Images of Old Hawaiʻi

by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

ʻŌlelo Noʻeau

A proverb is a simple and concrete saying, that expresses a truth based on common sense or the practical experience. They are often metaphorical. A proverb that describes a basic rule of conduct may also be known as a maxim.

Hawaiian proverbs are called ʻŌlelo Noʻeau; they have been handed down through the generations through Hawaiiʻs oral tradition. The sayings were gathered by Mary Kawena Pukui.

Here are a few random examples; they provide some food for thought.

I ka wa mamua, ka wa mahope
The future is in the past

Na wai hoʻi ka ʻole o ke akamai, he alanui i maʻa i ka hele ʻiae oʻu mau mākua?
Why shouldn’t I know, when it is a road often travelled by my parents?
(Reply of Liholiho when someone praised his wisdom.” Mary Kawena Pukui, ʻŌlelo Noʻeau 2301)

He Aliʻi ka ʻāina; he kauwa ke kanaka.
The land is a chief; man is its servant. (Mary Kawena Pukui, ʻŌlelo Noʻeau Pukui 531)
Land has no need for man, but man needs the land and works it for a livelihood.

Kama ʻia ke aloha a paʻa i loko.
Bind love that it may remain fast within.
Be a person who knows love.

E hoʻaʻo no i pau kuhihewa.
Try it to end the panic.
Often we stress out just worrying about doing a difficult job. “Just do it!”

Hahai no ka ua i ka ululaʻau.
The rain follows after the forest.
Destroy the forest, the rains will cease to fall.

O ka makapo wale no ka mea hapapa i ka pouli.
Only the blind gropes in the darkness.
If you have no direction in life, you’ll get nowhere.

I mohala no ka lehua i ke keʻekehi ʻia e ka ua.
The Lehua blossom unfolds when the rains tread on it.
People respond better to gentle words than to scoldings.

Pupukahi i holomua.
Unite to move forward.
By working together we make progress.

E lauhoe mai na waʻa; i ke ka, i ka hoe; i ka hoe, i ke ka; pae aku i ka ʻāina.
Paddle together, bail, paddle; paddle, bail; paddle towards the land.
If everybody works together the work will be done quickly.

I ka ʻolelo no ke ola, i ka ʻolelo no ka make.
In speech is life, in speech is death.
Words can either be a source for healing or destroying.

He lawaiʻa no ke kai papaʻu, he pokole ke aho; he lawaiʻa no ke kai hohonu he loa ke aho.
A fisherman of shallow seas uses only a short line; a fisherman of the deep sea uses a long line.
You will reach only as far as you aim and prepare yourself to reach.

Aʻohe hana nui ka aluʻia.
No task is too big when done together.
United we stand, divided we fall.

Lawe i ka maʻalea a kuʻonoʻono.
Acquire skill and make it deep.
Work hard and practice long until it becomes a part of you.

Kulia i ka nuʻu
Strive for the summit.
Strive for excellence.

Onipaʻa
(Be) steadfast.
Take your stand and be steadfast in doing what is right.

ʻIke aku, ʻike mai, kokua aku kokua mai; pela iho la ka nohana ʻohana.
Recognize others, be recognized, help others, be helped; such is a family relationship.
Put family first, you help others and know you will be helped if there is anything you need.

Makaʻala ke kanaka kahea manu.
A man who calls birds should always be alert.
One who wishes to succeed needs to be alert to any opportunity that should arise.

ʻAʻa i ka hula, waiho ka hilahila i ka hale.
When one wants to dance the hula, bashfulness should be left at home.

I ka ʻolelo no ke ola, i ka ʻolelo no ka make.
Life is in speech; death is in speech.
Words can heal; words can destroy. Be careful what you say.

ʻIke ʻia no ka loea i ke kuahu.
An expert is recognized by the altar he builds.
It is what one does and how well he does it that shows whether he is a expert.

He kehau hoʻomaʻemaʻe ke aloha.
Love is like cleansing dew.
Love removes hurt.

Nana ka maka, hoʻolohe ka pepeiao, paʻa ka waha.
Observe with the eyes, listen with the ears, donʻt talk.
This is how one learns best.

Piʻi mai nei i ka pali me he ʻaʻama lā
Climbs the cliff like a black crab.
Said of one who goes beyond his limit.

ʻO ke kahua ma mua, ma hope ke kūkulu
Learn all you can, then practice.

