Kiahuna Plantation Manor & Gardens

Destination: Kauai
Article Source: Outrigger

By 1948, the Moir gardens had drawn international attention and was classified as “one of the ten best cactus and succulent gardens in the world,” ranking with the likes of Huntington Gardens and the Royal Gardens of Monaco. The Moirs received many requests for garden tours and in 1954 officially opened the gardens to the public. 

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Get Lost in Kauai

Dennis Rockney
Destination: Kauai
Article Source: Outrigger

How do you experience the real, unseen Hawaii? Start by heeding the words of Gary Smith, Kauai plantation expert and preservationist. Hint: it involves ignoring guidebooks. Read More

Fodors

Destination: Hawaiian Islands
Article Source: Outrigger

The guiding principles of Fodor's guidebooks are objectivity and accuracy.  This rigorous attention to providing readers with timely, fair reviews is why OutriggerHawaii shares many of Fodor's evaluations on Hawaii here.  Fodor's Hawaii guidebooks are updated annually and--this was important to us--by a stable of writers who are considered experts and live in the area about which they write.

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My Earth Day Celebration

Kim Steutermann Rogers
Destination: Kauai
Article Source: Blog Post

Hawaii is nature and nature is Hawaii. You've got your turquoise blue ocean with beaches of black, green and red sand. You've got your green mountains striated with hiking trails. Your rivers and streams ripe for kayaking explorations. Waterfalls. Botanical gardens. Nature preserves, wildlife refuges and national parks. With so many choices in which to spend Earth Day, how was it that on Monday, April 22, I found myself sitting in an air conditioned office building with fluorescent lights making my eyes burn? Read More

The Coco Palms: 20 Years after Hurricane Iniki

Kim Steutermann Rogers
Destination: Kauai
Article Source: Blog Post

September 11, 2012 marks the 20th anniversary that Hurricane Iniki made landfall on Kauai, clocking 145 mph winds and gusts topping 230 mph. According to yesterday's article in The Garden Island, six fatalies were blamed on Iniki. Damages totaled more than $1.8 billion, including the loss of 1,400 homes and severe damage to 5,000 more. Read More

Why I Chased the Transit of Venus

Kim Steutermann Rogers
Destination: Kauai
Article Source: Blog Post

June 5, 2012, started clear and sunny, as summer days do in Hawaii. Perfect for a day at the beach. Perfect for a sunburn, if you weren’t careful. And perfect for observing the planet Venus as it made its transit between the Earth and the sun. For about six-and-a-half hours, a dark spot would blemish the sun, looking like a perfect circle, no more than a freckle, really. Peering through a telescope, you might have mistaken the transit of Venus as possibly a mole on the very pregnant belly of a woman.

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Kilauea Point Lighthouse Lens Revealed Again

Kim Steutermann Rogers
Destination: Kauai
Article Source: Blog Post

The wood finally came down. After a year-and-a-half behind a dome of plywood, the Kilauea Point Lighthouse lens is once again visible through its glass lantern room. Read More

Kauai Adventure Day: South Shore

Kim Steutermann Rogers
Destination: Kauai
Article Source: Blog Post

It was dark until 6:41 a.m. at 22 degrees northern latitude--Kauai--when the sun finally shook off the night and rounded our side of the earth. Rain fell. Trade winds stood at attention. One dog didn’t want to get her feet wet, and so I had to drag her, back legs stiff as 2x4s, outside for the morning walk. Then, the emails started. “Anyone have a weather forecast?” “It’s lookin’ pretty stormy down this way.” “It’s definitely Kona weather, no wind here.” “Should we cancel or just go?” “Let’s forget bikes and just go. Looks like it’s clearing.”

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Another Friday Afternoon at Kilauea Point

Kim Steutermann Rogers
Destination: Kauai
Article Source: Blog Post

It’s just another Friday afternoon at the refuge, and I am blogging from “Birdville,” a.k.a. Kilauea Point National Wildlife Refuge. The skies overhead are clearing, after a surprising squall provided a bit of cloud clover and respite from the hot sun. Not enough rain fell to clean the windshield, much less soak the soil outside the wedge-tailed shearwater burrows and leach its nourishing bird guano deep into the ground. Funny how Hawaii skies sneak up on you like that. Read More

Top 10 Omiyage (Gifts) from Kauai

Kim Steutermann Rogers
Destination: Kauai, Oahu
Article Source: Blog Post

Omiyage. The practice of gift-giving is an art in Japan. Those roots sprouted easily in the welcoming soil of Hawaiian culture when Japanese immigrants arrived. I've learned not to go anywhere with empty hands. Thankfully, these Hawaiian Islands offer a never-ending supply of gifts unique to Hawaii. Read More