Cook Landing Site (Waimea) that the land has actually grown since 1778 due to deposition of sediment, so the exact spot is unknown. A small plaque was erected by Kauai County in 1928 which maintains a small county park. The landing site is accessible via Lucy Wright Park. Across the river Russian Fort Elizabeth is preserved in a state park. Cook Landing Site (Waimea) The Cook Landing Site in Waimea on Kauai island in Hawaii, is where Captain James Cook landed at the mouth of the Waimea River on January 20, 1778. Cook was the first European reported to have sighted the Hawaiian Islands,
Magnetic Island tourist attraction. The name of the island came about because of the apparent "magnetic" effect it had on the ship's compass of Captain Cook as he passed the island when sailing up the east coast of Australia in 1770. People have since explored the general area of Magnetic Island with various instruments to discover what might have caused the effect that Cook reported, but nothing has been discovered. The island's mysterious magnetic effect is the basis for the 2015 speculative fiction novel 'A Tango with the Dragon.' The local name for the island is "Maggie Isle", "Maggie Island", or "The