(original title) Kauai, back on its feet, awaits tourists' return
By Christopher Michaud [10 pts ML]
LIHUE, Hawaii, (Reuter): Nineteen months after a devastating hurricane tore through Kauai, Hawaii's "Garden Isle" has landed on its feet and is ready to resume its primary industry -- tourism.
The island's top resort and some of its attractions have yet to ripen, but most of Kauai's features remain intact after Hurricane Iniki lashed the island on Sept. 11, 1992 causing US$1.6 billion in damages.
Iniki left untouched Na Pali's spectacular coastline and Waimea Canyon, two of the island-state's most stunning natural sites.
The hiking trail along the jagged Na Pali coast is in fine shape as evidenced by the children and middle-aged couples encountered along the first few miles.
Helicopter tours of the island afford a unique perspective on the Na Pali coast, recently named one of the top 10 national parks in the United States by National Geographic magazine.
Craters on the island provided the backdrop for the film Jurassic Park.
The beaches -- including the north coast Lumahai Beach where Mitzi Gaynor sang I'm Gonna' Wash That Man Right Out of My Hair in the film version of Richard Rogers' and Oscar Hammerstein's musical South Pacific -- are as inviting as ever. Iniki has even widened some of the beaches.
The hurricane ripped away trial markers in Kuwai's Waimea Canyon, forcing tourists to use a map to navigate through its rough terrain.
One of the island's more placid excursions, a riverboat trip up the Wailua River to the "Fern Grotto," continues to attract busloads of tourists for a brief cruise up the non-descript waterway to a botanical bonanza and grotto strewn with ferns.
The hurricane blew over many of the larger trees, bringing in more sun and thus depleting the ferns and it remains a popular spot for wedding ceremonies.
Iniki has played havoc with some of the other natural features of the island. The "Tunnel of Trees," a stand of towering eucalyptus lining the road to the southern resort area of Popiu, still stands, but it's now more of a corridor, Iniki having shorn the tops off the trees.
The Kilauea Point National Wildlife Refuge is closed, although the entrance area allows for both bird and whale watching and a good view of the lighthouse.
The Guava Kai plantation is also shut, but visitors can get a glimpse into Hawaiian agricultural and botanical life at similar attractions such as the Kiahuna Plantation.
Iniki also shut one of the island's poshest - and some locals contend, most overdone - resort the former Westin Kauai. Its lagoons, terraced swimming pools and art-laden grounds are closed to the public.
The Marriott hotel chain received bought the resort, but the deal has not been finalized. There is no scheduled reopening date.
Magic dragon
In the luxe category, both the Hyatt and the Princeville resort, which hangs on a bluff in the north of the island, are running fully. Most of the smaller hotels and condominiums, restaurants and shops have also reopened.
While construction crews are in evidence on every road, all roads are open to traffic, and piles of rubble that used to be homes or businesses are nowhere in evidence.
Entertainer Charo had reopened her restaurant far up on the northern coast, and the guest book at the Old Hanalei Coffee Company included a recent visit by perhaps the isle's most famous native: Puff (the Magic) Dragon, of Hanalei, Kauai.
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