Yesterday, five days after returning to Monterey from Kauai I caught the last part of the George Clooney film The Descendants, where the family goes to Kauai and stays at the St. Regis Princeville. I saw the film once before and I did not realize there were scenes filmed at the St. Regis hotel and along the beaches of Hanalei. The weather was mostly cloudy during their filming at the St. Regis too.

Infinity pool at St. Regis Princeville.

Kauai is a trippy place with only about 68,000 year-round residents, yet there are many times that number of tourists annually visiting the island. The area of Princeville with around 2,500 residents can fill with more than 10,000 tourists in the busiest weeks. I read there are traffic congestion problems on the limited roads. That was not too much of an issue during the first week of December.

The north coast beaches of Kauai around Hanalei and Princeville average around 80 inches of rain and typically have about twice the annual rainfall of the Poipu resort area on the south side of the island. March 2-9, 2012 Hanalei set a weather record with 42 inches of rain in one week.

The rain only came down heavy on the last night of my stay with a brilliant lightning storm. I kept the windows open and watched the mountains light up in flashes.

Surf’s up. I watched one person surf a wave for about 30 seconds across hundreds of yards on Hanalei Bay.

The pool at the St. Regis is open 24 hours. There were generally only a few people in the pool at any one time.

The weather was in the 70s in early morning and pool swimming was comfortable anytime.

Floor 1 rooms at the St. Regis could be your dream room or a location to avoid at all costs depending on your desire to be adjacent to the pool area and hot tubs.

There are three dining areas at the St. Regis Princeville. Lunch was only offered at the pool area Nalu Kai Grill & Bar during my stay. This is a nice location with a shaded area outside, but no indoor seating if the weather is too hot and muggy for your comfort.

Nalu Kai Grill & Bar, St. Regis Princeville

Listening to the birds and surf was a pleasant dining experience. The place was kind of packed at the time I ate lunch with this restaurant the only place open for dining.

I ordered the $8 coffee milkshake at Nalu Kai.

John Travolta in the movie Pulp Fiction goes on about the $5 shake Uma Thurman ordered:

VINCENT:Goddamn, that’s a pretty fucking good milkshake!

MIA: Told you.

VINCENT: I don’t know if it’s worth $5, but it’s pretty fucking good!

Swordfish ($27) was a tasty meal too. Although, I don’t think I would pair fish with a milkshake again.

Catch of the Day at Nalu Kai Grill & Bar.

Nalu Kai Grill & Bar on right with activities desk straight ahead for beach rental equipment.

Apparently these beachside cabanas can be rented for a private dinner. During the day there did not seem to be an issue just sitting here for a while.

This hammock is just a few steps away from the pool bar.

The St. Regis resort maintains a small strip of grass lawn next to the beach if sand is not your thing. The area was popular for families with infants.

The beach at the St. Regis Princeville is not very big. You can walk along the sand a few hundred yards until the large rocks block the beach before the Hanalei River outlet.

Hanalei Pier

Away from the hotel the beach is narrow and bordered by mangrove forest.

Coconut on the beach, weathered and colored by the sea.

This is not the white sand beach you will find in other locations on Kauai.

Hanalei Bay is filled with coral reef making the water on calm days a good place for snorkeling. There are beach signs warning visitors not to walk on the living coral.

The Reef is Alive.

Related posts:

St. Regis Princeville, Kauai Part 1 (Room and lobby description)

Westin Princeville Ocean Resort Villas

I will likely write a third post on St. Regis Princeville to show more photos of the hotel interior. I found the interior design of the St. Regis Princeville quite attractive.

Disclosure: My two night stay room rate was complimentary from Starwood Preferred Guest American Express as part of SPG Amex Stars travel blogger campaign in 2012. The room rate was $360 per night during my stay. Airfare and all other expenses for my Kauai stay were covered by me.

Ric Garrido, writer and owner of Loyalty Traveler, shares news and views on hotels, hotel loyalty programs and vacation destinations for frequent guests. You can follow Loyalty Traveler on Twitter and Facebook and RSS feed.

Princeville on Kauai’s north shore is a resort development with two golf courses, Westin Princeville, St. Regis Princeville, and hundreds of timeshare properties, some Wyndham branded and several independent places.