ʻIke aku, ʻike mai, kōkua aku, kōkua mai; pēlā ihola ka nohona ʻohana
Recognize others, be recognized, help others, be helped; such is a family relationship.
Family life requires an exchange of mutual help and recognition.

ʻIke ʻia no ka loea i ke kuahu
An expert is recognized by the altar he builds
It is what one does and how well he does it that shows whether he is an expert.

He ʻaʻaliʻi ku makani mai au; ʻaʻohe makani nana e kulaʻi
I am a wind resisting ʻaʻaliʻi, no gale can push me over.
In difficult times, when attacked, one stands strong.

The image shows the cover to Mary Pukui’s Book, ʻŌlelo Noʻeau.

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by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Kukui

Early Polynesians traveling and settling in Hawaiʻi brought with them shoots, roots, cuttings and seeds of various plants for food, cordage, medicine, fabric, containers, all of life’s vital needs.

“Canoe crops” (Canoe Plants) is a term to describe the group of plants brought to Hawaiʻi by these early Polynesians.  Domesticated animals, including pigs, dogs and chickens were also introduced.

Kukui was one of these canoe crops.

Hawaiians had many uses for the big seeds, which are borne in large quantities – as many as 75-100 pounds annually – by a large tree. The seed shells, black when mature and white earlier, were made into lei and now into costume jewelry and curios.  (CTAHR)

“The multiplicity of its uses to the ancient Hawaiians for light, fuel, medicine, dye and ornament and to the continued value to the people of modern Hawaiʻi, as well as the distinctive beauty of its light green foliage which embellishes many of the slopes of our beloved mountains, causes the kukui tree to be especially treasured by the people of the Fiftieth State of the United States as an arboreal symbol of Hawaiʻi…”  (Territorial Legislature Resolution, May 1, 1959; Hawaii House of Representatives)

From this property of the kukui comes its kaona, its spiritual import. The tree of light has become a symbol of enlightenment, protection, guidance, and peace, and as such its mana (spiritual power) flows through Hawaiian culture and its ceremonies.

The tree is considered to be the kinolau, or form, of Kamapuaʻa, the pig god, the lover of fire goddess Pele (perhaps due to light’s affinity with fire) and so a pig’s head carved from kukui wood is placed on the altar to Lono at the annual Makahiki festival.

It was used to embellish and fortify canoes. Kukui wood was used for the manu, or bird, the removable figurehead of the canoe.  Burn the seed and a fine black soot (pau) was produced that could dye kapa (bark cloth) or paint designs on the canoe prow.

The inner bark provided a red-brown dye for ‘olona cordage, the outer could provide kapa while the gum from the bark strengthened and helped waterproof the kapa.  (Stein)

In ancient times, kukui was woven into the thatched house to confer its blessings, and for modern houses a bundle of thatch mixed with kukui is used in the ceremony.    (Stein)  The kukui has multiple uses, including light, fuel, medicine, dye and ornament.  (Choy)

But of all the uses of the kukui, none is more appropriate than the property that gives it its name, for “kukui” means “light” or “torch,” and its English name is “the candlenut tree” that is the focus of this summary.

“Oil extracted from the seeds was traditionally used by Hawaiians as a preservative for surfboards.  The oil can also be used as a basis for paint or varnish, burned as an illuminant, made into soap, and used for waterproofing paper.”  (CTAHR)

The raw kernels were used to polish wooden bowls. Oiling inside and outside of the bowls made them waterproof so they could last longer. The oil was also put on the runners of the wooden holua sled to make the sled go faster. (DOE)

“The oily kernels are dried and strung on a skewer such as a coconut leaf midrib (lama kū – torch.)  Each nut in the string burns for about 3-minutes and emits a somewhat fragrant smoke.”  (CTAHR)

These same more rigid midribs (of coconut frond – or bamboo) furnished the rods on which it was the task of children to string kukui nut kernels; these were burned as candles (lama).  (Krauss)

“When (the Hawaiians) use them in their houses, ten or twelve are strung on the thin stalk of the cocoa-nut leaf, and look like a number of pealed chesnuts on a long skewer.  The person who has charge of them lights a nut at one end of the stick, and hold it up, till the oil it contains is consumed, when the flame kindles on the one beneath it, and he breaks off the extinct nut with a short piece of wood, which serves as a pair of snuffers.  Each nut will burn two or three minutes, and, it attended, give a tolerable light.”  (Ellis, 1826)

“Large quantities of kukui, or candle nuts, were hanging up in long strings in different parts of his house. … Sometimes the natives burn them to charcoal, which they pulverize, and use tattooing their skin, painting their canoes, surf-boards, idols or drums; but they are generally used as a substitute for candles or lamps.”

