Kalapaki Beach News

Opponents of the Hawaii Superferry lost a round in court, according to an Associated Press report, when U.S. District Judge Helen Gillmor refused to block the U.S. Coast Guard from enforcing a security zone in Kauai’s Nawiliwili Harbor when the vessel resumes service to the port. The Coast Guard established the zone and set aside a designated protest area off Kalapaki Beach after a flotilla of protesters prevented the ferry from landing Aug. 27. A separate security zone is to extend 100 yards around the ferry. The ferry, designed to carry more than 800 passengers and 250 cars between major Hawaiian islands, has been anchored in Honolulu Harbor since the protest…

While transitioning from the Island Princess cruise ship to the waiting pilot boat, Capt. David "Kawika" Lyman was pitched overboard, injured by the pilot boat, possibly even the propeller. He was recovered by the pilot boat captain, and brought to Nawiliwili Small Boat Harbor, where members of an awaiting American Medical Response ambulance crew brought him to Wilcox Memorial Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. United States Coast Guard marine safety investigators were on the scene Sunday night, and continue their investigation because of the seriousness of the accident. State and federal laws mandate that licensed, experienced harbor pilots be at the helm of large…