Also known as the "Garden Isle," Kauaʻi ([kɐˈwɐʔi] in Hawaiian) is the oldest and fourth largest of the main Hawaiian Islands. Legend has it that Hawaiʻiloa, the Polynesian navigator who discovered the Hawaiian Islands, named it after his favorite son.
According to Kauai.com, "Like the other islands, Kauai was initially inhabited roughly 1500 years ago by the same Polynesian adventurers who completed their nearly 2000 mile sea voyage on outrigger canoes when they first landed on the shores of the big island of Hawaii. Here they stayed undisturbed for around 500 years, until a second wave of sea-canoe travelers appeared, this time from Tahiti (which was also originally settled by Polynesian sea-canoe explorers). It was from the Tahitian arrival that the current Hawaiian gods, belief structures and many traditions evolved."
The Kilauea Lighthouse is a century-old lighthouse that stands at the edge of Kīlauea Point, 55 metres above the ocean. It was recently restored.
Established in 1985, the goal of the Kilauea Wildlife refuge is to preserve and enhance seabird nesting colonies. Many species of birds co-exist in the area, including laysan albatrosses, red-footed boobies, red-tailed and white-tailed tropicbirds, great frigatebirds, and migratory shorebirds such as the kōlea. A small population of endangered nēnē were reintroduced on the refuge in the 1990s.
Visitors can also observe marine mammals and reptiles there...