Koloa Plantation Days draws crowds to miniature golf, paddling

by Rachel Gehrlein - THE GARDEN ISLAND

KOLOA — One by one, the pastel pink, yellow and orange golf balls plunked into the water hazards on the miniature golf course yesterday at the Lawa‘i Beach Resort.

As part of the Koloa Plantation Days celebration, the free miniature golf tournament attracted more than 75 keiki under age 13.

“It’s going good,” said Karen Bukoski, a Lawa‘i Beach Resort staffer who was stationed at Hole No. 1. “We’re not keeping score — everyone’s a winner.”

The kids receive goodie bags and are entered in a lucky number drawing, she added.

“The prize in the drawing is a backpack and school supplies — just in time for back to school,” said Kaulana Keale of Anahola.

The par at each hole did not matter as the kids applied untraditional methods, including the two-fisted grip and one-handed swing to get the ball in the hole.

“I win!” a little tyke declared after his ball dropped in the hole.

To celebrate his victory, he promptly plopped his golf ball into the water.

Once the tournament finished, the kids were treated to pizza and juice.

Meanwhile, a few minutes away at Po‘ipu Beach Park, the first annual Kukui‘ula Outrigger Canoe Club Paddle Fest was underway.

Some 70 people signed up to compete in the one- and two-man outrigger canoe and paddle board races, according to race coordinator Fran McDonnell.

“I think this is one of the first stand-up paddle board races on the island,” McDonnell said. “I’m really excited — it’s turning out really well.”

At 10 a.m., the one- and two-man outrigger canoes left Kalapaki Beach and were expected to finish the 12-mile race at Po‘ipu Beach Park at noon.

Prone and stand-up paddlers started at Po‘ipu Beach Park at 11 a.m. for a 2.5-mile race along the South Shore, ending at Kukui‘ula Harbor.

“This is a great opportunity for our elite paddlers, local residents and visitors to gather together to enjoy a day on the beach and on the water,” Laola Lake-Aea said. “It is very fitting with the theme of this year’s celebration ‘Getting Together, Plantation Style.’”

Throughout the day, members of the Kukui‘ula Outrigger Canoe Club and other water sport experts answered questions and held demonstrations on outrigger canoe paddling and paddle boarding.

“The outrigger canoe is, to me, the most significant, singular artifact to have survived our (Hawaiian) people’s turbulent past,” Tim Cotchay, head coach of the Kukui‘ula Outrigger Canoe Club, said. “Nowhere else can the lessons of our ancestors be made clearer than working, playing and living through the use of an outrigger canoe.”

Paddle Fest is one of the new events featured this year during Koloa Plantation Days.

“I am psyched to have new events this year,” said Melissa McFerrin, event coordinator of Koloa Plantation Days. “It’s getting better and better each year.”

Held July 19 through July 27, Koloa Plantation Days celebrates the many ethnic groups that came to Hawai‘i to work on the sugar plantations and the Hawaiians who welcomed them through music, food, dance and costumes.

The County of Kauai recently issued the long awaited building permits for two projects on the south side of Kauai in Poipu.

Pili Mai, being developed by Brookfield Homes Hawaii will break ground on the first four buildings sometime this month. These will be the first of 190 total units situated on 19 acres adjacent to the first fairway of the Kiahuna Golf Course.

Todd Hadley, project manager for Koloa Landing has told Makai Properties that they also will be breaking ground on the first phase of this 324 unit condominium development located at the corner of Poipu and Kapili Roads. The first phase includes 85 units in five buildings. At the time of this writing they have sold all but 12 of these first phase units and will be mobilizing the construction within the next few weeks.

This is welcome news for the whole area but especially those who have held contracts to purchase, many of which have been in escrow for in excess of a year.  With many incentives offered by both these developers and a much clearer time frame for delivery of finished product, now may be the best time to contact us at Makai Properties for more details on these offerings.

Poipu was acknowledged as #4 in the Top 25 U.S. Destinations by Trip Advisors!  Congratulations and a big mahalo to you all, for truly helping to create a unique, world-class destination.

The complete list of the Top 100 Worldwide can be downloaded here as a PDF: http://www.tripadvisor.com/TCDestinations.  All of the Top 100, plus more, are in the Top 25 in each category.

