Visiting Kauai

[jdapalms]

Visiting Kauai and some Pritchardia’s in habitat

What to do for a 30th wedding anniversary? Well how about Kauai? Cindy and I spent five days on what I consider to be one of the most beautiful Islands in the Hawaiian chain. We stayed in Princeville at a condo overlooking Hanalei Bay, What a view! What Cindy did not know or maybe she did know is that I had palms on the brain, again. We snorkeled in Haena on our arrival and did more snorkeling near our condo in Hanalei on our second day. The third day Cindy asked me what I would like to do, well how about a hike. Cindy likes to hike so I figured why not hike up the power line trail which is a trail that goes into the interior of the island. This is a very remote area and a forest reserve. There also just so happen to be Pritchardia’s growing in habitat along this trail. The vegetation and terrain in this area makes it very difficult to get near any of the palms, but we did get some great pictures. Pritchardia in this area are vulnerable and sparse, due to wild pigs that eat the seed, overgrowth of wild brush and grasses and so forth, so seed collecting is prohibited. I think we hiked about ten miles mostly on a gradual uphill incline, we continued up the trail beyond where most of the Pritchardia’s were growing. At the top of the ridge we could look in both directions and see the ocean, Hanalei area in one direction and Wailua in the other. I think at that point we were closer to Wailua. I’m guessing that we were at about 3500 feet elevation. A very beautiful spot, in fact on the opposite slope way off in the distance I spotted another Pritchardia all by itself so I’m sure that there are more palms on the downward slope going towards Wailua. We were lucky that there were no rains on this day as rain would make this hike almost impossible. The terrain was very rugged and almost impassable, at times. There was so many mud holes, that we got very muddy ourselves by the end of the day. I have to thank my wife Cindy for going along with this. We both had a great time and this was definitely one of the highlights of our visit to Kauai. This was supposed to be a non palm trip. Waking up every morning to beautiful large rainbows wasn’t too shabby either! Below are some of the pictures that we took.

Enjoy,

Jerry Andersen

The view from our lanai, looking toward Hanalei Bay

Pritchardia waialealeana

Looking toward Princeville

Me next to Pritchardia hillebrandtii Dwarf Blue

Polihale State Park

Pritchardia hillebrandtii Dwarf Blue

[paulgila]

wow,spectacular view,especially 1st pic!

those dwarf blues are sweet--"beautiful plumage."

[LJG]

Hanalei Bay is one of my favorite vacations spots. I remember jogging around Princeville golf course and having to stop every few minutes as they had a bunch of nice palms, and a good variaety, planted all over. Did you ever make it to the NTBG down south?

[bgl]

Jerry,

Looks like you and Cindy had a great time on Kauai! Sounds like a great hike, and that beach is beautiful!

Bo-Göran

PS to Len - I have a hunch a "side trip" to NTBG would definitely have made this into a MAJOR palm trip...

[deezpalms]

Great photos of what looks like a great time bradah Jerry!

I thought that dwarf blues get blue by that size? I know the

really nice n' blue one at Ho'omaluhia is quite a bit bigger

but I thought they would start throwing blue fronds by the

time they get that big.

[Dave-Vero]

Looks like the NaPali Art Gallery and Coffee Shop is still in business at the Hanalei Colony Club. Check them for shell leis. NTBG's Limahuli Garden beyond there is well worth an hour or two. The Clusia rosea that they point out (it's strangling a Schefflera) is becoming a terrible threat to the native flora--Clusia can get started on rocks and cliffs, exactly the places where native plants were least threatened by invaders. Very sad to see the national tree of the Bahamas as a threat when it's not at home. Also, check out the little garden of Brighamia plants at Kilauea National Wildlife Refuge.

And, not to go off-topic, there's a remarkable grower of gymnosperms that kinda look like palms on Kauai.

And of course Hanalei is one of the most attractive spots I've ever visited. Eat poi!

[realarch]

Pretty sweet Jerry. Haena is such a nice beach and the water........Need to hike more on the Big Island to see some of the few remaining Pritchardia.

[SubTropicRay]

Very, very nice.

[Jeff Searle]

Jerry and Cindy,

It sounds like you had a beautiful and romantic trip. It's nice to get away for a few days and just give the body and mind some time to relax. From your pictures, it look absolutely stunning.

Jeff

[BS Man about Palms]

Fantastic shots. Hope to make it over someday....

[jdapalms]

Len, I didn’t make it to NTGB as much as I would have liked to this didn't fit into the plans. Bo's hunch is correct, oh well I have been there before maybe next time. Dave-Vero, I did squeeze some time to visit with Greg Holzman and checked out some of his plants, very nice. Another great restaurant in Hanalei is the Hanalei Dolphin, the seafood was great! Interesting that you mention Brighamia, I just picked up a few at Wal-Mart for $16. Ea. this is an interesting plant with a success story.

Tim, here on the big Island there are some nice places to see Pritchardia’s. The Hilo Zoo has some very nice specimens at the entry I think they are beccariana although I see some differences in a few of them. Unfortunately they do not have them identified.

Jerry

[Dypsisdean]

I'm a little late, but Happy 30th. That's quite an accomplishment, and as rare as a cold hardy Sealing Wax these days.