maui yacht ran aground

Luxury yacht runs aground in Maui, pumps diesel into water

A luxury yacht that ran aground in waters off of Maui accidentally pumped diesel fuel into the ocean after a failed attempt to remove it Tuesday, its owner said.

Jim Jones told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser that seawater entered the engine room of the 94-foot yacht, which made the ship's bilges pump out diesel fuel. He said “not a lot” got in the water and the pumps have been turned off.

“Once we found out the fuel was coming out, we turned it over to the Coast Guard,” Jones said.

The Coast Guard brought in the salvage company Sea Engineering to remove the fuel and vessel, the company's president, Andrew Rocheleau, said.

Jones expects the fuel will be drained Thursday morning and that the boat will be removed Friday or by the weekend “at the latest.”

The yacht ran aground Monday morning in Honolua Bay after its mooring line snapped.

The vessel is stuck on the rocks near where surfers paddle out to surf. It's about 700 feet outside the state's Honolua-Mokulēʻia Bay Marine Life Conservation District.

The Nakoa is one of two luxury yachts owned by Noelani Yacht Charters. It has four bedrooms, five bathrooms and a full kitchen. Charter packages start at $9,801, according to the company’s website.

• Election 2024
• Entertainment
• Newsletters
• Photography
• Personal Finance
• AP Buyline Personal Finance
• Press Releases
• Israel-Hamas War
• Russia-Ukraine War
• Global elections
• Asia Pacific
• Latin America
• Middle East
• March Madness
• AP Top 25 Poll
• Movie reviews
• Book reviews
• Personal finance
• Financial Markets
• Business Highlights
• Financial wellness
• Artificial Intelligence
• Social Media

Luxury yacht runs aground in Maui, pumps diesel into water

• Copy Link copied

HONOLULU (AP) — A luxury yacht that ran aground in waters off the Hawaiian island of Maui accidentally pumped diesel fuel into the ocean after a failed attempt to remove it Tuesday, its owner said.

Jim Jones told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser that seawater entered the engine room of the 94-foot (29-meter) yacht, which made the ship’s bilges pump out diesel fuel. He said “not a lot” got in the water and the pumps have been turned off.

“Once we found out the fuel was coming out, we turned it over to the Coast Guard,” Jones said.

The Coast Guard brought in the salvage company Sea Engineering to remove the fuel and vessel, the company’s president, Andrew Rocheleau, said.

Jones expects the fuel will be drained Thursday morning and that the boat will be removed Friday or by the weekend “at the latest.”

The yacht ran aground Monday morning in Honolua Bay after its mooring line snapped.

The vessel is stuck on the rocks near where surfers paddle out to surf. It’s about 700 feet (200 meters) outside the state’s Honolua-Mokuleia Bay Marine Life Conservation District.

The Nakoa is one of two luxury yachts owned by Noelani Yacht Charters. It has four bedrooms, five bathrooms and a full kitchen. Charter packages start at $9,801, according to the company’s website.

• Advertising
• Distribution
• Good Jibes Podcast
• Boat In Dining
• Sailboat Charters
• Business News
• Working Waterfront
• Youth Sailing

Here’s a post from the Qualified Captain’s Instagram : “I don’t like to post anything until I find out the full details, but as of now here is what I know. They were not properly tied up to a state funded mooring. They also apparently over-extended their stay. They broke loose of their mooring while they were below deck. They were not able to get back on deck in time. When they did in fact get back at the helm and started the engines, they accidentally went forward instead of reverse and went straight into the reef. This has caused a massive diesel spill, and will become a big salvage job. Sad and frustrating situation.”

The website The Inertia   said that the owner of the boat, Jim Jones, apologized to the public, and insisted that no gross  negligence was involved. “It was a freak accident and the worst timing ever,”  Jones told local news Monday night . “We couldn’t have done anything about this and we’re doing everything we possibly can to try to get off of here.”

The Inertia confirmed reports that Nakoa  had overextended their stay. “According to [Hawaii’s] Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR), day-use moorings are limited to two hours in the area but Jones says he had no knowledge of the two-hour limit and stayed there for two days.” The Inertia said that Maui County issued an emergency permit to remove the vessel, and the rental business that owns the Nakoa will be responsible for any of the costs associated with the removal.

Hawaii state officials said it would likely be “another few days” before the  Nakoa would be removed from the rocks and reef at Honolua Bay, according to the  Maui News . Here’s a report from yesterday regarding the cleanup operation:

11 Comments

I’m on Maui and was there Tuesday. Officials said he pulled up anchor first before starting his engines and couldn’t get them started. He was in the engine room when he ran aground. There are no moorings in the area.

Light it on fire like they did in Ohio with the railroad disaster. Problem solved!

So, he was incorrectly hooked up to a mooring, where he did not know the rules. Overstayed the time limit by days. Did not have an anchor alarm set, or any warning that they had broken free from the mooring. When they realized the yacht was adrift, they quickly ran to the helm and put her in forward instead of reverse. Apparently no attempt was made to run out the anchor and kedge off the reef. No weight redistribution was attempted. No mayday was issued?? How is this not gross negligence??

Bummer for everyone… the only thing needed is to learn from other’s mistakes and never trust heresy.

It amazes me that someone qualified was not on that boat at all times. Dropping anchor is what you do right away. Somebody needs to have his toys taken away. Especially in a place so blessed.

Sounds like incompetence more than anything. Too busy partying.

No boats in that bay period. Not the first time. Too much swell.

Aloha, Having personally assessed the scene on the first day it pained me to know I needed to avoid becoming involved in a large part due to having delayed purchasing 300 gallon flexible fuel tanks, fuel transfer pump and oil-absorbent booms which I have planned to purchase if/when my team is ever paid for a rapid environmental salvage and wreck removal at Mala Wharf conducted over a year ago. Quite literally, instead of being able to invest in additional salvage equipment I have been forced to spend money on litigation to get State Farm Insurance to simply open a claim (Demarest v. Alfouadi, Hawai’i District Court Case Number 1:22-cv-00064). There is a lot of talk about uninsured vessels, but what is the point of having insurance when insurance companies like State Farm refuse to even timely begin the claims process when salvage and wreck removal responsibilities of their insured have been clearly established?

