Niihau Boat Tour

Niihau originally earned the nickname the ?Forbidden Island? in 1952, during the polio epidemic, and the name stuck. It?s fitting, because it?s simply illegal for anyone that wasn?t born on the island to step foot on the island, and very few exceptions are made. It?s a mysterious and complicated place that conjures mixed feelings, for residents and outsiders alike.

In 1800, an extraordinary woman named Elizabeth Sinclair was born in Scotland. Over the course of her life, Sinclair married a ship captain, became a master navigator, and bought plantations and ranches in New Zealand, British Columbia, and eventually, on the west side of Kauai (Makaweli) and Niihau.

In 1864, Elizabeth Sinclair bought the island of Niihau from the Kingdom of Hawaii for $10,000 of gold. As part of the negotiation, she promised King Kamehameha V that she would always take care of the 1,000 or so Native Hawaiians that lived there (at the time), no matter the fate of the Kingdom.