Boating, Fishing, and Travel Information for Nawiliwili, HI

Nawiliwili Small-Boat Harbor is on the SW side of Nawiliwili Harbor. Two jetties protect the harbor and are marked by lights on the outer ends at the entrance. Private lights mark the channel inside the harbor. The harbor has three piers, 85 berths, a launching ramp on the N side of the harbor, and a pump-out station. In 2003-2011, the controlling depth was 9 feet in the entrance and basin; thence in 2003, 7 feet in the channel along the S side of the harbor.
An anchorage area for small boats is within the mouth of Huleia Stream adjacent to the small boat harbor basin.
Navigation:
Nāwiliwili Bay on the SE side of Kaua’i, has an entrance width of 0.8 mile between Carter and Ninini Points and an inland extent of about 1 mile. Nāwiliwili on the N side of the bay, is one of the two commercial deepwater ports on Kaua’i and is protected by a breakwater, marked at the end by a light, extending NE from Carter Point, and by a jetty in the inner harbor. SE winds produce some surge, but the harbor is otherwise secure.
Nawiliwili Harbor Light (21°57’18″N., 159°20’09″W.), 110 feet above the water, is shown from a 73-foot buff-colored cylindrical concrete tower on the point. The loom of the light is frequently seen by vessels 40 miles away. Lihue Airport is along the coast, north of the light.
Kukii Point 0.7 mile W of Ninini Point and the N entrance point of the inner harbor, is a high bluff with a low, rocky shelf at the base. There is a light on the point.
Carter Point on the S side of the entrance to Nāwiliwili Bay, is rocky and rises rapidly to Kalanipuu; the hill is marked by an aviation obstruction light 799 feet high. The mountain spur that extends inland rises to Haupu, the most prominent feature of SE Kaua’i.
Kawai Point 0.5 mile S of Carter Point, is a bold rocky headland, 525 feet high, very irregular and jagged in appearance.
A Federal project provides for an entrance channel which leads between the outer end of the breakwater and Kukii Point, thence turns SW before entering the harbor basin. The Federal project depths are 40 feet in the entrance channel and 35 feet in the harbor basin. The entrance channel is marked by lights, buoys, and a lighted range.