Kauai travel info & update from the Kauai Visitors Bureau

Below is a Q&A of the most frequently asked questions of the Kauai Visitors Bureau in the past few days. Information provided curtesy of the KVB.
Question: What is the weather like?
Answer: At the moment, the entire state is under a Flash Flood Watch until March 30 at 6:00 a.m. The rain is not continuous. Weve had several days of sunshine recently. For a seven-day forecast of Kauai weather, visit online at www.prh.noaa.gov/pr/hnl.

Question: What is the weather going to be like when I get there?
Answer: It has been hard to predict the weather more than 24 hours in advance. If you are coming this week, you may encounter some rainfall. Beginning next week (April 2-8), we are cautiously confident the rain will subside and life will quickly return to normal on our beautiful island.

Question: What roads are closed?
Answer: None, all roads are open. A 400-foot section of Kuhio Highway at the 21-mile mark is operatingwith one lane as repairs are being made to the road. Drivers are advised to allow for a little extra time when driving to and from the North Shore.

Question: What beach areas are closed?
Answer: Presently, only Lydgate Beach Park, Kalapaki Beach Park, the Small Boat Harbor at Kikiaola and the Salt Pond in Hanapepe have signs posted advising people to stay out of the water. However, avoid any shoreline area with brown water caused by runoff from the rainfall. For the next week, check with your hotel concierge, outfitter or activity provider for the most up-to-date information.

Question: What areas have flooded?
Answer: A few isolated areas experienced some flooding a couple weeks ago, but these problems have been dealt with and it is no longer a problem.

Question: What damage have the hotels sustained?
Answer: A few properties sustained some water damage, but nothing to the extent that has kept them from accepting guests and maintaining operations.

Question: Can I hike during my visit?
Answer: During heavy rainfall, the Hawaii State Department of Land and Natural Resources is strongly advising people to avoid hiking for their own safety. We agree.

Question: Should I cancel my trip?
Answer: We believe you would regret not coming, especially if you are planning a trip in the weeks and months to come. This unusually heavy rainfall will pass soon and Kauai natural beauty and calming serenity are not to be missed. You will still have a wonderful time.

Question: Where can I get more visitor information?
Answer: Call the Kauai Visitors Bureau at the toll-free number 1-800-262-1400, or visit the website at www.kauaidiscovery.com.

Aloha plans interisland flight changes

More enhancements to interisland air service are in the offing, as Hawaiian and Aloha airlines defend their turf against the new carrier go!
Go!, a service of the Mainland carrier Mesa Air Group, launches in June with $39 fares that Hawaiian and Aloha matched even before go! announced them.
Now the legacy carriers are moving to match or beat go!'s flight schedule.
Hawaiian this week quietly added extra flights late in the evening, allowing neighbor island visitors to return to Honolulu as late as the 9 p.m. hour.
Aloha executives met Tuesday to work out their own changes.
"We will be adding flights to and from Maui and Kauai in the late evening and we will also be adding some early morning flying to ensure that our schedule is more than competitive," said Aloha Senior Vice President Thom Nulty. "It is our plan to continue our flights every hour on the hour to Maui and Kauai and to supplement those flights with additional trips where justified and or needed."
Nulty said details would come later but he expected also to be adjusting some flight times between Honolulu and Kona and Hilo "to better meet customer needs and to be more competitive."

Vacation at Princeville Resort and Sheraton Kauai Resort With Assurance

KAUAI, Hawaii, March 28 /PRNewswire/ -- In response to inquiries about the state of Kauai and its businesses following heavy rains, Princeville Resort and Sheraton Kauai Resort join with state officials in saying "E Komo Mai (welcome) to Kauai."

Princeville Resort and Sheraton Kauai Resort flank Kauai's north and south shores respectively, and are Starwood Hawaii's two properties on the island. "The Princeville Resort and the Sheraton Kauai Resort are open for business and are welcoming visitors," stated Keith Vieira, senior vice president and director of operations for Starwood Hotels & Resorts Hawaii and French Polynesia. "We want to reassure our guests and the public that our Kauai hotel properties continue to provide the exceptional service they are known for."

