Ka Lae on the "Big Island" of Hawaii is the southernmost point in the United States. Located at the end of the eleven mile South Point Road, it has been a popular fishing spot since the ancient Hawaiians first settled the islands some 1500 or so years ago.

Since 1986, the most prominent road-side feature has been the rather unattractive, 100 acre Kamaoa Windfarm. A commercial flop which achieved only half its projected energy output, it changed hands in 1994 and is now owned by Apollo Energy Corporation of California. The current status of the windfarm can be found at the State of Hawaii Dept. of Business, Economic Development & Tourism (DBEDT).

NOAA photo of Hurricane Iniki passing directly over the islands of Kauai and Niihau:

Hurricane track data originally obtained from Purdue University's WXP hurricane archive. Now located at Unisys Weather.

Hurricanes landing on Hawaii are a relatively rare event. Looking at the paths of all five hurricanes which have caused serious damage to the islands since record-keeping started in 1949, one might conclude that Kauai, like Rodney Dangerfield, gets no respect. It received every direct hit and one sideswipe.

Steven Spielberg, caught by Iniki on Kauai with the "Jurassic Park" cast and crew, called it "a real zinger."
[Washington Post: 9/13/92, p. A01]

Wailua Falls

Mt. Waialeale, in the center of Kauai claims the honor of "Wettest Spot on Earth" with an annual rainfall of over 450 inches. Water from its slopes feeds streams which connect and flow east down the twin Wailua Falls, seen on "Fantasy Island." Most of the water collects in the Alakai Swamp which stretches ten miles west-northwest of the mountain towards the rugged Na Pali coast. The swamp in turn feeds many rivers including the ones which carved Waimea Canyon, nicknamed the "Grand Canyon of the Pacific."

Waimea Canyon

Golf in Hawaii dates back to before the turn of the 20th century. The state's oldest golf course, the Moanalua Golf Club, was built by a missionary family in 1898. It still operates as a semi-private, nine-hole Bermuda grass course.

Today, according to the GolfCourse.com directory, there are 88 golf courses throughout the state. Almost one third of these opened in the early 1990's, fueled in large part by money that poured in during the Japanese economic bubble of the mid to late-80's. Twenty-seven new golf courses opened between 1990 and 1994. Most were built on new or existing resorts and some were part of new residential developments. A few were started as speculative ventures by Japanese developers seeking to cash in on Japan's golf craze. The speculators' plans were ruined by the 1989 collapse of the Japanese economic bubble.

Luana Hills Country Club, nestled in Maunawili Valley, started as a classic speculator's development. Plans called for separate public and private courses, the latter purportedly to service thousands of $250,000 memberships reserved by Japanese nationals. Originally called the Royal Hawaiian Country Club, the development was dogged by scandal as it went bankrupt. It eventually opened as an 18-hole, par 70, semi-private course. President Clinton played there on Nov. 16, 1996 with a reported score of 82.

The case of the Royal Hawaiian Country Club was featured on the PBS Frontline special "The Fixers," an exposé  on convicted political money fixers, Gene and Nora Lum, which aired on April 14, 1997. Interviews with a lawyer for the displaced farmers and with a neighborhood board member describe how the Lums cleared the way for the course developer.

Olomana Ridge rising up from Maunawili Valley:

Luana Hills Country Club, a.k.a.
Royal Hawaiian Country Club: