Atlantis boat removed from Kewalo Basin after grounding

The Discovery, a 75-foot boat owned by Atlantis Adventures, finally has been removed from the reef at Kewalo Basin seawall after it ran aground during high surf on Aug. 9.

State officials worked with the U.S. Coast Guard to coordinate the removal process, which proved challenging due to the shallow reef at Kewalo. Several attempts were made to refloat the boat during high tide, without luck.

Two crew members were aboard the boat at the time of the grounding that Saturday morning, with no passengers.

“The vessel owner took immediate responsibility and hired a contractor to remove the boat on the day of the grounding,” Division of Boating and Ocean Recreation Administrator Meghan Statts said Tuesday in a news release. “Those efforts were unfortunately unsuccessful and the contractor closely monitored the removal of fuel and other hazardous material from the vessel in preparation for the next removal attempt, which reduced the risk of pollution while waiting for optimal conditions to remove the boat.”

State divers visited the site last week to document damages to the reef, and were able to identify potential routes for the boat’s removal that would cause the least damage. Most of the damage so far has been to live rock, divers said, and a few Cauliflower coral were also fragmented.

Over the next few days, the state divers from Division of Aquatic Resources will continue to assess the damage to the reef from grounding and removal efforts.