Search fails to locate entangled whale
The Coast Guard and National Marine Fisheries Service officials were unsuccessful Wednesday in locating an entangled whale reported off west Oahu.
"We’ll just have to wait until we have another report," said Wende Goo, spokeswoman for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Goo said officials did not know if the whale — possibly tangled in fishing floats — was the same one seen on Jan. 6 traveling from Koko Head toward Diamond Head.
Petty Officer 3rd Class Anthony Soto said a Coast Guard boat Wednesday focused its search about 7 to 15 miles off west Oahu for a few hours. The search also involved a couple of Coast Guard helicopter crews, he said.
The searches were based on two separate reports by fishermen. One saw the whale off Barbers Point at 7:30 a.m. and another saw it 20 miles north of Kaena Point at 9 a.m., the Coast Guard said.
Paddler dies as canoe flips in high surf
A 67-year-old man died after a canoe he was in flipped over off Keauhou on Wednesday morning, Hawaii County officials said.
The Fire Department said a double-hull canoe with 10 paddlers aboard overturned in Heeia Bay shortly before 7 a.m. Three of the paddlers made it to shore.
Enlisting the help of a tour Zodiac boat, fire rescue personnel went to the canoe, which was overturned outside the surf break.
Six people were holding onto the canoe and the man was floating face-down, the fire department said.
He was taken by ambulance to Kona Community Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 7:58 a.m., police said.
His name was being withheld pending notification of his family. An autopsy will be conducted.
The Fire Department listed high surf as the cause of the incident. A high surf advisory had been in effect overnight for north- and west-facing shores of all islands.
Monthly rates are going up at airport lots
Monthly parking rates at Kahului and Kapalua airports on Maui, Lihue Airport on Kauai, and the Hilo and Kona international airports on Hawaii island will increase to $160 from $90 beginning March 1, the state Department of Transportation announced.
The monthly rate increase is proportionate to daily and hourly rate increases that went into effect at airports statewide on May 1.
The monthly parking rate increase at Honolulu Airport — to $240 — went into effect June 1.
