Kaua’i, January 24, 2022

Kaua’i is not the westernmost populated island.  That honor goes to Ni’ihau, approximately 15 miles west of Kaua’i.  It is the smallest of the populated islands of the Hawai’ian chain with a population around 250 people.  In pre-contact Hawai’i the king owned everything, all the land, all the houses, all the birds, all the clothes, all the slaves, everything.  So when, in 1864, Elizabeth Sinclair wanted to buy the island, she only had one person to deal with King Kamehameha V.  As easy as that, the island was purchased lock, stock, and barrel.  Her descendants, the Robinsons continue to own Ni’ihau to this day.  It is called the forbidden island as it is closed to all but the Robinson family and the native Hawai'ian residents.  It is the only place on the planet where Hawai’ian in the first language of most of the inhabitants.  I can’t go there and see it but from high in the mountains of Kaua’i I did see it.  This is very cool.

The "Forbidden" island

One of the early entrepreneurs of Kaua’i was George Wilcox.  As was typical of the Hawai’ian entrepreneurs he was the son of missionaries.  His fortune was made as the owner of a massive sugar cane plantation.  Today we spent several hours touring this tropical plantation.  The “Grove Farm” museum includes the home of George's brother Sam, who helped run the plantation, George's cabin, where he lived as a bachelor after Sam and his wife started filling up the main house with children, and a number of outbuildings associated with plantation life.  This was a very good museum with a great docented tour.  After visiting we had a much clearer picture of what it was like to be a sugar cane planter on a tropical island in the 1800’s.

Original Plantation House (green roof was originally thatched)

This is where they kept the sugar money

George's Cabin

George's study

George's outdoor bedroom

Mount Fuji carved into gazebo woodwork

Main house where brother Sam, wife, and six kids lived

Note the title of middle book.  The original plates of Capt. Cook!

On our way back to Princeville we stopped by a little Tiki bar to enjoy a Mai Tai and look out at the ocean.  We chose this particular bar not because their Mai Tai’s are especially good (even though they are), nor because the view was outstanding (even though it is), we chose this particular bar because I had a coupon for two free Mai Tai’s that I was not going to allow to go unused!

A Mai Tai

with a view