Poipu Kai Resort in Poipu consists of several individual condominium complexes scattered over a 70 acre property. We sometimes get people asking us how far it is from Poipu Sands or Regency Villas, two popular complexes in the resort, to the beach. We’ve actually measured the walking times. Take a look at the follow aerial photo to get your bearing (you can click on it for a bigger view). In the photo the most central part of Poipu Kai Resort is identified (1) as well as Poipu Sands (8) which is still part of Poipu Kai. Regency is about half way between the 1 and 8 labels. On the right hand side is Shipwreck Beach, and on the left is Brennecke followed by Poipu Beach Park.

Poipu Kai Resort & Poipu Sands

The walking time from Regency to Brennecke is 6 minutes. It’s an additional 4 minutes to get to Poipu Beach. The walking time from Poipu Sands to Brennecke is 12 minutes when you cut through Poipu Kai Resort. Poipu Sands is located next to Shipwreck beach but the grounds are fairly big, so the average walking time from a unit to the start of the beach will be 3-4 minutes.

Google Maps has a walking directions feature that appears to be very accurate and allows you to chose walking paths as well as roads. Here is the map showing the walking distance from Poipu Sands to Brennecke beach.

Perhaps the most worrisome aspect of planning a trip to Hawaii is figuring out what the weather will be like during your stay. There are several sources for weather forecasts, and many of them are inaccurate. Weather in Hawaii is very localized, so you need to make sure you’re looking at a point forecast. The best source for forecasts is the National Weather Service Forecast in Honolulu. The worst I’ve seen is the iPhone’s weather forecasting. I’m not sure what data provider it’s utilizing.

More often than not the forecast will call for a mix of sun and clouds and a 40-60% chance of rain. In Hawaii, cloud free skies are uncommon - there are usually puffs of clouds somewhere. Similarly, days when the entire sky is blanketed are also uncommon. The below photo represents what I consider the typical “cloudy” day in Hawaii. The clouds are moving through fairly rapidly, with some localized rainfall, and areas of sun. On a day like this the weather forecast would probably have stated there’s a 70% chance of rain.

A Typically Cloudy Day in Hawaii

Of course the time to worry about weather, if you’re so inclined, is when you’re deciding where to stay. Our Hawaii Weather Guide will give you a good idea of seasonal rainfall in all the different regions of Hawaii.

In our latest update to the Kauai GPS Tour Guide for the iPhone we added a few additional movie locations, like Jurassic Park, King Kong (1976 remake),  Raiders of the Lost Ark and Pirates of the Caribbean: on Stranger Tides. Directors like to film in remote areas of the island, which means many locations aren’t recognizable or possible to visit. For the movie Tropic Thunder, filmed almost entirely on Kauai, the only location I recognized was the home of the agent Rick Peck (played by Mathew McConaughey), which is somewhere in Kilauea.

Watching movies filmed in Hawaii is a fun way to get excited for an upcoming vacation. If you have a smart phone or laptop consider downloading one of the following movies for your plane trip. For more information about the movies in this list you can visit the Internet Movie Database. For information about the locations listed, take a look at our Kauai Map.

Have you noticed any tourist literature referring to Turtle Town? If so, you may be curious to know where it is. Turtle Town is actually a made up place to lure people to go on snorkel trips. Typically, these snorkel excursions will head to Maluaka beach in front of the Makena Beach Resort. The name turtle town is misleading. Although there are turtles there, it’s not guaranteed that you’ll see one when you visit. Many locations around Maui have turtles. One of the best is Honokeana Bay just south of Napili Bay. [Update: If you have an iPhone, the Maui GPS Tour Guide will help you find the location of both Maluaka and Honokeana when you're in the area.]

The Hawaiian green sea turtle is a threatened species. It’s fine to observe them in the water but you’re not allowed to touch them. In Honokowai, west Maui, more than 90% of the turtles have tumors. The tumors are clearly visible growing on their bodies. Scientists aren’t sure what the cause may be. As always, pollution is a suspect, but so is a certain kind of virus.

Is Honokeana Bay Turtle Town?

Tags: Turtle Town

Kauai’s most impressive beaches are located on the north shore, a compelling reason to vacation in that area. On our first few trips to Kauai, many years ago, we stayed in Princeville, lured by the beautiful scenery. On our first day trip visit to Poipu, we were a little puzzled by Poipu Beach Park. It’s a nice beach to be sure, but not on the same scale as some of the North Shore’s offerings. However, what we didn’t discover as casual visitors to the area were Poipu’s other beaches. And it wasn’t until we actually stayed in Poipu that we discovered Mahaulepu, one of Poipu’s hidden gems.

Of course we know better now, having stayed in Poipu many times. For those who aren’t sure whether Poipu has enough beaches to satisfy, take a look at the following video which shows them all.

Surfing originated in Polynesian and was first described in 1769 when Captain James Cook arrived in Tahiti. In Hawaii, surfing was considered an art form as much as it was a sport and recreational activity. Temples were dedicated to surfing and Hawaiians would call upon their Priests to pray for good waves.

