Smith’s Kauai reports that their popular luau and garden venues will be closed at least to the end of April 2024 as the company cleans up the grounds after heavy rain and flooding. Up to 12 inches of rain fell on parts of Kauai during a 24-hour period on April 12th. Smith’s Kauai boats fared well during the weather event, but the gardens and luau venues will take some time to clean up, Smith’s Kauai said in a statement posted to their website. The Wailua River tours and the Fern Grotto tours will continue operating on normal schedules. Following is the statement from Smith’s Kauai concerning the situation:
“In the early morning hours of April 12, small portions of Kauai received heavy downpours and up to 12+ inches of rain in a short amount of time. First of all, our family, our employees and our surrounding communities are safe. Most areas on Kauai are back to life as usual and your upcoming visit to the island will be mainly unaffected. Several homes and a few businesses around the flooded areas were affected, and the island way of kokua each other will make the clean up go smoothly. The emotional toll though is high and we pray for supportive posts on social media platforms for our island community.
Our family’s river tours, gardens and luau sit along the banks of the Wailua River, which normally drains out into the Pacific Ocean. Unfortunately, a blockage at the mouth of the river created a dam, backing up the flood waters into the surrounding area. In the hours after the storm, a check of our river boats showed that they weathered the storm well. Our family members immediately cleared debris from the river and the Fern Grotto area and tours started up again the following day. THE WAILUA RIVER TOURS are operating on the normal schedule ~ Monday through Friday, with departures at 9:30am, 11am, 2pm and 3:30pm.
The gardens and luau venue will take some time to clean up and we are still assessing the situation ~ we have decided to keep the gardens and luau closed at least to the end of April. An email and text has been sent to those with April reservations for our family’s luau and show informing them of the cancellation and the processing of refunds. We hope to have an update as to when we think we will be able to reopen for the gardens and luau in a few days. For those with near future reservations (next two to three months), we will send you an update by April 17 to ensure you time to change plans if we need to extend the closure. If you’d like to cancel reservations now, please send an email to melrose@smithskauai.com and we will process a full refund.
Mahalo for your kind words of support as we do the work to reopen soon… in the spirit of Aloha!”