Puff, the magic dragon, lived by the sea
And frolicked in the autumn mist in a land called Honah Lee
Peter Yarrow and Leonard Lipton
There is a popular belief among locals and tourists that the famous children’s song “Puff, the Magic Dragon” is based on this place, and that Honah Lee is actually Hanalei. Despite being completely debunked by songwriter Peter Yarrow himself, who called it purely a “serendipitous coincidence” in an interview to Kauai’s local paper, the rumor and the belief still survive. After all, this place, Hanalei Bay on Kauai’s northern shore, is just as beautiful as any place one would imagine dragons to live.
If you squint, you can see Puff. Standing on the sandy shore of Hanalei Bay, the left side of the mouth of the bay could look like a dragon head, with a scaly back rising to the left of that. But whether or not you believe in dragons, let alone this specific one, there is no question that you are standing in a place of unadulterated beauty. Even today, a day when the winds off the bay are blowing cold and strong, whipping up sand from the beach, I am in awe.
Kauai is a difficult island to navigate, and Hanalei Bay is pretty much as far as you can go in one direction, so depending on where you’re staying it may or may not be worth a drive to you. From my base in Kapa’a, it was about forty minutes each way, on a highway that is itself worth the time. There is parking at the bay itself, but for a more scenic way to reach it, you can do so by kayak as I did.
After stopping in Princeville at the Foodland for their truly spectacular poke bar to use as fuel, I rented a kayak from Kayak Hanalei. From their launch spot on the Hanalei River (actually just off it on a little canal), one can go upriver to the Hanalei National Wildlife Refuge, or downriver to the bay itself. Times are given as estimates based on the current (upriver is against the natural current), but my journey to Hanalei Bay went against that mighty wind as I made my way down to the mouth of the river, so my times were reversed.
The river is lovely. I saw nenes (similar to a duck or goose) and even babies, other shorebirds, and a huge variety of plant life as I passed beautiful homes and the ever present Kauai greenery. Advised that the wind made kayaking Hanalei Bay itself unsafe, I beached at the mouth of the river and walked the remainder of the way.
Hanalei Bay is roughly two miles long with soft sandy beaches lining pretty much the entire length. The pier here, reconstructed a number of times, was originally used to allow local taro farmers to get their goods to market. Today it is popular for fishing, and for jumping into the shallow waters of the bay. (It has also been used as the setting for a number of films, like South Pacific.)
Hanalei Bay is fairly crowded, so after my relatively easy wind-aided kayak trip back to my car, I drive to the far side, where the basically empty Waikoko Beach (sitting just below what would be Puff’s head) gives me some solitude and one of the most beautiful rainbows I’ve ever seen. The pier is just visible from here, but seems worlds away.
If you’re going to make the drive to Hanalei Bay, you might as well make a day of it. Princeville sits along the eastern side of the bay. An unincorporated area of around 2500 residents and more tourists than that, Princeville is home to some stunning resorts that host some just as stunning restaurants. I opt for happy hour at Happy Talk, part of the Hanalei Bay Resort. While happy hour prices are just a couple bucks off drinks and appetizers, it adds up as I polish off a Lava Flow (basically a mango strawberry colada; yes you want this), coconut shrimp, and a bbq pork quesadilla while enjoying the sun setting into the mountains overlooking Hanalei Bay. The restaurant has live music nightly starting at 6pm, but I am done before then, and leave as the sun disappears.
While Puff, the magic dragon, may not have lived in Hanalei Bay, preferring to stick to the autumn mists of Honah Lee, he would have been quite happy here. And I was, too, sharing a day with his fanciful “other” home, a day of beauty, of adventure, and of food. I can’t think of a better way to honor one of my childhood memories.
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