If you live in Hawaii you probably already know that swine flu has made its way to Hawaii and the amount of new cases keeps growing on the islands.  How could you not?  The swine flu topic has been all over the news and media outlets the last couple of weeks.  On May 5, Hawaii reported the first case of swine flu and the number of new cases have grown to 30 as of today when four new cases of swine flu were identified.

The impact of swine flu on Hawaii’s economy is probably greater than any other place in the United States because Hawaii’s main economy is tourism, and the recent cases of swine flu in Hawaii, and around the world for that matter, have put a damper on the tourism industry.

The amount of Japanese tourists visiting Hawaii have decreased since the first case of swine flu was reported in Hawaii.  This decrease in tourists will amount to millions of dollars in lost revenue to Hawaii even though the swine flu cases in the state are mild compared to other areas around the world.

Many hospitality businesses who cater to tourists have noticed the down swing in business and have said it continues to get worse.  Airlines and hotels have seen a rise in cancellations and less new bookings over the past two weeks and expect it to continue until there are no more new cases of the swine flu in Hawaii.

With an already slowing tourism industry because of the global economic crisis, swine flu in Hawaii has given an even bigger blow to Hawaii’s tourism industry.

Tags: h1n1 hawaii, hawaii swine flu, Hawaii Tourism, swine flu

A pod of pygmy killer whales have been located roaming around the shallow ocean waters near Kihei Maui for about a week now.  The island of Maui is famous for its whale watching tours during whale season so it’s not unusual for whales to be spotted around the deep waters of Maui, but this is unusual in that pygmy killer whales are rarely seen even around Maui, and the fact that they are lingering so close to the Kihei shore about 120 yards of the coast is very unusual.

This type of behavior usually means something is wrong with the mammal,  sometimes a signal the whales could be sick and might be ready to beach itself on the shore.  NOAA officials have been monitor the pod since they were spotted and will continue to monitor them in case any action needs to be taken to help the whales in the event they do come ashore.

Tags: kihei, kihei maui, pygmy killer whale, pygmy killer whales, pygmy whale, pygmy whales

Last month was the final month in which the Hawaii Superferry was in service due to a Hawaii Supreme Court ruling which prohibited the Alakai, the actual name of the ship, from continuing service.  The ruling which suspended services stated that the Hawaii State government allowed the Superferry to operate without doing an assessment on it’s environmental impact, which was unconstitutional.

The Hawaii Superferry started service in August 2007, providing passenger and vehicle transportation between the islands of Hawaii.  Because of protests and legal issues on Maui and Kauai service was only provided between Honolulu Harbor on Oahu and Kahului Harbor on Maui.  It seems like there were so many roadblocks from the beginning, and it doesn’t look like the inter-island transportation service will be back anytime soon.

So say goodbye to the Hawaii Superferry…

Tags: alakai, hawaii superferry, huakai