Molokini crater

[gr8diver]

I heard that a boat sunk on the reef around molokini crater, Maui, Hi. I haven't been able to find any information on this.


If you have any info, or know where I can find info on this I would appreciate it.

Thanks in advance

Gary

 

[Charlie99]

Recent or sometime in the past ???? I'm hoping that history isn't repeating itself, and that you are just hearing about a late 2006 incident.

Maui Dive Shop had a snorkel boat, "Kai Anela", that sank out at Molokini in Sept 29th, 2006. Very similar to the MDS dive boats, but setup for more passengers as a snorkel boat.

It was brought back up a several days later, after an attempting salvage operation that further damaged the reef.

Earlier this year, the state completed hearings on the incident and fined MDS $550,000, and IIRC, suspended their operating permit to go to Molokini. The enforcement of the fine and permit suspension hasn't happened yet.

Googling on "Kai Anela" will bring up lots of articles, such as the Jan 28, 2008 article
Molokini boat tour facing $672,618 fine , which has a reasonably good description of what happened to sink the boat, and what happened during the salvage attempts.

Charlie Allen

 

[gr8diver]

Charlie,

Thanks for the info. I think you are right on when you said the accident happened quite along time ago and it was just recently settled.

I appreciate your info.

Gary

 

[KrisB]

FWIW, each boat in the MDS fleet is held by a separate operating company -- the only Molokini permit they lost (from what I was told) was for the Kai Anela. Their other boats can still go there.

 

[gr8diver]

Was MDS fined or was the owner/operator fined and who lost the permit MDS or the owner/operator?

 

[Charlie99]

I don't think any penalty has been imposed yet.

There was a Board of Land and Natural Resources hearing April 11th. Back in January the board had directed the DNLR staff to discuss this with Maui Snorkel Charters to come to an agreement -- I assume to avoid appeals and a court case. The state (DLNR & the Attorney General) didn't reach agreement with Maui Snorkel Charters (MSC). And they threw it back to the board for the April 11th meeting. I don't know what happened there, but since there wasn't any press release, my bet is that they went back into discussions and negotiations with MSC.

MSC's offer to the attorney general is a request to drop the fine to $250K if they paid it within 90 days, and to drop the permit suspension to 3 months -- but to count the 2.5 months that the Kai Anela had been out of service. In other words, a 2 week permit suspension. MSC also wanted the settlement to say that the damage was not the result of negligence.

No press release was issued after the April 11th DNLR hearing, so I assume that it has been kicked back to the staff and/or HI attorney general for further negotiation.

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Maui Snorkel Charters, Inc. hold 4 permits for Molokini. There is another corporation with the same address and officers called "Bob's Maui Dive Shop, Inc.", which is the one which holds a bunch of tradename/trademarks/service marks such as "Activity Zone Maui", "Maui Dive Shop", and "Maui Adventure Ocean Guide".

Lu'u Kai Partners, LLC is a limited liability company that owns the Kai Anela. The Officers of Lu'u Kai are Bob Chambers and Jeff Strahn; who are also the officers of Maui Snorkel Charters, Inc; and Bob's Maui Dive Shop. I don't know if Lu'u Kai owns any boats in addition to the Kai Anela. DLNR has chosen to levy the fines against MSC for "clarity".

MSC is the booking agent for Kai Anela. MSC is also the permit holder for Kai Anela, as well as 3 other boats going to Molokini.

DLNR's position is that all FOUR permits are at risk is they wished to, but at this time the maximum penalty in play seems to be $550k and 1 year suspension.

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The Office of Hawaiian Affairs was asked to comment. My crude paraphrasing of their comments:

1. Wow! 41 permits at Molokini.
2. Lots of $$$$ involved. Wow!
3. Those permits are valuable. We want to know their market value.
4. All submerged lands are "ceded" lands. We expect to be paid 20% of the revenue from any ceded lands. Gimmee. Gimmeee. Gimmeee. $$$ $$$$ $$$