It could take up to five years — and roughly $19 million — to fully repair Port Allen Harbor on Kaua‘i’s Westside, which was home to dozens of boats used for commercial fishing and tours before Hurricane Lowell ripped through its breakwater. 

Much of that timeline comes down to securing funding from the Legislature and obtaining permits from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to repair the breakwater that surrounds the harbor, rebuild the road and parking areas, and replace the floating docks. 

In the meantime, the state Division of Boating and Ocean Recreation is trying to get some boats back in the water by clearing any underwater debris near the harbor’s ramp. Options for moving boats to other facilities are limited.  

“I’m not going to sugarcoat anything – this hurricane devastated Port Allen,” said Meghan Statts, administrator of the state boating division. 

With such a long timeline, many boaters are pleading for the state to prioritize Port Allen’s repairs. Some businesses have already laid off employees because owners don’t know when they can get back on the water. 

“It’s really sad to see and kind of devastating,” said Margie Goodno, who heads the Port Allen Fishing Club, which runs fishing tournaments out of the harbor. “All the guys that depend on it for their livelihoods, they have families and kids and houses and mortgages.” 

‘We’ll Hope For The Best’

Boaters were shocked by the extent of Hurricane Lowell’s damage at Port Allen, saying it was worse than Hurricane ‘Iniki, which made landfall as a Category 4 storm in 1992. 

Powerful 15- to 20-foot waves destroyed about 80 feet of the harbor’s breakwater, allowing the surge to push through the facility. Some floating docks, which were only installed in 2020, were overturned, while others sunk. 

Part of the loading dock at the harbor’s ramp broke off, and water surged onto the road and parking areas, crumbling asphalt and lifting concrete paths. 

Commercial fisherman Kekoa Seward had dry-docked his boat at the harbor’s parking lot, which is roughly 3 feet above sea level, ahead of the storm. Waves broke up the asphalt and pushed the chunks under his boat and further inland. His boat was undamaged, though he estimates the storm surge pushed 5 to 6 feet of water above normal through the lot. 

Jude Schwarze, owner of Captain J’s Kaua‘i Offshore Adventures, said it was painful to see the impacts to the harbor and its users. Five boats sank and two were severely damaged. Some of those boats were owned by his friends.

With the future so uncertain, he’s had to lay off his 21 employees who work for his Nā Pali tour company, his two fishing boats and his Marlin’s Quick Bite Café at Port Allen Marina Center. 

“We’re hoping this time they say it’s going to take five years, maybe it’ll take a year and a half,” he said. “I don’t know. We’ll hope for the best.”

The boating division has been helping some Port Allen boaters get space at Nāwiliwili Harbor in Līhu‘e. That works for charter boat businesses like Makai Sportfishing because they can fish at different spots, said co-owner Sean Lawrence. Makai Sportfishing normally runs 280 to 340 fishing charters a year from Port Allen.  

Moving to another harbor isn’t an option for Schwarze’s tour boats because the distance to the Nā Pali coast is too great.   

“Water is inefficient as far as a medium to move over, so that distance is also pretty prohibitive,” he said. 

Statts said Nāwiliwili is the only boating division harbor that has slips, which are essentially boat parking spaces surrounded by walkways and docks. The division is trying to identify whether there are any vacant slips.

Further west, the boating division also manages Kikiaola Harbor in Waimea, but it’s already over capacity for its commercial ramp permits. The division is also looking at whether it can create moorings, or spots where boats can be secured, as another alternative. 

She added that Port Allen is in a similar situation as Lahaina Harbor, which sustained $30 million in damage from the August 2023 wildfires. In that case, the state boating division relocated as many vessels as it could to Ma‘alaea Harbor.  

“It’s definitely been a challenge when you don’t have harbor space or slips available,” she said. “The options are extremely limited.” 

No Existing Money To Repair Harbor

State workers and community members have removed broken asphalt and debris from Port Allen’s roads. The boating division’s priority is reopening the boat ramp so that some vessels can resume operations.  

The harbor has nine commercial ramp permittees, but Statts couldn’t say offhand what types of operations they ran. Not all boats can use the ramp. Lawrence said his company’s 45-foot-long boat is too big to get a ramp permit. 

The division’s engineer said the ramp is still usable, despite part of the loading dock breaking off, but a sonar scan is needed to ensure there is no submerged debris from the storm obstructing the water, Statts said. 

The timeline for repairs could change depending on how much funding the division receives from the state and how quickly it can get permits. 

Repairs must be done in a certain order. After the sonar scan near the ramp, the boating division will need to solicit bids to remove the submerged and destroyed docks. Statts said the division plans to use existing money from its Boating Special Fund and then seek partial reimbursement from the Federal Emergency Management Agency for this phase.

The state can then move on to the broken breakwater. That’s expected to cost $5 million and needs to be done before any of the slips, gangways or docks are replaced, because the breakwater protects that infrastructure from waves. Putting in new slips and gangways is expected to cost another $8 million, and fixing the road and parking areas another $6 million. 

There is no existing funding for these repairs. 

“We’ll fight for the funds, but, you know, there’s been so many Kona lows, we got the hurricane, there’s so much damage statewide,” Statts said. “I’m not sure what type of funding will be available, but we’re going to do our best to advocate for funding to rebuild Port Allen.”

Plea for Help 

Statts said the boating division could use the community’s help getting lawmakers to pay attention to Port Allen.

“If we don’t have the funds, then nothing happens,” she said.  

On Maui, the division still hasn’t finished rebuilding Lahaina Harbor three years after the wildfires. While it has some funding, getting permits has dragged the timeline out.  

Seward said he hopes the state will prioritize Port Allen’s repairs. While he got an offer to move his commercial fishing boat to Nāwiliwili, he said the damage to the harbor isn’t just economic  — the harbor also serves as a vibrant community gathering space. 

His family tailgates at the harbor when he returns from his deep-sea fishing trips, which typically last two to three days. Elsewhere in the harbor, families with young children often fished off the rock walls. 

“That’s what really kind of shook me when we heard the timeline – my daughter is 5 years old and she might be 10 or 11 by the time we’re able to do that at Port Allen again,” he said.

Schwarze, who runs a Nā Pali tour boat business and helps run the Port Allen Fishing Club, said the club’s annual keiki fishing tournament drew 600 to 700 people to the harbor. 

“I don’t know how this is going to shake up and where everybody’s going to find themselves on the other side of this,” Schwarze said,  “but you know, my wish is that everybody finds their way right back to Port Allen.”