Superferry Service To Resume December 1

Hawaii Superferry will relaunch its commercial service on December 1. It was announced on Friday afternoon by Hawaii Superferry as discount tickets went on sale at their website for $29 per person, each way during a promotional period from Dec. 1 to Dec. 20. After that Superferry will be pricing their fares at $39 each way to March 12. The fare structure only covers passengers but does not include the fuel surcharge which is being waived during the promotional period.

Superferry service will only be available between the islands of Oahu and Maui. Hawaii Superferry is not sailing to Kauai until potential secuirty problems can be worked out with the community there.

I hope it is smooth sailing for Superferry as they resume their interisland service to Maui and Oahu. The fare structure for now is good, right in line with the interisland airlines. I can understand them continuing to charge at least $55 for a standard vehicle since cars, vans and SUVs are fairly large.

A nagging issue regarding vehicle disembarkation from the ship. Apparently a 2-vehicle per minute order is set in place by Maui Circuit Court Judge Joel August. This is not a very practical order from an operations standpoint since it will slow down the turnaround time for the Superferry. I am quite sure this ruling is just another obstacle put in the way by the whackos who are totally against the Superferry.

Graphic: From Hawaii Superferry website.

Superferry Clears Last Legal Hurdle

Maui Circuit Court Judge Joseph Cardoza lifted his injunction against the Hawaii Superferry yesterday, paving the way to allow the ferry operation to resume in a few weeks. This comes after the Hawaii State Legislature passed a bill that allows the Superferry to operate while an environmental assessment is undertaken. Governor Linda Lingle signed the bill (Act 2) into law after the special session of the Legislature was over.

Hawaii Superferry will now be able to re-hire about 250 furloughed workers and get the ship going between the islands once and for all. This is a good thing and a major victory for the people of Hawaii who know the value of transport alternatives.

Needless to say I am happy that this ship will set sail again. We need this interisland transport option, especially in light of the Mesa Air (Go!) vs. Hawaiian and Aloha Airlines legal cases.

Now it is up to the public to determine whether or not the Superferry will ultimately be successful by using the service.

Of course the opposing whackos who are dead set against the Superferry, a few of them from as far away as Seattle Washington and beyond, are relentless to get this service stopped. The Kauai radicals vow to bring their protests back into the water at Nawiliwili Harbor. Let them but also let the state and federal government enforce the law. Arrest all of these whack jobs and have them fined or put away for a long time. The less of them we have around, the better our travels by ferry will be.

Let the Superferry sail again.

Photo: Vehicles at dock during a summer open house for Hawaii Superferry.

Gone to the Birds

Hawaii has gone to the birds. Actually it always has. Since getting a long 70 - 300 mm tele-zoom lens for my Canon, I've been looking for some time and a place to take bird photos. In Honolulu, there are not too many good places to take bird photos beyond the usual pesky pigeons and common doves. Of course anywhere there is grass offers opportunities for bird shots. So yesterday afternoon I roamed the empty Iolani Palace Grounds and State Capitol area in search of birds and other widllife. Lucked out in a fairly short time, and later moved on to Kakaako Waterfront Park.

The top photo was taken at Kakaako Waterfront Park. I waited for about 15 minutes while this elusive little bird hopped around in the thick brush at the top of the park's observation hill. It was a little hard to follow and keep the camera in auto-focus. I shifted down to manual focus. Patience and burst mode paid off when this little guy, a bird called the Japanese White Eye finally surfaced on the top of the tangled bush.


Cattle Egret at Kakaako Waterfront Park.


These birds travel from thousands of miles north of Hawaii to spend the winter months here. This bird is also known as the Golden Plover. Photo taken near the Hawaii State Capitol lawn.


The Mynah Bird, an import from India is common to Hawaii. They can be found just about anywhere. Get a group of these birds together, you will end up with quite a cackle of noisy critters.

More bird shots can be found on my Flickr page as well as this informative page of common Hawaii birds.

Sony Hawaii Showcases Latest Tech

The annual Sony Hawaii Expo was held this week at the Ala Moana Hotel Hibiscus Ballroom. Highlight of this year's Sony Expo was the desktop Sony OLED flatscreen TV (shown above). The hallmark of this high tech wonder is its small size and crystal clear high definition picture. The screen itself is thinner than a compact disc jewel case.

