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Kauai Travel Guide · Hawaii Travel Podcast by Hawaii’s Best: Plan a Better Hawaii Vacation

• 0:02
  Hawaii's Best: Welcome to Hawaii's Best Podcast, where we help you prepare for your next trip to Hawaii. Discover the experiences, businesses and stories that make Hawaii the Aloha state. And now your host, Brian Murphy.
• 0:17
  Bryan Murphy: Aloha and welcome to another episode of Hawaii's Best, where we help prepare you for your next trip to Hawaii.
• 0:24
  Bryan Murphy: I'm your host, Brian Murphy, the owner of Hawaii's Best and I am joined with one of my best buds Andrew from Shaka guy. What's going on, man?
• 0:35
  Andrew Fowers: Hey, how's it going? Brian, thanks so much for having me.
• 0:37
  Bryan Murphy: It's going good. I mean, we're staring down summer right now. And I know crowds are and have started picking up what can you tell us a little bit being on Island right now.
• 0:48
  Andrew Fowers: It's an exciting time, after a year of like having nobody here and having Hawaii all to ourselves. It's actually kind of nice to have visitors back. Because I know that means jobs, it means opportunities for local businesses here. So it's kind of an exciting time to be in Hawaii right now.
• 1:04
  Bryan Murphy: Yeah, you definitely see it since it feel it. And also in regards to Shaka guide apps a lot more traction and a lot more people you know, discovering places for the first time. So that's kind of cool seeing around social media people being out there and getting out there and traveling.
• 1:21
  Bryan Murphy: We've done a ton of podcasts in the past. And today we're talking about Hawaii overview like a quiet Travel Guide. But maybe for those who haven't tuned into the last couple episodes. So far, we've done a wahoo travel guide, Maui. Today we're doing quiet and eventually we will do Big Island. But give us a little overview of what Shaka guide apps is all about.
• 1:44
  Andrew Fowers: Yeah, so just really quick Shaka guide is a GPS based driving tour app for Hawaii. So instead of getting on a tour bus with you know, strangers, what you can do is actually driving your own vehicle with your own family having shaaka guide app downloaded, hooked into your car stereo, it'll take your on the island and tell you stories and history take you to some cool spots, and just kind of be your tour guide around the island. So it's just a lot of fun.
• 2:14
  Bryan Murphy: That's awesome.
• 2:14
  Bryan Murphy: Yeah, we've we've used chalk at a ton of times, and I've mentioned this before on the show, but I'm not the guy to get on the tour bus and, and to that I'm more you know, kind of just want to go out and explore. When we talk about exploring the islands and we talk we're gonna talk about quiet today. But you know, it's not just like, No Holds bar you don't just get to go out there. And yeah, that looks like a cool spot. I'm gonna stop there and go explore.
• 2:40
  Bryan Murphy: Like, there's there's a ton of opportunities to explore. But what Shaka guy does so well is it gives us those areas that it is okay to go out and, and explore not just to like confine us to things but because for the safety of one you and your family, but also of the land and the people that you are exploring around. Yeah,
• 3:03
  Andrew Fowers: definitely.
• 3:03
  Andrew Fowers: Definitely.
• 3:04
  Bryan Murphy: All right, today, Hawaii, also known as the garden Isle, also known as heaven. When we think about Hawaii, it's and like you mentioned, the garden islands is the northern most Island. It's also known as the oldest island in the Hawaiian chain. And coincidentally, we are recording this on King Kamehameha day. And
• 3:24
  Andrew Fowers: this is the last This is kind of the last stronghold and that's right.
• 3:26
  Andrew Fowers: Command man never actually conquered Koi. There's multiple failed attempts. But Kamehameha actually originally tried to conquer them. There was various stories of them, like getting sick, and they were about to attack and the waves actually sunk the boats. I mean, there's a lot. There's a whole story that we talked about there. But eventually, they signed a treaty King Camilla Lee, of COI, and command, man.
• 3:55
  Bryan Murphy: So maybe that's sets us up for maybe another podcast, we can dive a little bit more into. But Hawaii. So zooming out a little bit. Can you give us a brief overview of Hawaii, the geography?