“When employed for fishing by torchlight, four or five strings are enclosed in the leaves of the pandanus, which not only keeps them together, but adds to the light they give.”  (Ellis, 1826)

“As the sky darkened, men prowled the shallow waters of lagoons with torches and spears. ‘Candles’ were made by stringing dried nutmeats of the oily kukui nut on thin skewers of bamboo.”

“The top nut was ignited, and as it burned out it ignited the nut below it. For a fishing torch, clusters of these candles were lighted and carried in a bamboo tube (candlenut torch.)”  (HPA)

Reportedly, on March 17, 1930, Territorial Governor Lawrence McCully Judd issued a proclamation declaring the coconut palm or niu (Cocos nucifera) the official tree of the Territory of Hawai’i.  (Choy)

But on May 1, 1959, the 30th Territorial Legislature passed Joint Resolution No. 3, which designated the kukui the official tree.  (Choy)  State law, HRS §5-8, designated the Kukui as the State tree.

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by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Molokai or Molokaʻi?

Words matter … and how you say and write words matter.

There is one word, the name of one of the main Hawaiian Islands, that continues to have different pronunciations – some say Moh-loh-kī others say Moh-loh-kah-ee.

In an effort to be correct, I looked at various sources to see what they had to say.  A helpful source is actually some of the early writers to the islands.

When Captain Cook first visited the Hawaiian Islands (1778,) Hawaiian was a spoken language but not a written language.  Historical accounts were passed down orally, through chants and songs.

After western contact and attempts to write about Hawaiʻi, early writers tried to spell words based on the sound of the words they heard.  People heard words differently, so it was not uncommon for words to be spelled differently, depending on the writer.

Here is the way some of the early writers spelled some of the main Hawaiian Islands:

Cook (1778—1779:)
Oreehoua (Lehua)
Tahoora (Kaʻula)
Oneeheow (Niʻihau)
Atooi (Kauai)
Woahoo (Oʻahu)
Morotoi, or Morokoi (Molokai)
Mowee (Maui)
Owhyhee (Hawaiʻi)

Vancouver (1793-1795:)
Woahoo (Oʻahu)
Mowee (Maui)
Morotoi (Molokai)
Owhyhee (Hawaiʻi)
Attowai (Kauai)

Bingham (1820-1840:)
Ha-wai’i
Mau’i
O-a’hu
Kau-ai’
Mo-lo-kai’
La-nai’
Ni-i-hau’
Ka-ho-o-la’we
Mo-lo-ki’ni
Le-hu’-a.
Ka-u’-la

Here are some writings from some other early writers:

Eveleth’s 1831 book “History of the Sandwich Islands” spells it Mo-lo-kai (and adds a pronunciation helper – Mo-lo-kye).

Williams’ 1859 “Application of the Roman Alphabet” spells it Mo-lo-kai (and includes the same pronunciation helper, Mo-lo-kye)

Worchester’s 1860 “Primary Dictionary of the Hawaiian language notes Mō-lo-kaī’.

Webster’s 1870 “Improved pronouncing dictionary of the English language” notes the Islands as Mo-lo-kai’.

Colum, in his 1937 “Legends of Hawaiʻi” book, spelled the Island as Mo–lo-kai.

Finally, an explanation on the pronunciation/spelling of the island name (Molokai (Moh-loh-kī) versus Molokaʻi (Moh-loh-kah-ee)) is noted in the early portion of “Tales of Molokai The Voice of Harriet Ne” by Harriet Ahiona Ayau Ne with Gloria L. Cronin.

Harriet Ne’s grandson, Edward Halealoha Ayau, noted:

“The reason that the name Molokai (as used in the book) is left without the glottal stop is because my tūtū wahine (grandmother) says that when she was growing up in Pelekunu it was never pronounced Molokaʻi (Moh-loh-kah-ee), but rather Molokai (Moh-loh-kī).”

“Then in about the 1930s, the name changed to Molokaʻi, in part she believes because musicians began pronouncing the name that way. Mary Kawena Pukuʻi, three weeks before her death, called my tūtū and told her that the correct name is Molokai, which means ‘the gathering of the ocean waters.’”

“On the rugged north coast of the island, the ocean slams hard into the pali. On the south and east shores, the ocean glides gently to shore due to location of reefs at least a quarter of a mile offshore. Hence the name, Molokai, ‘Gathering of the Ocean Waters.’”