Kauai, also known as "Hawaii's Island of Discovery," beckons visitors to venture out and explore the many natural offerings of the island. "Kauai's airport, its harbor, and businesses are open and ready to accept our visitors in the same way they have always been. Kauai's aloha spirit remains intact and the island is green and beautiful," said Kauai mayor Bryan Baptiste. In a March 22nd news release by the Kauai Visitors Bureau, executive director Sue Kanoho echoed the mayor's sentiments stating that visitors can book a Kauai vacation in the weeks and months to come with certainty knowing that the island will be as beautiful as ever.

Both Princeville Resort and Sheraton Kauai Resort have all services and facilities available to guests, including the beaches and pools. Roads to and from the resort properties are open and accessible. "We have received inquiries related to the unusual rainfall the island has experienced in March," said Kelly Hoen, general manager of the Princeville Resort. "The hotel has suffered no damage and is fully operational with all services and activities currently available," she concluded. Angela Vento, general manager of Sheraton Kauai Resort, stated, "Our property encountered minor water damage, but nothing that would affect the guests' experience in any way. It is business as usual with guests enjoying the beach and pools ... and bookings for our oceanfront luau and activities are strong."

People attend disaster center on Kauai

More than 50 people signed up on Friday on Kauai for emergency disaster relief or assistance. It's been 10 days since the devastating dam break that killed seven residents there.
The Disaster Assistance Recovery Center drew many people who had many things ripped away from them -- family, property, peace of mind.
Street level, where three structures and seven people were swept away, a driveway leads to nowhere.
It's quiet now, so different from March 14.
"It just kept getting louder, louder, and louder, and we started hearing the cracking of the trees as the water came through," says Terry Wells, Kilauea resident. "I wasn't thinking of a dam breaking. I was just thinking a flash flood from sudden rain swell, but we were really shocked when we woke up and got outside, it was light, and saw what had really happened."
Carole and Terry Wells lost hundreds of trees on their mahogany farm.
"This is my granddaughter, and it was her magical forest, two weeks ago," says Carole, looking at a picture of her granddaughter in their mahogany farm. "This is where she was standing. She said, 'grandma, what happened to my forest?'"
But something more tragic -- they lost their next door neighbors, Aurora Fehring, her husband, toddler, and four others.
"I mean, we have a two-year-old granddaughter and we think, oh my God, if we lost them, you know, our trees are nothing compared to losing family and friends," says Carole.
All along the path of the flood, you see piles of trees, also of personal affects. A few distances away lies a lauhala mat, and here what looks like a piece of furniture.
More than 50 people who suffered losses from the flood check in at Kilauea Assistance Center. Lives in this town are permanently altered. As is even the landscape -- top soil and earth are torn away, exposing bedrock, polished clean by the force of the flood.
A flood that dug a cliff so deep, there's now a rushing waterfall where before there was only a small pond.
On Saturday, the disaster center moves to Kalaheo's Neighborhood Center, open from 10 to 4.

Inouye tours Kauai in the wake of dam break, heavy rains

By Associated Press

KILAUEA, Hawaii (AP) _ Senator Daniel Inouye surveyed the damages on Kauai today after last week's dam break and recent flooding from heavy rains.
He says he is seeking between 15 (m) million dollars and 30 (m) million dollars in emergency federal aid to help Kauai recover from flooding and the disaster that killed up to seven people.
Inouye surveyed the disaster area by helicopter with state and county officials and visited the recovery center at the Kilauea Community Center.
The senator said he was impressed with the cleanup efforts.
He hopes the state completes a damage assessment soon so he can ask Congress for emergency funding.
Inouye says there's only a limited amount of emergency funding because Kauai will be competing with everything from the war in Iraq to the damage in the South left behind by Hurricane Katrina.
About 50 residents have requested assistance from various agencies as a result of the flooding.