Another hyped product at the Sony Hawaii Expo is the new Sony Rolly MP3 player. It is a new portable device that is shaped like a little barrel and moves to the beat of the music. The speakers on this device are positioned at both ends and open up with winglike flaps on each end. The device will not be marketed in the U.S. and is aimed only at consumers in Japan. If it were sold in the U.S. the price would be at around $400.

Face recognition “smile” technology for Sony Cybershot cameras were also a new this year. The new Cybershots can sense when a person smiles and fires only at that time. People were happily smiling for the demo at the Sony Cybershot booth. There were many other Cybershot digital still and video cameras that were also on display for consumers to play with.

I was most interested in the small super zoom, SLR-like cameras that I may want to get in an effort to find a capable SLR-like digital camera without all of the weight and bulk.

Last year's hot product, the Sony Playstation 3 was almost like a has-been this year. Yes, there were displays of the venerable Playstation 3 for people to use, but the crowds around those stations were not very big. Sony is still marketing the Playstation 2 which is still the most popular game console of all time, despite Nintendo running away with the market lead on their new generation Wii product.

I am still interested in perhaps getting a Sony PSP, mainly for the fact that it can surf the web with its wireless internet feature. Another wifi device that was touted last year, the Sony Mylo, was nowhere to be seen this year. Sony still sells the device.

HDTV are the big products Sony is pushing this year as the Expo was dominated by flatscreen high definition sets all over the place. Going hand in hand with that were several Sony Blu-Ray HDTV DVD players. the pictures on the sets and from the players are incredibly clear.

Don't know if I am ready to sink money in either of these technologies, especially Blu-Ray since it is locked in a format war with the rival HD-DVD. Beta vs. VHS all over again. I'll wait for the dust to settle on this one.

Overall the Sony Expo was a great little venue to check the latest technology from one of the most popular electronic companies on the face of the earth.


The Sony Rolly MP3 player. Sold only in Japan.


People clamor around the latest Sony digital cameras.


Sony PSP gaming device can also do WiFi web browsing.

Superferry Cleared For Sailing

Governor Linda Lingle signed SB1 SD1 into law as Act 2 this past weekend, overriding previous court orders that will allow the Hawaii Superferry to start service later this month. The Hawaii State Legislature passed the Superferry bill at the close of the special session last week.

The final step in the legal process to get the ferry sailing in again is to have Maui Circuit Court Judge Joseph Cardoza to cancel his court injunction that has prohibited the Superferry to resume service since October 9.

The Governor in her executive order to get the ferry service going again, added 40 more regulations to the Superferry, going beyond what the bill states. Some of the requirments in her executive order include prohibiting the ferry from traveling in known whale breeding areas, reduction of speed within the whale habitat, and prohibition of ferry customers from transporting items such as rocks and gravel, human remains, island crustations, and several types of animals. Regulations will also apply to vehicle cleanliness, inspections, more whale watchers and reporting requirements. The governor's news release as well as the executive order can be found at this link.

The environmentalists are not happy with the order nor are some supporters of the Superferry. The only good thing is that there is not an overall, comprehensive regulation to have the ferry reduce its travel speed, which on the open ocean can be at 38 knots to as high as 42 knots, faster than most sea going vessels in Hawaii.

Ken Schoolland Honored

Professor Ken Schoolland was awarded the Grassroot Institute of Hawaii's George Washington award for 2007. Schoolland is a professor at Hawaii Pacific University and is a well known author for his book on free market economics, Jonathan Gullbile, A Free Market Odyssey. The book has become a worldwide success over the years and has been published in more than 40 languages. Offshoots include a web serial, radio show and a movie which is a work in progress.

The fifth annual Grassroot Institute of Hawaii's awards dinner held last night (November 3) also honored "Unsung Heroes" of Hawaii. They included State Rep. Colleen Meyer for her 14 years of championing both conservative economics and social policy, the Pacific Legal Foundation for pursuing a property tax cap and reform on the island of Kauai and former BOE member Paul Vierling who has been a champion for charter schools.

The keynote speaker for the night was Paul Jacob, commentator, columnist, and podcaster for the Sam Adams Alliance and Foundation. He spoke on the virtues of preserving freedom and not letting it get away from us.


L - R: Robert Thomas, Pacific Legal Foundation; State Rep. Colleen Meyer; Ken Schoolland, author of the book Jonathan Gullible, George Washington Award winner; Paul Vierling, former Hawaii BOE member; Paul Jacob, keynote speaker, Sam Adams Alliance and Dick Rowland, President of the Grassroot Institute of Hawaii.