In a follow-up exchange with Halealoha, he resolved the matter saying that the “best answer is both pronunciations are correct and the most correct depends on which family you are speaking to.  So for our ʻohana, it would be Molokai.  For others, Molokaʻi.”

The image shows an 1897 map of the Island of Molokai.

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by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Wahaʻula Heiau

No keia heiau oia ke kapu enaena.
(Concerning this heiau is the burning tabu.)

‘Enaena’ means ‘burning with a red hot rage.’ The heiau was so thoroughly ‘tabu,’ or ‘kapu,’ that the smoke of its fires falling upon any of the people or even upon any one of the chiefs was sufficient cause for punishment by death, with the body as a sacrifice to the gods of the temple.  (Westervelt)

Oral traditions trace the origin of Hawaiian luakini temple construction to the high priest Pā’ao, who arrived in the islands in about the thirteenth century. He introduced several changes to Hawaiian religious practices that affected temple construction, priestly ritual, and worship practices.

Prior to his coming, the prayers, sacrifices, and other ceremonial activities that the high chief and his officiating priest performed could be observed by the congregation, who periodically responded as part of the ceremony.

After Pā’ao’s arrival, temple courtyards, which were sometimes built on hillsides to add to their massiveness, were enclosed with high stone walls, preventing the masses from participating as freely in the worship ceremonies.

In addition, new gods; stronger kapu; an independent, hereditary priesthood; wooden temple images; and human sacrifices became established parts of the religious structure. Pā’ao erected the first luakini (Wahaula) at Puna, Hawaiʻi, followed by Moʻokini Heiau at Kohala. These structures signaled a new era in Hawaiian religious practices.  (NPS)

On the southeast coast of Hawaiʻi near Kalapana is one of the largest, oldest and best preserved heiau. Its walls are several feet thick and in places ten to twelve feet high. It is divided into rooms or pens, in one of which still lies the huge sacrificial stone upon which victims – sometimes human – were slain before the bodies were placed as offerings.  (Westervelt, 1915)

“At our visit to the scene we were shown the small cove, deep down the jagged bluffs of Puna’s coast line, at the southern end of Wahaʻula premises, where the bones of the slain were washed, and to this day is known as Holoinaiwi.”  (Thrum, 1904)

This heiau is now called Wahaʻula (red-mouth). In ancient times it was known as Ahaʻula (the red assembly), possibly denoting that at times the priests and their attendants wore red mantles in their processions or during some part of their sacred ceremonies.  (Westervelt)

“The Heiau of Wahaʻula is built on an ʻaʻa flow, and the ascent to it is by terraces. Upon the first terrace the female members of the royal family brought their offerings which were taken by the priests. Beyond this first terrace no female was allowed to pass.”

“Two more terraces brings one to the enclosure or temple, in the shape of a quadrangle 132 feet long, by 72 feet wide. A stone wall encloses the temple, 6 feet high and 4 feet wide. The main entrance faces the East, flanked on either side by two smaller entrances. Immediately in front of this entrance stand the remains of the old temple, which was destroyed by the ʻaʻa flow on which the present one stands.”

“Across the southern end extends a stone platform some 3 feet high built in the shape of two semi-circles connected by a straight platform. Between these semi-circles was placed the presiding deity, and on either hand were placed the offerings of fruits, etc., while immediately in front, on a small raised platform were placed the human sacrifices, which were always slain in the main entrance to the heiau.”

“Immediately in front of this altar for human sacrifices, and extending across the enclosure, stood the priests’ house. sacred to them alone. In the rear of this was the royal house, where the members of the royal family assembled during the days devoted to the sacrifices. The rest of the enclosure was paved.”  (Thrum)

“Water-worn pebbles were carried from the beach and strewn over the floor, making a smooth place for the naked feet of the temple dwellers to pass without injury from the sharp-edged lava. Rude grass huts built on terraces were the abodes of the priests and high chiefs who visited the places of sacrifice.”

“Elevated, flat-topped piles of stones were built at one end of the temple for the chief idols and the sacrifices placed before them. Simplicity of detail marked every step of temple erection.”  (Westervelt)

“(I)in the original enclosure of the heiau of Wahaʻula was a sacred grove, said to contain one or more specimens of every tree growing on the Hawaiian group, a number of which, or their descendants, had survived when he visited the place in 1869. … It was built in the quadrangular or parallelogram form which characterized all the heiaus built under and after the religious regime introduced by Pāʻao.”  (Fornander)

Beyond the heiau, on the makai side of the trail, is pointed out the footprint of Niheu, a demi-god, as well as the mark of an arrow which he shot at another demi-god who came to fight him. Further west, makai of the place where the trail turns mauka, is Kamoamoa, where the ranch driving pens are.

