Should You Still Come to Kauai after Hurricane Lowell?

Should You Still Come To Kauai After Hurricane Lowell?

If you have not booked yet, look at late October or November. If you are already booked this month, come. The island is standing, Lihũʻe Airport is running normally and the cleanup is moving faster than the national coverage suggests. What has changed is that conditions now shift day to day, so the difference between a good day here and a wasted one is knowing what opened this morning.

The sound of chainsaws all over the island has drowned out the chickens crowing in the mornings. If you have been here before, you know exactly what I mean.

I got this storm wrong, so I will say that first. On Friday the fourth I told two guests it would slide west and we would get a wet, windy Monday out of it. Lowell passed about 170 miles southwest of Lihũʻe (LEE-hoo-eh, “cold chill”) on Labor Day as a Category 2, and that was close enough. I have been here since 2007 and I have never seen the ocean do what it did to Lawai Road.

What Is A Brown-Water Advisory?

It is a Hawaii Department of Health warning that storm runoff has carried bacteria, chemicals and debris into the ocean. It is not about how the water looks. It applies even where the water has cleared up, and it stays in place until testing comes back clean.

Here is the simpler version I give my guests, and it holds any time you visit Kauai: if you do not see local people in the water, think twice before you go in.

Why The Roads Matter More Here Than Anywhere Else

There is one highway on Kauai and no loop road. Highway 50 runs west from Lihũʻe toward Waimea (why-MAY-ah, “reddish water”), Highway 56 runs north toward Hanalei (hah-nah-LAY, “crescent bay”), and nothing connects them across the Na Pali Coast.

I explain the island to guests as a clock face. Lihũʻe sits at about 5 o’clock, Poʻipū (poy-POO, “crashing waves”), at 6, Waimea town at 7:30, the Kalalau lookout at 10, Hanalei at 12. On a normal day you pick one direction and go.

Right now both directions have problems, and when a road closes here there is no second route. That is why I would not plan this particular month off a website.

My neighbor’s yard on the 11th. The bamboo and the big trees went down together, and this is before any of the cleanup started.

What Is Open And What Is Not

As of September 15th, from the county’s own recovery updates:

• Power restored to 81% of the island, KIUC’s crew grown to 250 workers.
• Islandwide water conservation notice still in effect.
• All county parks, campgrounds and Wailua Golf Course closed.
• All state parks and forest reserves closed.
• Waimea Canyon Road and Koke’e Road are still being cleared.
• Kuhio Highway local traffic only, Princeville to Ke’e.
• Nawiliwili is open to cargo ships, not cruise ships.
• Tropical Storm Norbert being watched.

That list will be shorter by the time you read it, and almost all of the change is in the right direction.

The 9th. The roof came off in one piece and landed next to the building. Buildings that were not tied down did not do well.

The Tell I Am Watching

Pride of America overnights in Nawiliwili every Thursday and Friday. When she is back on her regular schedule, the island is back. That is a better signal than any press release, and you can check it yourself.

What Is Actually Working

Plenty, and this is the part national coverage skips. The Grove Farm farmers market opened on schedule the Saturday after the storm. Kukui Grove Center is back on modified hours. More than 100 volunteers turned out at Lydgate on the 12th to clear Morgan’s Ponds so people could use it again.

We call that kokua. Help given because it is needed, not because anyone asked.

Back open for business. My favorite spot for grinds is “Tony’s Catch,” and his Ahi Tostados break the mouth!

If You Are Already Coming This Month

Come. Just plan the day differently than you would have in August.

My tours are not going to be damage tours. I am not driving anyone past somebody’s wrecked house to photograph it. The Kaua’i Police Department asked people to stop doing exactly that, because the sightseeing traffic is slowing the crews clearing the roads.

What I will do is take you to the parts of this island that are ready and skip the parts that are not, so you do not spend your one day finding out the hard way. That is the honest case for a guide over a rental car right now, and it is not the scenery. It is the information. I drive this island every day, and at eight in the morning I know what was open at seven.

Stripped bare on the 13th. Look closely and a few of these are already pushing new growth. Kauai comes back fast, but not overnight.

What I would not count on yet:

• Anything ocean dependent, until the brown-water advisory lifts.
• Waimea Canyon and Koke’e, until the roads and state parks reopen.
• Spouting Horn, a county park, and county parks were still closed on the 15th. I expect that one back early and I check every morning.

When I Would Come

Late October for the south and west side. November for the whole island. By December I expect Kauai to look close to itself again, with the obvious exception of the south shore coastline.

If you are moving your trip, move it rather than canceling. The Beach House on Lawai took its third hurricane, and this is the first time the building survived. Chef Marshall Blanchard hopes to reopen by Christmas, and that is 170 people’s jobs. Riptides Shave Ice was destroyed and is raising money to come back. Kauai Chickens in Koloa is asking people to just come buy lunch.

Move your trip. Don’t cancel it.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Waimea Canyon open right now?
Not as of September 15th. The county listed Waimea Canyon Road and Koke’e Road as still being cleared, and all state parks closed. Check the county recovery page the morning you plan to go, not the week before.

Is my cruise still stopping at Kauai?
Nawiliwili was taking cargo ships but not cruise ships as of the 15th. Your cruise line will know before I do.

Is my hotel open?
Call the property directly, not the booking site. Conditions vary block to block, and the front desk knows what the website does not.

Are the Na Pali boat tours running?
No. Beat of Hawaii reported three of the four small boat harbors damaged. If you have booked one, call the operator.

One Last Thing

Kauai will be fine. We have done this before, and the people who live here are very good at it. The world needs Kauai, and right now Kauai needs the world.

When the canyon road opens back up and the clous behave, I will be driving it again. If you are moving your trip to later in the year and want to see as much of the island as one day allows, think about one of my tours then.

Aloha and mahalo for your kokua.