Timeless Shores by Linda Ballou

Kaua’i, lush with foliage, resplendent with waterfalls, and isolated by tumultuous surf, is the oldest island in the Hawaiian chain. It remained undisturbed by the tribal wars that plagued Maui, Oahu, and the Big Island of Hawaii for centuries. The protocols of the 2,000-year-old Polynesian Kapu system were practiced on Kaua’i in relative harmony. It is said that a mantle of mana, or spiritual power, rests over the island and that it still holds sacred secrets of the ancient culture that ended with the burning of the gods in 1819.

Twice Kamehameha the Great tried to conquer Kaua’i and take it under his rule. Twice the seas rose up and prevented his armada from reaching the garden isle. I was totally unaware of any of this when I landed there in 1978 headed for Anahola Beach because a woman named Linda Light told me this was the most beautiful beach on an island fabled for exquisite white sand shores. Exhausted from putting myself through college selling real estate in Los Angeles, I chose Kaua’i to take a breather from it all.

I took a post at the Garden Island newspaper, interviewing locals I found interesting. It was the year of a bicentennial acknowledgement of the landing of Captain James Cook on Kaua’i in 1778. I dipped into Hawaiian history and decided the Islanders had gotten a bum rap from historians portraying them as savages who stabbed the good Captain in the back. This is when I met Ka'ahumanu, the audacious favorite wife of Kamehameha the Great, who was his confidant through the forty years spanning his rise to power. She inspired the protagonist in my novel Wai-nani, High Chiefess of Hawai'i who tells us what was happening in her world when Cook arrived. Her story follows the path of the warrior-chief who united the Hawaiian Islands and gave his people a golden age.

Little did I know that the quest to understand the “people of old” would take me back to the Islands many times. I would camp out in Waipio Valley on the Big Island and hike into the depths of the Valley of the Kings. Framed in steep cliffs facing a magnificent crescent beach, this valley was the resting place of great chiefs. As many as10,000 Hawaiians once lived in this water-rich valley where the gods come close. I would go on to hike across the moonscape of the Iki Crater in the heart of Volcano National Park to feel the hot breath of Pele the fire goddess. I would interview a healing kumu to gain insights into the ancient rituals and holistic practices of the ancestors.

After years of exploration, Kaua’i is the island that remains closest to my heart. Hollywood has a long-standing love affair with the north shore of Kaua’i where Bali Hai, King Kong, and most recently The Descendants were filmed. The trail that traverses the pleated Nāpali Coast, once the route to an isolated Hawaiian settlement in Kalalau Valley, is stunning. The Limahula Garden in Haena is one of the oldest settlements in all of the Islands. You can stroll through well-preserved taro terraces and native shrub and tree forests and imagine what it was like on the island 700 years ago when this was the site of a thriving village. Waimea Canyon on the western side of Kaua’i is not to be missed. Lookout platforms allow you to gaze out over the red striated walls of the gorge that is ten miles long. Each layer represents a different eruption and subsequent lava flow. There are more hiking trails in this canyon than anywhere in Hawaii. The hike to Waipio Falls, one of the most popular, is fabulous. Kapa’a town on the east side of the island is where I stay when I visit. It is less expensive with good eats, has local artisan shops, and is less touristy than Hanalei Bay on the moody north shore or Po’ipū on the sunny south shore. I pick up a lunch at Ono Burger and head for Anahola-still gorgeous after all these years.

I had no clue I would become a travel writer and share my experiences in articles like Healing Hawaiian Holiday that appear on my site www.lindaballoauthor.com, or that my essays set in the Islands would be showcased in Lost Angel Walkabout-One Traveler’s Tales. I never dreamed I would be the author of an historical novel set in pre-contact Hawaii. One never knows where your heart’s desire will take you unless you give it full rein. Back in California, I often yearn for warm turquoise waves, see the velvet green cliffs of Nāpali and drift back to the cherished time when I called Kaua’i home.

Adventure-travel writer, Linda Ballou, ventured to the City of the Angels from Alaska when she was a teen. She has supported her writing and travel habit selling real estate in the San Fernando Valley for the last three decades. Her clientele ranges from first-time buyers to affluent celebrities. With the publication of Wai-nani, High Chiefess of Hawai’i her double life was revealed. For the last dozen years she has traveled widely and written many articles about her adventures. The most memorable of her travels are included in Lost Angel Walkabout-One Traveler’s Tales which brought home the bronze in the best travel-narrative category in the 2010 North American Journalist competition. You may find Linda at her real estate site www.LindaBallou.com where you can find out what your home is worth today! Or, on her writing site www.LindaBallouAuthor.com where there are wonderful articles and photo essays for you to enjoy.

Linda shares Great Outdoor Days in L.A. in her column on Examiner.com and gives insider travel tips at NABBW.com the National Association of Baby Boomer Women where she enjoys having the title “Adventure Travel Expert.”

Linda also recommends: The Ultimate Kaua’i Guidebook: Kaua’i Revealed, by Andrew Doughty

Visit the largest coffee estate in the U.S., the Kaua’i Coffee Company. Click here to continue on.

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