Our illustrious Govern de les Illes Balears is in the midst of holding the II Jornades de Seguretat a les Platges (2nd International Forum on Beach Safety) at the stylish Centro Riskal. Whilst Palma’s new Palau de Congressos with its seafront location is nowhere near completion yet, the Riskal conference centre is quite a long way away from the nearest beach.

According to the press information, the international forum deals with beach lifeguard rescue services in a wider context, as a part of a more complex system of public safety on a local, national and international level. Attendants to the meeting were welcomed last Wednesday night at the Castell Sant Carles, Palma’s harbour fortress. Today, a guest speaker from Honolulu (Hawaii, USA) will give a presentation at the conference venue on The Hawaiian model of lifeguard rescue service on beaches: Honolulu City & County Lifeguards. Sadly, the director of Life Guard operations in Oahu, Hawaii (Ralph Goto) could not attend as envisaged, instead he will be filled in by the equally able Ka’ala Souza, also from Hawaii.

Ka’ala Souza is an expert in surfing, body-boarding, fishing, diving and paddling and has been working with the Oahu Ocean Safety Division. Since he arrived on our island last Tuesday, he has already discovered many good things in common between Mallorca and Hawaii. From his own website I was allowed to borrow a photo (below) that I wanted to share with you, entitled Aohe hana nui ke alu ia (No task is too big when done together).

I hope Ka’ala will make it back home safely to Hawaii, in good time for this year’s Triple Crown of Surfing competition, starting November 12th (next Thursday).

The photo (top) was chosen from my archive. It was taken near Colònia de Sant Jordi, Mallorca, Baleares, Spain. The date: August 20th, 2009. The time was 13:10:16. The photo (bottom) was taken from the Internet, courtesy of Ka’ala Souza.

Mahalo and many thanks.