus, and mahi-mahi baked on a slab of kiawe. The Hyatt’s Italian restaurant, Dondero’s, turns out all manner of pastas along with chicken saltimbocca and osso buco alla Milanese.

Surrounding the grottoes, waterfalls and swimming pools is another Robert Trent Jones Jr.-designed golf course. And although the beach is inviting, a frequently treacherous surf with strong currents should be avoided unless one is a strong swimmer. The safer bet is one of the meandering lagoons laid out near adjacent Shipwreck Beach, where the weathered bow of a vessel pokes out of the sand.

At the Hyatt resort, one can play tennis, go biking, riding, hiking and sailing, or else paddle a kayak out beyond the breaker line. There’s a spa for massages and loofah wraps and a 25-yard lap pool. Following their workouts, guests retire to Stevenson’s Library with its books, billiards and a cheery bar.

The Hyatt Regency’s neighbors are the 426-room Waiohai, the 450-room Sheraton, the little Poipu Beach Hotel and the popular Kiahuna Plantation, which bears the stamp of still another Robert Trent Jones Jr. golf course.

Other vacationers at Poipu settle in at Sharon Flynn’s Garden Isle cottages, where rates start at $46 for a double--this for a studio with a private bath, a lanai and a refrigerator. A one-bedroom oceanfront apartment with a living room, kitchen, bath and a couple of lanais books out at $85.

Or there’s Gloria’s Bed & Breakfast near Spouting Horn, where four rooms rent for $55 to $125 a day. For $125, you get a head-on view of the ocean and a Japanese furo , a tub for sudsing and soaking. Gloria Merkle is an ex-Southern Californian who prepares homemade breads and pineapple pudding while her husband, Bob, strums the guitar, putters in the garden and makes do as the mini-resort’s all-around handyman.

Upcountry from Poipu, Richard and Wynnis Grow’s Classic Vacation Cottages offer shelter in three immaculate cottages featuring antique leaded windows, fully equipped kitchens, TV and daily maid service for as little as $51 a day. You’re 10 minutes from the beach and miles from the real world. Guests shop for groceries at the Menehune Food Mart and dine at The Wrangler, a Western-theme restaurant in Kalaheo that serves steaks, fish and Mexican fare. Another choice is Gwinn and Sue Hambata’s Green Garden Restaurant in Hanapepe, Kauai’s “biggest little town.” Ono and ahi are broiled over a kiawe fire, and the locals swear by a seafood curry that’s spread over rice with mango chutney.

Hanapepe is one of those sleepy plantation towns where locals gather on sagging stoops to drink beer and exchange bits of gossip. In its rip-roaring days, when sugar was king, a dozen bars did business along the main drag. Today, tourists settle for an espresso or a cappuccino at Chris Ayers’ and Larry Reisor’s Hanapepe Bookstore, where, besides peddling books, the couple cooks up batches of vegetarian chili and counters are piled high with Italian cookies, date bars, muffins and the gooiest chocolate cake this side of Bavaria.

Outside, occasionally a huge truck loaded with cane still snarls out of a field and onto the highway, kicking up a billowy cloud of red dust that settles on trees and old plantation shacks standing beside the road, as in the scene from a James Michener novel.

Leaving Hanapepe, I passed a general store and a service station, and beyond town I stopped at an ancient cemetery, so old the names on the head stones were obliterated by time and weather.

I was aiming for Waimea, not too far from where the road ends on the western side of the island, and the Waimea Plantation Cottages, a gathering of 44 refurbished homes that served workers during Kauai’s busy sugar era. Installed on a pristine beach facing the island of Niihau, the cottages remain on my own private list of Kauai’s best-kept secrets. A two-bedroom, two-bath unit that sleeps four guests rents for $110 a night, or $700 for the week. One-bedroom cottages are $95, and newlyweds are ensconced in the honeymoon cottage for $120 a night. Should you decide to bring the entire gang, the five-bedroom Manager’s Estate, which sleeps nine, figures out to $2,275 per week. (Other homes owned by Waimea Plantation Cottages are available at Hanalei.)

