Chad Blair: Aloha everybody and welcome to another episode of the Pod Squad. As always, Chad Blair with Honolulu Civil Beat. Joining me today to talk about an important topic, visitor safety, given that tourism is our keen industry, is Nathan Eagle our ace reporter. Hey Nathan.

Nathan Eagle: Hey Chad, how are you doing?

Blair: I’m good. And Marina Riker, who is a reporter as well with Civil Beat. Good to have you here today.

Marina Riker: Hey Chad.

Blair: So guys, you’ve been working on this story about visitor safety and how unfortunately tourists that come to Hawaii, something like 7 million a year, some of them do unfortunately pass away for any number of reasons. Nathan, did we you decide to do this particular story?

Eagle: Well some of the headlines were catching our editor, Patti Epler, and ny eyes, so we started taking note. I think there were a spur of several in a shorter period and I was like, “wow, that’s interesting.” So we started keeping a file, just keeping tabs of it.

Blair: Like a drowning at Hanauma Bay or something?

Eagle: Yeah. Here’s a drowning here, a drowning there, a fall from a trail here.
We were like, “huh, that’s interesting, seems like there’s a lot more than maybe we were reading in other places.” So, that’s why we started it.

Blair: Okay, how did you rope Marina into this story? You decided you needed the extra man power?

Eagle: Oh yeah, after we had collected a few years worth of these we were like, “we need to do something with this,” and that’s when Marina got involved.

Riker: Yeah, so I think I’ve been working on and off on this since about last January. So basically it was going through all the emails, putting all of the information into an Excel spreadsheet. We also requested all of the medical examiner data from Honolulu County. Unfortunately it’s a little bit tricker to get all that data from the neighbor island counties.

Blair: Ok, but of course there are casualties on the neighbor islands given the importance of tourism there too, but fair to say the bulk of these are on Oahu because that’s where to population is, that’s where Waikiki is…

Eagle: Fair to say the bulk of them are on Oahu, but it’s the neighbor islands – they die at a far higher rate than…

Blair: They do? Why?

Eagle: That’s a good question.

Riker: Yeah, I think that is definitely pretty interesting. But it is like 70 percent of all drowning victims on neighbor islands are visitors. Compared to here, it’s only 50 percent.

Blair: Wow. Is there a particular place that stood out?

Riker: Specifically here, it’s Hanauma Bay and Waikiki. Which kind of makes sense considering how many visitors actually go there.

Eagle: And Makena I believe, over on Maui.

Riker: Yeah, and then on Maui it’s Makena, Molakini and Kaanapali are particularly deadly for visitors.

Blair: And of course that’s where a lot of the visitors go. Molakini, that’s the little diving crescent shaped island that’s off the coast is that right?

Eagle: It is.

Blair: So give me a big take away. Marina we’ll start with you. What is one of the things that you came away from this series that you think is important for us to understand?

Riker: So I think the most important thing is that all of the deaths, at least the injury related ones, are all preventable. So all of the drowning deaths through snorkeling, swimming, whatever it may be, that’s something that the state or tour companies could be stepping in to prevent those. So I think for me, it’s kind of looking for as we increase our tourism industry, how are we going to actually pick up that extra slack to keep visitors safe.

Blair: And by preventable, do you mean making tourists aware, perhaps when they fly in on the airplane, the things they should be careful of? Am I understanding that this is how it might work? Or maybe even information in hotels?

Riker: Yeah, so getting that safety information to visitors before they even go there. I mean for instance, when they’re googling a location, to have something ping up with the safety warning or having some sort of in-flight video. So all of these are solutions that the state could look at going forward.

Blair: You know, I swim at Kaimana Beach regularly, down there by Diamond Head. There was a couple visiting with their children and they were snorkeling right by me. First of all they start talking, and they never take the snorkel out of their mouth when they talk, but the father was trying to explain the very basics. That you have to blow the water out before you start breathing and things like that. Otherwise, they had no idea what to do. And I could see how there could be problems here.

Eagle: Snorkeling is actually the number one activity for visitor deaths by far and away, more than hiking, more than swimming, more than scuba.

Blair: What did you take away, that kind of stayed with you after you did all this research Nathan?

Eagle: Well, two things really struck me. One, in a way it surprised me given the sheer numbers of people that are in the water everyday, that there weren’t way more deaths. Thousands would still be a very very very small percent. But you know, it’s low hundreds.

Blair: And we should be grateful for that of course.

Eagle: We should. In looking more at that, you start talking to lifeguards and these other folks, and you realize they’re having thousands of interactions every day, before people had even put their towel down, about the conditions. That’s something that’s changed over the years, so it’s pretty cool to see. I think in the dozens of people that we’ve interviewed for this, no one had anything bad to say about the lifeguards, the firefighters, the paramedics. Everyone was like, “these are top notch professional folks.”

