A couple visiting from Washington state apparently drowned while snorkeling Friday morning at Hanauma Bay, roughly 600 yards from the main beach where eight lifeguards were stationed, including a tower at the top of the bay.
A hiker spotted a man and a woman in distress at about 10:30 a.m. in an area that is not off-limits, said Shayne Enright, spokeswoman for the Honolulu Department of Emergency Services.
Lifeguards found the couple, a 60-year-old man and a 55-year-old woman, 200 to 250 yards beyond Witch’s Brew, a cove within the bay. The area where they were found is well past the break, and the water depth in the vicinity is 10 to 20 feet.
Two lifeguards used a single rescue watercraft to bring the couple to the beach where they tried to resuscitate the pair but were not successful. They were pronounced dead at the scene.
Local resident Sun Young Mack, 55, said she saw the man after he was brought to shore. "He had a lot of scratches on his leg," she said.
The scratches may indicate the couple tried to climb onto the rocky ledge along the shoreline nearest to where they were found.
That area is off-limits, Enright said. The park also has two signs and fencing on the shoreline to prevent people from hiking down from the cliffs into the Witch’s Brew area.
Enright said that lifeguards have binoculars, but added, "It’s difficult when thousands of snorkelers are facedown snorkeling."
She said a large north swell may have contributed to strong currents but that it was not more hazardous than on any other day.
Another possibility is that the couple may not have been visible from the main beach, as the area that forms the Witch’s Brew cove juts into the bay.
Kaneohe resident Tom Lurie, 23, a lifeguard who was taking visitors to the bay, said, "The line of sight from the guard tower to the people back in the cove" may have been obstructed by the large outcropping.
"You would almost have no way of knowing," he said, looking at a map of the bay.
Over a nine-year period, from 2005 to 2013, nine people drowned at Hanauma Bay, according to statistics provided by the Department of Emergency Services. The popular East Oahu bay draws about 3,000 visitors daily.
"Roughly 1 million people come to Hanauma Bay every year, and to have two people drown at the same time, while rare, is of course extremely upsetting," Enright said.
Drowning deaths at the park ranged from zero to two in an entire year, Emergency Services statistics show.
The number of rescues in a year ranged from 524 rescues in 2012 to 275 in 2006.
Department of Health statistics for 2007 to 2011 show that of the 332 people who drowned in the state in that five-year period, 47 percent (157) were nonresidents, and 53 percent (175) were Hawaii residents. Of the 259 ocean drownings during that period, the Health Department found snorkeling to be the ocean activity with the most drownings among visitors — 38 percent (51) of the 136 fatalities among visitors, even topping swimming (49 drownings).
Enright stressed that snorkeling can be strenuous.
"Snorkeling is not easy," she said. "People think that it is an activity that is relaxing and easy. It takes experience and practice before you go out that far."
Mack, who had brought several relatives visiting from Korea to snorkel at the beach, said, "They’re in shock right now."
Tim Phillips, 27, of San Francisco said he and his two friends saw rescue watercraft bringing the people in and first responders performing CPR unsuccessfully.
"It’s a vacation spot, so you hear something like that, it’s a big bummer."
Noting that the bay’s waters seemed fairly calm Friday, Dave Gerner, 27, of Los Angeles said, "To see that, it reminds you to be cautious and aware."
In two other popular Oahu shoreline areas, high surf and windy conditions kept Ocean Safety personnel busy with rescue work Friday.
At about 2:30 p.m. lifeguards responded to the Kahuku side of Sharks Cove, where a father and daughter had been knocked off a ledge by a large wave.
Witnesses helped the pair out of the water, and Emergency Medical Services personnel treated the woman for multiple abrasions before transporting her in stable condition to an area hospital.
A half-hour later lifeguards responded to an overturned kayak near the Mokulua Islands. The lifeguards brought four people and two kayaks back to shore. They also joined Honolulu Fire Department rescue personnel in assisting six stand-up paddleboarders who were unable to make it back to shore due to windy conditions. No injuries were reported in that incident.