Most people rent a car when arriving on Kauai. A car is highly advisable as a tourist for getting to the Princeville area and around the island since public transportation is limited in space, stops and schedule. Since my travel purpose was to hang out at a resort and not spend my vacation driving around the entire island of Kauai all day, I opted to  not rent a car. Read More…

Watching the surf roll into shore while taking a shower in a luxury hotel room is a very different experience than my last stay on Kauai 35 years ago when I lived on the beaches of Kauai.

Hanalei Bay view from St. Regis Princeville, Kauai.

In 1977 I flew from California to Honolulu with a 6-inch hunting knife in my carry-on backpack and in my possession was an open date ticket to fly standby between the Hawaiian islands of Oahu, Kauai, Maui and Hawaii. The times have changed travel and me. I have no memory of what airline I flew to Hawaii back then.

For the weeks I stayed in Kauai I lived on the beaches seen in the distance in the photo I snapped today. In 1977 I hiked the infamous Na Pali coast to Kalalau Valley where I was out of reach of Hawaii Five-O, the beach police who harassed me frequently arguing I was not allowed to camp without a state camping permit as I argued back that the State of Hawaii would not allow me to purchase a camping permit since I was a minor at 17 years old.

I’ll probably share more about my youth in the coming days as I reminisce about life on Kauai and the major alterations of travel in general and my personal travel style specifically.

The Bar, St. Regis Princeville

Where will you go with 50,000 Starpoints?

This post is my SPG Amex Star giveaway while I am staying at the USA Starwood Hotel of my choice. 50,000 Starpoints, to be precise, is what I have been authorized to give away to one lucky reader who can use the points for their own special hotel getaway.

One of the hotel stays as part of my SPG Amex Star contract benefits was two complimentary nights at any Starwood Hotel I desired in the USA.

St. Regis Princeville on Kauai was my Starwood Hotel preference of any Starwood Hotel in the USA. I picked this location in combination with an American Airlines ticket I purchased to pick up double elite qualifying miles and double redeemable miles on a trip that will earn me American Airlines 50,000 mile Platinum elite status for 2013.

Flying over the vast Pacific Ocean on American Airlines to Lihue, Kauai.

In addition to picking up American Airlines AAdvantage Platinum elite status, this stay is my third stay at a Starwood Hotel this week in my quest for SPG Platinum elite status for 2013.

Enough about me and my loyalty plans. It is time for you to think about what you would like to do with 50,000 Starpoints.

Rules to enter the Loyalty Traveler 50,000 Starpoints Sweepstakes:

1. Follow Loyalty Traveler on Twitter.com.

2. Post a tweet sharing which Starwood Hotel in the USA you would choose to stay with 50,000 points. NOTE: Winner of this prize receives 50,000 Starpoints and there are no restrictions to how you use the points. You can stay in any Starwood Hotel you choose or transfer them to airline miles or whatever. I simply am interested to know which hotel you would choose, if like me, you had to choose one hotel in the USA for a Starwood Hotel stay.

3. Use the hashtag #SPGAMEX in the tweet and use @LoyaltyTraveler in the tweet. This allows me to filter tweets and see all the entries on Twitter to pick a random winner.

4. Eligible entries accepted from 9 pm Pacific time Monday, December 3 through 11:59pm Pacific time Friday, December 7, 2012. Note #2: This giveaway is open to SPG members worldwide.

5. Limit of one tweet entry per calendar day.

6. Prize winner will be chosen at random.

7.

Sample Eligible Tweet:

@LoyaltyTraveler St. Regis Monarch Beach #SPGAMEX

Here are some Twitter Guidelines I read over to help with this sweepstakes:

• Creating multiple accounts on Twitter to win a contest can result in all your Twitter accounts being suspended. I discourage you from doing this.
• Posting the same tweet over and over is discouraged by Twitter. Try and change up the order of words or hotel. One #SPGAMEX tweet per calendar day for my Loyalty Traveler sweepstakes is acceptable. Posting more than one tweet per calendar day for this contest is discouraged and may result in your elimination from the prize.

Every winner is surprised. Back in 2000 I won a prize for 50,000 Starpoints. It happens. But, I have not won any big prizes since.

Good luck.

Lobby view at St. Regis Princeville, Kauai, Hawaii

Ric Garrido, writer and owner of Loyalty Traveler, shares news and views on hotels, hotel loyalty programs and vacation destinations for frequent guests. You can follow Loyalty Traveler on Twitter and Facebook and RSS feed.