And now – as they say regarding some far less important awards – the envelope please:

Top 25 Destinations, US:

1. Lake Tahoe, California
2. Big Sur, California
3. San Francisco, California
4. Poipu, Hawaii
5. Sedona, Arizona
6. New Orleans, Louisiana
7. Carmel, California
8. Napa, California
9. Lahaina, Hawaii
10. La Jolla, California
11. Jackson, Wyoming
12. Wailea, Hawaii
13. West Yellowstone, Montana
14. Honolulu, Hawaii
15. Hana, Hawaii
16. Bar Harbor, Maine
17. Boulder, Colorado
18. Charleston, South Carolina
19. Monterey, California
20. Kailua-Kona, Hawaii
21. Santa Fe, New Mexico
22. Estes Park, Colorado
23. New York City, NY
24. Austin, TX
25. Washington, DC


Top 10 Destinations Worldwide:

1. Milford Sound, New Zealand
2. Queenstown, New Zealand
3. Philipsburg, St. Martin/St. Maarten
4. Cayo Largo, Cuba
5. Rhodes, Greece
6. Charlotte Amelie, USVI
7. Cruz Bay, USVI
8. Bridgetown, Barbados
9. Banff, Canada
10. Lake Tahoe, US


Top 25 Destinations, Europe:

1. Rhodes, Greece
2. Salzburg, Austria
3. Amalfi, Italy
4. Bath, England, UK
5. Siena, Italy
6. Dingle, Ireland
7. Bruges, Belgium
8. Lucerne, Switzerland
9. Vatican City, The Vatican
10. Edinburgh, Scotland, UK
11. San Gimignano, Italy
12. Florence, Italy
13. Pompei, Italy
14. Galway, Ireland
15. Heidelberg, Germany
16. Monte Carlo, Monaco
17. Rothenburg ob der Tauber, Germany
18. Venice, Italy
19. York, England, UK
20. Paris, France
21. Prague, Czech Republic
22. St. Petersburg, Russia
23. Versailles, France
24. Assisi, Italy
25. Stratford-Upon-Avon, England, UK


Top 30 Destinations, Canada:

1. Banff, Alberta
2. Victoria, British Columbia
3. Lake Louise, Alberta
4. Vancouver, British Columbia
5. Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario
6. Quebec City, Quebec
7. Whistler, British Columbia
8. Jasper, Alberta
9. Halifax, Nova Scotia
10. Tofino, British Columbia
11. Cavendish, PEI
12. Charlottetown, PEI
13. Montreal, Quebec
14. Toronto, Ontario
15. Ottawa, Ontario
16. Lunenburg, Nova Scotia
17. Canmore, Alberta
18. Calgary, Alberta
19. Mont Tremblant, Quebec
20. Baddeck, Nova Scotia
21. Kelowna, British Columbia
22. Kingston, Ontario
23. Whitehorse, Yukon
24. Tadoussac, Quebec
25. Nanaimo, British Columbia


Top 25 Destinations, Asia

1. Kyoto, Japan
2. Male, Maldives
3. Ubud, Indonesia
4. Singapore, Singapore
5. Ko Phi Phi Don, Thailand
6. Tokyo, Japan
7. Siem Reap, Cambodia
8. Hong Kong, China
9. Chiang Mai, Thailand
10. Bangkok, Thailand
11. Xi’an, China
12. Goa, India
13. Agra, India
14. Shanghai, China
15. Jaipur, India
16. Beijing, China
17. Jaisalmer, India
18. Udaipur, India
19. Guilin, China
20. Varanasi, India
21. Ko Phangan, Thailand
22. Nusa Dua, Indonesia
23. Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
24. Ko Tao, Thailand
25. Krabi, Thailand


Top 25 Destinations, South Pacific

1. Milford Sound, New Zealand
2. Queenstown, New Zealand
3. Sydney, Australia
4. Cairns, Australia
5. Byron Bay, Australia
6. Auckland, New Zealand
7. Wanaka, New Zealand
8. Christchurch, New Zealand
9. Melbourne, Australia
10. Port Douglas, Australia
11. Noosa, Australia
12. Perth, Australia
13. Rotorua, New Zealand
14. Cape Tribulation, Australia
15. Brisbane, Australia
16. Wellington, New Zealand
17. Kaikoura, New Zealand
18. Nadi, Fiji
19. Papeete, French Polynesia
20. Fremantle, Australia
21. Alice Springs, Australia
22. Margaret River, Australia
23. Airlie Beach, Australia
24. Hobart, Australia
25. Dunedin, New Zealand


Top 25 Destinations, Latin America and the Caribbean

1. Philipsburg, St. Maarten
2. Cayo Largo, Cuba
3. Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands
4. Cruz Bay, U.S. Virgin Islands
5. Bridgetown, Barbados
6. Hamilton, Bermuda
7. Marigot, St. Martin
8. Seven Mile Beach, Cayman Islands
9. Chichen Itza, Mexico
10. Oranjestad, Aruba
11. Cayo Guillermo, Cuba
12. Freeport, Bahamas
13. St. John’s, Antigua and Barbuda
14. Road Town, British Virgin Islands
15. Castries, St. Lucia
16. Willemstad, Curacao
17. Soufriere, St. Lucia
18. Ocho Rios, Jamaica
19. Havana, Cuba
20. Antigua Guatemala, Guatemala
21. San Juan, Puerto Rico
22. Tulum, Mexico
23. Palm/Eagle Beach, Aruba
24. San Jose, Costa Rica
25. Zihuatanejo, Mexico


