sullim4

A couple updates, now that we got home yesterday night.

Beach House is now open. We went for dinner this past weekend and it was great as always. I believe it is for dinner service only, no lunch yet. Whalers at Poipu Shopping Village opened on Friday. Merriman's, even though they own Beach House, seemed a bit different and looked to be cutting costs by shrinking portion size on expensive stuff like fish and increasing serving size on stuff like rice. We weren't so thrilled with our meal there, usually it is a home run for us.

Another tip - the new pizza place in Poipu Shopping Village, Pietro's, is excellent. We usually get a pie from Brick Oven up in Kalaheo once per trip but this place was both cheaper and far better. $20 for a 16" two topping pie is a bargain in Poipu.

Unlike arrival, the process of departing LIH is not much different than pre-COVID aside from closures of the cafes. TSA agents are as surly as always (LIH, for whatever reason, always stands out to me with respect to this), precheck is operating, ag inspection is the same, etc. Crowds are obviously smaller - zero line for us at TSAPre. No issues with capacity on rental car shuttles yesterday.

So the north shore... sigh. We went up there on Saturday and it was like it was a different world compared to the south and west. We happened upon the bistro in Kilauea noted above that banned "unquarantined" visitors. The signage at other restaurants in Kilauea and Hanalei didn't outright ban tourists but it wasn't particularly welcoming, either. Lots of passive aggressive stuff like "Don't even think of entering without a mask", "Unlike the mainland, Kauai is a mask wearing community", "A T-Shirt is not a mask", postings with daily cumulative case counts on the island, that kind of thing. Clerks at shops and cafes seemed less than thrilled to see us. We grew accustomed to getting out of our car and putting our mask on right next to our car, and we got yelled at once by some random guy for not putting our mask on inside our car despite him being a good 15-20 feet away from us.

We saw none of this in the Poipu area, Kalaheo, Waimea, Hanapepe, etc over the 10 other days. Literally zero. Normal mask signage and folks had no issues following the rules. Locals there, even locals not in the tourist industry at places like Big Save and Safeway, chatted us up and were curious about how things were going. Lifeguards at Salt Pond and Poipu proactively came to us and let us know about conditions and water clarity for snorkeling. It was extremely welcoming and we loved our time there. The north shore, not so much.

hawaii-bound

Kauai Mayor Derek Kawakami is requesting to opt-out of Hawaii’s pre-arrivals testing program after dozens of new COVID-19 cases reached the island.

Kawakami today sent Gov. David Ige a request to approve Emergency Rule No. 23, which would temporarily pause Kauai’s participation in the state’s Safe Travels pre-travel testing program.

If Ige approves the rule, as of Dec.1, all incoming Kauai travelers — trans-Pacific and interisland— would be required to quarantine for the full 14 days regardless of testing.

https://www.staradvertiser.com/2020/...sting-program/

Weatherboy

Governor Ige said he'd approve Kauai's request to opt out of the pre-travel testing program.

Kauai has proposed a multiple test strategy that would require travelers to quarantine for 3 days on-island and then test, but the Governor hasn't ruled on that program.

Doppy

Is there a sense of the length of the opt-out if it's approved, and when there will be a definitive announcement?

Weatherboy

The language of the order is "indefinite" but I suspect it would last through February or March at least.

The approval of the order will probably come in tonight.

sam_goh

Ouch... didn't realize it was this definite. Received a phone call from the GHK earlier today saying it was a possibility and asking if we would be interested in a "resort bubble" instead. Think they are gauging interest and weighing their options.

MSPeconomist

What's a resort bubble?

Weatherboy

Kauai's resort bubble program is approved, so if they wanted to launch it immediately they could.

Basically guests can go to a single resort and stay their for the balance of their quarantine period. In a resort bubble, you can leave your room and use resort facilities. You just can't get off the property. Guests are given RFID tracking bands to make sure they don't leave the resort grounds...and if contact tracing becomes necessary, they'd look at your location history if necessary.

There's lots of burdens on the participating resort: they need to keep a low capacity, must set aside rooms for potential sick, must have improved medical care on site, and must also house workers on-site (for either 1 or 2 week periods.) And of course workers are tested frequently.

I think there were 3 resorts that opted into the bubble program on Kauai, although none had to do it because the pre-travel test program was approved the same week. With that program gone, the bubble program could be away to at least keep the resorts operating somewhat.

hawaii-bound

It's official:
https://bigislandgazette.com/all-pas...odoEFdpSY_t0xg

QT31415

Hopefully when my property value plummets my property tax will also...... lol.

Doppy

In addition to announcing the mandatory 14 day quarantine, they also announced five resort bubble hotels that will be available immediately.

Canceled my week long trip, will try my luck on another island.

sam_goh

Not printed anywhere I can find, but it's in the mayor's video. Resort bubbles are:

Cliffs at Princeville
Hilton Garden Inn
Koa Kea
Kukiulula
Timbers

3 others in approval process

MDTyKe

Doesn’t the Mayor of Kauai’s program require GPS tracking tags on you though ? I thought that was his plan; has he backed down from that?

sullim4

We stayed at Kukui'ula a couple weeks ago and there were remnants of this resort bubble plan explained in the docs we had to sign. There's an app you have to install on your phone that talks to a bluetooth bracelet and reports your location to the state on a regular basis. If you exit the geofence around the resort, or remove the bracelet, the authorities are notified.

It's basically an ankle monitor that uses your phone to communicate with the authorities. There is absolutely no way I would pay the $700/nt I did for Kukui'ula to be monitored like a criminal on parole.

MSPeconomist

The only obvious chain hotel here is Hilton, and IMO it would be grim to be stuck for fourteen days without being able to leave a Hilton Garden Inn, even if it does have a pool (or private beach that would be considered within the boundaries). The resort bubble only seems attractive if the property has at least a couple interesting restaurants, etc.