Local Knowledge Flashcards
Describe Waihiawa Bay
Wahiawa Bay, 2.8 miles W of Makaokahai Point and 1 mile E of Port Allen, is 170 yards wide at the entrance and indents the coast about 0.2 mile. Excellent protection is afforded small craft in all but S winds. Boats anchor in depths of 5 to 10 feet, sandy bottom. The sides of the bay are rocky. The seas usually break over the shoal 100 yards off Weli Point on the SE side of the bay.
Describe Hanapepe Bay
Hanapepe Bay, midway along the S coast of Kauai, is the approach to Port Allen. The bay is about 0.6 mile wide and about 0.4 mile long, and is protected from the SE by a breakwater marked near the end by a light. The shores are low, rocky bluffs except at the head of the bay, where there is a sandy beach.
Prominent Features
The E side of the bay has several oil tanks and warehouses. A light is on low, flat, and rocky Puolo Point on the W side of the bay. A landing strip, used by tour helicopters and occasionally small planes, is back of the point.
Channels
A Federal project provides for an entrance channel which leads N past the outer end of the breakwater to a harbor basin in Hanapepe Bay with a project depth of 35 feet in the entrance channel and basin. The harbor basin is marked by lighted and unlighted buoys on the N and W sides.
Dangers
A reef extends about 200 yards from the shore E of the inner end of the breakwater. In heavy weather breakers extend 350 yards offshore on the NW side of the bay and 50 to 150 yards off the SE side of Puolo Point.
Anchorage
There is little shelter for vessels intending to anchor off Port Allen. In order for a vessel to get in the lee of the bluffs, located on the E shore, the vessel would be positioned dangerously close to shallow water near the breakwater. Fresh tradewinds generally make this area a poor anchorage. The harbor is congested with small commercial charter boats. There is little swinging room within the basin. Port Allen is known for surge conditions. At times, the surge is severe enough to discourage commercial vessels from mooring at the S face of the main pier.
Currents
The prevailing current off Puolo Point is W.
Pilotage - Port Allen
Pilotage is compulsory for all foreign vessels and US vessels under register in the foreign trade; it is optional for for coastwise vessels who have on board a pilot licensed by the federal government. The pilot boat Iwa is a 35’ catamaran with the word PILOT in black letters on the side of the cabin. The boat displays the international code flag “H” by day and white and red signal lights at night. The pilot boarding ground is .75 miles S of the outer end of the breakwater. The pilot monitors and uses VHF-FM channel 12. Mariners are advised to give at least 24 hours advance notice of arrival with overall length, gross tonnage, and draft of vessel. Telephone 808-537-4169. Vessels are requested to rig a pilot ladder no more than one meter on the lee side and to maintain a dead slow ahead speed, between 5 10 knots.
Towage
Two tugs from Nawiliwili Harbor are available to service vessels entering and exiting Port Allen.
Quarantine, Customs, Immigration and Agricultural Quarantine
(See chapter 3, Vessel Arrival Inspections, and Appendix A for addresses.)
Quarantine is enforced in accordance with regulations of the U.S. Public Health Service. (See Public Health Service, chapter 1.) A private hospital is at Waimea.
Port Allen is a customs port of entry.
Harbor Regulations
Harbor regulations are established by the Hawaii Department of Transportation, Harbors Division and enforced by the harbormaster.
The harbor has a security zone when the fuel barge is in port, regularly scheduled for every Monday. (See 165.1 through 165.40, chapter 2, for regulations.)
The speed limit in the harbor is 5 m.p.h.
Wharves
The State pier in the E part of the harbor provides 600 feet of berthing space along both the N and S sides, and 124 feet along the W face. In 1999, depths to 25 feet were available along the N side, 33 feet on the S side and 28 feet on the W face; deck height, 11 feet. A transit shed with 24,000 square feet of covered storage space, and open storage are available. Pipelines are on the wharf, and bulk handling and storage facilities for molasses, liquid fertilizer, and petroleum products are in the port. General cargo, and barge and tanker traffic are handled at the pier.
Vessels are advised to drop an anchor when ap- proaching the pier. This assists in maneuvering to a berth as well as getting away in an emergency. During and after strong winds some surge is experienced at the pier. This condition may require small and medium craft to cast off and sometimes interferes with the cargo handling of large vessels.
Supplies
Gasoline, fuel oil, and diesel fuel are available by tank truck, and water is piped to the wharf. Provisions are available in the principal towns on the island. Marine supplies are limited to small-craft items.
Repairs
Facilities for minor repairs to vessels are available.
Port Allen Small Boat Harbor is N of the State pier on the E side of the bay. The harbor has 3 launching ramps, 38 berths, 6 mooring buoys, and a small pier.
Communications
Port Allen has highway and telephone communication with other parts of the island and radiotelephone and air communication with the other islands of the group. The town is a port of call for interisland barge and transpacific vessels.
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the E side of the river’s mouth; the fort was built in 1815 and abandoned in 1817.
Between Waimea River and Oomano Point, 2.3 miles to the W, a reef extends 0.4 mile from shore and breaks in heavy weather. Kikiaola Boat Harbor, 1.6 miles W of the river, is entered over the reef and is pro- tected by breakwaters. The end of the west breakwater is marked by a privately maintained light. The harbor has a launching ramp and loading piers; the entrance is marked by a privately maintained lighted range. In 2010, the controlling depth over the bar was 11⁄4 fath- oms, with shoaling to 3⁄4 fathom in the basin. Caution should be exercised when entering or leaving the harbor due to the combined effects of the breakers and the 90° turn in the basin.
