Hawaii weather can force expensive decisions before a forecast is ever settled. With small islands surrounded by the vast Pacific Ocean, increasingly disruptive weather, and at times sharply different conditions from one side of an island to the other, a trip can seem doomed when only part of it may actually be affected. Case in point.
That’s what happened with our Maui work trip this week. We canceled it twice, lost money on a non-refundable Hana accommodation, and are still flying to Maui today because the latest forecast lets us keep most of the trip by switching up the order.
We already lost part of the trip.
The first cancellation came last weekend as Lala approached Hawaii. Warnings went up, hundreds of Hawaii flights were canceled or delayed as the storm approached, and postponing Maui turned out to be a very smart move. Not only that, but things on Kauai turned out to be problematic enough that it was just not a time to be away.
We then rebuilt the trip around reservations we already had. One of those was a non-refundable Hana accommodation beginning Thursday, so we planned to fly over then and were able to move our Kaanapali stay to today (Saturday).
Tropical storm Moke suddenly appeared.
By the time the revised trip arrived, the next tropical system southeast of Hawaii looked too much like what we’d just been through with Lala for comfort. The numbers looked scary as the forecast evolved, and with weather and photography being a huge part of our work on Maui, going under those conditions no longer made much sense.
Canceling Thursday meant losing the Hana reservation entirely, since we were already within its non-refundable period. That was a real financial loss, but we still had the Kaanapali reservation starting today and had not yet canceled the remainder of the trip.
Maui wasn’t a single weather forecast.
Over the next day, Moke’s NOAA track and impact projections became more specific. The greatest threats were concentrated on the Big Island, while East Maui had greater exposure to rain than West Maui.
So now we’re beginning with 4 nights at Kaanapali, followed by one night in Wailea, then moving to Hana for two nights at the end of the trip, after Moke should be well west of Hawaii.
West Maui isn’t getting a free pass. The National Weather Service has Maui Leeward West and parts of Central Maui under a Wind Advisory from noon Saturday through Sunday evening, with east-northeast winds of 25 to 35 mph and gusts potentially reaching 55 mph.
Hawaii weather can make parts of a trip problematic.
The New York Times led Saturday morning with “Hawaii Braces for Another Foot of Rain as Lala Cleanup Continues.” That is an accurate description for parts of the Big Island, where forecasters say Moke could produce 5 to 10 inches of rain with isolated totals as high as 15 inches on already saturated ground.
But a statewide headline like that only goes so far when deciding whether to cancel a Hawaii trip. After Lala, one BOH reader in Kona told us, “Here in Kona there was minimal damage and very little impact,” while residents elsewhere on the Big Island incurred severe damage and are continuing recovery.
Hana and Kaanapali are both on Maui, yet even they can face very different weather from the same system, just as Kauai’s North Shore and Poipu often do. We’ve seen the same issue with ordinary Hawaii weather forecasts that can tell visitors far less than they expect.
Flights can add to the confusion. We saw after Lala that Hawaii’s airports could reopen while roads, parks and other parts of the visitor experience were still recovering, so flights operating don’t tell you whether every part of a trip will work as planned. And bad weather in one part of Hawaii doesn’t always mean every reservation, activity, or destination needs to be abandoned either.
We changed the trip instead of canceling yet again.
We still expect to visit Kaanapali, Wailea, and Hana as planned, just no longer in the order originally booked. We also moved the Wailea accommodation rather than losing that part of the trip, and we’ll check Hana Highway before driving later in the week.
The second cancellation still made sense based on what we knew Thursday. When we decided not to fly to Maui as the next tropical system developed, its eventual track and impacts were still uncertain enough that we just weren’t comfortable going.
By today, however, Moke remained a relatively compact tropical storm on a track farther south than Lala, with the greatest rainfall threat focused on the Big Island and no tropical storm watches or warnings for Hawaii land areas. That offers enough confidence to keep the Saturday trip plans and just rebuild them.
A Hawaii trip facing bad weather does not always have to stay exactly as booked or disappear completely either. Sometimes losing one part, moving another, and changing the order can preserve most of a planned Hawaii trip.
Have Hawaii weather problems ever forced you to cancel a trip, or were you able to change your plans and save part or all of it?
Lead Photo Credit: © Beat of Hawaii on South Maui.
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 →
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