Located on the south shore of Kauai is the small town of Ele’ele. You can find an abundance of coffee being produced here. Ele’ele is home to the Kauai Coffee Company, the largest coffee producer in the state of Hawaii. Just outside of Ele’ele, there is a visitor’s center right along Highway 540/Halewili Road, also known as the Coffee Highway. At the visitor’s center, you can sample a variety of coffees and even tour the coffee plantation, all which are free of charge!
Not far from Ele’ele, you will find a separate community known as Port Allen where you can depart daily to the Na Pali Coast and/or the neighboring island of Ni’ihau on a snorkeling and sailing tour. Though Port Allen is an industrial area with not much to do or see, there is shopping and dining opportunities for your pleasure at the Port Allen Marina and the Ele’ele Shopping Center. You can also get a nice overview of Hanapepe Bay.
Just east of Port Allen Harbor is Glass Beach. Glass Beach is not good for swimming and is not the prettiest of beaches, but you can take a good peak at all the shiny glass pieces that are mixed with the dark sand making Glass Beach a unique place to visit and can be worth the time to do so.
Another nearby attraction to Ele’ele is the Red Dirt Shirt store. Located right across from the Port Allen Marina, the popular Hawaiian Red Dirt Shirts are produced. It’s an interesting story how these unique shirts came to be. Back in 1992, Hurricane Iniki hit the island of Kauai, causing major damage. This small screen print shop was located right where a lot of damage was done. Inside of this print shop, there were many white shirts that were waiting to be printed, got covered in Kauai’s iron-rich red dirt that was blown in with the storm. Instead of throwing these red dirt covered shirts away, the company dried them out and printed them as they were. And this is when the unique Hawaiian Red Dirt Shirt became a popular hit with visitors and locals alike.
So visit Ele’ele and get a taste of some local Hawaiian life, shop at the Ele’ele Shopping Center, check out Glass Beach, sample some coffee, and buy yourself a Red Dirt Shirt as a souvenir. Enjoy Ele’ele during your visit to Hawaii.
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