Re: More on Super Ferry
- From: Niu-boy <kenbank@xxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 17 Sep 2007 02:30:04 -0000
On Sep 15, 10:55 am, be...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
On Fri, 14 Sep 2007 22:10:05 -0000, Dan Birchall
<nob...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
I haven't seen it mentioned in the papers or on SCH as far as I know,
but I have some friends who are opposed to the SuperFerry because of
its ties to the military-industrial complex. Is that on anyone
else's
radar?
The eventual port for the Super Ferry on Hawaii Island is at
Kawaihae, which was explained to me ---because the military would use
it from Pohakuloa Military Camp/Base for transport.
Kawaihae is approximately 2 hours from Kailua-Kona, and probably about
the same from Hilo. It is closer to Pohakuloa. In all fairness
Kawaihae is a good deep water harbor but I think Hilo would be as
well. Certainly the population center is not at Kawaihae.
aloha,
beans
roast beans to kona to email
farmers of Pure Kona
On Sep 15, 10:55 am, be...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
On Fri, 14 Sep 2007 22:10:05 -0000, Dan Birchall
<nob...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
I haven't seen it mentioned in the papers or on SCH as far as I know,
but I have some friends who are opposed to the SuperFerry because of
its ties to the military-industrial complex. Is that on anyone
else's
radar?
The eventual port for the Super Ferry on Hawaii Island is at
Kawaihae, which was explained to me ---because the military would use
it from Pohakuloa Military Camp/Base for transport.
Kawaihae is approximately 2 hours from Kailua-Kona, and probably about
the same from Hilo. It is closer to Pohakuloa. In all fairness
Kawaihae is a good deep water harbor but I think Hilo would be as
well. Certainly the population center is not at Kawaihae.
aloha,
beans
roast beans to kona to email
farmers of Pure Kona
I don't think population centers were a major concern in planning the
super ferry's ports of call. It's possible that the military may be an
occasional customer for the ferry, but the last time I checked, the
military has it's own fleet of transport ships. Why would they need to
use civilian transport for anything but the occasional foray? It's
counter-intuitive. Anyway, calling at Kawaihae makes sense for a
couple of reasons. First, a deep water harbor with necessary
facilities for large vessels already exists and can be easily adapted
to the ferry. And, second, Kawaihae is on the north west end of the
island which is much closer to Maui than Hilo and a straight shot up
the inter island corridor to the other islands. Thirdly, since
Kawaihae has historically been an important shipping center it is at
the junction of major highways going south towards Kona and Kau and
north and north east towards Kohala, Waimea, Hamakua, Hilo, Puna and
beyond making it easily accessible by car. Putting in at Hilo, which
would be the other obvious port of call for the ferry, would add
significantly to the ferry's trip because it would have to go all the
way around to the east side of the island to call there and I'm not
sure that the facilities at Hilo would accomodate the ferry's need for
easy vehicular access. I could be wrong since I didn't do much
exploring around the port of Hilo, but the access roads to the port
don't strike me as being all that great. Kawaihae is just more
convenient because of its location and accessibility. And, I think
there's a bit of district rivalry at work here too. When I mention
Hilo, one of my favorite places to hang out, personally, to people
they wrinkle their noses and say, "Eh, get too much rain, lidat." But
they break out into broad smiles when I mention Kona. What's up with
that, guys? Also, it's no 2 hour drive from Kawaihae to Kailua. It's
only about 35 miles distant which, at Hawaiian driving speeds, would
be about 45 minutes by car. Hilo is more like 2 hours away by car as
it is about 93 miles distant if you take the Hamakua coast route. You
might be able to shave some time off that by going over the saddle
road. My recollection is that road conditions are not that good over
the saddle, but the county may have improved the road since I last
went that way. And, speaking of the saddle road, that's where
Pohakuloa is...in the middle of the saddle out in the boonies. I
suppose if the ferry docked at either Hilo or Kona it would be kind of
a push for Pohakuloa to go either way since it's basically in the
center of the island so that argument doesn't hold much water. When I
was a kid my dad drove us up to the hunting lodge at Pohakuloa in our
family's Mercury Comet station wagon (which, btw, my dad had to ship
from Oahu by barge). Only later did we learn that the dirt road was
recommended for 4WD vehicles only. I recall he had to keep the car in
low gear for most of the ride up the hill. No wonder the hunters up
there gave us some funny looks when we arrived at the lodge, our poor
car huffing and puffing. As it turns out we were at the wrong place
and we had to turn around and go all the way back down the hill. We
eventually found our cabin and I recall being amazed to find a
fireplace in it. Such a thing! The car was none the worse for the
wear in spite of its ordeal and my dad continued to drive it for many
years until eventually it rusted away to nothing.
Mahalo for giving me a good excuse to reminisce about my favorite big
island haunts and to recall some pleasant memories of halcyon days.
Niu Boy
"All my alohas have been sanitized for your protection."
.
- References:
- More on Super Ferry
- From: Alvin E. Toda
- Re: More on Super Ferry
- From: beans
- More on Super Ferry
- Prev by Date: Re: More on Super Ferry
- Next by Date: Re: More on Super Ferry
- Previous by thread: Re: More on Super Ferry
- Next by thread: Re: More on Super Ferry
- Index(es):
Relevant Pages
|
