My Expanding List of Things I Find Intriguing About Kauaʻi:
- Kauaʻi is the fourth most populated of the eight main Hawaiian islands.
- Kauaʻi is the third most densely populated of the Hawaiian islands with a population density of 121 persons/sq mile. For reference, Oʻahu, Hawaii’s most densely populated island, is approximately 13 times more densely populated than Kauaʻi.
- Kauaʻi was the first island that Captain James Cook landed on, anchoring at the mouth of the Waimea River on January 19, 1778.
- Weeks after the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 30th 1941, Imperial Japanese Navy submarine I-3, a J1 type large cruiser submarine, shelled Nawiliwili Harbor hitting mostly along where the Matson and Young Brothers terminals are now. No one was injured. Almost a year later, on 9 December 1942, the I-3 was spotted by US PT boat PT-59 while the submarine was unloading re-supplies at Guadalcanal. Together with PT boat PT-44, PT-59 torpedoed and sank submarine I-3. Due to the destruction of I-3, the Japanese suspended submarine resupplies to Guadalcanal.
- From 1949 to 2004, Mt. Waiʻaleʻale averaged 373.85 inches of rain per year. (source: WRCC/NOAA)
- Hurricane Iniki struck Kauaʻi on September 11, 1982. Iniki was a category 4 hurricane with sustained winds of 145 mph with recorded gusts of 225 mph. ← No, that’s not a typo. Iniki destroyed over 1400 homes and severely damaged over 5000 more. Iniki did $3.1 billion in damage, the costliest hurricane ever in the Central Pacific. That’s equivalent to over double that value in today’s dollar.
- Kauai’s Kekaha Beach spans 17 miles long and is the longest stretch of beach in the State of Hawaiʻi.
- The largest coffee grower in the U.S. is Kauai Coffee Company. The coffee estate has over 4 million coffee trees on 3100 acres.
- Kauaʻi grows the most kalo of all the Hawaiian islands (but come on, did you think it would be somewhere else?)
- ʻAlekoko Loko / Menehune Fishpond is at least 600 years old, possibly up to 1000 years old. The kuapā (pond wall) is 2700 ft long - that's 7.5 football fields!
I add new discoveries to my growing list here after I verify sources.
Geeky Stats I Find Interesting About Kauaʻi:
Name: Kauaʻi
Nick name: The Garden Island
Population: 72,293 (5% of state) (source: U.S. Census Bureau 2019)
Most populated town: Kapaʻa
County seat: Līhuʻe
Area: 562 sq miles
Highest elevation: 5,243 ft (Kawaikini)
Flower: Mokihana (Melicope anisata)
Color: Poni (purple)
Airports:
Līhuʻe Airport (LIH)
Port Allen Airport (PAK)
Princeville Airport (HPV)
Distance from Līhuʻe to
Honolulu: 108 miles
Los Angeles: 2,622 miles
New York: 5,005 miles
London: 7,201 miles
Tokyo: 3,742 miles
Sydney: 5,041 miles
Temperature at (source: NOAA Climate Data):
Līhuʻe Airport
Average Temperature: 75.8 F
Ave Low Temperature: 70.4 F
Ave High Temperature: 81.2 F
Hottest Months: July/August/September
Coldest Months: January/February
Annual Rainfall: 37.0 inches
Driest Month: June
Wettest Month: December