Top 25 Destinations, South America

1. Machu Picchu, Peru
2. Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
3. Cusco, Peru
4. Buenos Aires, Argentina
5. Foz de Iguacu, Brazil
6. Salvador, Brazil
7. San Pedro de Atacama, Chile
8. San Carlos de Bariloche, Argentina
9. Buzios, Brazil
10. Banos, Ecuador
11. El Calafate, Argentina
12. Ushuaia, Argentina
13. Pucon, Chile
14. Puerto Iguazu, Argentina
15. Paraty, Brazil
16. Sao Paulo, Brazil
17. Cartagena, Colombia
18. Santiago, Chile
19. Quito, Ecuador
20. Valparaiso, Chile
21. Natal, Brazil
22. Florianopolis, Brazil
23. Punta del Este, Uruguay
24. Vina del Mar, Chile
25. Colonia del Sacramento, Uruguay


Top 25 Destinations, Africa

1. Cape Town, South Africa
2. Abu Simbel, Egypt
3. Luxor, Egypt
4. Knysna, South Africa
5. Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe
6. Giza, Egypt
7. Cairo, Egypt
8. Victoria Falls, Zambia
9. Franschhoek, South Africa
10. Aswan, Egypt
11. Stellenbosch, South Africa
12. Tangier, Morocco
13. Victoria, Seychelles
14. Marrakech, Morocco
15. Fes, Morocco
16. Stone Town, Tanzania
17. Essaouira, Morocco
18. Belle Mare, Mauritius
19. Port Louis, Mauritius
20. Grand Baie, Mauritus
21. Alexandria, Egypt
22. Le Morne, Mauritius
23. Port El Kantaoui, Tunisia
24. Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt
25. Hurghada, Egypt

KAUAI News

Ethanol plant stirs coal debate - Lt. Gov. onisland for tour

By Nathan Eagle - THE GARDEN ISLAND

KAUMAKANI — The role coal may play in a proposed Westside ethanol plant remains a divisive point as the multi-million dollar project edges closer to its goal of breaking ground by year’s end.

Lt. Gov. James “Duke” Aiona Jr., said he is “pleased” with the commitment Gay & Robinson and Pacific West Energy have demonstrated in their partnership to transform a 118-year-old company from a commodity raw sugar producer to a state leader in alternative energy.

But after meeting with stakeholders yesterday at Gay & Robinson’s Kaumakani office as part of a multi-stop visit to Kaua‘i, Aiona said he remains concerned about the project’s debated coal use.

“It’s not something you automatically agree to,” he said. “There’s a matter of balancing it.”

During the hour-long afternoon discussion, Gay & Robinson President Alan Kennett defended the use of coal as a supplemental source of power to fire the boiler that will produce the steam needed to run the plant.

Some community leaders have prodded the companies’ presidents to prohibit coal. Others, such as Apollo Kaua‘i Chair Ben Sullivan, take it a step further.

“Recognizing that there is in fact a need for liquid fuels to supplement the diminishing supplies of oil available globally, it remains our position that looking for alternative sources of fuel must be made secondary to looking for ways to reduce demand for energy,” he said in a recent interview.

Aiona linked coal emissions to global warming, but said he understands the

security argument.

“We know what coal has done and is doing,” he said.

Aiona listened as Kennett and land owner Bruce Robinson touted coal as cheap, efficient and domestically produced.

“We need a backup fuel that is secure,” Robinson said, adding that he sees coal as the only option not subject to risk of terrorism or natural disaster.

“With so much coal already coming here, why deny it?” Kennett said. “It’s a shame when people cut off a potential source of energy.”

Pacific West Energy President William Maloney was more reserved, saying that he does not advocate coal, but is not against its use either.

“We’re trying to be all green,” he said, but if the company moves away from coal as the community wants, it must find another reliable supplemental power source. “That’s oil.”

The company’s state air permit, granted in April after a year-long effort, currently allows for multiple fuel sources, Gay & Robinson Director of Environmental Compliance Howard Greene said.

“Consistent with the commitment I gave the Apollo Hawaii group at a recent public meeting, our board of directors has been evaluating options to using coal as the fuel source for the ethanol plant,” Maloney said in an interview. “The most attractive option may be to modify our fuel source to bagasse and cane trash. How we might do this from an operational standpoint has been evaluated, and the timing ramifications of such a modification are now being evaluated.

“It is our desire to implement this more desirable alternative, and we are hopeful that we can physically do this and that we can count on public support for such a change,” he said. “If we can accomplish this, it would be bagasse and cane trash (tops and leaves), which are currently burned in the field prior to harvest, as the primary fuel, supplemented probably by waste oil, glycerin, a byproduct of biodiesel production and wood chips or pellets.”

