When Sne Patel stops by Lahaina Harbor these days, he catches glimpses of the town pre-fire — people fishing from the shore, surfers catching waves, boats heading out to sea.

“I think that’s part of the healing process, is being able to access these spaces again, just as residents,” said Patel, president of the LahainaTown Action Committee. 

Lahaina Harbor has been the most visible sign of recovery in an area where most businesses have yet to rebuild and charred historic buildings hopeful of being restored and sensitive areas remain off limits to the public in the wake of the August 2023 wildfire. In the three years since, the waters have been cleared of debris. The bathrooms have been fixed. Boats stop by to wash off, refuel or pick up passengers for the day’s tours.

But even with all of the improvements, some of the harbor’s costliest repairs are still to come before it can reopen at full capacity.

This week, the state Department of Land and Natural Resources started a $5 million effort to dredge the harbor for the first time in 60 years, one of the most expensive projects on the long list of repairs needed at the harbor. The state agency said the open space and limited activity at the harbor offer “a rare opportunity” to do the work, which is slated for completion in December. 

“This would have been nearly impossible to do with a harbor occupied by all the vessels,” Meghan Statts, administrator of the state Division of Boating and Ocean Recreation, said in a news release last week. “When the Lahaina Small Boat Harbor fully re-opens, users will enjoy the benefits of restored harbor and channel depths.”

Over the past few months, the state has slowly restored access to the area, allowing limited harbor hours and commercial activity to four companies in December. As of Friday, eight companies are now permitted to access the harbor, including six that operate out of Lahaina and two that operate out of Mā‘alaea, according to the Lahaina Harbor office. 

Last month, the harbor also began opening two hours earlier, from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., with more changes planned to align with summer daylight hours.

There is a special area set up for parking at Lahaina Harbor, with a walkway that goes around the blocked off iconic Banyan tree and the burned remains of the Old Lahaina Courthouse.

Full recovery of the harbor isn’t expected until the end of 2027, but several projects have already been finished, including the $321,500 demolition of the harbor office building and ferry pier in October of last year and the $505,000 repair of the restrooms in December, according to DLNR’s latest project status updates as of April.

The last projects slated for completion are the most costly, and several are planned for this year:

• $8 million work on the front row piers and dinghy dock that is expected to begin in October and finish in June 2027
• $3.5 million harbor office and ferry pier rebuild estimated to start in December and finish in September 2027
• $3 million inner marginal wharf project that is projected to start in December and finish in June 2027.
• $8 million outer marginal wharf project will likely be the last to finish, with an estimated start date of February 2027 and completion date of December 2027.

“The harbor was such an important piece,” Patel said. “For the community to be able to access that area again and for boats to start going out is a positive sign. I think as that grows and continues to move forward, you’re going to start to see more activation of the commercial spaces.”

Atlantis Submarines was one of the first companies allowed to return to the harbor. The company held a soft relaunch for its Maui tours in February before publicly announcing its return last month, CEO Ronald Williams said. Atlantis’ battery-powered, 48-passenger submarine takes schoolkids and visitors on underwater excursions that include a swing by a sunken replica whaling vessel that serves as an artificial reef.

Aside from 12 days in March when the company had to pause tours due to runoff from Kona low storms muddying the waters, Williams said business has been even better than expected. Atlantis was anticipating 60 customers a day but has been averaging about 80 a day since resuming tours. However, it’s still about half of what the company once saw prior to the fire. 

Part of that is due to the loss of the bustling businesses that once surrounded the harbor. Williams said when people came to eat and shop in Lahaina town, some would walk up to book tours with Atlantis and other companies at the harbor. The company tended to see the most walk-ups during the busy summer months. Now, everything is prebooked.

Atlantis has also gone from operating seven days a week to five, because the charging equipment it once used to power up its electric submarine has yet to be restored at the harbor. Prior to the fire, the submarine would be charged every night. Now, Tuesdays and Fridays are set aside for recharging. 

“It’s a very different scenario than pre-fire,” Williams said. “But so far so good, and we’re very fortunate that we’re able to start our business up again.”

Atlantis also has operations on O‘ahu and Hawai‘i island that helped the company stay afloat over the past three years, but Williams said Maui was “essential.” 

“We went from a pandemic to a fire,” Williams said. “It’s just been tough. … We’re struggling a lot, but we’re happy. I can’t tell you how happy we are to be able to open Maui (operations) again.”

Williams said the dredging project hasn’t affected Atlantis, which does tours in the Puamana area. He said the state has coordinated with Atlantis to allow the work to take place without affecting operations. 

It’s another story for the businesses on land. Owners have been eager to return to Front Street and the harborfront, but rebuilding homes has been the county’s priority of the recovery. Some shoreline property owners are also facing the option of selling to the county. Patel noted some businesses are concerned about returning to Front Street only to be surrounded by vacant parcels as other property owners slowly rebuild and reopen.

“In a perfect world, we’d want kind of everyone simultaneously building those properties back around the same timeline so we don’t have gaps,” he said.

While the actual rebuilding is still further down the road, Patel said community members are talking about activities in the meantime that could include business pop-up events. 

Both Patel and Maui County Council Member Tamara Paltin pointed out that more areas are likely to reopen to the public as repairs progress, including the recently completed railing and walkway improvement project along Front Street’s seawall that was scheduled before the fire. 

Maui County Office of Recovery Administrator John Smith said at the county’s weekly disaster recovery meeting in Lahaina this week that a blessing will be held for the completed project at 3 p.m. on July 1. Smith said he hoped people would come to see it.

More people are also likely to return to long-empty spaces as more events take place in Lahaina, such as the Pa‘ūpili Lahaina Third Saturdays event that launched in February at Lahaina United Methodist Church on Front Street, and the three-day Lahaina Homecoming planned for July. Events like these can serve as both an economic boost and a chance for healing, Paltin said.

“Just understanding that it’s not just about the money, but it is also about healing, about returning to normalcy, about being kind to one another,” Paltin said. “I think this economic development is needed, but I think some of the hesitancy of people is that they don’t want to return to the feeling of what it was, that Front Street, the harbor, that area is for the tourists at the expense of the residents.” 

Paltin said “not everybody is going to be on the same page as to when we open.” There are still concerns about protecting historic properties in the area and rebuilding close to the shoreline.

But as residents and visitors come back to Lahaina, Paltin said, “it all starts and ends with communication” about what is acceptable behavior, such as not parking on or walking across people’s property, whether their house is rebuilt or not.

“If we can do our best to respect one another, do our best to respect the place, do our best to work together for the betterment of our community, for our kids … that would be my focus,” she said.

Maui County Deputy Managing Director Erin Wade said at the disaster recovery meeting that residents also have a chance to weigh in on the town’s future at the newly launched “Lahaina Think Space” that opened Wednesday at the Queen Ka‘ahumanu Center across from Starbucks. The space, which runs through July 23, offers the chance for people to share their memories of Lahaina and what they hope to see in the future. For more information, visit mauipublicart.org/thinkspace.