The clouds cleared and Niihau’s cliffs burst into view as we hovered over the nearly 4,000-foot-deep Kaulakahi Channel looking for whales. A red light on the helicopter’s control panel flashed and beeped, only adding to my excitement for exploring the not entirely "forbidden island."

Niihau’s reputation as a place for residents only is slightly misleading. Contrary to popular belief, Niihau’s pristine waters, beaches and interior can be enjoyed by outsiders wanting to relax on empty beaches and snorkel in waters bursting with sea life.

My "forbidden island" adventure began as a seven-seat helicopter lifted off the ground at Kauai’s Port Allen Airport just weeks after I learned that Niihau Helicopters offers tours of the island. Along with the island, the small company is owned by the Robinson family and shuttles visitors to the island about twice monthly.

For $385 anyone with a desire to experience the unknown can visit. Because the company requires a minimum of five guests to make the flight, it’s helpful to reserve a spot well before you plan to go so they can group visitors together. A simple lunch of meat or vegetarian deli sandwiches and drinks are provided, but bring additional snacks and water, especially if you plan to disappear down the coast for a while.

As a shell collector intrigued by the idea of a raw and hardly changed island, I’d dreamed for years of exploring Niihau’s beaches. While camping at Kauai’s Poli­hale, I had looked at Niihau across the channel and speculated what life on an island protected from development, crowds and pavement must be like.

Niihau’s single village, Puu­wai, is home to 120 residents fluent in Hawaiian. The village consists of a church, homes and a solar-powered K-12 school. No stores, restaurants, cars, cellphone service or crowds make it a true escape from the rest of the world.

Bought by ancestors of the current owners in 1864, Niihau was offered to them by a reluctant King Kamehameha V, who had urged them to buy swampy beach land on Oahu instead. Seeing no value in the Oahu property, the family bought Niihau for the equivalent of roughly $10,000 today. The unappealing Oahu property would later become Waikiki. Environmentalist Keith Robinson is part-owner of the island and, other than his tour guests, allows only those invited by a resident to visit, hence the name the "Forbidden Island."

Measuring just 17 miles long, Niihau holds a surprising number of hidden treasures: Hawaii’s first- and second-largest lakes; the state’s best sunrise shell beach; several epic surf breaks, including one that is said to rival Jaws on Maui when it breaks at 40 feet; unique animals; reef shark breeding grounds; and, of course, Niihau’s famous shells.

During an hour­long air tour of the island, we took in stunning views of the landscape along with close-up looks at several pods of dolphins, sheep and horses. The elusive tall-horned oryx, a species of antelope introduced by the owners, put on a brief show below in the tall grass.

These unique animals — hybrid sheep, wild eland aoudads also known as barbary sheep and wild boars — set the stage for the other Niihau tour: a hunting safari. In keeping with Robinson’s environmental consciousness, hunting on Niihau began in the mid-1990s to control damage to the island’s fragile environment from growing populations of non-native animals. Hunters of all ages are invited to spend a day testing their skills in free-chase hunting. Guns are provided and shipped ahead of time.

The island’s single red dirt road, dubbed the "Niihau Highway," weaves through the lush vibrant green grass blanketing the island, the result of a wet winter, says our pilot. Niihau’s usual arid environment is inhospitable to tropical flowers, which is why Niihauans use shells to make their famous lei.

After a quick aerial peek at Puu­wai, we touched down on a flat black lava rock landing pad on a northern beach. Nearby a curly-horned ram and a monk seal formed an odd couple sunbathing together on the white sand. A lone pavilion provided the only shade from here to the village, and looking across the ocean to Kauai’s west coast, I was finally on the inside looking out.

Once on land, guests have options. Visitors can explore as much as Niihau as possible by meandering along the beach for hours as I did, wandering through boating debris of buoys, netting and a seemingly endless rainbow of glass bottles. Or, guests can relax on the sand with views of Lehua island and explore the underwater world.

Between the old marine debris and thick layer of shells, Niihau is a beachcomber’s dream. Abnormally large colorful cowrie, cone and puka shells, shiny opihi, pieces of sunrise shells and parts of coveted glass buoys decorate the pale sand. For dedicated shell hunters, the winter months are the best time for a Niihau visit, when large surf washes an abundance of treasures ashore.

Numerous tide pools provide calm places to swim while holding piles of shells within their walls, and the shell line remains mostly undisturbed while those on other Hawaiian islands disappear within hours of being formed. Instead of crowds of sunbathers to avoid, on Niihau you’ll need to keep an eye out for monk seals relaxing everywhere.

After hours of searching for the unknown, it was time for snorkeling with a monk seal who stayed at arm’s length from me for a half-hour. Basic snorkel gear is a must when visiting Niihau. The thriving underwater world offers a view of sea life that is becoming increasingly harder to find on other islands.

But the allure of Niihau isn’t about finding ornate shells or surfing the perfect waves; it’s about going back in time to an undeveloped island free of highways, big buildings, traffic and modern-day stressors. Niihau tours are sustainable tourism at its finest — residents are undisturbed, fishing is off-limits, the shell beaches used for lei collections aren’t accessible and there’s no development to accommodate visitors.

Spending a few hours on Niihau is an easy and fun adventure for out-of-state visitors and locals. The experience induces feelings of peace and solitude that remain long after the shores of Niihau are left behind.