Phew, well it’s been a long time coming, but it appears – and perhaps I have been cautious in waiting awhile to put a blog post out – Kauai is opening up officially to tourists. Yes, Kauai Opens April 5.
More than a Year
It’s been more than a year, hard to believe, but there it is. Wherever you live, whether in the US or somewhere else in the world, it’s been a tough year for everyone. How has Kauai faired? Well not great. As with most places, there were some advantages to the shutdown and lots of disadvantages. Some people on island professed to love the fact that no tourism or no tourists meant a quieter island. It’s true that at any given time usually on the island, the relatively modest population of 72,000 is doubled by tourists.
I personally did enjoy the lack of traffic. I also enjoyed the fact that just as when there were less people in the water in the year after the 2018 floods down in Haena, the reef came back to life, same thing happened here. That’s due to a lack of people who don’t know any better using the dreadful spray on sun tan lotions which have harmful chemicals which kill the reef (and they are not great for people either. Use zinc people! Or a natural sunscreen). But I also think it’s due to a lack of chemical fertilizers being sprayed on the golf courses and roads and getting into the rivers and thus the ocean.
Kauai Opens April 5
For all the info on what is required to enter Kauai, check on HawaiiCovid19DOT.com
I’m not making that a clickable link as I tried several times and in their infinite wisdom, Hawaii State decided to make that impossible. The Kauai link is here:
https://www.kauai.gov/COVID-19
and links to the Hawaii State page is there.
If you have a negative test 72 hours prior to arrival on Kauai, you are ok to arrive and stay wherever you would like.
Even though the island was limited due to restrictions, there were still people who came out to Kauai, for longer periods of time. Over the past few months, the price of real estate has gone up by 30% on Kauai as wealthy mainlanders rushed to buy a place “away from it all”. That has had the effect of making housing a bit difficult for locals, but not for this guy. He or she was on Larsen’s beach one day a couple of months ago:
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Most people who live here are glad the island is opening up. As many will realize, the island’s main industry is tourism and almost all businesses are affected by it. Almost everyone here works in tourism or in a tourism related industry : restaurants, cleaning, activities, food, travel…. it’s all reliant on strong tourism. So Kauai Island Opens April 5 to the relief of many.
Kauai is ready to Welcome you!
So Welcome Back! If you’re looking for a place to stay, send me an email. In fact, if you are looking for anything Kauai related and are having some issues getting answers, let me know. My blog has tons of articles on all things Kauai and now that we are opening up, I’ll get back to writing regularly. Check out activities or where to eat! That’s a view from Powerline Trail above Hanalei & Princeville in January.
Aloha!
Francesca
