Poipu Visitors Are Finding Recovery And Devastation Side By Side

We both work and live on Kauai’s South Shore and know Poipu very well. But after driving it slowly over two days this week, what stopped us wasn’t simply the amount of damage still visible. It was how abruptly the damage ended.

A house could look barely touched, or be too screened from the road for us to tell, while another only feet away was surrounded by dumpsters, plywood, and piles of debris after being very seriously damaged. The same thing happened with condos, beaches, and major resorts as we continued driving around Poipu.

Crowds were at Poipu Beach, Brennecke’s Beach Broiler was open, and as we drove toward Mahaulepu, everything looked more normal. Driving out to Spouting Horn, we saw extensive damage to oceanfront homes, and the road starting at Prince Kuhio Park was torn up until we passed Lawai Beach Resort (see our lead photo).

Along Lawai Road, some of the worst damage remains.

Kuhio Shores gave us one of the clearest looks at what happened at a visitor property. Multiple ground-floor openings remained boarded when we stopped, and the oceanfront area below the building was heavily scoured. From where we stood, the first level looked as though the ocean had simply gone through it.

As we drove the oceanfront stretch starting at The Beach House restaurant, which is closed until further notice, the effects of Lowell were still impossible to miss. Some oceanfront homes looked surprisingly good from the road, but many farther along toward Spouting Horn had clearly taken a tremendous hit, with damaged lower levels, dumpsters outside, and torn-out material piled beside them.

Lawai Beach Resort looked as though it had sustained storm damage too, yet its Alii pool and jacuzzi area were humming with guests (two other swimming pools are closed). People were enjoying a normal afternoon beside some of Poipu’s most visible destruction. The popular Riptides Shave Ice & Snacks was destroyed, and efforts are underway to raise money to rebuild it.

We’ve driven this road for decades, which made some of what we saw difficult to reconcile with our memory of it. In several places, the shoreline itself looked different, and Keiki Cove had become almost unrecognizable. The little beach we knew has been replaced in part by large concrete barriers along the oceanfront edge. Brennecke Beach on the other end had been replaced by rocks.

A few minutes away, Poipu can look almost normal.

The Sheraton Kauai Resort has a November 1 targeted reopening date. We saw plywood, fencing, equipment, and many workers, and the property still looks like it has a long way to go.

Poipu Kapili, literally across the street from Sheraton, and Koloa Landing Resort behind it, looked normal to us from the outside, and so did Nihi Kai Villas on the other side of Poipu, when we drove through. We weren’t looking for tiny cosmetic problems or trying to inspect private areas. We were looking at what an arriving Kauai visitor would see, and neither property showed us anything comparable to the destruction we had just passed.

The Grand Hyatt was another dramatic shift. The hotel and grounds we could see looked essentially normal and undamaged, with the familiar resort appearance intact. On the Shipwreck Beach side, we noticed stacks of metal chaise lounges removed from the pool, but we didn’t check the sandy-bottom saltwater lagoon well enough to assess it, and we won’t guess its condition.

Those properties we visited are all within a small part of Poipu. There is no gradual progression from destroyed to repaired as you drive in either direction. The condition can change almost instantly.

Check the property, not just Poipu.

For someone with a South Shore Kauai reservation, “Poipu is open” can be completely accurate and still tell you very little about the property where you’re actually staying or what surrounds it.

Someone arriving at one of the places that escaped serious damage may encounter something very close to the vacation they envisioned. Another traveler only minutes away could be staying beside active rebuilding, a damaged shoreline, or units that took the full force of the ocean.

We saw the same unevenness immediately after the hurricane, when conditions across Kauai depended heavily on where we were standing, and we asked who decides when visitors should return. Those emergency conditions have largely passed, but Poipu is now recovering property by property.

We would ask the specific resort, condo manager, or vacation-rental owner what happened to the exact building and unit, what remains under repair, and which amenities and beach areas are actually available. After what we saw this week, two reservations carrying the same destination name can lead to remarkably different Poipu vacations.

What questions do you still have about what Poipu is like right now, especially if you have a trip coming up?

Photo Credits: © Beat of Hawaii at Poipu this week.

By Rob and Jeff, Beat of Hawaii.

Some of the most meaningful parts of Hawaii are the ones visitors walk right past without knowing they are there. We’ve spent nearly 20 years finding them firsthand for BOH as full-time Hawaii residents reporting on travel, culture, and island life, and telling you what they mean for your trip. Join us →