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On Kauaʻi's majestic North Shore in the areas known as Hāʻena and Wainiha, you'll discover some of the most spectacular scenery on the planet. Hollywood has an on-going love affair with Kauaʻi’s North Shore and numerous movies were filmed at Hāʻena, Kauaʻi.
Visit Kauaʻi’s Lumahaʻi Beach where Mitzi Gaynor "washed that man right out of her hair" in the movie South Pacific. Lumahaʻi Beach is the most photographed beach on Kauaʻi.
The famous Makana Mountain peak can be seen from Hāʻena and is easily recognized as "Bali Hai" from the movie South Pacific. During special occasions, the ancient Hawaiʻians would climb Mount Makana and throw burning spears into the wind to sail across Kauaʻi’s sky and eventually land in the ocean.
Densely jungled Honopu Valley was thought to be the last home of the legendary c and is often referred to as the "Valley of the Lost Tribe." The beach in this area is where Jessica Lange eluded King Kong in the 1976 remake of the classic movie King Kong and Harrison Ford fled from pirate attack in the movie, 6 Days, 7 Nights.
Located high up on a terrace above big boulders in Hāʻena is Ke ahu a laka Heiau that was part of a famous hula school. Chanters came to receive the most advanced training possible. To test their skills, they walked across the smooth boulders at the edge of the ocean and chanted their mele (chant). If their voices could be heard above the sounds of the ocean waves and the wind, their training was completed. Students are still brought to this Kauaʻi Heiau to test their skills.
Maniniholo Dry Cave (Maniniholo means "swimming Manini fish") is about 300 yards deep and reaches to a small exit hole on the side of the mountain. The cave interior used to be larger than now, before a 1957 tsunami half-filled it with sand.
Waikanaloa (water of Kanaloa, a god) Wet Cave is, as its name implies, underwater. It has been explored about 100 yards in by scuba divers. The Wet and Dry Caves are located within approximately 100 yards of each other on the mauka (mountain) side of the highway between Hāʻena and Kēʻē Beach.
At the northern most end of the highway on Kauaʻi is Kēʻē Beach. This is a famous movie location and excellent snorkeling area, located at the foot of the Nāpali Coast Trail. Kēʻē Beach appeared in the popular television mini-series, The Thorn Birds.
Last and certainly not least, there's Kauaʻi’s famous Nāpali Coast with cliffs rising as high as 4,000 feet above the ocean. These sheer cliffs jet up from the ocean and are accessible on foot along Kauaʻi’s breathtaking Kalalau Trail. Hiking, helicopter or rafting trips offer spectacular views of this amazing coastline. Some historians claim that the Nāpali region was the first part of Kauaʻi to be settled.
There is much to be discovered in Hāʻena and Wainiha on Kauaʻi’s north shore. Come, stay with us in a Kauaʻi beach home.