By Kathryn Bender, Star-Bulletin
The sounds of visitors at Hanauma Bay were replaced by the
sounds of work by park employees yesterday. Starting yesterday,
the park is closed on Tuesdays to allow maintenance.

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Hanauma Bay
closure puts
visitors out

Closing on Tuesdays now
allows workers time for
repair work at the park

By Lori Tighe
Star-Bulletin

Lee and Craig Brown were depressed.

The Massachusetts couple had dreamed of swimming with the fishes in Hanauma Bay.

But yesterday, on their last day in Hawaii, the Browns hit the first Tuesday of all Tuesdays Hanauma Bay will close from now on.

"This is our big snorkeling trip. It couldn't be any worse," said Craig Brown in their rental car, halted at the gate.

But what's bad for Tuesday's tourist is good for the park's survival, said park manager Alan Hong.

"The park needs a break," Hong said, surveying an empty Hanauma Bay. "It allows us to do thorough maintenance and reduces some environmental impact on the bay."

Although empty of visitors yesterday, noise from lawn mowers, leaf blowers and hammers filled the park. Workers replaced a roof on the ticket booth. Plumbers repaired restrooms. Workers cut grass and cleared sand from paths.

By Kathryn Bender, Star-Bulletin
A sign on the road leading to the park advised
would-be visitors.

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"It's a constant job doing all this," Hong said. "I've been pushing for this day off for a long time. The public doesn't realize all that needs to be done."

The park receives 1.1 million visitors a year, 61/2 days a week. The half-day off Wednesdays didn't leave enough time for upkeep.

"One of our major concerns we wanted to avoid was the huge traffic jams on Wednesdays," he said. The wait to enter the park at noon Wednesday guaranteed traffic jams. The cars backed up for miles on the two-lane Kalanianaole Highway to Koko Marina in one direction and Lanai Lookout in the other.

Visitors have filled the park to capacity within 27 minutes of opening on Wednesdays, Hong said, forcing it to close. Then guards would allow 15 cars to enter as 15 cars left the park.

"Even when we were closed a half-day Wednesday, people were upset. They felt put out," he said.

Now, the park will be open a full day on Wednesdays.

Hong originally wanted to close the park all day Wednesdays, but then he learned from parents that some local kids in Hawaii Kai and Koko Head get out of school early on Wednesdays and come to the park.

"If we closed Wednesdays, we would remove that opportunity."

Tuesday turned out to be the slowest day for attendance, Hong said.

Also, Tuesday would make sense as a cleanup day after many three-day weekend holidays throughout the year.

Now, Hong said, they just need to update those tourist guidebooks.