• 4:06
  Andrew Fowers: Yeah, so Hawaii is on the northernmost tip of Hawaii. It's actually considered the oldest Island. It has some of the most unique and amazing endangered species and ecosystems there. So it's a very beautifully protected natural environment. It's actually quite small. If you compare that to the other islands like Maui, or even Of course, Big Island is huge. And wha hoo is very populated. Quiet is actually small and it's also not as populated. So it really feels much more country kind of out there next to quiet. There's also another island called Niihau, which has a whole nother interesting story, but there are Hawaiians that live there. It's actually off limits to visit and the people that live there speak Native Hawaiian, which is I think, very cool.
• 4:57
  Bryan Murphy: Yeah, that is cool. Niihau. You can see it as we get into kind of going over the different sides of the aisle, you can see it off on the west side of the island. Like I mentioned, the different sides of the island, the best way to break down I think any of the islands and if you've listened to, you know Maui and Oahu the overview podcast, the best way to break down the islands and explore is on the different regions. So we're going to dive into a few of those. The North Shore is where we're going to start and the resort towns, you're probably familiar with if you've visited Hawaii of princeville and Hanalei. So let's go ahead and let's start on North Shore, and we'll just kind of work our way around the island. Andrew.
• 5:37
  Andrew Fowers: Cool. That sounds like a plan. So the North Shore of Hawaii man, where do I start?
• 5:40
  Andrew Fowers: We most famously know about princeville and Hanalei. Those are more of like the tourist districts, but they're also some great shopping in those areas as well, golf courses and whatnot in princeville. One of the things I want to mention just right off the bat is there's a kilowatt light house, if you're going out to princeville, there's a little town of kilowatt, and they've recently did a really cool remodel shopping center and stuff like that. But if you continue to drive the further most northern tip of the island, there is lighthouse there. There's a small admission fee to go there, but it's a bird refuge. And so it's on these cliffs, there's these huge seabirds that dive bomb and fly all over the place.
• 6:26
  Andrew Fowers: There's many different variety of birds that you can check out.
• 6:30
  Andrew Fowers: They're kind of seasonal, some of them are stay there year round. And those they nest on the cliffs. And that lighthouse, there's a really cool story about how that lighthouse has evolved over the years, of course, increasing the improving the technology of of the lighthouse, but it's still in operation today. So it's kind of a cool viewpoint to to check out kind of check out the ocean, the beach, and then you can also see the birds as well.
• 6:56
  Bryan Murphy: So is this a lighthouse that you can actually kind of go to or is it kind of off in the distance like the makapuu Lighthouse,
• 7:03
  Andrew Fowers: you can actually go in to it inside of it. But you can't go to the top right, but you can actually go around, it would go very close to it, take some cool pictures with it.
• 7:13
  Andrew Fowers: It's just kind of cool to check it out. And then also the birds.
• 7:16
  Andrew Fowers: So it's something to do if you're heading up to the North Shore. Now something I need to just share right off the bat.
• 7:22
  Andrew Fowers: There was a landslide in Hanalei happened during an intense period of rain in early 2021.
• 7:26
  Andrew Fowers: They're currently in the process as of recording this repairing it, it should be done in the next few weeks, maybe a month tops, they've already restored access, but it's on kind of a limited basis where they have a schedule. And they have like you have to follow a vehicle in and then when you return, you have to follow a vehicle. So just be aware of that. I'm hoping that should clear up soon. So you can drive in Hanalei.
• 7:55
  Bryan Murphy: Yeah, and the the record date of this episode, so this is as current as June 11 2001. Yeah. All the islands got hit pretty hard earlier this year. Yeah. So
• 8:09
  Andrew Fowers: yeah, it was brutal. That was this is one of the bigger landslides. And actually, you know, three, four years ago, there was another landslide that affected the North Shore of Hawaii. It's just the mounds are so huge and when this massive amount of rain cars, just landslides and so they're anyways they're repairing it, so should be back and running.
• 8:28
  Bryan Murphy: I think that's important to know, just kind of going back to what we talked about a little bit about knowing where to explore and how to explore it's for reasons why like this, you know, nature.
