UPDATE: Kua Bay Reopens After Object Identified

***Note: This story was updated at 3:45 p.m. to indicate that Kua Bay was reopened.***

The Department of Land and Natural Resources along with the U.S. Navy identified the object found Friday at the Kekaha Kai section of Kua Bay as a mooring. The bay has been reopened following the temporary closure.

***Original story posed 2:15 p.m.***

The Kekaha Kai section of Kua Bay was closed Friday by officers from the Department of Land and Natural Resources Division of Conservation and Resources Enforcement and staff from the DLNR Division of State Parks after an unidentified object was found in the water.

“High winter surf brings a lot of surfers to this park and we feel it is best to close the park and not allow surfers and others into the water, for their own safety, until we can identify this object,” State Parks Administrator Dan Quinn said.

Photographs are planned to be gathered Friday afternoon of the object, which is estimated to weigh 150 pounds and is about two feet in diameter, by a U.S. Navy Explosive Ordnance Disposal expert, who will use the photographs to help determine exactly what the object is. A DLNR Division of Aquatic Resources will accompany the EOD expert.

Once the object has been identified and removed, if necessary, DLNR staff from the Division of State Parks will determine when the bay can be reopened. The waters in this region have a history of unexploded ordnances found.