In addition, a tremendous amount of respect is owed to all those that chose to stick their neck out rendering assistance to the Nakoa yacht. I have seen how all too often marine salvage ends up being a thankless job in which one has to drop everything else at a moment’s notice while taking on massive liabilities doing work that is physically, mentally, and emotionally exhausting. There are ways to skillfully minimize the high risk of personal injury, death, or substantial environmental harm while conducting a marine salvage operation, but as things currently are all the substantial time and money, along with wear and tear on gear, oftentimes end up being put out in good faith only to have an owner and/or their insurance company refusing to appreciate, let alone pay for, services rendered in a timely manner. I genuinely hope all relevant facts can come out without the need for multiple years of litigation.

Having not been involved in either the Honolua Bay grounding or the subsequent salvage operations, I do not personally know all the critical facts to have firm opinion specific to that incident and I respectfully urge all the talkers and gawkers to read the following article before jumping to conclusions on any marine incident or salvage operation: https://www.thehumandiver.com/blog/joining-dots-is-easy-if-you-know-the-outcome

Lawyers can literally litigate for years over a single comma and there should be precision in the wording of any legal changes that may result from this incident. This tragedy was not the fault of any entire group, and I respectfully hope all stakeholders can work together to refine both current laws, enforcement, and other options to find genuine solutions with a minimum of unintended consequences. Sincerely, David Demarest, Manager Giraffe Maui Marine Salvage & Supply, LLC

Being a lifelong boatnik and Maui resident for 20+ years, I’ve been following this obsessively. Dude owns a 94’ 120 ton pleasure yacht and has LLC charter company. He was operating/having a family trip w 4 adults 4 kids aboard. They moored to buoy meant for 2 hour day use in a beloved Marine Conservation bay that is normally used for 50 catamarans taking tourists snorkeling and where world class surfing happens. Spent 2 nights illegally tied to the buoy (the sound of running water is his insurance co washing their hands of this hot mess) and awoke @ 5:45AM to find they were aground on the shoreline. Dude says he was in the engine room getting ready to return to Lahaina. I call BS! No one climbs out of their bunk and goes straight to the engine room. It’s coffee then topsides to check the conditions, mooring etc. I’m certain Dude was sleeping one off and didn’t even notice anything about the movement of the boat until he heard the sound of crunching coral reef and rocks against the aluminum hull. He also said that his line to the mooring buoy snapped. More BS! No one ties a luxury yacht with a dinghy painter. Dude! Time to bust out the Chapman’s and learn some seamanship, like how to properly belay a line to a cleat or tie a bowline or conduct anchor watch. Now he says he has no insurance for his yacht that he charters. Really? Who financed that? A Cartel? Probably bc insurance co immediately cancelled his policy. First news reports here in Hawaii showed bilge pumps working steadily. Next day a red puddle appeared around the hull . Dude said he sent a diver to survey the hull and they reported broken stabilizer fins. Likely source of hydraulic fluid draining into the bilge and pumped over the side, yeah? The salvage operation is challenging. I keep thinking about it. Damn we need an amphibious Travel Lift! The vessel Nakoa, formerly Lady L, formerly Fan Sea, built in 2004 by Sunseeker, draws 7 feet. I’d love to see a shot of her hauled out or the designer Don Shead’s plans of the layout below the waterline. It’s amazing the surf has been small for Honolua Bay this time of the year. The tides here don’t fluctuate that much. A tug tried to pull her off and the sound (on the video taken from ashore) of the hull grinding against the reef was sickening! They managed to move her 90 degrees and got bow pointing seaward but something in the tow line failed so they are off to Oahu for new HD gear. Meanwhile morning dawns and reveals that the swell has pushed the hull back to a side tie position against the shoreline. Did I mention that first thing USCG removed all hazardous fuels and batteries by air lifting with a helicopter? No power onboard to run a pump once they pull her free. I’m sure the salvage crew will have a generator and HD pump at the ready, and maybe a couple of stuffing box sized bungs too. Stay tuned…

The insurance company should be named and publicly shamed until they help with cleanup cost of bay, if they accepted his insurance payments. If his insurance was paid up, then why not pay. Bad publicity will cost the insurance company a lot more in the end.

Purely Factual Update: The docket report entry for on 9/13/2023 involving U.S. District Court District of Hawaii (Hawaii) Civil Docket For Case # 1:23−cv−00132−SOM−RT states, in part, “Pro Se Defendant Jim Jones (“Jones”) failed to call to participate in today’s conference.”

Defendant Mr. Raied Alfouadi’s new legal counsel in the case Demarest v. Alfouadi, Hawai’i District Court Case Number 1:22-cv-00064 has sent my legal counsel a letter also dated 9/13/2023 respectfully requesting, in part, that I “remove the online content discussed…” (which included a reference to my above post)

Personal Vantage Point and Opinion I am of the opinion it is inexcusable when insurance companies in Hawai’i (and elsewhere) obstinately refuse to pay environmental salvage and wreck removal expenses given the minimum vessel insurance requirements in Hawai’i require $500,000 of liability insurance, which is required to include salvage and wreck removals. I feel a strong moral duty to my fellow responsible boaters, and to the environment which suffers due to substantial delays in initiating a salvage operation being caused purely due to the otherwise extremely high uncertainty of skilled salvors being paid without extensive litigation, if at all, for services already rendered even though timing is a central element to success.

In the interest of protecting myself from being sued over my above post’s mixture of true facts and strongly held personal opinions of public importance, I feel it is important to clearly and publicly differentiate statements of fact from statements of my personal opinion. To further clarify this distinction: Paragraph 12 of Document 36 of a prior lawsuit (Alfouadi vs Wong, US District Court of Hawai’i Case Number 1:12-cv-00057-ACK-RLP) alleged as an operative fact, “As the two vessels came back into contact with each other, Mr. Alfouadi’s right leg was caught in between.” In the preceding statement, I am only stating as fact that the preceding operative fact had been alleged by Mr. Raied Alfouadi. Whether or not I think it would have been vastly preferable use a fender, as opposed to Mr. Alfouadi’s foot, between the two vessels (and that being on the water requires “common sense,” constant situational awareness, and personal responsibility…) feels like a fact to me but from a legal standpoint should be more properly considered as purely my personal opinion.

Lastly, in relation to my comment about the potential legal issues of a single comma if laws are to be updated following the Nakoa incident, that ironically gets even more confusing to me since my above statement was both of objective fact ( https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20180723-the-commas-that-cost-companies-millions ) and of personal opinion.

Crossing my fingers there isn’t legal retaliation for speaking my own truth and opinions but our boating community really needs to socially encourage responsible boating and fair claims handling by insurance companies; if I have made any genuine factual errors in either the above post or in this present post I truly do welcome any and all constructive criticism (and the opportunity to learn from any errors I may make, in which case I will gladly publicly state both appreciation for my opportunity to learn and that I stand corrected…).