• 8:35
  Bryan Murphy: Hawaii is nature like nature happens and, and Hawaii is so beautiful. It is also very dangerous and very raw. And this is an example of Yeah,
• 8:46
  Andrew Fowers: so definitely, let's just talk a little bit about Han layer. You can access it by car, like I said, and it's first of all it is beautiful valley if you see it from the above, there's a viewpoint from princeville you can see it's just acres and acres of Taro fields. Taro is a really important staple for Hawaii. We use it for puoi we use it for food it's it's Think of it like a potato similar to a potato or sweet potato. It has a little bit of a different consistency.
• 9:17
  Andrew Fowers: It tastes great with everything with a nice, yeah, kalua pork or whatnot. So so the choir is famous for for its Taro. It actually supplies all of the islands with with some great Taro in terms of Hanalei it's, it's a small little beachy town.
• 9:33
  Andrew Fowers: It's a small walking town, but there's a lot of little shops and boutiques, some great little restaurants, kind of like roadside stands that you should check out so it's kind of like a cool little beachy town. Check it out before you continue driving deeper into the North Shore.
• 9:49
  Bryan Murphy: Yeah, as you're, as you're driving around, it kind of resembles a little bit of you know, Oliver, you know, North Shore of Yeah, exactly.
• 9:55
  Bryan Murphy: Has that feel but it's a little bit more coming. Entry which you know, I always love.
• 10:02
  Andrew Fowers: Exactly. So another thing to be aware of is the North Shore of Hawaii can get really big surf during the winter, so use caution if you're traveling out there during the winter that some popular beaches out there is hot in a beach break with some epic surfing.
• 10:17
  Andrew Fowers: There's also a little bit more of a protected reef called a tunnels reef and a knee beach and those are some great snorkeling spots during the summer. I don't really really recommend them during the winter. Alright, a cool little beach that you should also check out is Milan beach. This is a small little residential road.
• 10:39
  Andrew Fowers: It takes you there parking is kind of limited. But that beach is actually where Gilligan's Island was filmed. I think their first
• 10:47
  Bryan Murphy: season. I know that. Yeah,
• 10:49
  Andrew Fowers: yeah. So it's kind of a cool, check it out to Beautiful, beautiful beach, you can walk, walk and check it out.
• 10:55
  Bryan Murphy: We'll probably like as we're up there. And you see these these amazing sea cliffs is the view of Nepali coast. And this is that area, and it's the North Shore of quiet. And it's important to know that even though these secrets are amazing, there's no way to get there by foot. Yeah,
• 11:15
  Andrew Fowers: that's right. So there is no continuous road around Hawaii. You can only drive to you know why may on the west side or the the end of the road in the North Shore at Cana beach. And that's pretty much it, the road does not continue around. So you can get views from the Nepali coast, at the end of the road on the North Shore. Now this really quick, in order for you to go past Hanalei, you need a voucher reservation voucher. The reason is, is that road gets really narrow. And the parking is really limited. On the at the end of the road and at Kadena and just in the past, we had, you know, people parking all over the place, and just really impacting that environment in a negative way. So they've set up a reservation system, I recommend doing it in advance of your trip, if possible. You go to go hyaena.com it's $5 for parking, and then there's also an option of a $15 shuttle, which includes entrance fee. So just just do that if you plan to go to the North Shore, otherwise, you really can't drive in yourself without a reservation. So just you know, keep that in mind terms of planning and logistics, if you're going to the North Shore.
• 12:29
  Bryan Murphy: Gotcha. And then the napali coast, the best way to view that obviously would be from from a boat, and where are they what are some of those boats kind of launch off of?
• 12:39
  Bryan Murphy: Yeah, so
• 12:39
  Andrew Fowers: a lot of the boats actually launch out of a knee beach which is on the North Shore. So there's a ton of cool, you know, boating trips. If you're really brave, there's actually a kayaking option, or you can kayak the Nepali coast.
• 12:54
  Andrew Fowers: When you go to the end of the road at Cana beach, you actually can't see the napali coast unless you hike about point five miles. There's it's called the kalalau Trail. It's a much longer 11 mile hike that I don't recommend for you know, in a day unless you're really really prepared. But if you just want to do a casual hike, there is the kalalau Trail. You can hike in trailhead starts from the parking lot. You hiking about point five miles, there's a beautiful view of the Nepali coast, some of those iconic views that I really recommend.
• 13:29
  Bryan Murphy: Awesome. Okay, so I think we got a lot of areas to cover on an on the North Shore.
