Looking at going to Kauai 1st or 2nd week of May, renting house on on Southwest part of island.  I've never been.  Any thoughts from those who may have been re:  surf, vibe, setting, towns or restaurants in area?  

The Poipu area (SE) is strictly set up for tourists.  Southwest gets you out of the bubble.

The island is well worth visiting.  Pay the bucks for the botanical gardens, they're good.  Definitely bring a warm jacket and trash-able sneakers (red clay mud) for the high plateau.  It's the world's most remote cloud forest.  Nearly everything up there is native to Hawaii, unlike sea level, trashed by invasive plants and animals.  

Hanalei is probably the most attractive tourist town in existence.  Drive at least as far as the Limahuli Garden, which tells a lot about pre-European contact Kauai.  Princeville is as dismal as any resort in Florida.

In terms of landscaping, expect to see lots of the same plants as in south Florida.  The island has impressive cycad growers, so take a second look at "sago palms".  Lots of interesting palms too, of course.

Lived on Southwest side at Barking Sands.  Plenty of excellent clean uncrowded surf.  Westside is beautiful but much more dry, Polihale, Waimea Canyon and Kokee right there.

PMRF has nuts surf.  https://cnic.navy.mil/regions/cnrh/installations/pacific_missile_range_facility_barking_sands/om/beach-access.html

All season surf. Ghosts!

Ya, Poipu looks like Cocoa Beach on Easter Sunday. Go West, young man. Although, the North side can-not-be-beat. To the West of Princeville is Heaven.

Random thoughts, , , ,

The drive to Kee Beach is nice, BUT, if you actually plan on "being there", plan on getting there early. Parking disappears.

Anini Beach on the North side, east of Princeville, is nice.

The HUKILAU LANAI restaurant in Kapaa is always a good, moderately upper-scale, bite.

Decent shops and food in Koloa.

All kine places to eat, along with trucks and "road sides".

Don't skip any family roadside produce stands.

Go to Safeway and sample their poke, take home a pound or two. Sign up for Safeway's "just for U" card for savings on groceries..

Car rental, , , , I have not checked at all recently but, search the renal car sites and you may find that a nice "mid size" is cheaper than the Ford Fiesta. In the past, with gasoline being so expensive in Hawaii anyway, besides any actual price increases the we would bitch about here, , , , best "mileage" always cost more than size.

Stayed in Hanalei the first time, Kapaa the last time.

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Dora Hates You

Edited: 03/08/2017 at 05:45 AM by dingpatch

Yes. What they said. It's an awesome Island with a lot to see. Check out Spouting Horn on the South side.

Don't look the ghosts in the eyes at Polihale.

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"It's always better than it looks from the crossover."

Thanks all for great info.  Sounds like a no brainer.  Even thinking now of extending trip to over a week to spend a few days on North side of island after Southwest side.

And don't have pork with you when you go through the tunnel of trees south side.

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Dora Hates You

Oh, and, , , , almost forgot, , , , if you are staying on the "West" side, , , , you must keep an eye on the sunsets. Excellent opportunity to see the "green flash"!

Green flash
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This article is about the optical phenomenon. For other uses, see Green flash (disambiguation).

Green flash at sunset during Mercury transit. 09 May, 2016 (Moscow, Russia)
Green flashes and green rays are optical phenomena that sometimes occur right before sunset or right after sunrise. When the conditions are right, a green spot is visible above the upper rim of the disk of the sun. The green appearance usually lasts for no more than a second or two. Rarely, the green flash can resemble a green ray shooting up from the sunset (or sunrise) point. Green flashes occur because the atmosphere can cause the light from the sun to separate out into different colors. Green flashes are a group of phenomena which stem from slightly different causes, and therefore some types of green flashes are more common than others.[1]

Observing[edit]
Green flashes may be observed from any altitude. They usually are seen at an unobstructed horizon, such as over the ocean, but are possible over cloud tops and mountain tops as well. They may occur at any latitude, although at the equator the flash rarely lasts longer than a second.[2]

A green flash also may be observed in association with the Moon and bright planets at the horizon, including Venus and Jupiter.[2][3][4] With an unrestricted view of the horizon, green flashes are regularly seen by airline pilots, particularly when flying westwards as the sunset is slowed.[2] If the atmosphere is layered the green flash may appear as a series of flashes.[2]

While observing at the Vatican Observatory in 1960 D.K.J. O'Connell produced the first color photographs of a green flash at sunset.[2]

Explanation[edit]
Green flashes are enhanced by mirage, which increase refraction. A green flash is more likely to be seen in stable, clear air, when more of the light from the setting sun reaches the observer without being scattered. One might expect to see a blue flash, since blue light is refracted most of all, and the blue component of the sun's light is therefore the very last to disappear below the horizon, but the blue is preferentially scattered out of the line of sight, and the remaining light ends up appearing green.[citation needed]

With slight magnification a green rim on the top of the solar disk may be seen on most clear-day sunsets, although the flash or ray effects require a stronger layering of the atmosphere and a mirage, which serves to magnify the green from a fraction of a second to a couple of seconds.

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Dora Hates You