HANALEI — It was the day before Christmas and there was not a parking space to be found. This was not the shopping mall, but at the Hanalei Beach Park pavilion where azure water and skies and a whisper of
HANALEI — It was the day before Christmas and there was not a parking space to be found.
This was not the shopping mall, but at the Hanalei Beach Park pavilion where azure water and skies and a whisper of a breeze attracted people to the popular beach.
“This is the first good day we’ve had for awhile,” said water safety officer Chris Pico of the Ocean Safety Bureau, who was manning the lifeguard tower with Dustin Koga and Bruce Stine.
All three will be on duty today to ensure that people have a safe Christmas enjoying the beach at Hanalei.
“Most of the people come here from snow, ice and cold wind, so it’s kind of like being in a postcard for them,” Stine said. “They don’t have much experience so if the weather is like this, we’ll be having a lot of preventions and rescues. We’ll be in the water.”
The exception to the rule was Rachel Anderson, who is visiting from the San Francisco Bay Area.
Armed with her boogie board, she stopped to ask Stine about where was the safest place on the beach to enjoy her board.
“You’ll need fins, today,” Stine replied. “There’s a current out, so the best place is between the signs that’s posted on the beach.”
Anderson’s mom patiently waited until her daughter finalized the instruction from the lifeguard, noting that the 9-year-old has “Santa Cruz experience.”
In addition to the nice weather, a high-surf advisory from the National Weather Service beckoned more people to the beach.
According to the advisory, a strengthening trade wind flow across the Central Pacific was expected to cause surf on east-facing shores to rise from 6 to 8 feet yesterday afternoon. Those conditions are expected to last through most of the week, the advisory states.
Large, rough surf and hazardous ocean conditions will persist through most of the week, the advisory continued.
“It’s breaking between 4 and 6 feet right outside the tower now,” Stine said. “By this afternoon, the beach will be packed. But right now, the surf is on the rise with the low tide. However, there’s not going to be the giant waves.”
Stine said one of the good things about working on the holidays is the water safety officers get a lot of help from local residents.
“Sometimes, they have the situation in hand by the time we get there,” Stine said. “That’s the good part.”
