Visitors more wary of Hawai'i waters

By Michael Tsai
Advertiser Staff Writer

Wendy Shapiro didn't need to turn around to point out where exactly her 12-year-old daughter Jessica was in the water at Queen's Beach.

Visitors Wendy and Rachel Shapiro say they're not alarmed about recent shark attacks and drownings in Hawai'i — Wendy just wishes she were better informed about the potential dangers. Rebecca Breyer • The Honolulu Advertiser

Shapiro turned around just to be doubly sure.

"Yeah," she said. "Right there. She refuses to go out any farther. She's scared to death."

Shapiro said Jessica, the most conscientious news reader in the family, was more than a little rattled by last year's shark attack on Kaua'i teenager Bethany Hamilton and the more recent string of tourist drownings.

On Thursday, a 41-year-old California visitor drowned after a wave swept him and his 14-year-old daughter into the ocean off northwest Maui. He was the fourth visitor to die in Hawai'i waters in the past two weeks.

The string of incidents has some visitors concerned for their own safety. Some are questioning how prepared they really are to engage Hawai'i's beautiful but often unpredictable natural environment.

The Shapiros, visitors from Roseville, Calif., are on O'ahu after completing a cruise ship tour of the major Hawaiian islands.

"Quite a few of the people on board had heard things and they wouldn't go in the water," Shapiro said.

"We were supposed to go snorkeling off of Lana'i but Jessica wouldn't go in," she said. "She was too scared."

Shapiro said she and her other daughter, 14-year-old Rachel, were surprised but not too concerned at the recent incidents.

Shapiro said accidents didn't quite jibe with the images of Hawai'i she and other visitors are exposed to in movies and advertisements.

"What you expect is beautiful snorkeling, beautiful swimming, warm waters," she said. "You know, a tropical paradise."

While Shapiro said she found many of these things to be true, she said she wishes she were better informed about the potential dangers.

"I talked to people at Aloha Tower and on the bus, just asking them where to go and where it's safe," she said.

Emilio Veracruz, 38, of Santa Monica, Calif., is a frequent visitor to Hawai'i. He said locals sometimes view the environment differently than visitors, and things that seem obviously dangerous to Hawai'i residents might not register the same way to tourists. "I've been in situations like that guy who just drowned, where I've been knocked down by a big wave (because) I was in the wrong place," Veracruz said. "It's common sense if you live here not to put yourself in that position. But if you're new here, you don't know that waves can hit like that. You have to guess or someone has to tell you."

Yuko Johnston, who rents beach equipment to visitors at Ohana Rental, said she tries to alert her clients to dangerous conditions whenever it's appropriate. "I'll let them know when the waves are bigger," she said. "If they've never done something before, I'll give them some instruction.

Surfer John Maemura, 29, of Kailua, said he has helped several visitors out of sticky situations over the years. "I think sometimes people get into a mindset of 'I'm on vacation' and they do things they wouldn't normally do or they take risks they wouldn't normally take," he said.

Tom Meyer of Greenfield, Wisc., said he did some cursory research on Hawai'i while he and his family were getting ready for their first trip to the islands. "But," he said, "you can't tell much about a place until you actually set foot there."

Meyer and his daughters, Rosie, 12, and Sophia, 10, are all strong swimmers. Still, for safety as well as convenience they confined their water activities to the relatively benign Waikiki beaches.

Steve and Vickie Wesley of Lansing, Mich., said they were unaware of the recent drownings.

"The only thing we ever heard of were the sharks," Steve Wesley said. Still, the Wesleys, who own a home near Lake Michigan, said they know enough about water in general to be cautious. They said they also have a friend whose father drowned in Hawai'i several years ago.

"The water can be rough and the waves can be very powerful," Wesley said. "You have to be cautious and you have to respect the ocean."