Niihau, Secret Island

Those who love mysteries will love a vacation on Kauai, Hawaii.

Once you are on Kauai, you will wonder about neighboring Ni’ihau, privately owned and closed to visitors. N”ihau was purchased by the Robinson family in 1864. The island measures 550 square miles, and is the westernmost of the main Hawaiian islands.

Ni’ihau (Nee-ee-how) is visible from the southwest shore of Kauai, lying low on the horizon 17 miles away. There are 200 or so native Hawaiians who live there and speak the Hawaiian language. In fact, it’s the only place the language is spoken any more. It is taught in the island’s only school, which goes K-8.

Ni’ihau residents travel freely between Kauai and Ni’ihau. They need to to get provisions for living on the dry island. Ni’ihau is a desert, shielded from wet trade winds by the mountain on Kauai, Wai-ale-ale, the “wettest spot on earth.” Wai-ale-ale receives 460 inches of rainfall per year.

Sheep ranches have historically supported the people of Ni’ihau, under the ownership of the Robinson family.

Ni’ihau artists create shell leis, stringing together thousands of tiny shells to make intricate folk art. Whole families collect tiny luminous shells, which come in a variety of colors. Then they sort them, and the artist chooses the colors to make intricate patterns. She punches a hole in each shell using a simple tool; at least half the shells break. Her tool may be made from a bicycle spoke–there are no cars on the island, but there are bicycles.

If you look for similar shells on Kauai, only 17 miles away, you won’t find them. The reason is that the Kauai, home of sugar plantations, has had agricultural runoff for years which has killed off many of the creatures that make shells. Other Hawaiian islands have the same issue. But on pristine Ni’ihau, the rare shells can be found. As a result, the Ni’ihau shell leis are precious.

Hawaiian legend has it that Ni’ihau is the oldest Hawaiian island: the volcano goddess Pele had her original home on Ni’ihau. Then she traveled to Kauai, Oahu, and moved eastward until she found the Big Island of Hawaii, where she is today. But scientists say Kauai was formed before Ni’ihau, which is sort of a side vent from the volcano that formed Kauai. The Hawaiian islands were formed as a plate of earth’s crust moved slowly across an active lava vent. As the crust moved slowly, Kauai was formed, then Oahu, and so on. Ni’ihau’s current form is as an eroded lava dome on the eastern side of the island. Much of the rest is flat and sandy, with a couple of freshwater lakes.

Mysterious Ni’ihau lies in the distance. You’d love to go there. So you look for maps and pictures of the place. But what if you just have to go there? In fact, the Robinson family will let you come, for a healthy fee. A few helicopter tours to remote teaches are allowed now, as well as some hunting safaris to cull feral bighorn sheep and Polynesian boars. You can always scuba dive offshore, too.

Access to Ni’ihau is from Kauai, 17 miles away. While you’re on Kauai, you’ll want to play on the beaches and in the surf. You’ll also want to look at the stunning natural wonder that is the Na Pali coast, the northwest side of Kauai.