Here are two wells with fair water, and also a fine natural arch by the sea. Here are also a few interesting rock carvings. The most easily found of these is about a hundred yards from the paddock extension towards Kalapana, and may be located by following the line of this extension’s makai wall in an easterly direction.

The trail is straight, with a bad grade, but paved, until it has reached well up the bluff, where it passes the Pea house, the last habitation before the Crater Hotel is reached. From Pea’s it is a good eight miles to the Makaopuhi crater. The trail is narrow, passes through splendid forest, and is, though seldom used, quite easily followed.  (Kinney, 1913)

“Tradition credits a rebuilding of the temple to Imaikalani, a famous chief of Puna, and Kaʻū, in the time of Keawenui-a-umi, in the sixteenth century. It was repaired again in the time of Kalaniʻōpuʻu, about 1770, and in the time of Kamehameha I, it had its final renovation.”  (Thrum)

“This was the last heiau destroyed when the ancient tabus and ceremonial rites were overthrown by the chiefs just before the coming of Christian missionaries. At that time the grass houses of the priests were burned and in these raging flames were thrown the wooden idols back of the altars and the bamboo huts of the soothsayers and the rude images on the walls, with everything combustible which belonged to the ancient order of worship. Only the walls and rough stone floors were left in the temple.  (Westervelt)

Kīlauea’s ongoing Puʻu ʻŌʻō eruption started on January 3, 1983 when ground fissures opened up and “curtains of fire” (long thin fountains of molten lava) issued from a 3½-miles long discontinuous fissure system in the remote rainforest of the middle east rift zone of the volcano.

Since then, about 500-acres have been added to the Big Island (that volume of lava could have filled 1.5-million swimming pools. The coastal highway has been closed since 1987, as lava flows covered 8 miles to as great a depth as 80 feet. 214-homes were destroyed.

“The apprehensions uniformly entertained by the natives, of the fearful consequences of Pele’s anger, prevented their paying very frequent visits to the vicinity of her abode; and when, on their inland journeys, they had occasion to approach Kirauea, they were scrupulously attentive to every injunction of her priests, and regarded with a degree of superstitious veneration and awe the appalling spectacle which the crater and its appendages presented.”

“The violations of her sacred abode, and the insults to her power, of which we had been guilty, appeared to them, and to the natives in general, acts of temerity and sacrilege; and, notwithstanding the fact of our being foreigners, we were subsequently threatened with the vengeance of the volcanic deity, under the following circumstances.”  (Ellis, 1831)

The Wahaʻula Heiau was threatened three times in 1989 and once in 1990, but the lava flowed only up to the walls before diverting around them, but destroyed the visitor center and related facilities (built by the National Park Service in 1964, was destroyed by lava in June 1989.)  However, a subsequent 1997 flow breached the walls and covered the heiau. (star-bulletin)

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by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Pāhonu

Honu neʻe pū ka ʻāina
The land moves like the turtle.
(Land passes slowly but inexorably from owner to heir.)
(Pukui)

From its earliest period of occupation, the Waimānalo Bay region was an extensive agricultural area, featuring taro farms that used the traditional Hawaiian loʻi (pondfield) cultivation system.

Taro was grown in the lowlands, irrigated with water from Waimānalo Stream, as well as on terraced sections that were watered by the small streams and springs flowing out of the Koʻolau Range.

These terraced sections extended for nearly 2-miles in a semicircle at the foot of the mountains around the broad base of the Waimānalo valley. By the 1850s, the area’s fertile soil provided not only taro but also breadfruit, mountain apple, kukui and coconut trees, sweet potatoes and sugar cane.  (NPS)

In addition to the agrarian-based economy, several fishing villages dotted the bay’s shoreline. Two of the best-known villages in the area were Kaupō and Kukui. Kaupō was on a small peninsula opposite Mānana Island (Rabbit Island) and just northwest of Makapuʻu Beach Park (where Sea Life Park is located.)

The village may have been depopulated during the early-1800s and probably was repopulated during the early-1850s when a disastrous smallpox epidemic struck Honolulu and Hawaiians settled temporarily in the Waimānalo Bay region to escape its ravages.

