You now have to look to find evidence of Hurricane Iniki’s violent visit 2 1/2 years ago that turned Hawaii’s oldest and fourth-largest island topsy-turvy.
After more than two years of reconstruction and resuscitation, the island is in bloom anew. Everything’s coming up hibiscus, birds of paradise and bougainvillea. Kauai isn’t nicknamed “the Garden Isle” for nothing. Forests are lush; beaches are bigger and better. C’mon in. The water’s fine.
“Everything’s going–hiking, boating, kayaking, diving,” says Margy Parker, executive director of the Poipu Beach Resort Association, on the southern “sunny side” of the island. “Most visitors are pleased as punch. Most people are astonished at how fast it has come back.”
Hurricane Iniki hit Kauai dead center Sept. 11, 1992, leaving $1.2 billion in devastation. It pounded some parts of Kauai harder than others. But even on my last visit four months after the storm, it was amazing how quickly Mother Nature had returned what she had taken. Much of the flora already had grown back and the island was enveloped in a verdant mantle, even though only a handful of hotels, restaurants and tours were operating.
There were few tourists and no waiting lines for anything. It was heavenly.
It still is divine, but visitors need reservations in some restaurants and, even then, may end up waiting in lines. More than 80 percent of the hotel rooms have been restored.
The 600-room Hyatt Regency Kauai, which sits at the far end of Poipu Beach, is teeming with tourists. Designed in classic traditional Hawaiian style reminiscent of the 1920s and ’30s–and, under Kauai regulations, standing no taller than a coconut tree–the Hyatt had been open only about two years when Iniki whacked it with $30 million in damages.
After hiring the original contractor and working crews seven days a week, the Hyatt was the first major hotel to reopen. (The 350-room Outrigger Kauai Beach, near the airport at Lihue, revved-up an emergency generator and never closed.) And, the Hyatt appears to be exactly as it was before the hurricane–rooms, health and fitness spa, restaurants, bars, pools, waterfalls and lagoons–except it has 30 feet more beach, with the help of Iniki.
Down the road in the Poipu Shopping Village at Kiahuna Plantation, everyone, it seems, wants to eat at Roy’s Poipu Bar & Grill, which opened in November. This is one of the places that has a wait even with reservations. The Poipu Beach setup is the sixth in his chain of restaurants for imaginative chef Roy Yamaguchi, who started Hawaii’s Asian-Pacific food fusion movement in Honolulu in 1988.
Kauai has arrived.
Earlier this year Dustin Hoffman (filming “Outbreak”) and Oprah Winfrey arrived (on separate trips) on the north shore of Kauai, staying at the romantic and striking Princeville Hotel, which is fresh from a $35 million hurricane-induced renovation. The 252-room resort hotel on Hanalei Bay overlooks Lumahai Beach, where Mitzi Gaynor washed that man right out of her hair, and the cliffs of Mt. Makana, which some say represent “Bali Hai” in the movie “South Pacific.”
If ever you should tire of the spectacular views–actually, the purpose is for privacy–just flick a magic button and the windows turn opaque with a liquid crystal. The Princeville lobby with its views is as spectacular as that of any hotel, and its golf course is rated the No. 1 course in Hawaii.
Not all of Kauai’s hotels have made as great a comeback because of owners’ lack of action and/or insurance company problems.
The once-venerable Coco Palms resort near the Wailua River is boarded up, its lush grounds, where Elvis Presley crooned “Hawaiian Wedding Song” in “Blue Hawaii,” unattended, its nightly torch-lighting ceremony merely a memory.
On Poipu Beach, the Stouffer Waiohai and Stouffer Poipu Beach are in limbo, with no decision on their future. And the Sheraton’s two-story, beachfront tower is an eyesore, while the Sheraton Garden Hotel across the street is open to travelers who know about it, for $65-$75 a night. There is no room service, maid service or restaurant. The garden hotel hopes to reopen with full service some time this year after a legal dispute is settled over demolishing the beachfront building.
The once-opulent Westin Kauai, which had the island buzzing when hotel wonder boy Chris Hemmeter opened it in 1987, has been closed since the hurricane and went into bank receivership. Once Kauai’s largest employer, the operation has been taken over by Marriott and will open in late June as combined hotel and time-share apartments.
Meanwhile, visitor arrivals in Kauai last year increased from 1993, but not as much as locals had hoped.
“A lot of travel agents still think we’re closed because of the remaining closed hotels,” says Parker. “They don’t know we’re fine and dandy. But we’re trying to get the word out.”
The island still has a federal grant to operate the Kauai Hotline (800-262-1400), set up a month after the hurricane to answer questions from potential visitors about the island’s damage and repair.
“The hot line is no longer a source of hurricane reaction,” says Parker. “It’s become a source of our visitor industry. People can get recomendations on where to stay and what to do. They can get lists faxed to them. It serves a great function.”
DETAILS ON KAUAI
Kauai is 70 miles northwest of Oahu and can be reached by daily inter-island jet flights from Honolulu to the airport at Lihue. There also is a commuter shuttle daily from Honolulu to the Princeville Airport on the north shore.
The island is 33 miles wide and 25 miles long.
Since Hurricane Iniki, Kauai is emphasizing the adventure and “eco” side of the island, as well as its native culture.
Among activities: mountain biking through native forests of the 4,300-acre Kokee State Park or four-hour rides down Waimea Canyon, the “Grand Canyon of the Pacific;” hiking on unspoiled trails such as those in the Na Pali Coast, Waimea Canyon and Kokee regions; camping; kayaking the only navigable rivers in Hawaii, through the north fork of the Wailua River or up the Hanalei River through a bird refuge; guided ocean kayak trips to view the Na Pali coastline; deep-sea and freshwater fishing; horseback riding; scuba diving and snorkeling; windsurfing; and golfing–Kauai has four of the top 10 rated courses in the state, as well as the best municipal course in the state.
The Hyatt Regency Kauai has a “Discover Kauai” program for guests, including dune walks focusing on the prehistoric native Hawaiian sites located on the beach in front of the hotel; “talk story” by members of the Kauai Historical Society; half-day tour to the “forbidden island” of Niihau, including snorkeling off the island’s privately owned beaches; Hawaiian programs with traditional music, torch-lighting ceremony, poi pounding demonstration, coconut leaf weaving, Hawaiian quilting and lei making.
The Princeville Hotel offers demonstratons in hula dancing, playing the ukulele, making flower leis, stitching Hawaiian quilts, weaving lau hala hats, plus an evening of chanting, dancing and storytelling.
A Kauai Vacation Planner is available at no cost by calling 800-245-2824. Information on Kauai also is available by calling the Kauai Hotline, 800-262-1400. To receive information by fax, call 800-637-5762.
Another source is the Hawaii Visitors Bureau, 180 N. Michigan Ave., Suite 2210, Chicago, Ill. 60601; 312-236-0632.
– Scripps Howard News Service.