Blair: Well that’s good to hear.

Eagle: The other thing that really struck me though is, that there’s a balance that’s going on here. Tourism, as anyone knows, is our biggest industry. And so, the balance is, attracting these visitors to Hawaii and painting this picture that everyone sees of paradise, with informing them of how to stay safe while they’re here. And my opinion, based on talking to a lot of these experts, that balance may be a little out of whack.

Blair: Is it up to the…I mean, are the tourist themselves responsible in a way too? Should they take on more? Like you said, googling it before hand, and making sure that they know what they’re getting into, and that our shores can actually be pretty rough.

Riker: Yeah, so I think that’s something that’s hard just because Hawaii is such a unique place. Visitors do need to inform themselves before coming here, but it’s kind of our job as a state, to make sure they do that. I mean, at least getting them informed of the ocean condition, our currents are much stronger, the way our beaches our environmentally laid out is much different. And then also, this was kind of interesting that I haven’t thought about before kind of diving into this series, was how it’s really important that if you have preexisting health conditions, to really know what your limits are before you coming here.

Blair: I mean, if you have a heart condition or something you could really exerting yourself. I’ve been to Hanauma Bay and see people go out further than the expected and then suddenly they can’t get back…

Eagle: Exactly. And a lot of them, from looking at the medical examiner’s reports and other things, did have underlying heart conditions. Some of the long time ocean safety experts we talked to said, “if I had a magic wand, I would encourage everyone, before they come here, to consult their doctor, get a physical, things like that…”

Riker: Work out…

Eagle: That’s not exactly a message the tourism industry is promoting.

Blair: “Put out that cigarette and drop that cheeseburger.”

Riker: Exactly.

Blair: Speaking of the tourism agency, the Hawaii Tourism Agency, HTA, what is their position regarding visitor safety? Nathan, I think you spoke to the agency…

Eagle: Yeah, I spoke with the head of the agency, and they’re going to continue to keep saying they’re doing a lot to keep visitors safe. And they have information out there, but again, even with the same breath it’s, “we welcome them to paradise.”

Blair: I wonder if it’s every a deterrent. If somebody is thinking, “I’m going to go to Hawaii,” and they happen to be checking the headlines or something, and then they see a slew of drownings that’s happening. Maybe they change their minds. But, it’s probably hard to track that kind of information I’m guessing.

Let me jus task you one or two other questions. Surfing? Many people getting into trouble surfing according to your data?

Eagle: Pretty safe activity.

Riker: Yeah, very safe.

Blair: How about diving?

Riker: Pretty safe. Maybe not if you’re a local. But if you’re a visitor, pretty safe.

Eagle: More locals were inclined to die from scuba diving.

Blair: You’re a scuba diver…

Eagle: Yeah yeah. It was interesting the way locals tended to die in a fatal accidents. There weren’t a lot of visitors dying from picking opihi for instance.

Riker: Yeah exactly.

Blair: That’s a local tradition. And of course there’s a famous song to that effect as well.

One other thing. Anything out of the ordinary? That you were like, “wow, I can’t believe somebody died because jelly fish stings,” or something like that?

Riker: There were a couple, I went through all of the data and input every single death. There were some random ones. Rollerblading was one – not something that I had thought of. And then there were also a couple spinal cord injuries from TVs falling from people, and also rags falling on people – a bag of rags which I would assume from a hotel.

Blair: A bag of rags?

Riker: Yes.

Blair: Well, it’s a fascinating series that Marina Riker and Nathan Eagle have up on the website on visitor safety. I encourage all of you to go and read it and look at what they found out.

I do want to take a moment and say that this is a farewell Pod Squad for Marina Riker. She is leaving Civil Beat. You’re going to be the managing editor of The Washington Post I understand, is that correct?

Riker: Yes. It’s such a great title.

Blair: A natural transition – from Civil Beat to Washington Post. A lot of people go from….I’m kidding

Riker: Especially managing editors.

Blair: Exactly. The position is always open.

No, in fact Marina is going to be working for the Associated Press and covering the Hawaii State legislature in the 2016 session. And I’m sure you will see Nathan and I down at the Capital all the time.

Eagle: We’ll be down there.

Blair: Yeah, we’ll be down there and sharing stories. You’ve just been a major contribution to what we do here at Civil Beat and I want to say thank you.

Eagle: Thanks Marina. It’s been great.

Riker: Thank you.

Blair: All right folks, remember to subscribe to us on iTunes and Stitcher, visit our site at civilbeat.com, like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.

As always, Chad Blair with the Pod Squad and Honolulu Civil Beat. Take care, aloha, and be safe in the ocean – or on those rollerblades (or when that bag of rags comes).

Eagle: hawaiibeachsafety.com too, an excellent resource.

Blair: Hey nice plug! Sounds good, thanks.