• 13:34
  Bryan Murphy: Okay, going over to the east side, coconut coast and probably one of the most you come to Hawaii, you're going to pass through Louis. Yeah. I mean, that's the airport. That's the main airport here.
• 13:47
  Andrew Fowers: Yeah. So of course we have Lee Hawaii.
• 13:50
  Andrew Fowers: That's just the main town used to be a bunch of rice fields back in the day. There's some really cool stories about Wilcox. George Wilcox. He was one of the first foreign, you know, business savvy people. And he actually set up quite a big operation of farming, mostly rice and Taro, and sugarcane. So they did actually quite well, this family is still owns land there. And they're very philanthropic with that in helping the community and whatnot. Which by the way, this is kind of a side note, and I forgot to mention this on the North Shore. But Mark Zuckerberg owns like a big chunk of the North Shore. If you guys are Facebook users think he owns somewhere around 900 acres right now of the choies North Shore.
• 14:38
  Andrew Fowers: And this is semi controversial, but really what he plans to do is not develop it. He's actually wanting to just hold it and some would argue that as a good thing because it it limits its further development. Yeah. So say how to market your driving by Yeah. Big walls. Yeah,
• 14:59
  Bryan Murphy: yeah, that's fun.
• 14:59
  Bryan Murphy: Cuz I was I was going to bring it up. And I know I've read some of the news on where things are at. And yeah, you can do your own research on all that. But that is encouraging to hear at least that he's planning on to not develop it at this point in time.
• 15:16
  Andrew Fowers: Yeah. So anyways, I know it's a politically sensitive dress. Well digress, but anyways, I was talking about the coconut coast basically the east side of the island. So we got Lee hooey. There's a few hotels there not too far off Lake Hawaii. There's this is also where the cruise boats park so there's, you know, shopping, there's restaurants, there's all that cool stuff that you'd kind of get in a touristy town.
• 15:42
  Andrew Fowers: There's also some tours that pick up from there as well. Just outside of the huie not very far. There is a beautiful waterfall called the Wailua falls. It's a double barrel waterfall. Really cool. Just little parking lot with some pictures. It's really it's really a fun spot.
• 16:00
  Bryan Murphy: Yeah, that's incredible spot. And I think the one thing to know, just as we're going around the island a little bit, you'll probably notice that, especially if you've been to Waikiki, it's an urban Honolulu, it's an urban city, it's a little bit faster, but still, probably not as fast as like an LA or whatever. But when you go to Hawaii, it's really slow. You got to make sure that you prepare yourself, especially if you're coming from the mainland, especially if you're on the west coast. Or even, you know, over in New York, yeah, you really have to mentally prepare yourself to slow down because you have to move with the island or you're gonna have a bummer time.
• 16:46
  Andrew Fowers: That is totally right. It's it's a different feel. The locals are really friendly. So you know, go to restaurants like Hey, where are you from? And you know, I just love that I love that type of that type of environment. Of course, you know, we as visitors also need to make sure that we respect their home and by doing all we can to you know, pick up our trash and, you know, minimize the impact where we can, but I love the town. It's actually where I went for my honeymoon. So Oh, cool, special little memory for me. But looking at another big town, just north of the who he is kupah kupah has become kind of a little bit of an Airbnb resort town in a way. There's a lot of like Vacation Rentals that you can find there in kupah loads of cute restaurants, you know, shave ice. What I like most about coupon is there's this cool little bike path where you can rent a bike. And it's actually goes from miles and miles and it follows the beach.
• 17:41
  Andrew Fowers: Nice open sidewalk. So I think that is one of my favorite things to do. Actually, when I'm on the east side in Kampala.
• 17:50
  Andrew Fowers: We're just really quick. If you're going into the Wailua Valley There is also another waterfall called opay a car waterfall you can just see it off the road. There's a parking lot. So that's kind of cool. The checkout also has a view of the Wailua River. The Wailua river is actually pretty unique in that you can actually ride boats on it and kayak on it. It's a pretty huge river, just with the amount of rainfall that Hawaii gets it funnels into this the Wailua river so there's also an option to take a boat tour to what's called the fern grotto.
• 18:25
  Andrew Fowers: This is done by what's called the Smith family luau and they have this Fern grotto boat ride.
