Work is expected to
continue today to remove 2,500 gallons of fuel, oil and other hazardous items from a large dinner cruise vessel that grounded off Lahaina last week.
The former Molokai-to-Maui ferry is now sitting in
a pocket of sand off the Lahaina Shores Beach Resort after washing over the reef.
“We’re hoping for a super-
high tide so we can tow it out of there,” said David Jung, president and senior captain of Seven Seas Cruises, owner of the vessel.
But a tide high enough to tow the boat away might not happen until June 3 or 4, he said.
The 120-foot converted crew boat that was being used for dinner cruises mysteriously broke its Lahaina mooring Wednesday night and went aground.
“I got the call about it Thursday morning,” said Jung, who has operated boats in Lahaina for some
50 years.
Jung said he was surprised to learn that a solid stainless-steel shackle, which held the line from the mooring to the boat, went missing.
“I don’t know how it disappeared. It’s crazy,” he said.
The mooring setup was inspected for fitness just the week before, he said, and the same shackle withstood 80 mph gusts during the Lahaina firestorm in
August.
The Maui Princess was formerly the Molokai-to-Maui ferry, operating for a couple of decades starting in the late 1980s. After the company switched to a smaller boat for the Public Utilities Commission-
regulated ferry service, the vessel was transformed into a dinner cruise vessel working out of Lahaina.
In August the boat survived the deadly Lahaina wildfire with relatively minimal damage, including blown-out doors and windows, and even helped to rescue some survivors, he said.
Jung said the vessel, which was well covered by $5 million in insurance, was rehabilitated in Honolulu and brought back to Maui.
The state Division of Aquatic Resources said Tuesday that it is providing expertise and guidance for the removal operation, to minimize any additional impacts to hard substrate and living corals in the area.
High surf continued along the West Maui coastline Tuesday, making it unsafe for aquatic biologists to get into the water and determine whether there is any damage to the reef.
Officials said Willoughby Consulting and Adjusting is leading a defueling effort that likely will take a helicopter nine or 10 trips to
remove most of the fuel.
“Compared to some other groundings I’ve been involved with, while in the U.S. Coast Guard and while owning my own company, this one is relatively easy,” David Willoughby told the state Department of Land and Natural Resources communications team.
Willoughby said his crew will remove the fuel in the vessel’s two tanks and then take care of other pollutants such as solvents and paints.
“We’ve got a crew on board, we’ve got a helicopter that’s going to be flying, removing the tanks and the stuff off of this boat over to
a landing zone across the road,” he said.
From there the oil and hazardous materials will
be disposed of properly,
he said.
