KAUAI — Strolling along a garden path on the ‘Garden Isle’ of Kauai, I spot a row of banyan trees alongside a stream at Allerton Garden, part of the National Tropical Botanical Garden on Hawaii’s oldest island.

Ready for a coffee tasting at Kauai Coffee Plantation

As we get closer, the trees seem strangely familiar. Their pillar-like trunks and sprawling aerial roots stir a sense of recognition, even though I’ve never been here before.

The answer comes moments later when our affable guide, Michael Farago, bends down and pulls a large egg from beneath the tangled roots as though he was on an Easter egg hunt.

“Jurassic Park fans from around the world come here specifically to see these trees. The OG was filmed here. It’s where they found the dinosaur eggs,” said Farago, adding the trees are 80-years-old, despite appearing to date back to the Jurassic Period.

Although I’m not a diehard fan, I’m certainly not about to pass up a pic of a ‘Jurassic Park’ tree with egg prop in hand. This was one of many photo moments during a week-long Maui and Kauai FAM trip, hosted by Hawai’i Tourism Canada for a small group of Western Canada-based travel advisors.

Among the highlights included a sightseeing tour through Waimea Canyon, visiting the Kilohana Plantation and a helicopter flight over Kauai, an island where roughly 80% of the landscape is accessible only by air or boat. From above, we photographed the dramatic Na Pali Coast, and soared past Manawaiopuna Falls, better known as ‘Jurassic Falls,’ where helicopters famously landed, at its base, in the original 1993 Jurassic Park film.

Our nights in Kauai were at The Royal Sonesta Kauai Resort and the Sheraton Kauai Resort – both providing the classic Hawaiian resort stay combining luxury, beachfront access, on-site dining and lush landscaping.

In Maui, we stayed three nights at the Sheraton Maui Resort & Spa, the only resort immediately adjacent to Black Rock, a sacred site in Hawaii known as Pu’u Keka’a on the famous Ka’anapali Beach.

All of the resorts felt like ‘home away from home’ and provided easy access to experience Hawaii’s natural beauty and rich culture, like visiting the Maui Ocean Center, ranked among the world’s top 10 aquariums, to sailing along Maui’s central coastline at sunset, and immersing ourselves in local traditions, such as lei-making.

On our last evening in Maui, we attended The Feast at Mokapu, at the Andaz Maui at Wailea Resort, where Polynesian storytelling, live music, hula dancing and a feast of local cuisine combined to create an unforgettable cultural experience.

There was also time for site visits to the Grand Hyatt Kauai Resort & Spa and the Westin Maui Resort & Spa, where we enjoyed lunches overlooking the oceanfront and I got to order fresh mahi-mahi yet again.

“Canadians are very kind, very caring, very generous visitors. They connect with our people really well,” Sam Spurrier, director of sales and marketing for The Westin Maui Resort & Spa, Ka’anapali, tells me over lunch.

“People come back to Maui because of the feeling. It’s a vibe. It’s a renewal of energy. Sipping a Mai Tai, looking at the sunset, listing to live music. It’s the aloha spirit.”

Watch for more of Kim’s coverage from the Maui and Kauai FAM trip in upcoming editions of Travelweek and Travelweek Daily. For trade resources, the Hawaii Destination Specialist program and more check out agents.GoHawaii.com.

Lead image caption: Lovely weather for a luau at Andaz Maui at Wailea Resort, a highlight of the week-long Maui and Kauai FAM trip led by Colin Wood, Hawai’i Tourism Canada (VoX International) for a group of Western Canada-based travel advisors (all photos courtesy Kim Pemberton)