• 18:29
  Andrew Fowers: It's it's kind of cool. It's definitely starting to see some wear and tear in terms of the ferns and the natural Flora fauna is having some impact for some reason the water isn't flowing as much as it used to there was still kind of worth it if you want to check it out a boat ride If nothing else, it's kind of a fun boat ride. And one last thing before we move on is the Lidgate Beach Park. This is on the eastern coast. There is a cool wood made children's playground. I mean with swings, right most playgrounds don't have swings anymore. This playground has swings. It's all made of wood and it's this cool little like slides is beautiful park if you have kids go there.
• 19:14
  Andrew Fowers: There's also a protected Cove where you can swim and so a Lidgate Beach Park is a fun like family stop, you know for a picnic or something.
• 19:25
  Bryan Murphy: Sometimes you just need the classic swing set, right? Like you travel around like Okay, so we're like where we live. We live around where there's a lot of parks and you go to a park and it's like, what is that structure is like this octagon thing that you're like
• 19:40
  Andrew Fowers: where's where's the swing man? Where's this?
• 19:43
  Andrew Fowers: Yeah, exactly. So anyways, it's like an old school park but
• 19:47
  Bryan Murphy: I love that Okay, before we head to the south shore. I want to talk a little bit about Shaka guide. You know there's a lot lot information take in and we'll have a blog post like you would do with the other tours and travel guides.
• 20:00
  Bryan Murphy: How'd that link but you're on your smartphone? What are some of the tours that people can you know expect or what do you recommend downloading coming to Hawaii?
• 20:07
  Andrew Fowers: Sure. So basically we break up Hawaii in four sections, just like we are in this podcast, we have the North Shore tour, we have the, the east is actually what we call Wailua Valley in waterfall tour. And that basically is kupah ilahi. And into Wailua Valley sets the second tour, we also have a tour for the west side, which is actually we call Waimea Canyon tour and that'll actually go into co K and whatnot. And we'll talk about that in a bit. And also the South Shore which is point poo and koloa so that's another tour that we have as well so for tours Yeah, for kind of sides of the island.
• 20:45
  Bryan Murphy: Well that's a good segue cuz we're gonna talk about the South Shore now and this is probably if you have been to Hawaii you've probably have stayed on the south shore of the island or like we just mentioned the east side so let's let's talk about point view of the resort town.
• 21:57
  Andrew Fowers: Yeah, so point pools on the further Southern most side of the island. So when the North Shore of Hawaii is really really big surf in the winter the South Shore of Koi is actually like beautifully calm ocean anyways that being said point pool does have some major hotels their golf courses. It has tons of little condos and bed and breakfasts is and Airbnb type of situation there. They have some cool restaurants shopping centers, you know the whole the whole nine yards in terms of just a cool place to chill. There are some nice beaches there that you can check out some are more of the rocky side Some are more approachable.
• 22:37
  Andrew Fowers: So let me talk really quick about the point pool beaches we have the point pool beach which is kind of the Southern most beach big nice broad sand walkable, walkable spot. Yeah, so that's kind of like the go to to kind of chill. You usually can see monk seals there if you're there at the right time.
• 22:57
  Andrew Fowers: Another beach I really love which is shipwrecks beach. It's First off, it's the place to go for surfers and bodyboarders. So you can go check that out.
• 23:07
  Andrew Fowers: There's also a little hike to a lookout point not too far from shipwrecks where you can kind of get a cool view of the beach and poo. If you go check that out.
• 23:16
  Andrew Fowers: That's also in our tour. Yeah, then there's just a variety of other beaches. Baby beach is another Yeah, one of the fun things to do there in play pool is actually called spouting horn. This is a natural blowhole that you know, the lava for whatever reason has a crevice in the rock and when the ocean is pushed in it, shoots water up sometimes, you know 30 feet in the air. And I've been there just recently with my family and we came like the perfect time and it was epic like there was like, seriously it is a mega blow hole. If you're there when the waves aren't so big. It's kind of a whiskey blowhole still cool nonetheless. So check out spouting horn there if you go to play pool for sure.
• 24:06
  Bryan Murphy: Alright, close to the point who is cola?
