Kauaʻi, sometimes written Kauai, is one of the main Hawaiian Islands.
Kauaʻi has an area of 562.3 square miles (1,456.4 km), making it the fourth-largest of the islands and the 21st-largest island in the United States. Kauaʻi is 73 miles (117 km) northwest of Oʻahu, across the Kauaʻi Channel. The island's 2020 population was 73,298.
A liana is a long-stemmed woody vine that is rooted in the soil at ground level and uses trees, as well as other means of vertical support, to climb up to the canopy in search of direct sunlight. The word liana does not refer to a taxonomic grouping, but rather a habit of plant growth—much like tree or shrub. It comes from standard French liane, itself from an Antilles French dialect word meaning to sheave.
The Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, also known as the Leeward Hawaiian Islands, are a series of mostly uninhabited islands and atolls located northwest of Kauai and Niʻihau in the Hawaiian island chain. Politically, these islands are part of Honolulu County in the U.S. state of Hawaii, with the exception of Midway Atoll, though they are generally not included on maps and graphic depictions of the State of Hawaii. Midway Atoll is a territory distinct from the State of Hawaii, and is classified as one of the United States Minor Outlying Islands. The United States Census Bureau designates this area, excluding Midway Atoll, as Census Tract 114.98 of Honolulu County. The total land area of these islands is 3.1075 square miles (8.048 km²). With the exception of Nīhoa, all of the islands lie north of the Tropic of Cancer, making them the only islands in Hawaii situated outside the tropics.
Almost all of the islands are uninhabited, the main exception being Midway Atoll, which maintains a permanent rotating population of U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service staff and other workers. Kure Atoll and Tern Island have a seasonal population of a small team of environmental staff. At least some of the islands were visited by Ancient Hawaiians, with Nīhoa showing evidence of permanent habitation.
The House of Kalākaua, or Kalākaua Dynasty, also known as the Keawe-a-Heulu line, was the reigning family of the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi under King Kalākaua and Queen Liliʻuokalani. They assumed power after the last king of the House of Kamehameha, Lunalilo, died without designating an heir, leading to the election of Kalākaua and provoking the Honolulu Courthouse riot. The dynasty lost power with the overthrow of Liliʻuokalani and the end of the Kingdom in 1893. Liliʻuokalani died in 1917, leaving only cousins as heirs.
The House of Kalākaua was descended from chiefs on the islands of Hawaiʻi, Maui, and Kauaʻi. The torch that burns at midday symbolizes the dynasty, based on the sacred kapu Kalākaua's ancestor High Chief Iwikauikaua.
Nīhoa, also written Nihoa and also known as Bird Island or Moku Manu, is the tallest of ten islands and atolls in the uninhabited Northwestern Hawaiian Islands (NWHI). The island is located at the southern end of the NWHI chain, 296 km (160 nmi) southeast of Necker Island. Nīhoa is the closest NWHI in proximity to the eight main windward Hawaiian Islands at approximately 240 km (130 nmi) northwest of the island of Kauaʻi. The island has two peaks, 272 m (892 ft) Miller's Peak in the west, and 259 m (850 ft) Tanager Peak in the east. Nīhoa's area is about 171 acres (0.69 km) and is surrounded by a 142,000-acre (57,000 ha) coral reef. Its jagged outline gives the island its name, from Hawaiian nīhoa "toothed, serrated".
The island is home to 25 species of plants and several animals, making it the most diverse island in the entire NWHI. Endemic birds like the Nīhoa finch and Nīhoa millerbird, and endemic plants like Pritchardia remota and Schiedea verticillata are found only on Nīhoa. Amaranthus brownii was considered the rarest plant on Nīhoa and has not been directly observed on the island since 1983, and is now considered to be extinct. The plant communities and rocky outcrops provide nesting and perching areas for 18 species of seabirds, such as red-footed boobies and brown noddies, terns, shearwaters, and petrels. Prehistoric evidence indicates Native Hawaiians lived on or visited the island around AD 1000, but over time the location of Nīhoa was mostly forgotten, with only an oral legend preserving its name. Captain James Colnett rediscovered the island in 1788, and Queen Kaʻahumanu visited it in 1822. It was made part of the Kingdom of Hawaii by King Kamehameha IV.
