Things have changed on Kaua‘i over the past few weeks. With the island stepping back into the Safe Travels program on April 5, visitors are once again flocking back to enjoy Kaua‘i’s beaches and hiking trails.
It’s bringing a much-needed flow of lifeblood back to some businesses, and also adding plenty of traffic to both highways and grocery-store aisles, beaches and local lunch spots.
And after nearly a year of Kaua‘i being essentially closed to most trans-Pacific travel, it’s a change that residents can feel in the air. For some, it’s a saving grace and a rejuvenating step toward building up a “post-pandemic normal.” For others, it’s an overwhelming and unwelcome invasion.
While Kaua‘i residents might have differing opinions on whether or not the island should have rejoined the Safe Travels plan, many have expressed the same underlying feeling of trepidation toward the change that’s afoot. A lot of it has to do the fact that Kaua‘i residents are still struggling to get back on their feet in so many ways.
It’s not just pandemic-related,.
Access to the North Shore is limited right now, and that’s putting a frustrating cramp into the routines of many residents. Heavy rains triggered multiple landslides at an area now known as Hanalei Hill last month, and the state Department of Transportation is still working to clear and stabilize the only highway that connects that part of Kaua‘i with the rest of the island.
So, residents are navigating a tight schedule of access through Kuhio Highway to coordinate errands, commute to and from work, or get their children to and from school.
That process is further complicated by people who are unaware of the access schedule being turned around or jamming up traffic as residents try to go about their daily lives.
In addition to a few real roadblocks on the highway, Kaua‘i is still reeling from a year of economic downturn. On a weekly basis, families are still lining up outside food-distribution events. With some businesses bringing a few workers back, those families are now having to re-balance their lives to include childcare or eldercare.
Three years ago in April, a “rain bomb” parked over Kaua‘i’s North Shore. Flooding triggered a series of landslides, similar to the one at Hanalei Hill, but further north — from Waikoko to Wainiha. The landslides closed Kuhio Highway from April 2018 through June 2019.
An access schedule was established, and residents experienced more than a year of secluded life on the North Shore, without visitors.
When the road reopened in 2019, the Hawai‘i Tourism Board partnered with local residents and organizations to create The Aloha Pledge, a code of conduct that gives everyone a standard by which to approach and enjoy Kaua‘i.
The pledge outlines 15 ways to respectfully enjoy Kaua‘i, and is crafted to educate residents and visitors alike.
It promotes respectful conversation, proper engagement with nature, using legal and licensed visitor accommodations, cleaning up trash and the protecting Kaua‘i’s special places.
For visitors, The Aloha Pledge provides an outline of ways to have the best experience on Kaua‘i, and the ways visitors can respect the local culture.
For residents, The Aloha Pledge provides a good reminder of how to treat each other and the island upon which we go about our daily lives.
The Aloha Pledge
• I pledge to always live the spirit of aloha as I visit your special home;
• I will take time to learn about the Hawaiian people and culture;
• I will preserve and protect your home and will engage with the people, places and wildlife in a kind and respectful way;
• I will give fish and other wildlife space. I understand feeding marine life can damage their health and disrupt behavior;
• I will stay off the reef. I understand that even barely brushing coral can kill an entire colony;
• I will give space to the fishermen so I do not scare the catch away. I understand the fishermen feed their families this way;
• I will only use “reef-safe” sunscreens and bug repellents, free of oxybenzone and parabens to avoid ocean and water contamination;
• I will only stay in legal, licensed visitor accommodations;
• I will look for welcoming signage letting me know that an area is public and safe, and I will always obey appropriate signage for the safety of myself and others;
• I will buy flowers and produce from the store or a farmers’ market and will not pick them from someone’s yard;
• I will clean and decontaminate all of my footwear and hiking gear with 70% alcohol or a 10% bleach solution to prevent rapid ‘ohi‘a death and stop other invasive species from spreading;
• I will protect special places by never geo-tagging them on social media;
• I will always leave places the way I found them;
• I will pack my trash and will even pick up the trash of others I may pass along the way;
• I will always share aloha, kindness and respect as I enjoy this special experience with others.
Take a look at The Aloha Pledge at alohapledge.com.
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The Garden Island
Thank you for the gentle reminder of what we visitors need to keep in mind when visiting your home. My wife and I hope to visit this summer, after the vaccine is widely available. I just hope other visitors are made aware of the Aloha Pledge, and understand its importance.
This is a great pledge. Is it given by the airlines and cruise ships to each visitor prior to arrival in Hawaii? If not, it should be.
