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Hawaii is of course as much a state of mind, the hyped up "Paradise" of travel brochure as it is a real landscape and environment, and a fascinating one at that. On most of the developed islands the coastline is highrise apartments or vacation condos. Therefore imagine my surprise at finding a large piece of coastal Kauai that is NOT developed, is open to hikers and horses, and is NOT the vertical Na Pali Cliffs. It is NOT advertised. You have to find it for yourself, and if asked, the locals will only begrudgingly admit that yes, you can go in there. It IS private, but the owners simply let people use it. The locals mostly like to keep it for themselves.
It, the area, DOES have a name, Maha'ulepu. First you go to Koloa, then to Poipu, then to the Hyatt Regency AND KEEP GOING on the dirt, pot-holed road. There's a right turn in there, and a big open gate and a sign that leaves it ambiguous whether you can go in there or not. While you're reading it some local will blast past you in a car with kids and beach towels and you will get the idea. One can get pretty far away from things back there, enough so that the last bay seems clothing optional. But then, this IS Hawaii, isn't it?
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