Leave a Comment Cancel Reply

Notify me via e-mail if anyone answers my comment.

Pin the Boat on the Map Readers Accurately Locate SV ‘Freedom’ Well done, Christopher White, for correctly locating SV 'Freedom' in San Juanico (despite our best efforts to confuse everyone).

Sponsored Post Repower at Beta Marine West From engines to transmissions, propellors to exhausts and everything in between, see Beta Marine West for all your repowering solutions.

A Long, Cold, Fast Leg 11th Hour Racing at The Ocean Race Starting Line on Sunday 11th Hour Racing is set to take off on the third leg of The Ocean Race on Sunday.

From the Magazine The Day a Sailboat Changed Our Lives "I thought she was kidding — until, that is, her eyes narrowed and a chill went through me, and I'm telling you, she had a voice I'd never heard before. 'Get this boat!' she said."

Sponsored Post Mark Your Calendars for the Latitude 38 Spring Crew Party Join the Latitude Crew Party at Svendsen's Spring Fling Show on April 15-16.

Get the best experience and stay connected to your community with our Spectrum News app. Learn More

Continue in Browser

Get hyperlocal forecasts, radar and weather alerts.

Please enter a valid zipcode.

Extensive coral damage from luxury yacht that ran aground off Maui

KAPALUA, Hawaii — The Department of Land and Natural Resources Division of Aquatic Resources sent divers to the site where a luxury yacht ran aground off Maui and found damage to nearly 20,000 square feet of coral and live rock.

What You Need To Know

A team with the division of aquatic resources assessed damage from when the yacht ran aground and when it was dragged off the flat reef into deeper water during the intitial grounding, 19 coral colonies were damaged when the boat was dragged off the reef, two parallel scars damaged 101 coral colonies dlnr said the yacht’s owner is responsible for costs related to salvaging the yacht and damaging coral.

The yacht, Nakoa, ran aground just outside the Honolua-Mokuleia Marine Life Conservation District two weeks ago and was finally freed on Sunday after three attempts. It then sank in 800 feet of water, where it will remain. 

The four-person DAR team assessed both initial damage from when the vessel was grounded and scars from when the boat was dragged off the flat reef surface into deeper water. 

The assessment revealed that, during the initial grounding, 19 coral colonies were damaged. 

From when the boat was dragged off the reef, there are two parallel scars that extend 246 feet into the water. The first 49 feet comprises deep, trench-like scars, which are about 16 feet apart. In this area, the DAR team found 101 damaged coral colonies, and damage to live rock covering nearly 2,099 square feet. 

After DAR completed the assessment, a team with the Maui Ocean Center Marine Institute collected more than 100 fragments from damaged coral. The team plans to recover more fragments soon. The Maui Ocean Center Marine Institute will grow out the coral fragments at its lab for future coral restoration projects. 

The Maui Ocean Center Marine Institute team also identified colonies of dislodged corals that will be reattached when the weather improves. 

DLNR said the yacht’s owner is responsible for costs related to salvaging the yacht and damaging coral and live rock. The salvage company and tug company will not be held responsible for any damage. 

A final version of the assessment will be presented to the Board of Land and Natural Resources. DAR will also recommend fines and penalties for the damage. 

Michelle Broder Van Dyke  covers the Hawaiian Islands for Spectrum News Hawaii. Email her at  [email protected] .

LATEST NEWS

Maui Businessman Sued for $2M After Grounding Luxury Yacht

A business owner whose luxury yacht ran aground and leaked diesel fuel into waters off the Hawaiian island of Maui last month is being sued for more than $2 million in damages by a trust that sold him the vessel

WAILUKU, Hawaii (AP) — A business owner whose luxury yacht ran aground and leaked diesel fuel into waters off the Hawaii an island of Maui last month is being sued for more than $2 million in damages by a trust that sold him the vessel.

The lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Honolulu on Monday seeks at least $1.45 million for the loss of the yacht, which was supposed to be paid off over the course of 15 years, The Maui News reported . It also seeks at least $500,000 for salvage work and at least $500,000 for environmental damages.

Kevin and Kimberly Albert, trustees of the Albert Revocable Trust in New Mexico , filed the lawsuit against Jim Jones, his company Noelani Yacht Charters and the ship captain. It says Jones and his company used the vessel “in a grossly negligent manner” for a personal trip without seeking the approval of the trust.

The 94-foot yacht Nakoa ran aground in Honolua Bay on Feb. 20 after its mooring line snapped. Private contractors towed the ship out to sea, where it sank in about 800 feet (244 meters) of water on March 5.

The state Department of Land and Natural Resources plans to bill Jones for the $460,000 cost of salvaging the boat. It's also considering fines after the episode damaged coral reef.

The lawsuit says Jones notified the trust after the grounding that he had taken the yacht out for personal use.

Photos You Should See

It says Jones and Noelani Yacht Charters breached a purchase agreement holding the buyer responsible for any risk of loss or damage. The agreement also outlined operations, crew requirements and restricted uses.

A phone message left for Jones at Noelani Yacht Charters was not immediately returned. The company's website says it's no longer in business.

The company told The Maui News in February that “this was a family retreat with an unfortunate ending.”

Copyright 2023 The  Associated Press . All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Join the Conversation

Tags: Hawaii , Associated Press , lawsuits

Related Articles

Best states.

America 2024

Best States Rankings

• # 2 Washington
• # 4 Nebraska
• # 5 Minnesota

Health News Bulletin

Stay informed daily on the latest news and advice on health and COVID-19 from the editors at U.S. News & World Report.

You May Also Like

Why utah is the best state.

Elliott Davis Jr. May 2, 2023

The 10 Best States in America

Hardy Souls Across New England Shoveling Out After Major Snow Storm

Associated Press March 24, 2024

New York City's Mayor Cancels a Border Trip, Citing Safety Concerns in Mexico

'Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire' Is No. 1 With $45.2M, Sydney Sweeney's 'Immaculate' Lands in Fourth

Oath Keepers' Son Emerges From Traumatic Childhood to Tell His Own Story in a Long Shot Election Bid

Nevada's First Big-Game Moose Hunt Will Be Tiny as Unusual Southern Expansion Defies Climate Change

Fulton County DA Fani Willis Says Despite Efforts to Slow Down Trump Case, 'The Train Is Coming'

Associated Press March 23, 2024

Memorial Marks 210th Anniversary of Crucial Battle Between Native Americans and United States

Laurent De Brunhoff, ‘Babar’ Heir and Author, Dies at Age 98

• Beachgrit TV
• Pro Surfer Edits
• Full-Length Features
• Novelty Junk

Maui residents furious as super yacht that ran aground at Honolua Bay threatening bathymetry of “the ultimate wave, the best wave in the world” now revealed to be leaking fuel, “Major state FAIL again!”