It would be a “business sacrifice” to eliminate coal use at the plant, Maloney told Aiona, and the island’s energy prices would not be lowered as a result.

Although the plan is to power the plant with green matter and bagasse, a fibrous sugar cane residue, Kennett said an alternative source is needed so the company can reliably supply electricity to the utility.

The plant is designed to annually produce up to 12-million gallons of ethanol, a grain-based fuel. A later expansion into an alternative “energy plantation” will include solar power and biodiesel refineries, he said.

The feedstock supply for the plant will come from a 7,500-acre sugar plantation the Robinson family runs on the Westside. Gay & Robinson and Pacific West Energy committed to keeping the agricultural land in agricultural production while preserving 230 jobs at the plantation.

The plant will supply about 25 percent of the state’s needs for 10 percent ethanol blends, Maloney said, and a planned expansion will double this.

“Our ultimate goal is to not burn any fossil fuels,” Kennett said. “We’re working feverishly to accomplish that.”

But in an endeavor to “grow all our own energy,” he added, “Don’t stop our efforts to get there” by eliminating coal as an option.

The Pacific West president said if all goes well, they will break ground in late December or early January.

“We are hoping to have the ethanol plant in operation by the second quarter of 2008,” he said. “Engineering work in support of permits is ongoing.”

The ethanol plant will involve an estimated 15 to 20 new jobs and the cane expansion and cane processing expansion will involve 75 to 100 new jobs, Maloney said.

The cogeneration and anaerobic digesters part of the project should produce some 100 million kilowatt-hours per year in green energy in the early years, he added, increasing its capability to some 200 million kwh annually in later years.

Aiona said when he visited Kaua‘i Island Utility Cooperative earlier that morning, discussion included a possible partnership between the island’s largest electric supplier and the Gay & Robinson energy plantation.

KIUC has a state mandate to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020, he said, adding that the energy plantation will “help us with our commitment to the environment.”

The state offers a tax credit of 30 cents per gallon of ethanol for up to eight years. This translates to $3.6 million annually once Gay & Robinson’s 12 million-gallon ethanol plant is in production.

After almost three years of hard work Joycelyn Abreu along with son Waylon will be moving into there brand new Habitat Home! Joycelyn Abreu has been an employee with Makai Properties since 2000.  Joycelyn has been devoted to building her home on weekends and after work since January of 2005.  All her hard work and time is finally paying off.  Congratulations to Joycelyn on her new home!

 Kauai Habitat a private non-profit organization that is affiliated with Habitat for Humanity International. They  have been in existence since early 1993. They were founded after the devastation of Hurricane Iniki on the island of Kauai.  Iniki happened on Sept 11, 1992.  Since then, they have built 89 homes and have 11 more underway out of a planned 124 home subdivision on 24 acres of land. 

Lots 26 and Lot 27 are the first locations to break ground on two new model homes at Wainani. The major site work is complete and the new road runs the entire length of the neighborhood. The first models will be under construction just as soon as the ink dries on the building permits. Come in to the sales center or call your agent at Makai Properties now to see why summer is the best time to select your new Wainani home. With all floorplans and many select locations still available the summer sales incentives should not be overlooked.

Royal Palms at Poipu, a 164 unit condominium apartment project slated to break ground soon in Poipu has recently conducted their selection event. Up until this time, the sales team had been soliciting reservations on the units and had 166 potential buyers interested. At the event, 76 of these reservation holders signed a contract to purchase, so this leaves approximately half still available.Prices generally range from $600,000 upwards of $1million for several different floor plans. If you want more details and an opportunity to look at the offering please contact your agent with Makai Properties and we will see that you get a chance!

 Attention, for those of you who have any concern for safety on Kauai Beaches. Our State and County Lifeguards are a critical part of the beach experience for everyone. It is very important that we continue to benefit from their vigilant service and contribution to our ocean safety. Legislation which in part, clears the way to keep our lifeguards on duty has an expiration. In order for their continued presence the legislative process needs our help in keeping this important law in place. Per Hawaii State Representative Jimmy Tokioka, the House Judiciary Committee and the Public Safety & Military Affairs Committee will be taking open testimony on HB 38 Relating to Liability of State and County Governments (Lifeguards), on Kauai on Friday, February 23, 2007 at the Kauai Community College Cafeteria beginning at 4:00 p.m. Please bring 10 copies of your written testimony.  Email to oceansafety@kauai.gov

Dear Drew: Thank you so much for everything! Bravo! the closing went well and the house is sold. You did a superb job and very proffesional all the way. Thanks for all the feedback and advise to get the house on the market and making the sale in six weeks. Thank you for your generosity, hospitality and friendship. We both appreciate everything you have done and cannot thank you enough. It is beyond words. Much success and happiness to you, MAHALO!, Push and Rick