Immediately following the tragic drownings of four people visiting our island last week, I received phone calls from concerned residents and government leaders asking what more could be done to prevent this heartbreaking loss of life. I feel the Kaua‘i
Immediately following the tragic drownings of four people visiting our island last week, I received phone calls from concerned residents and government leaders asking what more could be done to prevent this heartbreaking loss of life.
I feel the Kaua‘i Visitors Bureau already does a lot to try and convey the water safety message via our travel planner, Web site, water safety brochures distributed to visitors and travel agents, links to www.kauaiexplorer.com, daily printed water reports posted at the KVB office counter, production support of a banner at Lihu‘e Airport, support of the WAVE (Water Awareness Visitor Education) training program, and the list goes on and on.
One area that many of us have tried to impact is the guidebooks. I have written to the guidebooks asking them to properly cover areas on the island that deserve additional warnings or even proper notification, as well as monk seal education and requests not to take coral and rocks from the island. (So many come back to us with notes asking us to return them to their original location.)
The way some guidebooks are written invites innocent, unsuspecting people into areas that could be dangerous without proper information. I only had two of the 12 guidebooks respond and alter their publication as a result of my letter.
Kaua‘i has a lot of water safety education tools available to anyone who is interested. Most of the large properties have been great about including the water safety brochures in their room compendiums. I don’t know if all our vacation rentals and B&B’s include the same information in their rooms, but if they don’t, I hope they will in the future.
Even Kaua‘i employees who come in daily contact with our visitors should be aware of what the surf is like that day. If someone hears visitors saying they are heading up to Queen’s Bath during winter months and a high surf advisory, that would be a good time to share the water safety report of the day.
I do think it’s time to consider closing Queen’s Bath during the winter months. In general, published photos of it show that area during summer months when there is little to no surf. Each one of those photos is an invitation to an unsuspecting visitor who does not understand our ocean conditions and the possibility of rogue waves or the impact of high surf on that area.
There is signage, but many walk right past it and think it doesn’t apply to them. I hope all the parties involved can come together to see what can be done to take Queen’s Bath away from the guidebooks once and for all.
• Sue Kanoho is the executive director of the Kaua‘i Visitors Bureau. She can be reached at kauai@hvcb.org