By Derek Rielly

"Haoles should be banned from water. Everytime they around it something goes wrong. They steal it, pollute it, poison it and even drown in it."

  View this post on Instagram   A post shared by Hawaii News Report (@hawaiinewsreport)

Long read: Surf legends line up to praise reluctant surf guru Pat Curren, daddy to world champ Tom and inventor of the modern big-wave gun, “He was the King of Waimea. To this day, I’ve never seen anybody get bigger, cleaner waves or ride them so well!”

By Andy St Onge

“He was the best shaper. First guy to shape it, first guy to ride it. He was so respected, he had a cult following. He was a guru.” 

Largely illiterate Southern California surfers flock to writer’s symposium as Pulitzer Prize winner Bill Finnegan set to speak on “the North Pole of irresponsibility!”

By Chas Smith

Sit at the feet of the master.

Grave fears for iconic Hawaiian surf spot after super yacht runs aground on its pristine coral reef, “What happened at Honolua Bay is an environmental disaster!”

By The Editors

"Thanks elites. Your dream life fucks up our only life. Send dis guy back. With massive fines that go back to restoring land and water in Hawai’i."

Illicit lovers TJ Holmes and Amy Robach thumb cheating noses at World Surf League as they opt for PDA-filled Mexican beachfront bar session fueled by Pacifico!

Takes a cheater to know a cheater.

Eat beach grit spam!

• Phone This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Breaking News Alerts

Press "allow" to activate.

• Food & Dining
• Arts & Entertainment
• Real Estate
• Crime Statistics
• Local Sports
• Weather Forecast
• Surf Report
• Maui Arts & Entertainment
• Food and Dining
• On the Menu
• Visitors’ Guide
• Maui Discussion
• Reader Survey
• Upcoming Maui Events
• Map of Events
• Post an Event
• Recent Job Listings
• IMUA Discovery Garden
• Medical Minute
• Latest Maui Videos
• About Maui Now
• Contact Information
• Get the App
• Advertising
• Meet the Team

Privacy Policy | About Our Ads

• Wildfires & Recovery
• Entertainment

8 people rescued aboard foreign flagged sail boat that ran aground off Lahaina, Maui

The US Coast Guard and local agencies are responding to a foreign flagged sailing vessel that ran aground near Lahaina, Maui on Monday. Good Samaritans rescued eight people from the boat “Altego II” after it ran aground near Lahaina Harbor.

A radio distress call from the 52-foot boat was received at 12:20 p.m., Jan. 8, 2024. Coast Guard Sector Honolulu issued an urgent marine broadcast to mariners, dispatched a 45-foot Response Boat-Medium crew from Station Maui, and diverted the Coast Guard Cutter William Hart to respond to the situation.

“Due to the potential pollution threat this vessel represents to the sensitive marine environment and surrounding area, and with a heightened concern for the strong Kona winds predicted through Wednesday, the Coast Guard is proactively engaged with the vessel owner to ensure salvage and pollution removal efforts are made as quickly and safely as possible,” said Cmdr. Kristen Hahn, Sector Honolulu Response department head.

Good Samaritan vessels operating in the area were able to safely transport eight people, including five children, to Lahaina, Maui. No injuries were reported.

The Coast Guard reports that the agency and the Hawaiʻi Department of Land and Natural Resources are ensuring the responsible party is taking the appropriate actions to salvage and minimize any potential impacts to the environmentally sensitive area around Lahaina. No wildlife impacts have been reported or observed at this time, according to the USCG.

A separate grounding of an 84-foot boat was reported during severe weather in south Maui on Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2024. Images from that incident are available online .

Sponsored Content

Subscribe to our Newsletter

• Send Me Daily Updates
• Send Me Weekly Updates

• Maui Business
• Maui Sports
• Letters to the Editor
• Maui Activities
• Official Visitors’ Guide
• About Our Ads
• Terms of Service

Facebook YouTube Twitter Instagram

• Print Replica
• Election 2024
• Russia Attacks Ukraine
• Red Hill Water Crisis
• Crime in Hawaii
• America in Turmoil
• Traffic Map
• Photo Galleries
• Homeless in Hawaii
• Volcanic Ash
• Latest Sports News
• TV & Radio
• Sports Blogs
• Hawaii Prep World
• Hawaii Warrior World
• Letters to the Editor
• Submit a Letter to the Editor
• Arts & Entertainment
• State Legals
• Political Cartoons
• Classifieds
• Star Channels
• Hawaii Renovation
• Email Newsletters
• Corrections
• Special Sections
• Partner Content
• Partner Videos
• Web Push Notifications
• Mobile Apps
• Privacy Policy
• Terms of Service
• Activate Digital Account
• Forgot Password
• Customer Service

• Sunday, March 24, 2024
• Today's Paper

PHOTO GALLERIES

Salvage ship attempts to free grounded luxury yacht off maui.

MORE PHOTO GALLERIES

Back in the Day: Photos from Hawaii’s Past

Hawaii baseball hosts San Diego State

No. 18 Cal State Northridge upsets No. 2 Hawaii

Office space conversions fuel downtown Honolulu investment cycle

Hawaii baseball opens series with San Diego State

Advocates rally for increased child care support

Hawaii beats Cal State Northridge in Big West men’s volleyball

Red Hill Community Representation Initiative discusses water crisis

Bank of Hawaii hosts ‘Food Truck Day’ in downtown Honolulu

Looking back.

March 30, 1959: Plans to develop 'model city' on Oahu called Hawaii Kai announced

Maui officials: Luxury yacht that ran aground at marine sanctuary now leaking fuel

Local soccer community remembers the children of Manoa family murders

The land board approves a DOT project to build a large offshore revetment near Kaaawa Beach Park

This Is Now

Midday Newscast: World reacts after Princess of Wales unveils diagnosis

Congress unveils $1.2T plan to avert federal shutdown and bring budget fight to a close

Former MPI Owl Kiner-Falefa settles in up north

Hawaii lawmakers doubt Maui County can impartially investigate fires

Green Point beach near Yamba littered with debris after abandoned boat runs aground

A remote beach near Yamba on the New South Wales north coast is littered with debris and diesel after a boat ran aground and was smashed to pieces in the surf overnight.

