Talk on Kauai’s mesmerizing north shore has been not of the wonderful whales breaching or the exquisite sunsets seen from vacation sites everywhere, but instead of a beauty new to Kauai. The talk has been of a lone white-tailed eagle that may have flown to the island from as far as Europe or Asia.

The eagle was first seen flying around the island in late December but then disappeared for a while. It seems that it may be calling the island home however as it has been seen often in recent weeks.

Kauai has been home to so many movies that it is also commonly called Hollywood’s backlot among those in the movie industry

It has been the backdrop for Elvis in “Blue Hawaii”, been home to raging dinosaurs in “Jurassic Park” and was the quiet beautiful scenery for Drew Barrymore and Adam Sandler’s love story in “50 First Dates”. Now Kauai is home to a different sort of movie experience – one without scenery, pictures, or video – instead it is being used to capture another fascinating Kauai experience; the experience of sound.

Kauai is a beautiful lush island that is beginning to become a premiere Hawaiian resort tourist destination. Due to the new influx of beachfront Kauai resorts and vacations rentals and condos popping up on the island, laws banning and even outlawing some of the resorts are being reviewed in a Bill soon to be voted on by the Kauai County Council.

The Bill 2204 seeks to eliminate all new transient vacation rental properties and bed-and-breakfasts that are currently outside designated areas set up on Kauai. The bill proposes that owners who have paid excise taxes and the Transient Accommodation Tax for a year will be able to stay, however all others will no longer be allowed.

This weekend was the beginning of the NSSA RVCA Regional Championship in Honolulu, Hawaii and Nathan Rex from Kauai hit 9 out of 10 points in rides to open up the first day of competition.

Rex’s moves were compared to former NSSA standout Andy Irons they were so smooth and put together. He dominated in both the Explorer Mens and Open Juniors divisions.

Carissa Moore was also fabulous in the Explorer Women. Moore recently competed in Austrilia where she was runner-up in the VCT Roxy Pro.

Golf Digest recently named the 75 greatest golf resort courses in North America and three of Kauai’s fabulous golf courses with combined resorts made the list. Along with being touted in one of the most respected golf magazine’s in the world, all three of these courses are joining together to offer two “Kauai Golf Challenge” packages for 2007.

The Courses:

The first course is The Prince, located around the corner from the Princeville Kauai Resort, landed at number 24 in the rankings. It was designed by Robert Trent Jones Junior. The award winning course has 18 holes that cross over 390 acres, traversing through waterfalls, streams, jungles and gullies. It also landed at number 12 on Golf Digest’s list of America’s 100 Greatest Public Golf Courses.

Makai Golf Course, is a 27-hole course with three nines: Ocean, Lakes and Woods, located just steps away from the The Princeville Plantations Resort and is home to the 8th Annual Kauai Collegiate Cup golf tournament, set to tee off March 16th and 17th.

The tournament has a nine-team field that will host the Hawaii Pacific team for the first time, as they make their collegiate debut. Other teams on the course are: Univeristy of British Columbia, Eastern Illinoise University, Jackson State University, North Dakota University, Ohio University , Oklahoma Christian University, Western Kentucky University and the University of Toronto.

Mark Rodrigues is a high school graduate from Koloa, Kauai and a senior at the University of Hawaii where he pitches for the Rainbows. This week he earned the honor of WAC pitcher of the week when he started and pitched seven innings to get a 4-0 victory over 24th ranked Arizona on Saturday.

During the game he allowed only three hits and no walks as he improved his standing to a 5-1 winning record.

It has only been four days since the tragic Heli-USA crash that killed four and injured three and now a second crash has claimed another life. The island of Kauai is in shock as this is only the fifth helicopter crash in four years and they are very rare even with the large number of Kauai vacationers taking the helicopter tours.

The crash happened around 1 p.m. as a Hughes 500 helicopter operated by Smoky Mountain Helicopters was flying near Tunnels beach on the north shore of Kauai. The 30-year-old pilot reported hearing a loud bang and then lost control of the aircraft.

Shortly before landing Thursday in Princeville Airport, on Kauai, a Heli-USA helicopter radioed in that there were problems with the hydraulic system. The helicopter never made it back to shore, crashing and killing four, including the pilot, with three others critically injured.

It was only just last month that a full investigation into two other helicopter crashes was conducted by the National Transportation Safety Board. The investigation led the board to call for tougher standards in the monitoring of helicopter tours across Hawaii.

Sanjaya Malakar, is the youngest male left competing for the “American Idol” crown at just 17. He also called Kauai home for four years.

Support for Sanjaya, who now lives in Tacoma, Washington, has been coming in from across the country, but especially from the Island School in Puhi, where junior class members remember Sanjaya well and are giving him their full support.

Debra Blachowiak, of the Hawaii Children’s Theatre said that both Sanjaya and Shyamali (his sister who was eliminated when the group narrowed to 40 hopefuls) were extremely talented singers even though they had not yet hit their teens.