We were on the Edge during this and were shocked how close we got. We sailed on the Pride of America back in 2015 and we recalled being so much farther away from shore. We assumed the bridge would be aware of and abide by all local laws but definitely got concerned once we looked towards the bow thruster and noticed sand was being churned up. We also noticed that the current depth had been removed from the navigation channel at the time when it was present everywhere else during our 18 days.
The most disturbing part was that evening in the theatre when we learned that the ship broke the law. Captain Matt asked everyone how we enjoyed the day and then shared his “funny story” that while doing the two full rotations, the US Military called the ship asking to speak to the captain and informed him that a vessel of the Edge’s size could not come closer than 1,000 yards to the shoreline and that we were within 300. He kind of chuckled and said that “now we know for next time”. This was addressed as a “whoopsie” and there appeared to be no consideration as to why the law was in place and what environmental impact breaking the law might have. The mistake was made, there was no changing it at that point, but it should have been addressed in a serious and respectful manner displaying remorse for improper planning and concern for the potential impact on the local reef as well as a commitment to doing better in the future.
I obviously don’t have distances, but we did a Timelapse around the majority of Kauai that might provide some additional perspective. The first one is the segment from Nā Pali slowed down so you can see a little better during the rotations and the second one is the original full Timelapse. The phone was set up on the balcony of our 10th floor mid-ship cabin on the port side and we let it run for several hours. My Movie 1.mov IMG_1024.mov