Kauai sees record rainfall

By Associated Press
KILAUEA, Hawaii (AP) _ Home to one of the wettest spots on earth, Kauai is no stranger to rain. But this island has been under a downpour for more than a month now, flooding roads, homes and farms while testing the patience of residents and tourists.
Long-standing monthly rainfall records have already been broken with several days left in March.
The lush and soaked Garden Island has been under a flash-flood advisory or warning for most of the days since heavy rains started on February 19th. And more rainy days are expected ahead.
Through March 20, Wailua had 38 inches of rain, nearly triple the March record set in 1967.
Lihue Airport recorded nearly 26 inches of rain in the first 20 days, breaking the March 1951 record of 14-and-a-half inches.
Mount Waialeale, considered among the rainiest places on the planet, had 79-and-a-half inches in the first 20 days of March. The record for the entire month is 82 inches set in 1951.

Update from Kauai

Update from Kauai - 54 Island Dams Inspected; Search Resumes for Four Missing People
By Kauai County Government, 3/21/2006 9:06:11 AM
LIHUE – Visual inspections of approximately half of Kaua‘i’s 54 dams were conducted Monday.

Multiple teams of engineers from the state Department of Land and Natural Resources and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers are involved in this effort. One team include Hawai‘i-based members of the U.S. Geological Society.

According to a spokesperson for the assessment teams, based on preliminary findings, none of the dams inspected today are in danger of failing. It is expected that assessments of all of Kaua‘i’s dams will be completed by Friday.

Anyone interested in finding out the status of Ka Loko and Puu Ka Ele dams where USGS gauges have been installed may log on to the USGS Pacific Island Water Science Center website, http://www.hi.water.usgs.gov and click on the link to whichever reservoir they’d like to learn more about.

The search for the four people still missing since the Ka Loko dam breached last Tuesday will continue tomorrow. Personnel from the Hawai‘i Urban Search and Rescue Task Force, Kaua‘i Fire Department, Kaua‘i Police Department, state Department of Land and Natural Resources and the Hawai‘i National Guard are working together in the search.

National Guardsmen have also been involved in the transport of water pumps to several locations around the island including the Ka Loko Dam, Kapa‘a bypass, Kekaha, Ko¯loa and the Morita Dam.

All of the Red Cross shelters on Kaua‘i are now closed, but Disaster Relief Assistance Centers are scheduled to open in Kala¯heo and Kilauea by the end of the week. More information on this is forthcoming.

Besides one lane of Kuhio Highway in the vicinity of Kilauea, the only other major road closure is Kokee Road, from Kekaha to Waimea Canyon Road. One lane of the Westside road is expected to reopen at approximately 7 am tomorrow.

Anyone who sustained damages to their homes, farms, businesses or other property due to heavy rains is encouraged to call 211, toll-free, anytime day or night to report the damage. The information provided will be forwarded to the appropriate agencies for action.

Pacific Business News: Kauai arrivals undampened so far - 2006-03-20

Pacific Business News: Kauai arrivals undampened so far - 2006-03-20: "Kauai arrivals undampened so far
Pacific Business News (Honolulu) - 10:48 AM HAST Monday
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It appears so far that most people who planned Kauai vacations this month are proceeding with their plans come rain or high water.
Arrivals estimates from the Hawaii Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism put recent arrivals at these levels:
Monday: 879.
Tuesday: 759.
Wednesday: 769.
Thursday: 751.
The Thursday count was down 18 percent from the 914 who flew to Kauai on Thursday, March 17, 2005, but the other three days were up substantially from year-before arrivals.
The dam break and widespread flooding on Kauai made national news all last week. There was disruption to tourism when the road to Princeville was cut off for a few days, and flooding also caused problems on the Koloa coast, which also is home to several resorts. "

StarBulletin.com | News | /2006/03/15/

KAUAI DAM BREAK

CASEY AND CYNDI RIEMER, JACK HARTER HELICOPTERS / SPECIAL TO THE STAR-BULLETIN
The water path of the Ka Loko Dam burst was evident yesterday.




