IN OUR VOICES – Ferry fight logic flawed

Help stop the whale killing machine,” read many of the messages flowing into the offices of The Garden Island last week.

Though calling Japan to determine the amount of whales the country would legally slaughter this year with its seagoing machines under the aegis of research seemed a good story idea, there were issues closer to home to address.

Imagine the surprise when some of those messengers corrected us, and we learned the whale killing machine was actually sailing into our harbor over the weekend.

When the whale killing machine proved to be the 350-foot Hawaii Superferry “Alakai,” the difficulties of getting anyone to go on the record about its whale killing abilities was near impossible. The story was properly killed. Though we’re sure many in the community will come to the conclusion the story was killed because the Superferry spends money on advertising in The Garden Island, the fact remains, we can’t be so irresponsible as to throw blood on the bow of the boat without at least seeing a whale, or some damage, or a harpoon carelessly left on the deck after arrival.

How about if we kill the misinformation machine?

For anyone who has spent any time at sea on boats or ships, avoiding a whale strike is akin to giving a nasty storm a wide berth. They are something to be avoided at any cost. Whale strikes may occur, but only after every effort has been made to avoid one.

Save the whales? Let’s save the common sense. Or at least restore a bit of it.

Let’s preserve a bit of the business climate while we are at it.

The Hawaii Superferry is being hailed as the end to all that is decent here on the island. Apparently pestilence, greed, drugs, the homeless, the perverted, the depraved, your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free will all be delivered via the 350-foot boat that had a public coming out yesterday at Nawiliwili Harbor.

The amount of hysteria whipped up by the event doesn’t seem to match the gravity of the arrival, but in actuality we will not know until the end of the month.

Though the Superferry people displayed a level of arrogance by showing up in the harbor a few weeks back unannounced, and then issued a press release an hour later announcing it, that does not necessarily mean they have something to hide, except maybe making bad calls on occasion.

The Coast Guard announcement that armed vessels will protect a 100-foot bubble around the traveling vessel with the possibility of 10 years in jail for harassment, though, was a nice touch.

The portrayals of the vessel leading up to the unveiling had many envisioning a version of Charon’s ferry over the River Styx. When the big, blue vessel with manta ray graphics actually arrived, it looked like some testosterone-laden teen’s waterborne hot rod. The interior was definitely not designed for whale killing. The car deck, though, could easily be converted.

Tied up next to the Norwegian Cruise Lines’ vessel “Pride of Hawaii” yesterday, the Alakai merely looked like another vehicle in an overcrowded parking lot.

Watching the cruise ship passengers in their single-file stroll back to NCL’s Pride of Hawai‘i, burdened with white ABC Store and Anchor Cove plastic bags, made it difficult to determine who exactly was going to the Superferry. If you looked close enough, they looked like average, everyday people.

One thing is for sure though; with the number of cruise ships coming into our harbor decreased in the coming year, those coming off the Superferry will be easier to discern.

As far as deciding, and judging ahead of time, exactly what comes down that Superferry ramp on Aug. 28, when the first paying customers disembark, well, there is plenty of that occurring. We’ll stay out of it.

A certain aspect of those coming off the ferry is already set, they will have paid a pretty penny for the privilege.

For that privilege to remain profitable for Hawaii Superferry, it can’t be killing whales.