In the wake of two drownings off Po’ipu this month, Kaua’i County wants to relocate a lifeguard station at Po’ipu Beach Park to provide more protection in areas west of the park. Yoshime Fukuoka, a 51-year-old visitor from Japan, drowned
In the wake of two drownings off Po’ipu this month, Kaua’i County wants to relocate a lifeguard station at Po’ipu Beach Park to provide more protection in areas west of the park.
Yoshime Fukuoka, a 51-year-old visitor from Japan, drowned last Saturday in a bay in front of the site of the former Waiohai Hotel. Howard Jaeger, a 50-year-old from California on his honeymoon, drowned nearby July 14.
The lifeguard station, manned by two lifeguards, is located in the middle of the county park. An option is to relocate the stand to the west side of the park to allow lifeguards to monitor water in front of the park and to the west, said Myles Emura of the county’s water safety division.
“This is where all our problems occur,” said Emura, a county lifeguard.
The proposal is being considered as the county looks to make a water safety video in yet another effort to educate visitors about the need for caution while in the ocean.
Relocating the lifeguard stand would be timely because more visitors are likely to start arriving at south Kaua’i beaches when the Marriott’s Waiohai Beach Club opens on the site of the old Waiohai Hotel, Emura said.
County officials said more tourists also will visit Po’ipu Beach Park because it has built a reputation as being one of the best beaches in the United States through rankings by various experts.
Emura said he hopes hotel, condominium or time-share operators in the area will provide lifeguards to patrol their beaches to support county lifeguard services at the park.
Representatives of several resorts in the area were not immediately available for comment.
Should more visitors flock to Po’ipu Beach, the county may have to increase the number of lifeguards there, Emura said.
Fukuoka and Jaeger drowned because they either didn’t have the right equipment or were not in good shape, Emura said.
Fukuoka’s husband told authorities his wife swam with only a mask and snorkel, but didn’t wear fins.
The water where she swam “was calm, but there was a current in the bay that day. During the changing of the tides, the currents were pulling,” Emura related.
Jaeger was heavy-set and was apparently not in good enough shape for swimming in rough water, Emura said.
In an effort to curb drownings, the county has provided funding to buy new rescue equipment, train lifeguards and hire new ones. Twenty lifeguards patrol county beaches, and there are plans to hire another six, Emura said.
Water safety literature has been circulated on the island to warn visitors about the dangers of rough ocean water. But more often than not, visitors drown or nearly drown because they don’t take heed of water safety signs or literature, county officials said.
To further warn visitors, the county is proposing to work with private organizations to make a water safety video that would be shown on public television or at island hotels, Emura said. The county hopes to secure private donations for the project with the help of the Rotary Club of Po’ipu.
The county wanted to have a water-safety video shown on direct Hawaiian, Aloha and United airline flights to Kaua’i, but that idea never got off the ground because of programming obstacles cited by the airlines, Emura said.
He said many Kauaians have signed petitions supporting the showing of videos on flights and that proponents plan to get government support for the idea.
Staff writer Lester Chang can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 225) and mailto:mailto:mailto:lchang@pulitzer.net
