Ni'ihau

Seventeen miles from Kauai, across the Kaulakahi Channel, sits the privately owned island of Niihau. It's known as the Forbidden Isle, because access is limited to the Robinson family, which owns it, and the 200 or so Native Hawaiians who were born there.

Get to the fun faster! Holo Holo, our 65 foot power catamaran makes the trip across the Kaulakahi Channel faster than anyone else, leaving you more time to sightsee and snorkel Niihau and the clear waters of Lehua Crater.

Ni‘ihau is a Hawaiian Island deeply shrouded in mystery. Little is known about life on The Forbidden Isle, as few ever gain access to this largely uninhabited tropical locale.

Unless you’re invited by Niihau's owners, these helicopter and safari tours are the only way.

When the sun sets over Kauai’s Kekaha Beach on an especially clear night, a tall, silhouetted tract of land emerges west of the Hawaiian islands, toward the horizon. For most of the state’s residents, that’s the only way to see the island of Niihau. It’s known as “The Forbidden Island” in Hawaii, and the nickname isn’t an exaggeration.

Niʻihau (/ˈniːhaʊ/; Hawaiian: [ˈniʔiˈhɐw]) is the westernmost and seventh largest inhabited island in Hawaiʻi. It is 17.5 miles (28.2 km) southwest of Kauaʻi across the Kaulakahi Channel. Its area is 69.5 square miles (180 km2).[3] Several intermittent playa lakes provide wetland habitats for the Hawaiian coot, the black-winged stilt, and the Hawaiian duck. The island is designated as critical habitat for Brighamia insignis, an endemic and endangered species of Hawaiian lobelioid. The United States Census Bureau defines Niʻihau and the neighboring island and State Seabird Sanctuary of Lehua as Census Tract 410 of Kauai County, Hawaii. Its 2000 census population was 160;[4] Its 2010 census population was 170.