‘No parking’ anywhere at harbor

NAWILIWILI — As some residents found out the hard way when attempting to meet friends and relatives arriving on a cruise ship recently, there is no place to park in the Nawiliwili Harbor area.

The once-coveted stalls along Waapa Road on the fence-line of the Kauai Petroleum Company facility are now off-limits, concrete barriers and fencing plainly marking the forbidden territory.

Fred Deckwitz of Wailua Homesteads tried to meet 13 friends and relatives coming off the Norwegian Wind earlier this month, arranged to have two cars meet them, and were told by harbor security guards “you can’t park here, you can’t hold there,” and were shooed away from the Kauai Petroleum Company fence-line by employees there.

The Norwegian Wind is the sister ship of the Pride of Aloha, which calls at Nawiliwili each Monday. Both are operated by Norwegian Cruise Line.

When Deckwitz asked where they could park, the answer was “far away” from the main security gate at the harbor, maybe at the nearest shopping mall (Anchor Cove) or condominium complex (Banyan Harbor), he recalled.

“That’s illegal,” Deckwitz pointed out. “No parking, no stopping; the signs must have cost a bundle.” When the arriving passengers he was there to meet began gathering at the security gate, Deckwitz and wife Marianne prepared to load them. “He is right on top of me,” Deckwitz said of the security guard. “You cannot stop here and you cannot pick up passengers here.”

So Deckwitz’s wife drives her car around the block, as is routinely done at Lihu‘e Airport when security comes calling. “On the second go-around we are ready to board,” and again hear the guard telling them they couldn’t stop and pick up passengers at the gate.

“What a pleasant time was had by all on the friendly isle of Kaua‘i,” he said. “The kids will remember for a long time, and I will tell all of my friends never to come by boat. Or better yet, just forget this island,” he said.

“There is no parking anywhere,” confirmed Bob Crowell, Nawiliwili harbormaster for the state Department of Transportation Harbors Division. No visitors are allowed beyond the main security checkpoint, except for handicapped individuals; those with business at Matson Navigation Company (picking up or dropping off freight); and those driving buses, shuttles, taxis or tour vans; and official cruise-ship greeters, all with proper picture identification and clearances, he explained.

Tighter federal security mandates, including roving patrols inside the fence-line 24 hours a day seven days a week, have led to the parking and stopping ban near the harbor, Crowell said.

The federal Maritime Transportation Security Act, signed by President Bush in November 2002, has special requirements for tighter security at U.S. ports, including sleepy Nawiliwili, to guard against acts of terrorism.

The U.S. Coast Guard is now charged with the mission of harbor, port and near-shore security, and since the state DOT Harbors Division operates the harbors, state workers have also been tasked with greater security responsibilities, Crowell said.

The Coast Guard’s role under the 2002 law is explained by information on the act on the U.S. House of Representatives Web site: “The Coast Guard’s homeland security mission is to protect the U.S. maritime domain and the U.S. Marine Transportation System and deny their use and exploitation by terrorists as a means for attacks on U.S. territory, population, and critical infrastructure.”

For those Kaua‘i residents or visitors who wish to meet either cruise-ship passengers or crew at the harbor, kindly ask the ocean-arriving guests to walk beyond the Matson gate for pickup, Crowell suggested.

Another option would be for arriving cruise-ship passengers and crew to take one of the free shuttles, such as the Kmart, Anchor Cove Shopping Center or Harbor Mall buses, and meet Kaua‘i-based friends and relatives at those places of business.

Paul C. Curtis, associate editor, may be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 224) or pcurtis@pulitzer.net.