Couple swept to sea planned to celebrate an anniversary

Jojo Acosta and Noemi Alcotas planned to celebrate a milestone in their relationship before they were apparently swept out to sea by a large wave Friday near Hanauma Bay, a neighbor said Sunday.

Dante Magallanes, who has lived down the street from Acosta for about 20 years, said an Acosta family member told him the couple was planning to celebrate an anniversary by going camping. He said he didn’t know whether they were headed out on a camping trip when the apparent accident happened.

Magallanes said the couple started dating recently.

"He’s a good guy," Magallanes said of Acosta outside his house on Kalihi Street.

Firefighters searched a third day Sunday for Alcotas’ body but found no sign of her.

Hikers found the couple’s bags about 1 p.m. Friday near a dangerous attraction called Rock Bridge in a prohibited area south of Hanauma Bay and called firefighters.

Rescuers found Acosta’s body in the water a couple hours later and continued to search for Alcotas by land, sea and air.

Honolulu Fire Department spokesman Kevin Mokulehua said firefighters expanded their search Sunday to include about 1.5 miles of shoreline north of Hanauma Bay to Sandy Beach Park. He said the search was expanded after the Coast Guard provided firefighters with drift pattern maps. Firefighters also searched south of Hanauma Bay to Portlock.

The Coast Guard also was assisting in the search.

Firefighters ended their search at dark and planned to resume their search at daybreak Monday.

Magallanes said Acosta was an Army veteran who served two tours in Iraq and often helped family and neighbors by cleaning up or fixing things.

Nida Acosta, the wife of Acosta’s uncle, said Acosta and Alcotas, both 34, were classmates at Farrington High School. "She’s a nice girl," Nida Acosta said. "I’m happy when he met her and somebody was taking care of him."

"They loved each other," she said, adding that she also heard they were celebrating an anniversary. "We were so happy."

Nida Acosta last saw Acosta about a week ago while he was working at Costco in Iwilei.

"He’s a man who works hard," she said. "He’s really good, that’s why everybody’s unhappy."