Lifeguards conducted about 100 water rescues - 33 at Waikiki alone - by waverunner yesterday, according to Capt. Ed Pestana, of the city Department of Parks and Recreation's Water Safety Division.
"That's very unusual," he said, adding that the average is generally about five or six assists a day.
Throughout the islands, water safety officers also attended to many first-aid cases. On Oahu, four cases required ambulance service, three were surfing accidents and one was a Portuguese man-of-war sting at Kualoa, Pestana said.
Also, Coast Guard officials this morning were responding to a diving accident off Shark Fin Rock at Palaloa Point on Lanai. The victim was with a commercial dive tour. He reportedly had no pulse and was not breathing at about 8:52 a.m., and was to be transported to Maui Memorial Hospital. Further details were not immediately available.
Anticipating more than 500,000 people at city beaches over this Memorial Day weekend, the city Parks Department had increased staffing to handle the activity.
Pestana said a combination of good surfing conditions on the south shore, strong currents and more people heading to the beach to enjoy the long weekend caused the high volume of cases. He did not expect the increased activity to continue through today because of decreasing surf conditions.
Waves in the two- to five-foot range along the south shore were expected to taper off today to about one to three feet tomorrow, according to the National Weather Service.
A high-surf advisory for all south-facing shores was canceled this morning, weather service officials said.
Compared to the past two days, "it's actually been pretty quiet," Pestana said today.
The swell, however, may have contributed to an apparent drowning yesterday after a boat capsized because of a large wave in Keehi Lagoon. Medical examiners today identified the body of Mitsuo Okinaga, 79, of St. Louis Heights.
Okinaga, his son, 49, granddaughter, 20, and grandson, 10, all of Aina Haina, got into trouble when their boat overturned in the lagoon, breaking up on the reef about two miles off shore.
The boat engine failed, and the occupants started the secondary engine but a 15- to 20-foot wave capsized it. Okinaga's son managed to rescue his son and daughter. The older man was not located until about 20 minutes later when he was seen floating face down.
Another craft eventually brought the overturned boat occupants to shore, and fire fighters performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation on the grandfather, who later went by ambulance to Tripler Hospital and was pronounced dead on arrival at 12:20 p.m.