SECRET BEACH, HI

From: richard@West.Sun.COM (Richard M. Mathews)

  SECRET BEACH is on the north end of Kauai, west of the Kilauea Lighthouse.
  It is the most lushly foliated beach I found on the island, with the
  sheer cliffs adorned with hundreds of different species of fern, moss,
  epiphites, and others.  The beach itself is rather clean, but very
  inhabited by "homeless" counterculture types - there were thirty or so
  tents and tarps dotting the beach, but only about twelve people (sexes
  mixed equally); of these, only five appear to be residents, the rest
  people on vacation and a few well-heeled locals.  The water is playable,
  but quite rough; the path to the beach is very slippery, muddy and steep.
  You pass through a guava grove and are assailed with the sweet smell of
  the tropics.  No directions prepared me for the change that seems to have
  occurred there - the land 'on top' has been developed:  Take the Kilauea
  Lighthouse road to Kauapea Road... there are now two plots of land with
  gates, fences and "KEEP OUT" signs... but (!!), these people have left a
  ten-foot public access path to the beach!  You will see the gap between
  the properties and continue at your own risk!  Wear knobby-soled boots.

  In December, '94, the following additional information was posted:
  Fooled me. The info on so-called "Secret Beach" is outdated, as far
  as the reports which I have seen. The houses on Kauapea Road are rather
  ritzy with signs reading "Private Driveway--KEEP OUT!" or words to that
  effect. Asking a man working in the yard there yielded the information
  that someone drowned last year, which in our litigious society means
  automatic restrictions or closures.  In this case, the access to the
  beach was somehow barred, so now people run across a field farther
  down the road or something. I don't know why they run; maybe to avoid
  being shot?

  And another opinion:
  My last time on Kauai was in Spring 1991.  The access on Kauapea Rd.
  did seem difficult by then, so we took another way.  After making
  the right off the highway (headed north or west, whatever) we made
  an immediate left and then the first right, drove to the end to a
  parking area, walked to the left next to a horse pasture fence, and
  went on a steep downhill in the woods (sometimes MUDDY) to the beach.
  Somebody had the tires stolen off their rental car in that lot while
  we were using the beach; watch out for "spotters", and don't leave
  valuables.  Some land had been cleared near the road to the lot and
  who knows what development has gone on since then.  Maybe Hurricane
  Iniki flattened some of it.

  Weather reports for the area can be found at
|   http://www.princeton.edu/cgi-bin/Webweather/ww?city=lih

  	[Original from Carlo Milono <cmilono@netcom.com>]