December 29, 2007
The Superferry was never given a warm welcome on any of the neighbor islands. Many of us that live on neighbor islands would prefer to keep our islands rural, peaceful, less built up and polluted, and with less crime than Oahu. I know most polls show that a strong majority of the people that live on Oahu support the Superferry. I also don’t understand why someone would want to ride six hours (give or take) each way to go to another island just to be able to take their own car. Renting a car is often less than $20 a day so I don’t understand… When/If the Superferry comes to the Big Island I could drive two hours to Kona, board the Superferry paying a fare for myself and my vehicle, ride six hours, kill a bunch of sealife, and then arrive on Oahu. Alternatively, I can pay $39 (or less) to fly to Oahu in 30 minutes and rent a car for less than $30. I fail to see how the Superferry is a better option. The best part is the fact that they don’t seem to have thought about Hawaii’s very rough winter seas. If I board a boat in December (which oddly happens almost every December) I always vomit. Most of the people riding the Superferry lately seem to be vomiting as well because of the rough ride. Now, this taxpayer subsidized, environmental hazard, military transport, crime bringing, sea behemoth has had to cancel voyages because of the rough seas. People are being stranded and many are very angry because of this. Big surprise.
Anyone actually been on the Superferry?
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August 27, 2007
Between the Hawaii Superferry and the military Hawaii has its hands full.
The Superferry is this ridiculous boat that will take you and your car to a neighbor island. It is not your typical open-air ferry but instead is some kind of luxury boat complete with a restaurant, tvs, and a bar. Having priced a Maui to Honolulu journey it appears that it will cost about $270 for an adult for the roundtrip including your car. One of the most irresponsible aspects of this is that they have a bar where you can drink and then get in your car and drive drunk off of the boat. The boat ride between Maui and Honolulu would take about three hours. The average interisland flight costs about $39 one way (and often only $19 because of special fares). To fly from Maui to Honolulu you are in the air for less than 20 minutes. I heard that on the inaugural journey that people got seasick. Given that people got seasick during the summer I can only imagine what would happen in December when the swells are huge and often times over 20 feet. If the price, sea sickness, and long voyage were not bad enough it only makes it worse that they will be wasting a ton of fuel, dumping sewage in the ocean, disturbing marine life, and overall creating an ecological problem in Hawaii. I hope the Superferry fails.
The military located off Saddle Road on the Big Island has been found to have Depleted Uranium which they have long denied having - this same thing has occurred on Oahu as well. Many of the feral cats on Mauna Kea have a type of feline leukemia - gee, I wonder why? Fortunately, this is all coming out at the same time that the military wants to increase training exercises around all islands (read: dump more toxic materials into the ocean, frighten people and wildlife, kill endangered species, pollute the air). Fortunately, they are having a public hearing on this issue on Wednesday. I think I will go to hear what people are saying.
*Update*
I was reading on surfingthetao.com this bit about the SuperFerry - makes for interesting reading, I think:
“Most interesting is – no surprise here – the military finds them quite useful. In fact this article points out that there are far more fuel efficient and less environmentally dangerous vessels in existence, but they weren’t chosen for Hawaii. Why? They can’t carry Stryker Brigades, hummers, helicopters, and other equipment (which could even become contaminated with depleted uranium). The article goes on to point out that the Chair of the Superferry board is John Lehman, a former Navy Undersecretary during the Reagan years and member of the 9/11 Commission, and claim, “The Superferry was foisted on Hawai‘i to meet a new mission for the US military. That mission: To have civilian looking high-speed military transport, manned by subcontractors, available at short notice to deliver assault troops and equipment, anywhere in the Pacific.â€
Surprise, surprise.
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