Witnesses said the boat was abandoned by its occupants as they were attempting to cross the Clarence River bar around lunchtime on Monday. 

NSW Road and Maritime said the occupants were evacuated from the vessel by a NSW Marine Rescue crew.

Angourie resident Oli Coe said he later saw the vessel adrift about 2 kilometres offshore.

He watched the boat throughout the day and at one point saw another vessel alongside it.

He said someone boarded vessel and put out its anchor.

"As the wind got up through the rest of the afternoon, we watched the boat drifting and dragging on its anchor and eventually it just dragged way too far and ended up on the beach," Mr Coe said.

At one stage Mr Coe and two friends used jetskis to get out to the boat to see if they could do anything to help.

He said he could not understand why it was not salvaged before it ran aground near Green Point.

"There was definitely some damage to the boat but it was in perfectly good condition [before that]," Mr Coe said.

Clean-up concerns

Locals spent Tuesday morning on the beach, dragging piles of debris above the high tide mark in a bid to ensure it is not taken back out to sea with the next high tide on Tuesday evening. 

Angourie resident Kim Wood said the usually pristine beach at Green Point looked like a "rubbish dump".

"I'm looking at kilometres of debris," she said.

"There is timber, there is oil cans, jerry cans full of diesel, so much plastic, and everything is soaked in diesel.

"You can still see all debris in the ocean."

Ms Wood said the area was home to a wide range of birdlife including oyster catchers and curlews.

Too dangerous to tow

NSW Maritime said the boat was deemed too dangerous for authorities to board or tow.

Senior boating safety officer Bret Ryan said authorities needed to put safety first.

"Marine Rescue revisited the boat several times on Monday, and eventually the Water Police came from Coffs Harbour," Mr Ryan said.

"They came to the same conclusion that it was too dangerous."

"At that point the vessel was secure and the hope was it would remain in that position but unfortunately that didn't happen."

Mr Ryan said the main hazard on the beach was from any sharp objects that might remain buried in the sand.

ABC North Coast — local news in your inbox

• X (formerly Twitter)

Related Stories

Lone sailor, 70, winched to safety after yacht slams into 65m cliffs at flinders island.

Luxury Kimberley charter boat runs aground off coast ahead of tourist season

• Maritime Accidents and Incidents
• South Grafton

• Link copied! Clipboard

Watch: The moments after a boat crashes along the Sanibel Causeway

According to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, the vessel’s sole occupant, Isreal Rogner of Punta Gorda, was transported to the hospital and is being treated for injuries.

LCSO Marine Unit is on scene of a boat crash at the Sanibel Causeway. FWC is the lead investigative agency. pic.twitter.com/46O1U9e3FV window.zone_load_1206482514 = function(z, d) { if (!d.count) document.getElementById('zone_load_1206482514').style.display = 'none'; }; — Carmine Marceno – Florida’s Law and Order Sheriff (@SheriffLeeFL) March 21, 2024

• Community News
• On The Campaign Trail
• Hawaii News
• National News
• International News
• Local Sports
• Sports Spotlight
• Hawaii Sports
• National Sports
• As Maui Dines
• Bald-Headed Truth
• Letters to the Editor
• Spice of Life
• Latest Movies
• Island Events
• Scenemakers
• Side Orders
• Classifieds
• Print Ad Directory
• Browse notices
• Place a notice
• Terms of Service
• Submit News

• Today's Paper

Removal of grounded boat near historic site begins

Vessel ran aground in lahaina harbor two months ago.

Lahaina mom Julie Cambier watches daughter Madison surf at Lahaina Harbor on the afternoon of April 18, while the 56-foot motorboat Kuuipo remains grounded in the background. The boat drifted onto the rocks near a significant historical cultural site, the Hauola stone, on March 8. The state Department of Land and Natural Resources Division of Boating and Ocean Recreation took control of the boat later in the month and started work to remove it on Tuesday. Cambier was too busy watching her daughter to pay much attention to the eyesore. “I’m enjoying watching Madison surf a pretty uncrowded lineup,” Cambier said. The Maui News / MATTHEW THAYER photo

The Maui News

Nearly two months after its grounding at Lahaina Harbor, the vessel Kuuipo is being removed this week, beginning with the placement of large sandbags between the boat and the culturally significant Hauola stone (birthing stone), which is less than 8 feet away.

The state Department of Land and Natural Resources said that the 56-foot motorboat grounded on March 8. Ten days later, the DLNR Division of Boating and Ocean Recreation informed boat owner Vernon Ray Lindsey of Wailuku it was taking control of the vessel and was hiring a contractor to move it to a safe location, according to a DLNR news release.

On Tuesday, the salvage crew from D&D Towing successfully pulled the boat parallel to the seawall and plans on cutting the cabin from the boat next.

Lindsey was previously informed to stay “well away” from the Hauola stone due to its cultural and historical significance, the department said. Before DOBOR took over the salvage project, a contractor hired by Lindsey had refloated the Kuuipo, which brought it closer to its current location near the birthing stone, the department said.

Work began Tuesday to remove the 56-foot motorboat Kuuipo that’s been grounded in Lahaina Harbor since March 8. A salvage crew pulled the boat parallel to the seawall on Tuesday and was working to cut the cabin from the boat. Photo courtesy DLNR

This is the only birthing stone on Maui that’s in the water. Before the arrival of Western settlers, ali’i gathered around the stone when a chiefess was giving birth, according to DLNR.

On Tuesday morning, cultural practitioner Ke’eaumoku Kapu and his wife Uilani stood watch as the sandbags were put into position. Since there’s little information about the Hauola stone, the couple said this is a good opportunity to learn more about it and “make people care about protecting this treasure of Hawaiian culture.”

“To Hawaiians, Hauola stone carries the same kind of significance that Plymouth Rock had to America’s first settlers,” Kapu said in the news release. “A silver lining to this grounding is that it’s brought needed attention to Hauola and our desire to educate and inform people about its cultural significance.”

The salvage operation is expected to last up to three days. On Thursday, the salvage crew plans to lift what remains of the vessel onto shore, where it will be trucked away.

Recent groundings in West Maui have raised concerns among community members over risks to the natural environment and sites of cultural and historical significance.

In February, a 94-foot luxury yacht broke free of its mooring and grounded along the rocky shoreline of Honolua Bay. The yacht was removed after nearly two weeks and multiple attempts, leaving a swath of damaged coral in its wake.

In early March, two boats broke loose from moorings due to strong winds in Lahaina, prompting DLNR to advise mariners to secure their boats.

