One Week with Mālama Hawai‘i — Hawaii Island
One Week with Mālama Hawai‘i — Hawaii Island
Sustainable travel that brings you closer to Hawaii’s nature, people, and culture: experiencing 1Mālama Hawai‘i
Words Pyo Youngso
Photos Shin Gyucheol
In collaboration with Hawaii Tourism Authority www.gohawaii.com/kr
In collaboration with Hawaiian Airlines www.hawaiianairlines.co.kr
1 A campaign run by the Hawaii Tourism Authority. True to the meaning of the Hawaiian word ‘mālama’ (Mālama), which means “to care for” or “to look after,” it invites travelers to journey in a way that respects Hawaii’s nature, culture, and people.
Sustainable Manta Ray Snorkeling
Kaunaʻoa Bay holds a rare thing on Hawaii Island: a white-sand beach. The fine sand stretches in a long, gentle arc, and the waves roll in rhythmically, calm as can be. Around the time those lingering at the water’s edge begin leaving one by one, a small group gathers at one end of the beach. They are here for the 2“Manta Ray Moonlight Swim.”
The manta ray tour run by Manta Ray Advocates is unlike the activities offered by other operators on Hawaii Island. There are some 50 companies on the island specializing in manta ray activities, and every one of them runs tours that head out to sea on motorboats. Lights are shone around the boat to gather plankton, and guests slip into the water to watch the manta rays that approach to feed on it.
True to her title as an advocate for manta rays, Martina Wing objects to this approach. “We don’t go looking for the manta rays. We wait for them to come to us.” Instead of approaching with a roaring motor, the group will swim out from the shore to the spot where the manta rays appear. The tour is possible in part because Manta Ray Point lies at the far end of Kaunaʻoa Bay. One of three manta ray viewing spots on Hawaii Island’s west coast, it is a place the rays visit regularly to feed. “Meeting these mysterious marine creatures up close is a very special experience. We strictly limit the participants’ ages and numbers, and we recommend the tour only to people with snorkeling experience, because we believe that only those who are prepared can truly appreciate its meaning and its real joy.”
While we gather at a beach club at one end of the shore, learning everything from how to put on the gear to underwater communication and safety rules, darkness settles over the beach. Following Martina, we wade into the night sea one step at a time. Perhaps it’s because the only things to rely on are the full moon overhead and the blue glow of the safety light on the back of the person ahead, but I feel as solemn as an elite agent entrusted with a crucial mission.
After about 30 minutes of floating around Manta Ray Point, just as I start recalling a whale-watching tour in Seattle’s San Juan Islands a few years ago, where I never did see a whale, a manta ray suddenly glides into view. “Wow!” Exclamations ripple through the water all at once. The star of the show, for its part, seems not to care whether it has an audience at all and keeps feeding. When the manta ray spins 360 degrees with graceful flaps of its wings and sweeps past the tip of my nose, I hold my breath as long as I can, afraid of disturbing it. Martina is right that it’s a sight you never tire of, no matter how many times you see it. There’s no need to ask why she has been captivated by manta rays for 25 years.
2 A company run by James Wing and his wife, Martina. James is an underwater photographer, PADI Master Scuba Diver Trainer, and marine education specialist who has observed manta rays on Hawaii Island for 30 years. In partnership with the Mauna Kea Beach Hotel, they run sustainable manta ray viewing tours.
Hiking Pololu Valley
The roads on Hawaii Island are simple. Most are two lanes with few forks, so wherever you’re headed, you mostly just keep going straight. Leaving the Mauna Kea Beach Hotel and driving north on Highway 270, again straight ahead, at some point the sea disappears and the elevation slowly climbs. Then the road suddenly ends, which means you’ve arrived at the Pololu Valley Lookout. Unlike the tranquil west coast, this is a place where enormous vertical cliffs relentlessly beat back the fierce waves. Behind them, a lushly overgrown valley unfolds in spectacular scenery. Between 250,000 and 300,000 years ago, a massive landslide struck Kohala, the oldest of the island’s volcanoes, and part of the volcano slid into the sea. Pololu is the northernmost of the seven valleys formed that way.
