This is the mythical, mystical, magical land of "Bali Hai," filmed in the movie "South Pacific." This beautiful tropical island, just a 25 minute plane ride northeast from Honolulu, exhibits such an incredible array of scenery, recreation, geological and botanical wonders and weather patterns that it is literally a microcosm of the earth. Many popular movies have been filmed here, including "Jurassic Park," Six Days, Seven Nights," "Raiders of the Lost Arc," "Thornbirds," "10," King Kong," and innumerable other favorites, due to Kauai's abundance of "Tropical paradise scenery." Tourism and agriculture form Kauai's economic base.

Sugar cane, papaya, bananas, guava, and seed corn constitute the County's export produce; and Kauai's visitor industry has grown to over 1,300,000 overnight guests per year as of 1991 ! Tourism took an expected downturn after hurricane Iniki, in 1992, but rebounded to almost 1,000,000 in 1997. During the 1980's Kauai added several super-luxury resorts, thereby upgrading the caliber of it's visitors and necessitating augmentation of infrastructure and shopping centers.

NIIHAU --

Part of Kauai county, is a privately-owned, entirely rural, island and is only accessible to the general public through helicopter landings at uninhabited sites. Niihau is the last community in Hawaii where native Hawaiians, secluded from the outside world, speak only their native tongue and preserve the heritage of old Hawaii.

POPULATION --

Kauai County has a 2001 estimated total resident population of 71,000. We can only guess how many resident there are now and estimates vary by as much as 15,000. According to the most recent available figures (1986), the largest towns on Kauai are Kapa'a (with over 4,800 residents) and Lihue (with 5,000). The ethnic makeup of Kauai for 1985: Japanese, 20.0%; Filipino, 23.8%; Caucasian, 21.1%; Hawaiian and part-Hawaiian, 23.0%; mixed, 11.0%; other, 2.1%. Kauai has no ethnic majority.

CLIMATE --

Kauai has an ideal climate with average temperatures near the coast of 71 in February and March, and 79 in August and September. Cooler temperatures in the mountain areas such as Kokee offer a pleasant contrast. The North Shore also averages about 5 to 7 degrees cooler that the other inhabited parts of Kauai. Rainfall varies widely, with an average day having sunhine on the beaches and showers in the mountains. The West side of the Island has near desert-like conditions, while the summit of Waialeale is the wettest spot in the world, with an average rainfall of almost 500 inches per year (FORTY FEET?). Normally, the rugged, mountainous interior has much more rainfall than the coastal areas where most communities are located.