“The majority of boat owners are responsible, but recent actions by a few have harmed Hawai’i’s natural and cultural resources,” DLNR Deputy Director Laura Kaakua said in March. “Damage to our reefs and cultural sites is unacceptable. DLNR is exploring ways to enforce responsible ownership to protect our ocean environment.”

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox

• Daily Newsletter
• Breaking News

The Community Page

The Maui News Community pages are published every weekend. We welcome news releases about Maui County schools, ...

Pet of the Week

Local briefs.

Kahului Hongwanji to host bazaar today Kahului Hongwanji will host its annual Spring Bazaar from 7 to 11 a.m. ...

Trinity by the Sea Holy Week services set

March 24th, Palm Sunday, 9 a.m. — Blessing of Palms and Procession, Passion Gospel and Eucharist (Bishop ...

Volunteers sought for April 2 service trip at Haleakala National Park

Hulihia sets its sights on helping to revitalize lahaina.

Pūpūkāhi‘i holomua —Unite in order to progress. This ‘olelo no‘eau is the touchstone for an ambitious ...

Support Local Journalism on Maui

Only $99/year

Subscribe today.

• Our Supporters

Honolulu Salary Commission Considers Expanding Its Powers

The Clock Is Ticking For Hawaii To Commit Its Remaining Federal Coronavirus Funds

Ben Lowenthal: The Surprising Persistence Of Conservatism In True Blue Hawaii

$159M Job To Clean Up Lahaina’s Commercial District Begins 7 Months After Fires

This State Agency Transformed Kakaako. Should It Do The Same For Lahaina?

• Special Projects
• Mobile Menu

Salvaging Shipwrecks Is A Tough Business. Just Ask The Company That Towed The Maui Yacht

The crashed vessel in Honolua and a wave of groundings during last week's storms put a focus on just how hard it is to haul away grounded boats.

The crashed vessel in Honolua and a wave of groundings during last week’s storms put a focus on just how hard it is to haul away grounded boats.

As a fierce storm swept through the islands last week, Maui residents’ social media feeds were filled with photos of all the boats that had been wrecked.

In West Maui, two sailboats were stuck in the shallow water at the north end of Front Street. Less than 2 miles away, a large motorboat was lodged into the reef outside Lahaina Harbor. On the other side of the island, another watercraft crashed onto the beach in north Kihei. 

It’s not uncommon for boats to wash ashore in bad weather on Maui. But last week’s wave of groundings drew more attention, having occurred days after a marine salvaging company had finally hauled away a luxury yacht that crashed outside of one of Maui’s most beloved marine sanctuaries. 

Because of its sheer mass and the location where it ran aground on the rocky coastline at Honolua Bay, the high-profile effort to free the 94-foot, 120-ton yacht put a spotlight on the marine salvage industry — and the challenges facing the people tasked with recovering wrecked ships.

Marine salvage operations often come with a dangerous combination of waves, wind, reefs, rocks and slippery vessels weighing thousands of pounds that are constantly being jostled around. Then, even after salvors succeed in freeing them, complications can arise when trying to get insurance companies to cover the cost — or waiting on boat owners or the state government to pay up when that doesn’t happen.

Hawaii also has a limited number of marine salvage companies, and most of them are located on Oahu.

“I, too, didn’t appreciate how difficult this was,” Dawn Chang, who heads the state Department of Land and Natural Resources, said in a video statement after the yacht was finally hauled away from Honolua Bay on March 5.

The agency struggled to find a company with the experience and equipment to take on one of the most logistically challenging and politically charged marine salvage jobs in recent Hawaii history. 

High Risk Operations

In general, boat owners are responsible for paying to clear wrecked vessels, but the DLNR may intervene to expedite the process, as it did in the case of the yacht.

DLNR hired the Oahu-based Visionary Marine company for $460,000 to haul away the yacht operated by Noelani Yacht Charters. The owner of the company, Jim Jones, has said that he plans to pay the state back. The government also has warned it will “aggressively pursue” the payment. After two weeks on the reef, the ship was scuttled after taking on water during the tow .

Because of the physically — and financially — volatile nature of the job, the industry is a tough one to make it in.

Michael Parker, who runs Oahu-based Parker Marine Towing and Salvage, which often responds to wrecks on Maui, said he has been working in the industry for decades and is acutely aware of the hardships that come with it.

When jobs start, there are the dangers that come with working underwater, often in surf zones where boats crash. It also requires getting your timing to free a ship just right; otherwise the tides, wind and waves can stand in the way of success.

“I’ve only gotten hurt once, when I ripped my thumb off,” Parker said. “I’ve been doing it my lifetime … so more than 1,000 wrecks. I expected to get hurt sometime.”

Related Articles

Yacht Fuel Spill In Maui’s Honolua Bay Prompts Calls For Reform

Maui Yacht Owner: ‘I Didn’t Know What I Was Getting Into’

He also cited financial uncertainties, saying salvors risk not getting “paid a dime” even after spending hours on a job if they aren’t able to haul a ship away, thanks to a fundamental part of salvage law known as “no cure-no pay .” Even when jobs go right, there’s a risk that the vessel owners’ insurance companies will try to fight reimbursement.

“To get paid, it’s a game every time,” said Parker. “Basically, the only way to make it work is you have a relationship with (insurance companies), and that takes a lot of work. It takes some years to have a relationship with the people where they can see a long track record of success.”

In the past, Parker has been stiffed on jobs — he estimates having lost tens of thousands of dollars over the years — when vessel owners didn’t have proper insurance or the cash to pay the cost. For him, it never made sense to go to court because a jury trial might run more than the job itself. 

Instead, Parker has focused on the surest way to get reimbursed — by being vetted ahead of time by an insurance company so that, as soon as a wreck happens, the insurance company sends him to respond.

‘Is It Really Worth It?’

In marine salvage, timing is key. If a boat runs aground at a high tide, for example, pulling it out within hours can save days worth of struggles and damage to the vessel when the tide goes out.

In the wake of the grounding at Honolua Bay, that’s been a big focus for Maui County officials: Pushing reforms to prevent vessel groundings and ensuring that, when they are stuck, the situation can be addressed quickly, before it worsens or fuel spills into the sea.

“Many folks have reached out about these private boats wrecked at Kihei, Lahaina and Mala,” council member Tamara Paltin, of West Maui, said in a statement on Facebook last week. “We are reaching out to the authorities, this is part of the systemic changes we are seeking because practically every Kona storm there’s boats breaking their mooring and it is unacceptable.”