Destruction shocks, angers residents
By Tom Finnegan and Diana Leone
tfinnegan@starbulletin.com | dleone@starbulletin.com

LIHUE » Residents of Kilauea are shocked that two homes and families were swept away by an early-morning flood, killing at least one and leaving another six still missing, said Linda Pasadava, president of the Kilauea Neighborhood Association.

"People that were there said it sounded like a Mack truck coming down the hill and Norfolk pines snapping sounded like crackling fire," she said yesterday. "It was probably feet from the next nearest home."

There are a number of construction projects in the area that slid and "all of the (lands) that have been cleared have just washed away, Pasadava said.

"This is what happens when you dig into mountains," Pasadava said. "The community I've spoken to is furious -- they just don't know who to be furious at."

As of sundown yesterday, the body of a man in his 30s was recovered a mile out to sea, while six other Kilauea residents were still missing after an earthen wall of the Ka Loko Dam crumbled away and a rush of water 100 yards wide wrecked everything in its path, including at least two homes.

The missing were identified by numerous Kilauea residents as tenants and members of the Fehring family, a well-known Kilauea clan who managed vacation rentals and also ran a Waldorf nursery school on their Wailapa Road property.
Kilauea residents said the two families, including Aurora Fehring, her husband, Adam, and their 2-year-old child, lived in cabins near the banks of Wailapa Stream, usually a gentle-moving tributary of Kilauea Stream that is known for a small waterfall and wading pool nicknamed "Bette Midler's Falls."

Among the missing is 49-year-old Wayne Rotstein, who worked as a gardener and landscaper for the Fehrings.

Rotstein's parents received a call from landowner Bruce Fehring yesterday, saying their son was missing along with Fehring's own daughter, son-in-law and grandson, who were swept up in a surge of water, Rotstein's brother, Gary, related.

Rotstein, a Pittsburgh native, had moved to Hawaii about five years ago from Las Vegas.

Gary Rotstein, a reporter with the Pittsburgh Post Gazette, said he is searching for any information about his brother and trying to understand the situation by using the Internet and making phone calls. He said his parents were shocked and astonished.

"It's flabbergasting for everyone because it seems like a one-in-a-million freakish thing that he would have been caught up in the middle of," Rotstein said.

Kuhio Highway was closed because of the threat from the Morita Dam.

Visitors and tourists rushed local food stores, worried that the closed highway will mean no deliveries to the local supermarkets.

"We have no bread, we're low on water and rice. ... Our sales are comparable to Christmas Eve," said Maria Berdon, an office clerk at the Princeville Foodland. "It's just nuts. I don't know why ... people are just panicked."


COURTESY OF STATE DEPARTMENT OF LAND AND NATURAL RESOURCES
Damage downstream from the Ka Loko Reservoir Dam breach was shown yesterday in this aerial view.




County officials gave no time frame on when the highway might be open, leaving frantic vacationers no choice but to try to fly out of Princeville Airport via helicopter.
Those flights were booked quickly, and numerous visitors were stuck, complaining to police that they were missing international flights.

Kilauea residents and friends of the Fehring family, longtime Kauai residents, tried to do their part in aiding in the search.

Amy and Rick Marvin, who live just east of Kilauea Bay, spent the morning looking for their friends as debris collected along the shore fronting their home. Among the mess of trees, branches and earth were signs of the cabins, including treated wood and household items.

"I feel so terrible for our friends and the loss they are suffering," Rick Marvin said. "There was so much debris."

State Rep. Mina Morita said in a statement: "Our thoughts and prayers are with the families of the people missing after the dam burst, as well as with those who have lost their homes and their agribusinesses in the flooding.

"At this time, my office is helping to make sure that the repairs to the highway are done as quickly as possible, and that all resources are available for the search and rescue, as well as the overall recovery effort."

