By ODA Hawai’i Island Chapter Leader Sarah Milisen

The Kailua Pier in Kona is a happenin' place.

Paddlers practice there everyday, cruise ships drop off passengers there, Ironman swim portion takes place there, and restaurants and souvenir shops line the streets. It’s also a favorite place for fishers. Akule bait balls are often there, milkfish, and a good reef structure around the pier leads to good fishing.

So, it's natural that there is an accumulation of debris. However, it's hard to get divers in at the pier. Boat traffic doesn't stop, fishers won't necessarily stop fishing, and cruise ship tenders outright prevent it—so our only available weekend in September was the 13th, and 58 ODA volunteers showed up strong for this cleanup, to tackle above and below the ocean.

Here we were during our volunteer orientation:

Our volunteers this day: Mabil Abu-Ghazaleh, Julia Age, Kyoko Awamura, Autumn Belcher, Angelica Bryne, Carlos Civilo, Carl, Josh and Kay Cooper, Timothy Ewung, Reese Forester, Dee Fulton, Krystal Gallavin, Alysia Hancock, Ron Hoffman, Skyler Hudson, Jamie Jarvis, Tracey Jelly, Bob Jensen, Bryce King, Mary Ann Klos, Kelly Logigian, Casey Mayes, Cameron McDonald, John Moore, Sage Nicholson, Dot Norris, Bo and Jamie Pardau, Alexandra Pimentelli, Sarah Pugh, James Redshaw, Breana Rich, Ava Ronsky, Blue Rothgeb, Lisa Scahablosky, Chris Schmidt, Mikena Shay, Marty Silvestri, R Taylor, Allison Taylor, Rowdy Toliver, Laurel Trammell, Charles Watson, Susan Watson, Tony White and Lena Wray. 

After a short briefing just after 9am, over 20 divers geared up and descended around the pier, with safety swimmers carrying flags and floats. Topside (dry) volunteers grabbed pickers, gloves, and bags and started collecting, and other topside volunteers grabbed lines and lift bags to help the underwater volunteers as they came up with full bags and needed empty bags in exchange.

It wasn't long till someone came up asking for a lift bag—to bring up a shopping cart! A couple tires were recovered, clothes, and lots and lots of fishing line and bottles. And entire empty box of Grape Crush cans was collected, a drone, and a fully functional iPhone! We had volunteers sorting debris, and some rescuing any animals that made it to the surface. I felt like it was a top-notch,high-performing team. Everyone had something to do, and it got done, and MAN, we all pulled up A LOT of trash! 

A couple highlights (aside from the drone, shopping cart, and fully functional iPhone!) was a push-broom head, 2 additional phones and an iPad, 2 masks, a fin, over a dozen hooks and half a dozen lures, 20 golf balls, a folding chair, and NINETY-NINE glass bottles! We recovered and will be recycling roughly 30 pounds of lead, and divers had to have collected around 4000 feet of fishing line! 

After 70 minutes underwater, divers surfaced with the topside team's assistance. Sandwiches, fruit, and chips were provided by our debris-cleanup partner Body Glove, a group photo was taken, and volunteers were quick to clean up all the debris into the truck for disposal. 

Ocean Defenders Crew with their "Catch of the Day"!

We had SO MANY new faces on this cleanup, but we also had several ODA veterans to help run the show smoothly - this may have been our most efficient cleanup to date at the pier! MAHALO TO ALL who showed up, and to those that also help through monetary donations! 

If you live on Hawai'i Island and want to be part of this good work, please email us!