Elected officials and local mariners agree that the solutions are multifold. On the front end, they say harbor officials and DLNR need to step up enforcement to ensure that boats have proper insurance and are legally moored with the right equipment.

With the looming threat of worsening storms as the climate changes, some Maui residents worry that groundings will increase in the years to come. At the same time, as the superyacht industry has exploded across the globe, some mariners and Maui officials say that special attention needs to be paid to the large boats that have the potential to cause even more damage.  

And since most of the marine salvage companies and their resources are on Oahu, Maui officials are exploring ways to buy a towing vessel to be housed on the Valley Isle or at least put on retainer private companies contracted to respond to shipwrecks at a moment’s notice.

But after what happened in Honolua Bay, there’s also a new concern that salvage companies might avoid tough jobs because of the hostility from armchair marine salvage experts who flood social media with criticism. In a statement, the Save Honolua Coalition wrote that a “fear of mob mentality and possible backlash” made it hard to find companies to help free the yacht that crashed outside of one of Maui’s most beloved marine sanctuaries. 

“I took a huge risk, and there’s all this backlash,” said Randy Cates, the owner of Visionary Marine, the company hired to haul the Nakoa from Honolua Bay. “Is it really worth it?” 

“I’m worried about operating in an environment where nobody wants to do the work,” he added.

Cates has been in the business for decades, and these days he only works on the major salvage jobs, like the one in Honolua Bay. He said only a couple companies in Hawaii have the bandwidth to take on a project of that scale. It was such a massive undertaking that he had to team up with Foss Marine and Sause Brothers to bring in another tractor tug boat and other equipment to get the job done. 

Cates said every decision was carefully calculated. Although there were airbags on the inside of the vessel to help it float, some people criticized him for not putting airbags on the outside. However, he said those would’ve needed to be fastened with rope, something that could easily catch on the reef. 

Others wondered why he didn’t fill the hull with foam to keep it from sinking once pulled off the rocks. Cates said there simply wasn’t time since the forecast called for a Kona Low to sweep across the island. The last time he undertook a similar job, he said, filling the hull took more than two months. 

The holes in the yacht’s hull were so big that “you could drive a golf cart through one of them,” Cates said, adding that the only hope was hauling it into deep water before it spurred a new crisis. And the state wanted it gone as soon as possible.

“We got it out,” Cates said during a recent interview. “And today, there’s 50 foot surf — where would we be right now? If that boat broke apart, it would have debris all the way to Lahaina.”

Civil Beat’s coverage of Maui County is supported in part by grants from the Nuestro Futuro Foundation and the Fred Baldwin Memorial Foundation.

--> Sign up for our FREE morning newsletter and face each day more informed. --> Sign up for our FREE morning newsletter and face each day more informed.

What does it mean to be a nonprofit newsroom.

As a nonprofit, all of our news is free.  We have no subscriber paywall and accept no advertising revenue from businesses, which gives us the freedom to remain independent.

If our journalism is free to access for everyone, you might ask,  how do we produce the Civil Beat journalism you’ve come to know and trust? The most sustainable way we operate is through individual donations.

Become a member today and support our work all year-round with a $10 monthly gift. Because there’s so much more work to be done.

About the Author

Top Stories

John Hill: The Strange, Slipshod Demise Of Hawaii’s Pay Phones

Beth Fukumoto: Lawmakers Need A Better Plan For Figuring Out The Cost Of Legislation

The Sunshine Blog: A Journalistic No-No, Pot Promises And The Prince

Leprosy Is On The Rise In The US And Elsewhere

John Pritchett: Art Attack

The Weekly News Quiz: March 22

Get in-depth reporting on hawaii’s biggest issues, sign up for our free morning newsletter.

You're officially signed up for our daily newsletter, the Morning Beat. A confirmation email will arrive shortly.

In the meantime, we have other newsletters that you might enjoy. Check the boxes for emails you'd like to receive.

• Breaking News Alerts What's this? Be the first to hear about important news stories with these occasional emails.
• Special Projects & Investigations What's this? You'll hear from us whenever Civil Beat publishes a major project or investigation.
• Environment What's this? Get our latest environmental news on a monthly basis, including updates on Nathan Eagle's 'Hawaii 2040' series.
• Ideas What's this? Get occasional emails highlighting essays, analysis and opinion from IDEAS, Civil Beat's commentary section.

Inbox overcrowded? Don't worry, you can unsubscribe or update your preferences at any time.

• International edition
• Australia edition
• Europe edition

‘Cruel’: the supreme court could send one-time abortion deserts like Hawaii back in time

States in which abortion is legal but was long inaccessible have benefitted from the FDA’s expansion of a key abortion drug

• Explainer: the mifepristone case
• Tell us: have you used an abortion pill in the US?

T hey treated a patient who had wanted to get pregnant, but decided to get an abortion rather than have a child with her abusive partner. They treated patients who had lost their houses in the 2023 Maui fires, found themselves homeless and pregnant, and wanted abortions. They treated patients who got pregnant after someone tampered with their birth control and patients who could not afford to take time off work to have an abortion.

Colleen Bass and Sharon Offley, two certified nurse midwives from Hawaii , were able to do all of that because the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) decided, over the last decade, to expand the availability of a common abortion pill.

Bass and Offley run a full-spectrum women’s healthcare clinic on the small Hawaiian island of Kauai. Adding abortion services in 2021, as the FDA’s rules around the pill evolved, was “kind of a no-brainer”, Offley said.

“It felt like a moral obligation,” she said. “As our community became aware of our services, we became aware that there was a much greater demand and a need for abortion services than we had even known previously.”

But now, the US supreme court , nearly 5,000 miles away from Bass and Offley’s idyllic practice a block from the Pacific Ocean, could jeopardize the future of their work.

On Tuesday, the court will hear arguments in a case about mifepristone, one of two drugs commonly used in a US medication abortion. It is the first major abortion case to make it back to the nation’s highest court since its 6-3 conservative majority ruled in 2022 to overturn Roe v Wade , and its outcome could severely restrict the availability of medication abortion – a regimen that now accounts for 63% of all US abortions, according to data released this week by the Guttmacher Institute.

The rightwing anti-abortion groups who filed the case have argued that the FDA overstepped its authority when it first approved mifepristone for use in abortions in 2000, but the supreme court will focus on later measures, taken by the FDA in 2016 and 2021, that significantly expanded access to the drug.

Those measures permitted healthcare providers other than doctors to prescribe mifepristone. They also eased restrictions that had forced patients to pick mifepristone up in person from facilities that had to meet arduous certification requirements. Today, patients can receive mifepristone through telemedicine as well as pick it up at their everyday pharmacies.