Everybody surfed in Hawaii including women and children, but the best waves and beaches were open only to the ruling class. When missionaries arrived in the 1820s they sought to transform Hawaiian culture including getting rid of surfing where nearly naked men and women mingled freely instead of working. Surfing went into decline until the early 20th century when it was revived by Alexander Hume Ford and Jack London. Ford was living in Waikiki trying to promote Hawaii as a tourist destination and realized that surfing could become a selling point. When Jack London arrived in Waikiki he was already a famous author. Ford introduced the sport to London and he immediately fell in love. In 1907 London wrote “A Royal Sport: Surfing in Waikiki” which was published in several magazines and garnered much attention. In 1908 Ford petitioned the trustees of the Queen Emma Estate to set aside a parcel of land next to the Moana Hotel in Waikiki for a surfing and canoeing club. In Ford’s fund-raising manifesto he described a club that would “give an added and permanent attraction to Hawaii and make Waikiki always the Home of the Surfer, with perhaps an annual Surfboard and Outrigger Canoe Carnival which will do much to spread abroad the attractions of Hawaii, the only islands in the world where men and boys ride upright upon the crests of waves.” Ford’s petition worked and the trustees of Queen Emma’s Estate founded the Hawaiian Outrigger Canoe Club, the first modern club dedicated to the perpetuation of wave-riding.

A few years later Hawaii’s most famous waterman and Olympic swimming champion, Duke Kahanamoku, spread the sport abroad by giving demonstrations as he traveled the globe. Kahanamoku is widely credited with surfing the longest wave in history, a wave near Waikiki that carried him for more than a mile.

There are many great surf breaks in Hawaii. Our Hawaii iPhone app’s point these out as you drive around the island.

Tags: history of surfing

Imagine having a local expert to guide you as you drive around Kauai.

Kauai GPS Tour Guide for the iPhone is a virtual tour guide that talks to vacationers as they drive around Kauai. Using the GPS built into the iPhone, the Tour Guide knows exactly where travelers are and alerts them to hidden beaches, scenic lookouts, historic sites, hikes, farmers markets and many other Kauai attractions.

The Kauai GPS Tour Guide is the first App of its kind available to Kauai visitors. It’s like having an island resident drive with you to tell you about the island. Unlike a guide book where you’re constantly flipping through pages trying to figure out where you are and what’s around you, the Tour Guide tells you about hidden places, and guides you to difficult to find attractions.

The Tour Guide includes over 200 points of interest and uses a real human voice - not a computer generated one. The application also includes comprehensive beach and snorkeling guides, weather and surf forecasts, driving directions, Kauai background information for tourists including detailed ocean safety guidelines, and select activity and restaurant recommendations.

Kauai GPS Tour Guide is available for only $5.95 from iTunes or the iPhone app store. It also works with the iPad 3G+Wifi model. Currently there’s only a version for Kauai, but other islands may be added in the future.

Kauai GPS Tour Guide for the iPhone

Tags: iphone, Kauai

For the 3rd year in a row President Barack Obama and his family will vacation on Oahu for the Christmas holidays. For the past 2 years the family stayed at Plantation Estate, a 5 bedroom vacation home on Kailua Beach, also dubbed the Winter White House. It hasn’t been announced yet if the family will stay there again, but odds are that they will. The home is on the far end of Kailua beach in a gated community and offers plenty of privacy and security.

We’ve updated our guide to Hawaii’s best beaches where we list our nominations for Hawaii’s 30 best beaches. This year Hanalei Bay gets top honors, beating out Oahu’s Kailua beach. Hanalei Bay actually has much in common with Kailua - it’s in a residential area with no hotels or condos, mountains provide a beautiful backdrop, and both are uncrowded and offer a range of water activities.

There are some other notable changes in our rankings. Waikiki beach, one of Hawaii’s funnest beaches with all sorts of activities, has moved up 6 positions to #13. This is thanks to the downturn in tourism since we heavily penalize Waikiki for overcrowding. Poipu beach park moves up in the rankings thanks to the return of the Tombolo (a sand bar extending out from the shore) and a great effort by residents who cut away brush that was encroaching on the sand. And making an appearance for the first time in our list (suspiciously absent in the past) is Kauai’s wonderful Maha’ulepu beach.

As noted on our list, all the islands have beautiful beaches including the Big Island. Our island beach guides list over 100 great tourist beaches. Below is a short video of Hanalei Bay to give you a taste of what the beach looks like in the summer months when the ocean is calm.

Tags: hanalei bay, hawaii beaches

Did you know Volcanoes National Park is open 24 hours a day? The first time we visited the park, we arrived late at night. Not knowing anything about the park or Volcano, I confidently assured my wife that we simply needed to drive until we see glowing red magma. The night was pitch black and we had no idea how enormous the park actually was (it is really big). Not seeing anyone else on the road, we were becoming leery. Every now and then we would pass some foggy steam and noxious gasses. Where was the lava and magma? I envisioned a massive cauldron.

Alas, Volcanoes National Park is not like that (at the moment at least). The lava is flowing underground into the ocean. And the current eruption site is not easily accessible. But if you know where to look you can at least see gasses illuminated by underground lava. This photo was taken near the entrance to the Park:

Steam Escapes Beside Kilauea Crater

Visit this page of Kilauea Crater to see the location where the photo was taken. More information about Volcano Nationals Park can be found here.

Tags: Big Island Volcano, Volcano Natinals Park, Volcano Nationals Park