DEAN SENSUI / DSENSUI@STARBULLETIN.COM American Marine has begun dredging the entry to Hawaii Kai's marina, shown yesterday, and moving the dredged silt and sand to Portlock Beach to build up the shoreline.

Dredging begins at
Hawaii Kai Marina

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By Diana Leone
dleone@starbulletin.com

Within a month, boaters should have an easier time getting in and out of Hawaii Kai Marina.

American Marine, the same company that is dredging the Ala Wai Canal, began dredging in Maunalua Bay on Monday.

The Legislature approved funds for the project in 1993, but bureaucratic delays and a contested-case hearing postponed it until now.

The bay is "silted in with sand, mostly from Portlock Beach, and is a hazard to navigation," said Neil Williams, an American Marine project manager.

The work uses an excavator to dig sand off the bottom, which will be drained in a holding pen, then trucked back to Portlock Beach, said Williams. "So, it's a beach replenishment as well as a channel clearing job."

The $300,000 project should take 30 days and remove 9,000 cubic yards of silt, Williams said. (That compares with $7.4 million and 10 months to remove 170,000 cubic yards of silt from the Ala Wai.)

"We've been negotiating a very narrow channel for many years now," said Hawaii Kai Marina Community Association President Jaap Suyderhoud. "When it's low tide, boats with fairly deep draft can get stuck in the sand."

The dredging obviously will benefit boats that use the marina -- including commercial operators that offer tourists parasailing, thrill craft, diving and other water activities, Suyderhoud said. But it also should improve drainage for the surrounding area, he said.