AND…
I will respectfully adhere to your Mayor and Governors proclamations, including wearing a mask where they’re required.
Baaaaa Baaaaa! Why not do your own research and use common sense. Your Governor and Mayor may not always have your best interest in mind.
The question should not be whether or not the spirit of aloha should be practiced on Kauai but rather why are not these fundamental values expressed in all places and by all people?
The greatest gift that the Hawaiian people have given to the world has nothing to do with the physical and mental refreshment that Hawaii provides but instead it is the lesson that the truly important things in life are spiritual.
I read the book “Managing with Aloha” and it broke my heart. The Hawaiian values expressed there rang so true and so compelling that I despaired that nowhere else have I found them uttered or practiced.
Aloha to all and Mahalo for pointing the way to wholeness and ‘imi ola.
The idea of this Aloha Pledge is great but let’s be real, how many entitled visitors will just turn their nose up to it keeping in mind the “thousands” of dollars they spend to travel here on their once in a lifetime “vacation,” or “honeymoon,” or “first time” family trip.
A lot will not appreciate what is offered and complain about the weather, traffic or fees implemented for visiting places like Waimea Canyon & Kokee which is restarting charging for non-residents. There is a high price for the paradise we live in!
The recent rescue of a mainlander hiking in Kokee, get ready for more of this kind!
Another burden to our first responders having to rescue visitor kooks of the day, taking them away from their duty to serve locals and putting them in a precarious spot with less COVID restrictions dealing with travelers.
Tourist jumping in swimming where there is clearly signs posted “no swimming” & “rip currents” with the lifeguards standing ready to rescue, c’mon quick wasting our time and resources visitors! Stupid games wins stupid prizes and don’t travel here if you can’t take something like this Aloha Pledge seriously.
Update to my original comments, today not even two weeks from this original post, a prime example of the exact selfishness described in Kapaa Safeway self-checkout.
Young entitled couple, mainly the chick who refused to wear her mask properly, provoked and start argument with me. Yelled out “I just got engaged” as some aspirations of entitlement and got up in my face screaming with no mask on after our recent uptick in Covid cases, screaming “whatcha going do hit me?”
What recourse do we locals have for this type of disrespectful behavior? How shame to have to constantly eat disrespect from tourist with no way to teach them a hard learned lesson of kapu aloha. Taking the higher road and being patient kind and understanding just isn’t doing it for me.
will local methheads also get to partake aloha pledge or is it same ol’ hatred for white people?
The aloha pledge appears to be directed at tourists but is just as applicable to locals. They need to understand that! I see their frustration with too many visitors which clog the roads, hiking trials and beaches. I get their irritation with entitled rude visitors, they are everywhere but what I don’t understand is the attacks on tourists for visiting. It not their fault that they came there.
A long time ago, YOUR political leaders discovered they could prostitute your island by selling tourism. That it would be easy money and create jobs as well as be a huge target for collecting taxes so locals don’t pay as much and you all bought into that idea. Think about that!
Also remember, those tourists spend three times the money in a week than a local does. This feeds your economy, creates jobs and pays for your parks, roads and teachers.
The taxes being collected today will never be reduces however, if you continue to drive tourism away by pricing yourself out of the market, those taxes will still be continued to be collected BUT BY YOU and not visitors!
So be careful what you ask for. You wont like the outcome!
As a former resident and family member of folks that have been in Kauai since the boats from Portugal started bringing families here, I get it! From a visitor’s standpoint and as a local. there will always be “tourist entitlement” no matter where you are in the world. That is unfortunate. The Aloha Pledge has taken measures to (to steal a quote from our leaders) “flatten the curve” on unwanted behavior.
Since the sugar industry went away, Kauai has really needed the tourist industry, and should make it a priority for the county’s income/tax base. Lord knows coffee cant bring in the numbers and unfortunately Kauai’s kekies have/are suffered from the chemical wasteland the westside is turning into. Your/our elected officials have allowed that so in a sense, the people of Kauai had a say-so in that disastrous decision.
While a visitor’s “aloha” pledge (maybe revised a little) is important and should be provided through ALL incoming air/boat passengers, It is much more important to have a “local aloha pledge”. We always hear the multitude of stories about idiot/entitled/rude tourist but there are equal amount of the same stories that arise from locals (I see it in my own family).
A consistent behavior/attitude from the locals will go a long way in making a pleasant experience for Kauai residents with the industry that is needed (and asked for).