Hawaiian television station KGMP obtained the air traffic control tapes from the Feb. 13 flight where two go! airlines pilots allegedly fell asleep on the job, overshooting Hilo by 15 miles before backtracking and landing safely. On the tapes, neither pilot responds for 32 minutes. 

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The go! flight from Honolulu to Hilo last week overshot the airport by 15 miles, then backtracked and landed safely. The Federal Aviation Administration—and presumably everyone else who flies—wants to know how it could have happened. Anderson Cooper has an interesting theory: It’s all about the exclamation mark in go! airlines. 

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Tourist visits to Kauai reached record numbers last year: 1.27 million people made the trip to the Garden Island. A slew of construction projects—many around the resorts of Poipu—are in the works. Locals are worrying about the future. Writes Laura Bly in USA Today: “[O]ver the past few years, as tourism kicked into high gear and the island’s 63,000 residents wound down from rebuilding efforts following 1992’s devastating Category 4 Hurricane Iniki, frustration levels have swelled like north shore surf during a winter storm.”

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The saga of the Hawaii Superferry continues. The controversial 350-foot catamaran will resume operating in about two weeks, its CEO has announced. The ferry began carrying passengers and cars between a few Hawaiian islands last summer, offering an alternative to jet travel between islands, but it hasn’t operated for weeks as attorneys and officials debated its future. Environmentalists believe the ferry will harm whales, among other things. 

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The top of its Web site still proclaims, “We’re Ready to Go! All Aboard! It’s Time to Set Sail.” But Hawaii Superferry, the first-of-its-kind ferry service between three Hawaiian islands, isn’t setting sail today. After protesters blocked the ferry from entering a harbor on Kauai Monday and a state court temporarily barred the ferry from operating in Maui, the ferry has ceased all service, at least for the moment.

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We noted that surfers protesting the new Hawaii Superferry blocked the giant catamaran from entering Kauai’s harbor for more than an hour Sunday. That was just the beginning of the ferry’s troubles. On Monday, according to Honolulu Advertiser, more than 50 surfers, swimmers and kayakers forced the ferry to turn back from Kauai’s Nawiliwili Harbor without docking. What’s more, a judge blocked the Superferry from using Maui’s Kahului Harbor, prompting the company to suspend trips to and from Maui. 

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Island-hopping Hawaii visitors now have a new way to get from Oahu to Maui or Kauai besides flying: the Hawaii Superferry Alakai, a giant catamaran that can haul 866 people and 282 cars. But not everyone is overjoyed with the new travel option. Hundreds protested the launch of the Superferry yesterday, including surfers who paddled out into the water, blocking the ferry from entering Lihue harbor in Kauai for more than an hour.

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Iconic destinations in Italy, Australia, California and the Pacific Ocean are at the top of travelers’ minds this week, as well as a topic that’s more controversial than Hillary Clinton. Here’s the Zeitgeist. 

Most E-Mailed Travel Story
New York Times (current)
36 Hours in the Cinque Terre, Italy

Most Read Feature
World Hum (posted this week)
The Lost World of Nigeria

Most E-Mailed Travel Story
USA Today (current)
Through the Roof: A Tour of the Country’s Priciest Hotel Suite
* The cost to stay in the Ty Warner Penthouse at the Four Seasons New York? $30,000 a night. 

Most Viewed Travel Story
Telegraph UK (current)
Exploring the Great Barrier Reef

Most Read Weblog Post
World Hum (posted this week)
Voluntourism: ‘Overpriced Guilt Trips’ or a ‘Real Chance to Save the World’?

“Hot This Week” Destination
Yahoo! (this week)
Hawaii

Most Viewed Travel Post
BlogHer (current)
The W Hotel: Form over Function?

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The Hawaiian icon—you may have seen it on a T-shirt or a bottle of wine or, perhaps, in your own photo just like the one above—will undergo a multi-million dollar makeover to, among other things, improve safety around the volcanic crater. Diamond Head has apparently been doing what geological formations are known to do: shed rocks. In May, according to the Honolulu Advertiser, a rockfall injured a woman who was picnicking at the base of Diamond Head.

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This week we’ve got mountain bikers, the best beaches in the U.S., passport blunders and the return of Bill Bryson. Here’s the Zeitgiest.

Most Popular Travel Story
Netscape (this week)
Top 10 U.S. Beaches
* No. 1 on the list from “Dr. Beach”: Ocracoke Island, North Carolina (pictured)

“Hot This Week” Destination
Yahoo! (this week)
Hilo, Hawaii

Most E-Mailed Travel Story
New York Times (current)
Where Mountain Bikers Carved Their Dream Terrain
* Not Moab, Utah. Fruita, Colorado.

Most Read Weblog Post
World Hum (this week)
U.S. Plans Temporary Waiver of Passport Policy*

Most Viewed Travel Story
Los Angeles Times (current)
Diary of a Trip Through U.S. Passport Application Limbo
From the writer, travel editor Catharine Hamm: “A travel editor without a passport is like Paris Hilton without a party.”

Most E-Mailed Travel Story
USA Today (current)
Hertz, Avis Add Hybrids to Fleets
* Each rental car company says it will have 1,000 Toyota Priuses in its fleet by the end of the month.

Top Travel and Adventure Audiobook
iTunes (current)
A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson

Best Selling Travel Book
Amazon.com (current)
Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman’s Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia by Elizabeth Gilbert
* Still unstoppable.

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Kelly Slater, Billy Graham and Harry Potter all make the Zeitgeist this week as travelers contemplate Hawaiian surf, learning to speak French, Planet Theme Park and the alleged return of the Loch Ness monster.

Most Viewed Travel Story
Los Angeles Times (current)
Q&A: Eight-Time World Champion Surfer Kelly Slater
* He says the sight of the heavens from Mauna Kea (pictured) is probably the best view in Hawaii.

Most E-Mailed Travel Story
New York Times (current)
36 Hours in Florence

Most Read Weblog Post
World Hum (this week)
Harry Potter, Billy Graham Get Theme Parks

Most E-Mailed Travel Story
USA Today (current)
Travelers Face Frustrating Passport Delays
* Earlier on World Hum: U.S. Passports in Demand: Lines Look ‘Like a Rolling Stones Concert 25 Years Ago’

Most Popular Page Tagged Travel
Del.icio.us (recent)
Panoramio
* The site allows users “to locate photos exactly over the place they were taken.” It’s also being acquired by Google.

Most Popular Travel Podcast
iTunes (current)
National Geographic’s Atmosphere
* The pitch: “It’s not quite as cool as teletransporting, but it’s close.”

“Hot This Week” Destination
Yahoo! (this week)
Cheyenne, Wyoming

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On my first trip to Hawaii, when I was 22 and fresh out of college, I got suckered into going to a time-share sales pitch in exchange for a free snorkel trip. A guy in an Aloha shirt standing behind a kiosk explained how it worked. I would just give them a couple of hours of my time and wouldn’t have to buy a thing. Afterward, they’d hand me the snorkel voucher and I’d soon be exploring some of Kauai’s best reefs by boat, ogling tropical fish of every imaginable hue. I had little money and (I thought) all the time in the world, so I figured it wasn’t a bad deal. Inside a room overlooking the Pacific, Hawaiian music played. I munched on a raspberry Danish, sipped freshly squeezed orange juice and, with dozens of others, watched a video about the wonders of vacation time-shares. So far so good. Then out came the salespeople.

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