Catamaran Runs Aground at Honokohau Harbor

This catamaran, called the Sea Paradise, crashed in this location of Honokohau Harbor on Thursday evening. Photo credit: Marcy Anderson.

A catamaran broke into pieces as it ran aground at Honokohau Harbor on Thursday night.

Department of Land and Natural Resources spokesman Dan Dennison told Big Island Now that the vessel, named the Sea Paradise, ran aground at about 6:25 p.m. Thursday. Only the owner of the boat was on board at the time of the incident. He was not injured.

“It is considered a total loss,” Dennison said. “The surf was reported to be heavy, but not extraordinary.”

Randy Cates of Cates International, the salvage firm that has been retained by the catamaran’s owner to remove the vessel, said that work will start on Saturday to remove pieces of the vessel from the shore. He said that the difficult part of the task is that most of the pieces that broke apart are in the water, approximately 60 percent. It includes one of two 30-gallon fuel tanks, with the other found in the rocks where the crash occurred.

No timetable was given for when salvage operations should be completed.

Operations at the harbor were not affected by the catamaran crash.