At Waimea, vacationers settle in for a day or a week or a month--and there are those who, given the opportunity, simply wouldn’t go home again. Kauai remains their Bali Hai--yes, even with the continuing growth and the irritating rush-hour traffic.

I passed an islander on the road one morning. He held a pig in his arms. It was a runaway, he told me. As he spoke, a rooster crowed and the pig snorted and the old fellow smiled. It was obvious he was content--as content as any human could hope to be on an island blessed with gentle dawns and sunsets that soothe the soul.

GUIDEBOOK

Garden Isle of Kauai

Getting there: Hawaiian Airlines and Aloha Airlines fly to Kauai daily from Honolulu. Average fare is $65 round trip. Nine major carriers fly from LAX to Honolulu. Average fare is $260 round trip.

Where to stay: Princeville Hotel, P.O. Box 3069, Princeville, Kauai, Hawaii 96722-3069, telephone (800) 325-3535 or (808) 826-9644. Rates: $240-$450 double occupancy (suites from $750). A four-day, three-night “Adventures in Paradise” package includes room with ocean view, two days of free activities (horseback riding, helicopter tour, kayaking along the Na Pali Coast, 18 holes of golf) and one dinner for $770 per person.

--Hanalei Colony Resort, P.O. Box 206, Hanalei 96714-9985, (800) 628-3004. Rates: $95-$150.

--Coco Palms, P.O. Box 631, Lihue 96766, (808) 822-4921. Rates: $110-$330.

--Westin Kauai, Kalapaki Beach, Lihue 96746, (800) 228-3000. Rates: $195-$315.

--Hyatt Regency Kauai, 1571 Poipu Road, Koloa 96756, (800) 233-1234 or (808) 742-1234 Rates: $175-$340.

--Poipu Beach Hotel, 2249 Poipu Road, Koloa 96756, (808) 742-1681. Rates: $140-$360.

--Kiahuna Plantation, 2253 Poipu Road, Koloa 96756, (808) 742-6411. Rates: $145-$320.

--Garden Isle Cottages, 2666 Puuholo Road, Koloa 96756, (808) 742-6717. Rates: $53-$123. --Gloria’s Bed & Breakfast, 4464 Lawai Beach Road, Koloa 96756, (808) 742-6995. Rates: $55-$125.

--Classic Vacation Cottages, P.O. Box 901, Kalaheo 96741, (808) 332-9201. Rates: $50-$65.

--Waimea Plantation Cottages, 9600 Kaumualii Highway 367, Waimea 96796, (808) 338-1625. Rates: $99-$225 nightly; $630-$1,400 weekly.

Where to eat: A Pacific Cafe, Kauai’s most talked-about new restaurant, is under the direction of chef Jean-Marie Josselin, formerly of Hotel Hana-Maui and Kauai’s Coco Palms Resort. Located at the Kauai Village, 831 Kuhio Highway, (808) 822-0013.

--Gaylord’s, in a romantic setting in an old plantation home, is one mile southwest of Lihue on Kaumualii Highway; (808) 245-9593.

--Tahiti Nui, Hanalei, (808) 826-6277.

--Charo’s, Hanalei, (808) 826-6422.

--Fast Freddy’s in Kapaa, (808) 822-0488.

Sightseeing notes: Poipu Beach Park has the best swimming and surfing on the island of Kauai. Spouting Horn at Poipu fires off 60-foot geysers; especially dramatic at sunset. The little town of Hanapepe features art galleries, cafes and shops, only a short drive from Poipu. Waimea Canyon (Kauai’s “Little Grand Canyon”), on the western side of the island, is spectacular. Continuing up the mountain, camping is permitted at Kokee State Park. At Kapaa, Fern Grotto is reachable on trips up the Wailua River from Wailua Marina.

For more information: Additional hotels, restaurants and activities are available from the Hawaii Visitors Bureau, 3440 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 502, Los Angeles 90010, (213) 385-5301.