Walking into the Tahiti Nui is like walking into a living scrapbook. Pictures and memories hang on the aged bamboo-trimmed walls. The Tahitian-themed restaurant and bar has a charming old-Kaua‘i feel.

On most days, the only disturbance to the slow, peaceful pace of life in Hanalei, a laid-back surf town of 450 humans and zero traffic lights, is the cacophonous chorus of red-tailed roosters that ...