• 24:09
  Andrew Fowers: Yeah, cola is a historic sugarcane plantation town. Long story about sugarcane and the impact on poopoo but it's a cool walkable town I think of it like the wild wild west type of town where they have like the broad like wooden decks Yeah, all the restaurants lined up it's really cool.
• 24:29
  Andrew Fowers: There's some history there as well about the town that you can check out like in some cool little shops and you know, souvenirs and food. I just like I like to walk around colo when I hang
• 24:43
  Bryan Murphy: out Yeah, I love colo Yeah, there's a great pizza spot is great there. We had Khloe ROM happens to be part of this sugar mill. And we had Khloe ROM on the podcast, we didn't talk a lot about ROM we talked about. So if you're curious, a little bit more about the history of color, we talked with the president, Bob Gunter of clo ROM and he gave us a whole history lesson of this area. So I'd encourage you to go back and listen to that podcast.
• 25:08
  Bryan Murphy: So that's the south shore and I definitely would recommend not just hanging out there your entire time even though there's you know, quite a bit to explore there on the west side and this will be where we'll wrap up our Hawaii travel guy the west side of Hawaii has some incredible views. So let's start Andrew let's start with why may a town
• 25:37
  Andrew Fowers: so going out to the west side, the kind of the doorway to Waimea Canyon and cocaine State Park is why may a town there's a lot of cool history here about Captain Cook.
• 25:51
  Andrew Fowers: Actually there's a statue of Captain Cook in the town and this is supposedly Where he came on one of his voyages.
• 26:00
  Andrew Fowers: Basically, the town of Waimea has a small town with a great place to grab a bite to eat kind of on your return trip. So I recommend just like you're driving straight past it. And then on the return trip, you can kind of stop in here for lunch or a late dinner. There's some great poke a Ishihara is or Jojo shave ice is some great go to spots that I like to check out.
• 26:23
  Andrew Fowers: But beyond that, it's really just kind of a passing through town as you're making your way up to the canyon. So there's a couple farms here on this side of the island, there's quite a shrimp, there's a shrimp farm.
• 26:33
  Andrew Fowers: There's also quite coffee, which they have acres and acres of coffee that are grown here that we also kind of take people on a little segue on our tour to check out quite coffee free samples. It's kind of fun, fun little detour to checkout.
• 26:52
  Bryan Murphy: Yeah. Okay, so we're passing through my main town. And then what's kind of the next spot? Where are we going?
• 26:58
  Andrew Fowers: So there is a little Visitor Center before you drive up to the, the state park that if it's open, I kind of recommend checking out that Visitor Center. There's some information, there's some maps, you know, there's a restroom too, if you need to. Because once you drive past by Mayor town, there's, there's really not there's only one place to eat. And so and I think there's only one restroom, so just be aware of that. So you know, make sure you're good. Good to go.
• 27:24
  Andrew Fowers: Yeah. So as you're driving up, it's a very windy road up to the canyon, there's multiple viewpoints of what's called the Grand Canyon of the Pacific. So with these viewpoints, you can kind of slowly get a little bit of a more of a view. And as you get closer, the view gets even more amazing. into Waimea Canyon, you need to be aware that they started actually charging for parking, as well as entrance fee into this area of the National Park, excuse me of the State Park, right? The reason is, is just impact there's been a lot of visitors and they're looking to kind of improve the infrastructure and education there. So just be aware that if you're going into Waimea Canyon, they do charge $5 per adult in your car. And they also charge $10 per vehicle parking for as a parking fee.
• 28:16
  Andrew Fowers: kind of expensive, I mean, either going with a family. But at the same time, just remember that this helps them to, you know, maintain and improve the environment there as much as possible. So anyways, going into Waimea Canyon, there is a couple of viewpoints to actually see the Grand Canyon of the Pacific.
• 28:36
  Andrew Fowers: It's pretty epic. Definitely check it out. There's like a fruit stand in the parking lot.
• 28:39
  Andrew Fowers: Sometimes if you're lucky.
• 28:42
  Bryan Murphy: I remember the first time we and it happened to be pretty wet and misty when we went and so just you know, be aware that any weather on in any of the islands can can change pretty quickly. So just be aware that But anyways, yeah. So if you've if you've been to Grand Canyon, proper Grand Canyon, and like you walk up to it, and I know we went with our little kids. And like your stomach just kind of drops and you're like you hold them a little bit tighter. It's that same type of feeling probably not as intense, but it's still pretty intense.
