Emergency Biohazard Cleanup Near West Eleele Eleele, HI

Eleele is a census-designated place (CDP) on the south side of the island of Kauai in Kauai County, Hawaii; the Hawaiian spelling is Eleele, meaning black or black water in Hawaiian.

The 2020 census recorded a population of 2,515 in the Eleele CDP, with 754 households according to the Hawaii Data Book 2023, which is based on the 2020 Census Redistricting Data, up from 2,040 people at the 2000 census.

Eleele is bordered to the west by Hanapepe, with the Hanapepe River forming the boundary between the two communities, and Hawaii Route 50 passes through Eleele, leading east 4 miles to Kalaheo and west 2 miles to Kaumakani, with Lihue 17 miles to the east.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the CDP has a total area of 1.08 square miles, of which 0.78 square miles are land and 0.31 square miles are water, and the water area consists of the east side of Hanapepe Bay; the CDP sits at an elevation of 23 feet.

Judge McBryde began planting sugar cane at Eleele around 1875, and the McBryde Sugar Company later pivoted from sugar to coffee in 1987, becoming the Kauai Coffee Company.

Eleele is home to the Kauai Coffee Company, the largest coffee producer in the state of Hawaii, with about 4 million coffee trees, and its visitor center on the Coffee Highway, Highway 540 and Halewili Road, offers free coffee samples and a self-guided tour of the plantation.

Eleele sits above Port Allen Harbor, from which snorkeling and sailing tours to the Na Pali Coast and the neighboring island of Niihau depart daily, and the Eleele Shopping Center and Port Allen Marina provide the area's shopping and dining.

Glass Beach, a small dark-sand beach just east of Port Allen Harbor, is a local attraction made of sea glass mixed with dark sand, though it is not a swimming beach.

The Red Dirt Shirt store stands across from the Port Allen Marina, and its popular shirts began in 1992 when Hurricane Iniki blew Kauai's iron-rich red dirt over white shirts stored in the small screen print shop, which were dried and printed as they were instead of being thrown away.

Eleele Elementary School serves the community, and the town has a tropical savanna climate, with a monthly mean temperature above 18 degrees Celsius in every month of the year and a pronounced dry season.