Rebuilding Paradise : Post-Hurricane Kauai Anxiously Awaits the Return of Tourists

POIPU, Hawaii —  The tread of Hurricane Iniki still shows in the boarded-up buildings, wrecked homes and blue tarps covering many a roof here on Kauai.

But houses are being rebuilt, utilities have been restored and about a third of the tourist-oriented condominiums and hotels have reopened. And the landscape that earned Kauai its “Garden Island” designation has made a remarkable comeback since its whipping by Iniki’s 160-m.p.h. winds.

Sugar cane stands tall, feathery tassels nodding to each other in the breeze. The “Tunnel of Trees”--the tree-shaded highway leading to Poipu Beach--was reduced to stumps during the hurricane, but now it sports fresh leaves and dense vines. Heavy rains that riled residents this winter have filled Kauai’s abundant waterfalls.

It’s virtually a paradise for the trickle of tourists returning four months after the storm--Hawaii’s worst in a century--mowed down homes and wrecked beachfront hotels, washing away the lucrative winter tourist season. A thick mantle of green covers golf courses, where the tee times are ample, and the beaches offer a solitude lost decades ago.

For now, most of the hotels that managed to make repairs and reopen cater to relief workers, construction crews, insurance agents and displaced local residents. Rather than beach bags slung over their shoulders, guests wear tape measures strapped to their belts. In their free time, they hole up in their rooms doing paperwork and punching adding machines, while the sparkling pools stand empty and steam rises from the deserted Jacuzzis.

Jaye Youn, sales manager of the Kauai Resort Hotel, says the hotel has been full in recent months, but the next few months are “really iffy.”

“We don’t know how many tourists will come,” she said. With as much as 70% of the economy dependent on tourism, officials are wasting no time trying to tempt back visitors. A toll-free hot line that provides updates on tourist facilities has handled as many as 500 calls a day. Kauai County has begun placing ads in travel trade magazines on the mainland and in Canada, and an upbeat “video news release” aired recently on the Cable News Network. Mayor JoAnn Yukimura recently traveled to Japan in an effort to drum up business.

“This is going to be a transition year,” said Ernie Nishizaki, chairman of the Hawaii Hotel Assn. and general manager of the Sheraton Kauai. “I don’t like to call it a loss year, but that may be a good term. . . . From a business point of view, we’d like to run 100% from day one. But realism sets in. It’s not going to happen.” He estimated that more than half the island’s hotels will be ready for guest action by fall.

Some local businesses may have trouble hanging on that long. Bali Hai Helicopters has cut back from 20 sightseeing flights a day to two or three. Sales representative Victoria Le says, “We’re keeping our fingers crossed.”

Capt. Zodiac Raft Expeditions laid off 50 employees, leaving a skeletal staff of four.

“We’re open for business, but there really is no business right now,” said General Manager Clarence Greff. “My income is absolutely zero, except for an occasional trip we take out.”

A few entrepreneurs have already thrown in the towel. At Poipu Village Shopping Center, Cheryl Sarbaugh hammered together a sign last week to advertise a liquidation sale for Skids, her footwear and accessories shop.

“I’ve had to go out and get two part-time jobs to pay off creditors,” she said with a sigh. “I don’t want to close, but I can’t keep dragging it out. Our business is tourist-oriented. Until they come back, what can I do?”

The first “day trippers” returned to Kauai in December, hopping over from neighboring islands such as Oahu.

At New Year’s, hundreds of National Guard troops who had cleaned up the island after the storm returned for a holiday, courtesy of American Hawaii Cruises. And now some of the “snowbirds” who frequent Kauai during the harsh mainland winters are making their way back.

“It’s so quiet and peaceful,” accountant Al Patterson, a recent visitor from Calgary, Canada, said after a round of golf with his wife, Lorna. “There’s no lineups in the restaurants. We play every day. And our expenses are $50 less a day.”

“The lack of amenities is more than compensated for by the lack of people,” said Alaskan Brad Finney, who was sprawled on the sand with a big grin on his face while his children explored lava rock tide pools nearby.

Finney, a construction manager in Ketchikan who escapes to Kauai every year, says the island still has everything he wants. Well, almost.

“In the quest for a perfect mai tai,” he admitted, “we’re coming up short.”

Fancy restaurants won’t reopen until the major hotels do, so casual local eateries are doing brisk business. But fine dining, glittering night life and shopping were never the island’s strong points, even before Iniki. Kauai always attracted tourists interested in its natural beauty and relative solitude.

Local officials marvel at how much of nature has come back, given the destruction that so recently left the island’s 51,000 people struggling for water and shelter.

“Sometimes when you prune a tree, all of a sudden it just blossoms,” said Glenn Sato, director of the county’s Office of Economic Development. “It’s almost like it is greener than it was before.”

Most golf courses and beaches have been cleared, along with several major hiking trails. Still, only a few of the 1.2 million visitors who normally trek to Kauai each year have returned. The most recent statistics show tourist arrivals down 78% in November, and things have picked up only slightly since then.

Iniki, whose toll of destruction topped $1.6 billion, damaged two-thirds of the homes on Kauai. About 450 local families have been put up in hotels and condominiums temporarily, and another 300 people are living in tents in parks. The lucky homeowners who have received insurance checks spend their days replacing tarps with more permanent roofing.

Hotel workers have lost their jobs in droves, including 700 laid off last month by the Westin Kauai at Kauai Lagoons.

A few workers have been kept on to polish the brass and marble at the sprawling resort while management negotiates with its insurers. Some have taken work as day laborers, doing odd jobs, ripping up carpets and hauling lumber to make ends meet. Others are collecting unemployment.

“The toughest thing is for the employees who are out of work,” said Margy Parker, executive director of the Poipu Beach Resort Assn. “The sooner we can get the visitors back to Kauai, the sooner we can get these people back to work.”

Despite their uncertain future, Kauai’s people are making the best of the situation. When things were slow at the Kauai Lagoons Golf Course one recent morning, maintenance worker Gerry Pasion decided to try out his handiwork. He and his wife piled into a cart and shot a round together. Others have relieved their stress with a little help from Micco Godinez, owner and manager of Kayak Kauai Outfitters.

‘We’re getting a lot of local folks keeping us in business,” he said. “It’s therapy. It’s a nice thing to throw the hammer away for the day and go paddle.”