• 29:19
  Bryan Murphy: And like you got to kind of respect it as you're making your way to the viewpoints.
• 29:25
  Andrew Fowers: Yeah, no doubt.
• 29:25
  Andrew Fowers: And the truth is, is you see the Waimea Canyon, but it's only the beginning. Because as you continue to drive up the mountain dew just gets better and better. So what you can expect next, as you continue to drive. Let me back up here before, if you would like to hike, there is a very cool waterfall hike called Canyon trail to wifo waterfall. And this is a waterfall that you can actually see from the road.
• 29:54
  Andrew Fowers: Without hiking it. It's very far away. But you can see this cool little waterfall kind of to the side of the you know, why May I can and you can see this little waterfall. Well, there is a cool hike. It's about three miles roundtrip. It's not the easiest, it's what I consider moderate.
• 30:13
  Andrew Fowers: So be prepared for some, you know, grabbing roots and climbing up rocks here and there. But you can actually walk to the top of the white pole waterfalls and you get a beautiful view down you can actually swim in small pools there. I did it with my family and I enjoyed it very much just make sure to you know, pick up the trash stay on the trail and respect the area there but it's it's definitely one of those like, epic hikes like I don't think I've ever been on such a cool waterfall hike.
• 30:42
  Bryan Murphy: That's why and the third is so read as you're driving and it's like,
• 30:47
  Andrew Fowers: yes,
• 30:47
  Bryan Murphy: it's incredible how red the dirt is.
• 30:50
  Andrew Fowers: Do you know why it's red?
• 30:51
  Bryan Murphy: Tell me why?
• 30:52
  Andrew Fowers: It's actually because there's iron calcite in the In the rock, because this was a volcanic eruption that formed these islands. And so the red is actually kind of like the island is rusting slowly because of this iron that's in the dirt.
• 31:09
  Andrew Fowers: So it appears very red.
• 31:09
  Andrew Fowers: Actually, it's very interesting.
• 31:12
  Andrew Fowers: There's a company in Hawaii in Hawaii that started a shirt company called quite dirt shirts. And what they do is they stain the shirt using the quiet dirt. And so it becomes a very, very dark, deep red. So of course, if you have white sneakers and you're hiking, you know, forget about it. It stains
• 31:33
  Bryan Murphy: maybe you want that little souvenir like that's the one of things you can take from you know, and is that died on your new you know, I can't use
• 31:43
  Andrew Fowers: Yeah, so but quiet dirt is is something known for being very read. But it's, it's cool. As you're continuing to drive, you do get beautiful views of the Nepali coast at the end of the road. It's called the cook a state park, there's two views of the Nepali coast, both are just as amazing. The problem is, is you can't control the weather. And so I've been there some times where blue skies, no clouds, and you're just like, oh, but then there's times where it's like cloudy. And by the way, quiet. This part of quiet is one of the wettest places in the world. Okay, it gets more rainfall than most rain forests.
• 32:27
  Andrew Fowers: Yeah, it's just the way the mountains are formed. And those clouds get trapped. They're very, very wet. And so sometimes I go to this beautiful viewpoint waiting for that view. And it's like clouds. And here's like, I drove all the way out here and I can't see it. So sometimes just be patient, the clouds move quickly. And sometimes you get lucky and it'll open up for review. Other times you just out of luck. So
• 32:52
  Bryan Murphy: yeah, and it's not like if you go out one day, this can be a you know, a half day adventure. It doesn't have to be the full day. So if you go out maybe the first couple days into your vacation, and it doesn't, it's not the right. You know, whether you're hoping for you know, maybe try in a couple days, and you'll be good to go.
• 33:11
  Andrew Fowers: I mean, yeah, you could always go another day to drive it to the top. From why Midtown to the top I think is like maybe hour, yeah, hour and a half tops. So it's not too bad if you just want to buzz up another day and like check out the view. But you might check the weather, although it's unpredictable. And one last thing at the end of the road there there is a trail hike called the P hayah. trail. This is a little bit of a muddy hike, especially if it's wet. So be aware. But this actually is, is pretty level. It doesn't have a lot of climbs, but you can actually hike and get some different viewpoints of the Nepali coast on this behavior trail. So I think that's a fun little family friendly hike, you know, assuming it's not muddy, for you to check out if you have the chance.