WSOCTV.com - Weather - 7 People Missing After Water Overruns Kauai Dam

WSOCTV.com - Weather - 7 People Missing After Water Overruns Kauai Dam: "7 People Missing After Water Overruns Kauai Dam
Search For Survivors Under Way
POSTED: 4:21 pm EST March 14, 2006
UPDATED: 4:29 pm EST March 14, 2006
HONOLULU -- Teams from multiple agencies are working to find at least seven people reported missing after a dam was overrun on Kauai's North Shore Tuesday morning.
The Kaloko Dam overfilled after heavy rains pounded the area overnight, causing flooding on an already saturated island, and closing roads on the Garden Isle's north shore.
The Kauai Fire Department called on the U.S. Coast Guard to help with the search for seven people who may have been swept away when water plunged over the dam.
Officials said that dispatched a C-130 search plane and a helicopter to look for the missing people in the Kilauea Stream, which feeds into Kilauea Bay.
Officials closed Kuhio Highway between Hanalei and Princeville early Tuesday morning. Crews also closed the highway at Wailapa Road, east of Kilauea. Kauai County Civil Defense says the nearby Waiakalua Reservoir overflowed mauka of the highway."

A swell journey by kayak on Kauai's rugged coast

By John Corrigan
Los Angeles Times
In a two-person kayak along Kauai's rugged coast, coordinated paddling makes a difference.
NA PALI COAST, Kauai, Hawaii — The second time we capsized, my canteen went east and our kayak headed west.
"Better grab it," said my boat mate, Carlos Holguin, as the Nalgene bottle bobbed in 4-foot swells. Our guides had said we would need two quarts of water for the 17-mile paddle along Kauai's dramatic Na Pali Coast. Now half my supply was at sea.
Of course, they also had told us to get back on the two-person kayak immediately if we capsized. After snagging the canteen, I could see why. The wind-driven swells that helped propel us were now taking our ride west without us.
The kayak trip last summer was the highlight of a 10-day trip to Kauai, perhaps Hawaii's most beautiful island. National Geographic Adventure magazine rated Na Pali by kayak No. 2 on its list of America's top 100 adventure treks a few years ago, topped only by rafting the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon.
Unspoiled by roads and only partly accessible by trail, the Na Pali Coast — with its sheer, jungle-green cliffs soaring above turquoise waters — is best seen by boat or helicopter. Kayaks get you into sea caves and hidden coves that larger vessels can't reach, and there's the satisfaction of seeing the Na Pali Coast the way Hawaiians did centuries ago.
Just be prepared: This isn't a pleasure cruise.
"I had no idea what I was getting into," said Amy Jubelirer, 52, who took the kayak day trip with her husband, Rob, also 52, and their 25-year-old son, Matt. "I was so out of my league physically."
Outfitter Micco Godinez, who co-owns Kayak Kauai with his brother Chino, conceded that the trip is "perverse." For the pleasure of taking what the Godinez brothers call the "longest and roughest ocean-kayak trip in the world," you'll pay about $200 and paddle to the point of exhaustion. And there's always the threat of being hurled into the sea.
"The common denominator is, you should be comfortable in the water," Micco Godinez said.
At the moment, I wasn't.
Holguin and I swam to the kayak as quickly as we could. Soon we righted our craft (a sit-on-top kayak, not an enclosed one), and I clambered aboard. Whoosh! The kayak flipped back over.
"Don't panic," Holguin said.
Panic? Well, perhaps I was overly eager to get back on the kayak. Besides fretting about my cameras (they were in a "dry bag" lashed to the kayak and did come through undamaged by water), I wasn't too thrilled about being tossed into 40 feet of heaving water, half a mile from shore. Just a couple of miles away, teen surfer Bethany Hamilton had lost an arm to a 14-foot tiger shark in 2003.
Even so, I let Holguin get on first this time, and then hoisted myself up. Success. A few minutes later, another wave flipped us into the sea again.
A week earlier, it had looked so easy. After hiking to remote Lolo Vista Point, Holguin and I had peered down on a flotilla of kayaks in calm, turquoise waters about 3,000 feet below. We had talked about a Na Pali kayak trip back in Los Angeles. Now, hot and sweaty from our walk, the small boats seemed the perfect way to see Kauai's roadless northern coast and the steep, fluted cliffs known as "pali."
