Mark McKamey, Kaua‘i Ocean Safety Bureau acting supervisor, was glad the weather turned less-than-ideal Thursday.

“Wednesday, we had so many people on the beach at Hanalei we couldn’t get the truck through,” McKamey said. “But luckily the weather turned overcast so there’re not that many people out today.”

McKamey was wrapping up his workday at the Hanalei lifeguard pavilion following an advisory on the large surf that pounded the North Shore of Kaua‘i.

According to the high surf warning issued by the National Weather Service at 4 p.m. yesterday, surf along north-facing shores was going to hit 28 to 32 feet last night before dropping to below 25 feet by this afternoon.

The warning further advised surf along West-facing shores would be in the 15- to 22-foot range last night before declining to below 20 feet by this afternoon.

“The waves were expected to be as high as 40 feet,” McKamey said. “But we’ve only had a few waves that were big. Most of the waves had about 25-foot faces.”

As he spoke, he pointed to what he estimated to be a 40-foot wave at King’s.

“We’ve had a lot of ‘little rescues,’” he said. “And a ton of ‘preventives.’ It’s better to have ‘preventives’ than to have to work the big rescues.”

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(Source: Kauai Garden Island News)