“Are you going to stay at the lookout, or are you going to hike?” As soon as I park, a local in a neon vest steps out from a tent set up to one side and asks. In August 2021, with support from the Hawaii Tourism Authority and Kupu, a youth conservation organization, the Pololu Trail Steward program began a pilot run. Its main goals are to share the area’s historical and cultural value and to protect its nature. As tourists poured in, reckless camping, damage to the landscape, and accidents caused by ignoring safety rules became frequent, so local residents were given the role of ‘stewards.’
The lookout is better for taking in Pololu Valley’s sweeping panorama, but to see the black sand beach at the bottom of the valley, hiking is a must. The trail takes only about 20 minutes one way, but as the trail steward warned, the slope is quite steep and the path is strewn with rocks, so it is by no means easy. Still, some hikers lightly stride past with a child riding in a hiking carrier on their back.
Reach the valley floor safely, and a different world opens up. A black beach nestled between sheer 150-meter cliffs, and beyond it, a valley as wild as ever. This was once home to Native Hawaiians and a region where kalo (taro) farming flourished. Since the last residents left in the 1940s, only granite carved by hundreds of thousands of years and giant trees remain to guard the beach. Instead of the high-surf beach, children splash in a pool inside the forest, and a dog, thrilled to be near water, dashes excitedly across the black sand. Some hikers carry on to the next valley.
I sit on a huge fallen tree trunk at one end of the beach and watch the waves incessantly assault the sea cliffs. Some tremendous sea wind, or a mighty wave, must have toppled this tree. I imagine the power of an ocean that swallowed a volcano and would find it a piece of cake to bring down a single tree. Ah, it’s time to leave the beach.
Mauna Kea Beach Hotel
3The greatest appeal of Mauna Kea Beach Hotel is that it has picture-perfect Kaunaoa Bay practically to itself. The beach is open to the public, but because it sits at the northern edge of the Kohala Coast, it stays relatively quiet except during the year-end peak season or when major events are held. In the 1960s, American businessman and conservationist 4Laurance Rockefeller fell for the beach’s tranquil mood and beautiful scenery and bought the surrounding land. The resort that resulted, the first on Hawai’i Island, turns 57 this year. Ownership has changed hands several times since, but the founder’s philosophy of putting the preservation of the surrounding nature and local culture first still holds.
“We have quite a few families among our guests who have been coming here for four or five generations. The great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren of former hotel employees work here, too. Both visitors and staff naturally have a special affection for this place. We see it as our role to protect this land and sea for the next 50 or 60 years,” says Kansas Henderson, general manager of Mauna Kea Beach Hotel.
Anyone who stays at Mauna Kea Beach Hotel can say they have taken part in protecting Hawai’i Island. The hotel has partnered with the nonprofit environmental organizations The Nature Conservancy (TNC) and the Hawaiian Islands Land Trust (HILT), donating $2 to each for every room night. The donations fund efforts focused on the Kohala region, where the hotel is located. For guests, though, the most memorable touch may be the complimentary tumbler provided in place of bottled water. Not finding a single bottle of water in your room may feel off-putting at first, but with water stations placed throughout the hotel, and water that stays ice cold even a day later, you will soon find you can’t put the tumbler down, inside the hotel or out.
Beyond that, every room is stocked with large refillable amenity dispensers, and the plastic beach toys and gear the hotel once provided are being replaced with bamboo products that break down naturally in the sea. Want to take a more active part in these efforts? Join the beach cleanup program that began last June. After all, if you want to return in a few years, as Kansas put it, and find Kaunaoa Beach just as beautiful as ever, it is a good place to start.
3 The official name is Mauna Kea Beach Hotel, Autograph Collection. Rates from $999, Website: www.maunakearesort.com
4 By building Mauna Kea Beach Hotel, he preserved the natural environment of Kaunaoa Bay, and he also worked to protect the island’s culture, including efforts to restore Pu’ukohola Heiau, an ancient temple north of the hotel. He is regarded as someone who put ecotourism into practice before the concept even existed.