We knew the waters off Na Pali Coast could be treacherous. The season for touring it by sea, even by motorboats and sailing vessels, generally runs from May through October. Even in summer, trips can be canceled if the waves get too strong.
Kayak Kauai, based in the north shore town of Hanalei, is one of three companies offering Na Pali kayak treks; the company pioneered the treks 21 years ago, but Micco Godinez says the experience offered by all three is comparable.
We were advised to each bring two quarts of water, a snack and plenty of sunscreen. The outfitters would provide sandwiches and drinks at our lunch stop.
We were surprised that we weren't questioned about our physical condition, kayaking experience and so forth. The company does warn about the rigors of the trip on its Web site, but it doesn't try to scare people off, and no kayaking experience is required. That was good for us because I had spent only two hours kayaking before this, and that was two hours more than Holguin.
Our guides included Melissa Hosono and Web Godinez, the 22-year-old son of co-owner Chino Godinez. Web Godinez would be paddling the coast for a sixth day in a row.
We piled into a van for the short ride to the launch point at Haena Beach Park, about a mile before the end of the road. After a mile of kayaking, anyone can bail out and return to Hanalei, we were told; after that, dropping out isn't an option. (In an emergency, the kayaks can be beached elsewhere, but it essentially ruins the trip for everyone.)
After a quick lesson, Hosono and Godinez launched each of our kayaks, which had foot-controlled rudders operated by the person sitting in back. Soon, the capsizing began. This is fairly typical, Hosono said later, because the swells tend to be bigger on this stretch of coast, and kayakers are still figuring out what to do.
The views were indeed stunning — those verdant cliffs rising like skyscrapers from the water — but Holguin and I were preoccupied with the boat. After our fourth turnover, Hosono pulled up with some advice: Ease up on the rudder. I'd been steering too much, making the kayak less stable in the swells. We never flipped again.
Soon, we went into the first of three caves, called Pamawaa. Paddling into the dark cave was a bit like taking the Pirates of the Caribbean ride at Disneyland. Later, a second cave called Hoolulu provided more of a challenge. We had to time our entrance and exit to avoid being swamped by surging waves. But we all managed the maneuver.
By noon or so, we reached a high point of the trip — the Open Ceiling Cave. There's no roof above, allowing the sunlight to play on calm, blue waters. Here, most of the crew took a quick swim.
Dolphins swam alongside us as we continued west, heading for our lunch stop at Milolii Beach.
The final four miles seemed endless, as the wind was no longer at our backs. It was after 4 p.m. when we finally landed at Polihale State Park, the end of the road on Kauai's western side. Everyone took a swim before getting in the van for the three-hour ride back to Hanalei.
Our fellow kayakers' reviews were almost all positive.
"We tried pretty much everything on Kauai — the helicopter trip, hiking — and this was definitely the highlight," Robert Oxley, 34, said.
Amy Jubelirer, although annoyed that the trip was tougher than she expected, had to say she was never prouder to make that final landfall.
Copyright © 2006 The Seattle Times Company

US Airways expands Hawaii service

US Airways has started two new services between Phoenix and two Hawaiian islands.
The new daily service to Lihue on the island of Kauai began on Wednesday, March 1, while the daily Phoenix to Kona (on the island of Hawaii) route was inaugurated a day later.
The service from Phoenix to Lihue is the first direct flight from the mainland to Kauai that does not leave from California.
Flight 946 will take off daily from US Airways' Phoenix hub at 11.40am and arrive in Lihue at 3.45pm. Passengers on return flight 947 will leave Lihue at 11.55pm and touch down in Phoenix at 8.58am.
Kona flights will take off from Phoenix at 11.40am for a 3.27pm arrival, and the return journey will leave Kona at 11.59pm, landing in Phoenix at 8.48am.
"Hawaii is a very popular destination for our customers, and we are very pleased to offer more service to the places they love to travel," explained Scott Kirby, US Airways’ executive vice president, sales and marketing, in a company press release.
As well as the Phoenix routes, US also began flying from Las Vegas to Kahului on March 1.
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