Brighamia insignis, commonly known as ʻŌlulu or Alula in Hawaiian, or colloquially as the vulcan palm or cabbage on a stick, is a species of Hawaiian lobelioid in the bellflower family, Campanulaceae. It was native to the islands of Kauaʻi and Niʻihau, but has been extinct in the wild since at least 2020. This short-lived perennial species is a member of a unique endemic Hawaiian genus with only one other species.
Lehua Island is a small, crescent-shaped island in the Hawaiian Islands, 0.7 miles (1.1 km) north of Niʻihau, 18 miles due west of Kauaʻi. This uninhabited, 285-acre (1.15 km) barren islet was one of the first five islands sighted by Captain James Cook in 1778 which he spelled as "Oreehoua".
Lehua Island is a Hawaii State Wildlife Sanctuary. As a restricted sanctuary, all activities are prohibited on the island without a permit. Public access to the island is restricted to areas below the high tide water mark. Lehua provides habitat for at least 16 species of seabirds. A population of European rabbits had lived on the island for many years but were removed in 2005. Polynesian rats, first documented on the island in the 1930s, were declared eradicated in 2021.
Kauai County or Kauaʻi County (Hawaiian: Kalana o Kauaʻi), officially known as the County of Kauaʻi, is a county in the U.S. state of Hawaiʻi. It encompasses the islands of Kauaʻi, Niʻihau, Lehua, and Kaʻula. According to the 2020 Census, the population was 73,298. The county seat is Līhuʻe.
The Kapa'a Micropolitan Statistical Area includes all of Kauai County.
Elizabeth McHutcheson Sinclair (26 April 1800 – 16 October 1892) was a Scottish homemaker, farmer, and plantation owner in New Zealand and Hawaii, best known as the matriarch of the Sinclair family that bought the Hawaiian island of Niʻihau in 1864. Born in Glasgow, Scotland, she married Francis Sinclair, a ship's captain. With six children in tow, the family moved to New Zealand. Her husband and eldest son (and much of the family's property) were later lost at sea.
After years of farming, mainly at Pigeon Bay on the Banks Peninsula in the Canterbury region of the South Island, she decided to relocate to Canada. Unhappy with the conditions she found on Vancouver Island, she considered California but instead went to Hawaii where she bought the Hawaiian island of Niʻihau for US$10,000 (equivalent to about $201,000 in 2024). This would have been roughly 530 troy ounces of gold, which in 2024 would be worth about $660,000. She later bought additional lands at Hanapepe and Makaweli on the island of Kauaʻi. Her descendants, the Robinson family, continue to own and maintain the island of Ni'ihau.
Hanakāpīʻai Beach is a beach in the Hawaiian islands located on Kauai's Nā Pali Coast. The beach is approximately 2 miles (3.2 km) from the start of the Kalalau Trail, a very popular hiking trail which is located at Keʻe Beach. It is also about 2 miles (3.2 km) from Hanakapiai Falls. During summer months, Hanakāpīʻai Beach's sandy shore line is clearly visible; during winter months, dangerously powerful waves and high tides wash away the sandy shore line. The beach is remotely located with no road access. The word Hanakāpīʻai literally means "bay sprinkling food" in Hawaiian.
Hanakāpīʻai Beach is a popular tourist attraction; however, like many beaches on the Nā Pali Coast, strong rip currents, as well as high surf, dangerous shore breaks and other hazardous ocean conditions make Hanakāpīʻai Beach extremely dangerous. The Nā Pali Coast is especially treacherous because there are no major reefs to hinder potent ocean currents.