If the supreme court rewinds these measures, many people will likely have to go to much greater lengths to end their pregnancies. The availability of abortion in the US would plummet, abortion providers and their supporters told the Guardian – even in states where abortion remains legal, such as Hawaii.

“If the supreme court overrides the FDA and reinstates the in-person dispensing requirements, there is no doubt that some prescribers who are currently offering this essential medication to their patients will no longer be able to do so,” said Julia Kaye, senior staff attorney at the ACLU’s Reproductive Freedom Project, who co-authored an amicus brief in the case. “For some patients – particularly low-income patients, people of color, folks living in rural areas and women with abusive partners – losing a telehealth option for mifepristone would mean losing access altogether.”

Providers in Hawaii already know the consequences of these restrictions, because they have lived through them.

Hawaii is a reliably Democratic state whose lawmakers have built strong state-level protections for abortion. But just because abortion is legal does not mean it is accessible – and in reality, much of watery Hawaii was an abortion “desert” even before Roe’s demise. Out of the eight major islands that make up the Hawaiian archipelago, five did not have abortion providers as of 2021. Patients often had little choice but to take an often pricey flight or boat ride to the islands of Oahu, Hawaii Island or Maui for the procedure.

Dr Graham Chelius, a family medicine doctor on Kauai, sued the US government in 2017, arguing that the FDA should loosen its rules around mifepristone, which at the time required an onerous certification process to be able to dispense the drug. Those rules meant that Chelius’s patients could not obtain medication abortions on Kauai – despite the fact that the drug has been found to be safer than Viagra.

In court documents, Chelius detailed his patients’ struggle to travel from Kauai and from its surrounding smaller islands – including an island that does not have paved roads or cellphone service, much less health care providers – to Oahu, which is roughly 100 miles away from Kauai. One woman, who already had one child and was struggling with addiction, arrived at Chelius’s office seeking an abortion. Because Chelius was blocked from giving her abortion pills, she had to travel to Oahu. The difficulty of getting there delayed the woman’s abortion by six weeks.

Medication abortions are usually performed within the first trimester of pregnancy. Instead of taking a few pills, the delay meant the woman had to undergo a surgical abortion.

“It also required her to bear the costs of staying on Oahu – in a hotel, away from her home and her family – overnight,” Chelius wrote in court documents. “This was utterly unaffordable for her.”

Other patients could not swing the trip.

“We had cases where women carried pregnancies to term against their will, despite extraordinary measures that we went through at the time to try to get people to travel to Oahu to access women’s healthcare,” Chelius said in an interview.

Because of the complex nature of the case, there are a dizzying array of possible outcomes. The court could reverse the rules that allowed telehealth abortion. It could narrow the range of providers permitted to prescribe mifepristone. Retail pharmacies, like CVS and Walgreens, which just recently began dispensing the pill, could lose their ability to stock it.

The anti-abortion activists who brought the lawsuit against the FDA have argued in court papers that in-person visits are necessary to properly assess the age of a pregnancy and to diagnose ectopic pregnancies, or doomed pregnancies that cannot be treated through an abortion. Over the last decade, they say, the FDA has erased important safeguards without the data to back up their decisions.

But more than 100 studies of mifepristone, conducted across multiple countries, have all concluded that the drug can be safely used to terminate a pregnancy. The World Health Organization has laid out a protocol for people to use the drug to “self-manage” their own abortions, without any doctor supervision. And out of more than 6,000 telemedicine abortions conducted in the United States between 2021 and 2022, fewer than 1% reported serious adverse reactions, according to a study released last month .

“This will have a really profound impact everywhere and probably a disproportionate impact on our island, because of the necessity moving forward for basically everyone seeking an abortion to have to get on an airplane and fly,” Offley said. “Seeking an abortion for any reason – undesired pregnancy, rape, incest, fetal anomaly. There’d be no distinction. That service would disappear.”

T he FDA decided in 2021, amid the coronavirus pandemic, to allow providers to offer telemedicine abortions. That change became permanent in 2023. The decision gave rise to a new kind of provider: the entirely virtual abortion clinic. Such clinics service women all over the country, helping offset the impact of the state abortion bans that effectively shuttered all of the brick-and-mortar clinics in more than a dozen red states.

In September 2023, providers performed almost 14,000 abortions via telehealth – 16% of all abortions in the country. Some of these abortions were legally provided even to people who live in the 16 states with near-total abortion bans, under “shield laws”. On the books in a handful of states, these statutes essentially commit states to protecting providers who prescribe and ship pills to people in states with restrictions.

Virtual clinics can be a critical release valve for brick-and-mortar clinics, which are often booked out for weeks in advance by patients fleeing states with abortion bans. “The biggest thing was time,” one 32-year-old telehealth abortion patient from Oregon told researchers in a 2023 study of telemedicine abortions. “[Clinics were] booked out for weeks, and I didn’t want to wait weeks.” Another patient, a 21-year-old also from Oregon, added: “I couldn’t afford a surgical or medical abortion from the clinic. [Telehealth care] is half the price of abortions where I live.”

“More than half of our patients are getting their medications delivered to their doorstep within 48 hours of engaging with our website,” said Dr Jamie Phifer, a family medicine doctor and medical director for Abortion on Demand, a virtual clinic that ships abortion pills to more than a dozen states where abortion is legal. “The time between knowing you want an abortion and getting an abortion – that can be torture for people.”

Phifer, like many representatives from other virtual clinics interviewed by the Guardian, did not know exactly what they would do if the supreme court moves to curtail access to mifepristone. One virtual clinic – Lilith Care, which serves Hawaii, Rhode Island and Massachusetts – would likely shut down altogether, the nurse-midwife behind the service said.

Typically, US medication abortions include doses of both mifepristone and a second drug, misoprostol. Depending on the justices’ eventual ruling, Abortion on Demand might switch to offering misoprostol-only abortions. Those abortions are safe and effective, but less effective than abortions performed using a combination of mifepristone and misoprostol. They can also be more painful.

“I think it’s frankly cruel to women when you know that a safe, effective method with mifepristone and misoprostol has been around for more than 23 years,” Phifer said. “And now you’re forcing them into a misoprostol-only regimen, which is three doses of a medication that makes you feel like absolute shit and results in a much more prolonged process.”

Bass and Offley have also debated moving to offering misoprostol-only abortions, a pivot that they called, in unison: “ludicrous”.

“It just seems so crazy that we’re even faced with this,” Bass said.

• US supreme court
• Reproductive rights

Most viewed