• 33:59
  Bryan Murphy: So after taking all that information in Andrew, who would you recommend Hawaii to you know, is it good for families, honeymoons? retirement moons? If that's the thing, what would you recommend quiet for I personally
• 34:15
  Andrew Fowers: like Hawaii because it packs a punch with not a lot of driving, you got a big island You mean you got to really be committed to go places cuz you know, there's a couple hours to really get to some of those scenic places. But quiet, it's like you can hit the top and the bottom of the island in the same day, you know, you viewing different stuff. So I actually like Koi. And because there's a lot there without a lot of driving, it's a slower kind of a smaller town community feel. So if you're not into shopping, I would recommend Koi and you're into more of the hiking and a little bit more adventure. Quiet is a lot of fun. But in terms of family, it's also family friendly. But at the same time. It's it's a great honeymoon spot where if you just want to get away Don't bugbee I would recommend for quiet for a lot of things. But definitely for couples. I think it's a great couples trip because some of those hikes maybe not be appropriate for younger children. So of course you can you know, modify your travel itinerary if you are traveling with kids just to you know, maybe not do some of those more moderate to challenging hikes. There's still a lot to see out there. beautiful beaches, beautiful green Botanical Gardens, and some awesome hikes. So I think Hawaii actually has a little bit of everything for pretty much anyone just depends on how you want to customize that trip.
• 35:39
  Bryan Murphy: Yeah, I totally agree. And you ended it so well right there. But I got to ask and everyone has asked what's with all the chickens?
• 35:50
  Andrew Fowers: Well, we actually kind of make a joke about this in the in our tour. And so there's a long story But there was a hurricane iniki that came in and devastated Hawaii. And you know, according to legend that there was a lot of chickens that got let loose during that time. And then they inbred with these like bigger native ones.
• 36:09
  Andrew Fowers: And they turn into like these Godzilla chickens and roosters so part of the respecting the locals is respecting the chickens and roosters. My recommendation is bring earplugs with you. They will wake you up at four in the morning. And sometimes that is not cool. But you'll see chickens everywhere.
• 36:29
  Andrew Fowers: Don't feed them, but there's no natural predator to them besides fast moving cars, so just speed up.
• 36:36
  Bryan Murphy: Yeah.
• 36:37
  Andrew Fowers: If you're driving No, just kidding. They're everywhere and quiet. Yeah,
• 36:41
  Bryan Murphy: you got dinner.
• 36:41
  Bryan Murphy: Yeah. What's crazy I knew about the shipwreck. And that whole history. I didn't. I didn't realize that there was like this inbred of like a super chicken.
• 36:52
  Bryan Murphy: That's
• 36:52
  Andrew Fowers: where there are some native chickens. Right.
• 36:54
  Andrew Fowers: They're brought around from you know, the Polynesians like years ago. And supposedly, you know, the legend goes that they've there was this. A lot of chickens let loose and that mean they're pretty big. Yeah, the chickens are healthy. Yeah. I don't know how they eat so well.
• 37:09
  Andrew Fowers: But the chickens are everywhere.
• 37:12
  Andrew Fowers: Awesome. Well,
• 37:14
  Bryan Murphy: I think that's the perfect note to end on. So Andrew, thank you so much, again for coming on today.
• 37:20
  Andrew Fowers: Yeah, no problem is super cool to talk about Koi.
• 37:23
  Andrew Fowers: I love the island. Check out our app if you get a chance. It's called quiet GPS driving tour on the App Store. We have four different tours for you to check out a lot of fun, basically a local guide take care on the island. And thanks for having me. Appreciate it.
• 37:38
  Bryan Murphy: Absolutely. And next time you are on Hawaii Be sure to tag both of us at Shaka guide and at Hawaii's Best we love to see your adventures on the island. And stay tuned, hit subscribe because we got a lot more info coming your way and until next time, be well. Aloha.
• 37:59
  Hawaii's Best: Thanks for listening to Hawaii's Best podcast. To stay up to date on future episodes. Be sure to subscribe. For more information to help you plan your next trip to Hawaii visit Hawaii's Best travel.com