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Go Fish: Kauai LbNA #44460

Owner:Adoptable
Plant date:Nov 20, 2007
Location:
City:Lihue
County:Kauai
State:Hawaii
Boxes:1
Planted by:Old2AK
Found by: Travelin' Twosome
Last found:Sep 20, 2014
Status:FFFOFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFa
Last edited:Nov 20, 2007
We're a couple of old geezers who enjoy letterboxing, but who tend to limit our hiding and seeking activity to drive-bys and places that involve easy walks. If we're a long way from home, in a place we might not visit again, we think it's more fun to seek and find easy boxes in several different locations, rather than pursue one hard one. We think our "low impact" letterbox style works work well for families with young children, too.

Go Fish: Kauai

NOTE on 11-16-08: This letterbox and/or its rubber stamp have gone missing several times. We've carved a new stamp and put it in a new container, which is now planted in a slightly different location from the old box.

Find the Menehune Fishpond overlook: From Lihue, head toward Waimea on Highway 50. At the Kukui Grove shopping center, turn left on Nawiliwili Road. Turn right on Niumalu Road. After you cross the one-lane bridge, bear right on Hulemalu Road. Pass the Kauai Inn on the left, cross the speed hump, and head up the hill. Go about one mile; the fishpond will be visible far below the road from a small, neglected overlook on your left.

Beneath the heavy cover of invasive mangrove lies a massive 900-foot long rock wall, 4 feet thick and 5 feet high, that formed an enclosure for raising mullet and other freshwater fish. No one knows who built this 600-year-old structure at a bend in the Hule'ia River. Legend attributes it to the Menehune, a possibly real, possibly mythical ancient race known for their small stature, industrious nature, and superb stoneworking skills.)*

The Menehune Fishpond, whose Hawaiian name is Alekoko, is one of several ancient fishponds in the Hawaiian Islands. Gates allowed young fish to swim into the pond, and as they matured, they became too big to swim out. In essence, ponds like this were the Hawaiians' refrigerators -- the first aquaculture system in the world.

Today, there is no public access to the pond or to the adjacent Hule'ia National Wildlife Refuge, where director Steven Spielberg filmed scenes for Raiders of the Lost Ark and Jurassic Park. However, small boats, kayaks, jet skis, windsurfers, and water-skiers use the river. Visit http://www.hawaiiweb.com/Kauai/html/sites/menehune_fishpond.html to see pictures of the pond and of the informational plaque that used to grace the overlook. Alternate directions to the overlook appear there as well.

An early postcard view of the fishpond that clearly shows the rock wall can be found at http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.janesoceania.com/hawaii_kauai/Hawaii%2520Menehune%2520Fish%2520Pond%2520~%2520Kauai,.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.janesoceania.com/hawaii_kauai/index.htm&h=336&w=513&sz=32&hl=en&start=5&um=1&tbnid=AN58qTxCMBZxIM:&tbnh=86&tbnw=131&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dmenehune%2Bfishpond%2B%26ndsp%3D20%26svnum%3D10%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26rls%3Dcom.microsoft:en-us:IE-SearchBox%26rlz%3D1I7SUNA%26sa%3DN

So…are you ready to find the letterbox? Park at the overlook. Walk up the hill to the end of the guardrail, where it curves back on itself. Look (feel) in the guardrail groove for a camouflaged film can that's stuck with a magnet to the top of the groove--it's about 8" back, almost even with the last upright. The "notebook" is a scroll, so you might want to retreat to your car to stamp in, then wait for a quiet moment and return the "box" to where you found it.

*According to janesoceania.com, in a census taken in the early 1800s, 65 people living in the town of Wainiha on the northern coast of Kaua'i put down "Menehune" as their nationality. This census is the last known official report of the Menehune's existence. http://www.janesoceania.com/hawaii_kauai_mythology/index.htm