By STEPHANIE SALMONS Hawaii Tribune-Herald | Thursday, February 7, 2019, 12:05 a.m.
Pahoa resident Linda Berry steps out of the swimming pool at Pahoa Community Aquatic Center after being the first person to get in Wednesday after it was reopened.
HOLLYN JOHNSON/Tribune-Herald Lifeguard Cassandra Beccia gets a hug from Naomi Powers at the Pahoa Community Aquatic Center Wednesday after the pool’s reopening.
HOLLYN JOHNSON/Tribune-Herald A lifeguard talks to swimmers at the Pahoa Community Aquatic Center Wednesday after the pool’s reopening.
For the first time in months, swimmers glided through the water at the Pahoa Community Aquatic Center on Wednesday morning.
Others made a literal splash as they jumped off the diving board, and at the opposite end of the pool a small group began their aquatic exercises.
The pool reopened following a blessing ceremony Wednesday, nine months after it closed because of last year’s Kilauea eruption in lower Puna.
The pool’s showers served as hygiene stations for evacuees at the emergency shelter established at Pahoa District Park, and repairs were needed because of damage caused by the eruption.
The comment was met with cheers. Dozens of people gathered for the reopening, many ready with their swimming gear.
“Thank you very much for coming out on this momentous day, I’m sure everyone is very, very happy that we finally get to open doors again, and you guys get to go back into the pool,” said Parks and Recreation Director Roxcie Waltjen.
In addition to cleaning Pele’s hair, or fine threads of volcanic glass, Waltjen said cracks along the bottom of the pool and sidewalks were repaired, and “some of the major workings within the pumps” were replaced.
“But today? Today you get to swim,” she said.
Linda Berry of Pahoa was among the swimmers eager to make her way into the aquatic center and was the first to enter the water.
Her excitement was almost tangible when she spoke.
Berry said not having the pool meant a “much higher gas budget” for the commute to Hilo to swim.
“It’s just so much more relaxed here. … I don’t know how to put it, it’s just an energy here that’s not at the Hilo pool,” said Berry.
Dianne McDaniel of Orchidland said she was “ecstatic” to return to the pool, where she does water aerobics.
Having the pool closed for so long was sad, but McDaniel said she understood why.
Her grandson, Zanth McDaniel, also of Orchidland, was happy to have the pool open again and grateful for the work that went into it.
Waltjen told the Tribune-Herald in December the repairs cost $146,000, but the Federal Emergency Management Agency is expected to cover most of the expense since it’s related to the eruption.
“My happiness is 10 times greater when I see … how happy the people are to have their pool back so they can get back into their exercise routines, and, you know, bring their grandchildren down,” Waltjen said after the blessing.
It is the first of many steps that will be taken to repair Pahoa District Park’s facilities for public use following its use as a temporary evacuation center.
Waltjen said Parks and Recreation will work to re-sod the fields one at a time and also redo the gymnasium floor.
The Pahoa pool will operate on an adjusted schedule until two vacant lifeguard positions are filled. It will be open 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday.