Nature Is Reclaiming This One Abandoned Hawaii Spot And It’s Actually Amazing
By Megan Shute|Published January 29, 2016
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Megan Shute
Author
With more than 10 years of experience as a professional writer, Megan holds a degree in Mass Media from her home state of Minnesota. After college, she chose to trade in her winter boots for slippahs and moved to the beautiful island of Oahu, where she has been living for more than five years. She lives on the west side but is constantly taking mini-road trips across the island and visits the neighboring islands whenever she can getaway. She loves hiking, snorkeling, locally-grown coffee, and finding the best acai bowl on Oahu.
As local travel experts, we know what travelers are looking for when it comes to finding the perfect accommodations for their next trip. To compile our lists, we scour the internet to find properties with excellent ratings and reviews, desirable amenities, nearby attractions, and that something special that makes a destination worthy of traveling for.
On the island of Kauai sits the remains of a once enchanting, lavish, resort. The Cocoa Palms Resort, located on Kuhio Highway in Wailua, was once a luxurious vacation destination popular among Hollywood movie stars and other celebrities in the 1950s. The resort was hit by Hurricane Iniki in 1992, and was never repaired or reopened.
Cocoa Palms has been abandoned ever since, though it is now scheduled to be restored, and could open as a Hyatt Resort as early as 2017. A blessing in October 2015 marked the rebirth of the hotel, with the developers vowing to “bring its legendary past into its new life,” according to Khon2 news coverage.
Special thanks goes to Flickr user Jeff for these incredible photographs.
Located on Kuhio Highway in Wailua, the Cocoa Palms Resort was opened in 1953 with only 24 rooms, but was expanded in the 1970s to include approximately 400 rooms, making it Kauai’s premier resort hotel.
The resort has been left abandoned for more than 20 years; the main lobby is now cluttered with decrepit ceiling fans, and an eerie 1970s-style telephone resting atop one of the white pedestals.
The decaying building to the right and an abandoned – and falling apart – bungalow to the left make this photograph of the resort’s man-made lagoon hauntingly beautiful.
Despite the fact that the roof is caving in, the stainless steel cabinets, which served as a serving area for the banquet hall, are surprisingly free of rust.
This golf cart was left outside when the resort closed, and over time, the vehicle has been stripped of its batteries, wheels, motor and anything else that has some scrap value.
How sad is it that this once luxurious resort has been reclaimed by tropical vegetation?
