Visitors Are Keen on Kauai

WAILUA, Hawaii —  If you see an old woman in black or a young woman in red near Halfway Bridge on the southern coast of Kauai, for goodness’ sake don’t do anything that might disturb them.

According to local lore, either could be Madame Pele, the goddess of volcanoes who might just decide to blow the lid on Mt. Waialeale again.

As Hawaii’s oldest island, Kauai is also its most legend-ridden, including that of the menehune--leprechaun-size people who legend says were the island’s first inhabitants eons ago. They either left quietly or were chased from the island by Tahitians, the first residents of record.

Anyone who has visited all or most of Hawaii’s eight major islands will agree that there’s beauty aplenty on every one of them. But the consensus seems to be that Kauai wins the island-paradise contest hands down.

It’s called the Garden Island for good reason, having a 5,000-foot mountain as its glorious centerpiece, surrounded by palm-fringed beaches, tropical forests, a moonscape canyon slicing its western side and enough placid rivers, lakes and green valleys to furnish anybody’s fantasy of Eden.

And to top it all, Kauai’s Na Pali Coast is a near-inaccessible, 14-mile stretch of virginal forest, deserted coves and beaches, silver waterfalls and rainbows overlapping misty rainbows.

Getting here: Fly United with a change in Honolulu, or American, Pan Am, Delta, Northwest, Continental or TWA to Honolulu. Aloha and Hawaiian Air fly Honolulu-Kauai.

How long/how much? Allow at least a week to shift into the aloha spirit and easy life style. You’ll find every sort of accommodation, from moderate B&Bs; to large, lap-of-luxury hotels. Dining just about anywhere is moderate in price.

A few fast facts: Like all of Hawaii, Kauai gets its rains, with January to May the wettest and most unpredictable, June through mid-December great, September idyllic. By all means, check carefully before swimming at any beach; surf safety is a seasonal thing at each, and the tides and currents can be treacherous.

Getting settled in: The Coco Palms Resort Hotel (Wailua Beach 96766; $110 double, cottages $180 and up), set in the middle of a huge coconut plantation, has become a Kauai institution, thanks to its native architecture, lagoons teeming with fish, morning cacophony of exotic bird calls and the traditional lighting of many torches throughout the coco palms every evening to the beat of drums and low moan of conch shells.

There’s a Polynesian show in the evenings, a thrice-weekly cocktail mixer, fragrant plumeria trees and other exotic flowers outside your window, and a small chapel left over from the sets of the movie “Rain,” made here with Rita Hayworth in the ‘40s.

Rooms are spacious, but there’s a bit of kitsch left over from an earlier day.

Poipu Bed & Breakfast (2720 Hoonani Road, Poipu Beach; $65 to $95 double) is a typical and pretty little 1930s island cottage, just 100 yards from a small cove that offers Kauai’s best scuba diving.

Bedrooms have a lot of charm, with large beds, TV and refrigerator. The main room is a joy, with light oak floors and walls finished naturally, sprightly white wicker furniture and a couple of real carrousel horses adding a festive note. Book early.

Stouffer Poipu Beach Resort (2251 Poipu Road, Koloa 96756; $85-$140 double) is the moderate-cost adjunct to the company’s luxurious hotel next door. It’s a real buy, considering that you have all the amenities, separate pool and the same great white beach, plus use of the main hotel’s tennis courts.

The big draws are the units’ equipped kitchenettes and refrigerators, a moderate-cost restaurant, barbecue grills in the flowery courtyard and a generous family plan.

Regional food and drink: Hawaii’s luau is a colorful feast of celebration that goes back to the islands’ Polynesian beginnings. Every visitor should attend at least one, if only to decide whether his or her taste buds can handle 50 kinds of food coming from a table stretching halfway to Guam. The net effect is one of sublime pleasure for the gourmand rather than the gourmet.

Centerpiece of the luau is a huge pig wrapped in ti leaves and cooked in a lava-lined pit. It is ladled out with most of the other island fare: poi made from taro roots; lau lau , piquant meat or seafood wrapped in taro leaves and steamed in ti leaves, and lomi lomi , salmon mixed with chopped green onions and tomatoes.

About the only fish you won’t see at a traditional luau is the humuhumunukunukuapuwaa, Hawaii’s state fish and inedible, so count your blessings and have another go at the mullet.

Good dining: You reach Inn on the Cliffs (Hotel Westin Kauai Lagoons) by one of the hotel’s boats, carriages or afoot, because it is in a separate building from the hotel proper. They served us the best dish of the trip--shrimp sauteed with ginger, cilantro and green onions. Fantastic.

The inn has a cool Oriental feeling, with handsome vases, pastel fabrics and a profusion of plantings, plus lovely views of the lagoon. The menu is mainly island seafood, with a catch-of-the-day list alone counting an even dozen denizens of the deep.

Hanamaulu restaurant (Highway 56, Hanamaulu) is noted far and wide as one of the best Japanese restaurants in the Islands. You have the choice of dining in a quiet Japanese garden, tatami-matted rooms, sushi bar or a cafelike room up front.

A full nine-course Japanese or Chinese dinner will run $12.95, large platter of pupus (Hawaiian hors d’oeuvres) for $6.95. Don’t let the front of this place put you off; the inside is a beautiful study in natural woods and rice-paper doors.

Shell House (Hanalei village) is on the north coast, an ultra-casual, funky restaurant where the food outdoes the decor to a considerable degree. There’s plenty of fish here, but Thai food is also large. And you’ll find the likes of prawns in a macadamia-nut pesto, Cajun-blackened fish and commendable pastas.

Going first-class: Rates at the Westin Kauai Lagoons at Kalapaki Beach are $185-$295 double. (The resort’s entry lagoon could accommodate the U.S. 6th Fleet.) Now toss in what seems miles of waterways, bridges and a 600-seat tennis stadium, plus seven courts and two Jack Nicklaus 18-hole golf courses.

The hotel also has eight launches, outrigger canoes for rent and a clutch of horse-drawn carriages.

On your own: It doesn’t really matter which you do first, but by all means drive up Waimea Canyon to Kalalau Lookout Point for a surrealistic view of the canyon and parts of the Na Pali Coast. Then drive the island’s eastern and northern coasts all the way up to the Kalalau Trail leading into Na Pali.

The Na Pali Coast is accessible only by boat or on foot. You may fly along its lovely beaches and bays by helicopter, which we heartily recommend, but may not land. The helicopter is practically the Kauai national bird, and two companies we can steer you to are Kenai Helicopters and Inter-Island Helicopters.

Shoppers interested in more than the usual souvenirs should head straight for the Kong Lung store at Kilauae on the north shore. You’ll find more gorgeous and elegant sportswear, fine jewelry, china and books here than at any other shop on the island.

And if you have a picnic in mind, stop in next door at The Bread Also Rises for sandwich fixings.

For more information: Call the Hawaii Visitors Bureau at (213) 385-5301, or write (3440 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 502, Los Angeles 90010) for a brochure on Kauai, two more on accommodations and restaurants. Ask for the Kauai package.