Very sad - father, daughter swept out to sea

[opihikao]

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Originally posted by DoryGray

Yes, sad. In my observation, there seems to be a lot less general "security" e.g. guardrails, here than on the mainland. Traveling the northwest road(?) on Maui from Ka'anapali to Wailuku, for example. It's free & wild here, which is alluring. Every tourist I meet, I always tell them "never turn your back on the ocean!". They usually say "oh, never heard that". It might be a good idea to have a brief live announcement by the flight attendant before getting off the plane as to the danger of the ocean. Even experienced local fishermen have been overtaken by rogue waves. Generally people don't listen to or read warnings unless it's in their face. Sounds crude, but you can't idiot proof everything. Just my opinion.

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Exactly, mahalo, DoryGray, especially the BBM part. SO sad, and tragic.

The "paradise" some envision here, can be so deadly. We were taught to (in addition to the bolded part) count the wave pattern; four or seven, on the norm. This was apparently a "freak set" (sorry, no better term) of waves, and they do come often, out of nowhere. Not to mention the currents that change like the wind.

Pahoated, if only the marketing of Hawai'i included the dangers of hiking, swimming/surfing/snorkeling/diving, lava viewing, etc., of our every day life, we'd be reading less of this kind of tragedy. Tourism efforts should really prepare our visitors of the realities of visiting areas past Waikiki. Puna (and Moku o Keawe as a whole) is certainly not from the days of "Hawaii Calls", "Gilligan's Island", and "Hawaii 5-0".

We need to do better in educating all (my mo'opuna get it daily on the dangers of "nature", moreso, at the ocean), especially our visitors. Very sad story. Condolences to their ohana.

JMO.

ETA: typo, sorry.