The small fishing village of Kukui was further northwest, along the bay in the Kaiona Beach vicinity near Pāhonu Pond (‘Turtle enclosure’) – a prehistoric walled enclosure where it is said that turtles were kept for the use of Hawaiian chieftains.  (NPS)

Before we go there, let’s look at some findings of Dr Marion Kelly where she speaks of three main technological advances resulting in food production intensification in pre-contact Hawai‘i: (a) walled fishponds, (b) terraced pondfields with their irrigation systems and (c) systematic dry-land field cultivation organized by vegetation zones.

The Hawaiian walled fishpond stands as a technological achievement unmatched elsewhere in island Oceania.  Hawaiians built rock-walled enclosures in near shore waters, to raise fish for their communities and families.  It is believed these were first built around the fifteenth-century.

The general term for a fishpond is loko (pond), or more specifically, loko iʻa (fishpond).  Loko iʻa were used for the fattening and storing of fish for food and also as a source for kapu (forbidden) fish.

Samuel Kamakau points out that “one can see that they were built as government projects by chiefs, for it was a very big task to build one, (and) commoners could not have done it (singly, or without co-ordination.)” Chiefs had the power to command a labor force large enough to transport the tons of rock required and to construct such great walls.

The fishponds just described refer to aquaculture to grow fish – they were found throughout the Islands; however, at Waimānalo, Oʻahu, the only remaining aquaculture of green sea turtle known to have been carried out by the early-Hawaiians involved a coastal pond named Pāhonu that was used to maintain turtles until they were ready to be eaten.  (NOAA)

The green sea turtle is the principal marine turtle species in the Hawaiian Islands.  Common names used in the Hawaiian Archipelago include honu, green turtle and green sea turtle.  They are herbivorous, feeding primarily on seagrasses and algae. This diet is thought to give them greenish-colored fat, from which they take their name. (NOAA)

In Hawaiʻi, as throughout Polynesia and other islands in the pacific, sea turtles have always been a traditional part of the local culture and have historically been revered as special and sacred beings.  (Luna)

“There was once a chief who was so fond of turtle meat that he ordered a sea wall be built to keep captured turtles from escaping.  Every turtle caught by a fisherman was put into this enclosure.  No one else was allowed to partake of turtle meat under penalty of death.  No one dared to eat turtle as long as the old chief lived.”  (Pukui; Maly)

Kikuchi in his “Hawaiian Aquaculture Systems,” notes that “An early visitor to Waikiki area remarked that the ruling chief of Oʻahu, Kahekili, ‘mentioned also some others where he had a quantity of turtle.’”

“… We walked back to Mr. Castle’s house, where we sat on a long bench outside, facing the sea.  There Aiona told me the story of Pa-honu, an enclosure for turtles that was once located back of Mrs. Wall’s present home.”  (Pukui; Maly)

Pāhonu, the offshore pond (500 feet long, 50 feet wide,) is just south of Kaiona Beach Park fronting the shoreline; a line of stones, submerged at high tide, but visible at low tide, notes its location.  (Pukui)

Kaiona Beach Park, a small four-acre park at the south end of Waimānalo Bay, is a popular camping site that has also been used for many years as a community boat anchorage.

In 1998, residents of Waimānalo built a boat ramp in the south end of the park, the only paved ramp in Waimānalo. They also placed a monument to Hawaiian fishers from their community near the ramp. Kaiona means “attractive sea.  (Clark)

The beachfront residence named Pāhonu inland of the pond was used from 1980 to 1988 as the base of operations for the popular television series, Magnum PI.  A surf site borders a small channel through the reef and is also known as Magnums. (Ulukau) The ‘Magnum’ house has been removed and other houses are it its place.
 
Next to Pāhonu is Kaʻakaupapa (shallows at the right.)  The old saying of this place was, “Papa ke kānaka, papa nā mea a pau”—“Multitudes of people, multitudes of gods, all in multitudes.”  (Aiona, Informant, Sept. 14, 1939; Cultural Surveys)

Nearby is the Shriners Club, a private clubhouse that opened on April 20, 1931. Popularly known as Shriners Beach, it is used for a wide variety of events, including wedding receptions, birthday parties and other social gatherings.  (Clark)

The green turtle is listed as endangered by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. In 1978, the Hawaiian population of the green turtle was listed as threatened under the U.S. Endangered Species Act of 1973.  NOAA Fisheries and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) have joint jurisdiction for green sea turtles.

State and Federal laws prohibit harassing, harming, killing, or keeping sea turtles in captivity without a permit allowing these activities for research or educational purposes. Divers should be aware that riding turtles is illegal and puts these animals under stress.

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