Hanauma Bay | Images of Old Hawaiʻi

The winds will turn before you and find you,
You’ll be overwhelmed, O deaf aliʻi,
The winds will gather,
The naʻenaʻe leaves will bend,
You’ll be swept ashore at Awāwamalu.
Caught in the fishing net of the head fisherman,
Your thigh bone and upper-arm bone
Will be made into fishhooks,
To catch the paoʻo and the ʻopakapaka,
Your flesh will be without bones,
The black crab, the shearwater will eat your remains,
The life from the parents will be broken off.
Here I am, the ʻaumakua kanaka,
Listen to my life-giving words,
Keawenuiaʻumi, come ashore, a storm is coming,
When you sailed yesterday, it was calm.
(Excerpt from The Wind Gourd of Laʻamaomao – (hawaii-edu))

Wāwāmalu or Awāwamalu (“Shady Gulch or Valley” – referenced above,) was on the Waimānalo side of the Ka Iwi Coastline, (known today as “Sandy Beach.”) Corpses of fisherman and sailors who drowned in the Kaiwi channel were swept ashore by the currents there and at other spots along the southeast coast of Oʻahu, like Hanauma Bay. (Ka Poʻe Kahiko 76; hawaii-edu)

The meanings of the two core words are: ka (the) and iwi (bone.) This is the literal meaning of the word iwi, but we can be sure that there is also a deeper meaning, for bones of ancestors were very sacred; it was in the bones that mana (supernatural power) was believed to have been stored and that it remained in the bones even after death. (Marion Kelly)

This coastline is called Ka Iwi; it fronts Ka Iwi Channel. It may have been named for the bones of lost travelers who failed to make the crossing between Molokai and Oʻahu.

Others suggest it may be because the raw, wild, volcanic landscape of the area, rising from the sea, reminded the ancients of the exposed bones of the earth.

The ancient Hawaiians paddled the channel waters in their canoes for food, recreation, trade, communication and military purposes. The rich history of the islands is full of accounts of mythical demigods and real-life heroes testing their skills on the oceans. Control of Hawaiʻi’s channel waterways was an important part of Hawaiian society. This importance is reflected today in modern Hawaiʻi’s claim to state ownership of interisland waters (Hawaiʻi State Constitution, Article XV). (NOAA)

Control of the interisland waterways was an extension of domination of the land by the aliʻi. The “nature of the dominion exercised over a channel lying between two portions of a multi-island unit was based on Polynesian rather than Western concepts.” The Polynesians view the surrounding waters as part of the land. Control of the ocean by Hawaiians was implicit in the control of the islands themselves. (NOAA)

Kaiwi is known for the Kualau or Kuakualau – the strong wind and the rain out in the ocean. It is customary for it to blow in the evening and in the morning but sometimes blow at all times. “Where are you, O Kualau, Your rain goes about at sea.” (McGregor)

Wind speeds decrease in the lee of each island; whereas winds in the channel increase in strength. The area out in the channel is subject to heavy, gusty trade winds.

These winds had an effect on the waters in the channel; “… the ship turned toward Lae-o-ka-laau. As we went on the Kualau breeze of Kaiwi blew wildly, and many people were bent over with seasickness”. (Ku Okoa, 1922; Maly)

In Hawaiian tradition, Lāʻau Point on Molokai represents a point of no return. For those traveling by canoe from Oʻahu to Molokai across the Kaiwi Channel, once Lāʻau Point is sighted, there is no turning back to Oʻahu.

More commonly known today as the Molokai Channel, the Kaiwi Channel separates the islands of Molokai and Oʻahu; it has the reputation as one of the world’s most treacherous bodies of water.

The channel is about the length of a marathon (26.2-miles) but it’s a body of water; annually, swimmers, paddlers and others seek to cross its span as an individual achievement, or the glory of participating/winning a race.

In 1939, William K Pai is reportedly the first person to swim the Kaiwi Channel, from ʻIlio Point on Molokai to the Blowhole near Oʻahu’s Sandy Beach (because he first paddled a little offshore before swimming, it was ‘uncertified.’) Since then, several others have tried and succeeded.

On October 12, 1952, three Koa outrigger canoes launched from Molokai’s west side; nearly nine hours later, Kukui O Lanikaula landed on the beach at Waikīkī in front of the Moana Hotel. Thus began the world’s most prestigious outrigger canoe race, the Molokaʻi Hoe. Two years later, the women’s Na Wahine O Ke Kai, Molokai to Oʻahu Canoe Race, was inaugurated.

We are reminded of the hazards and risks crossing Kaiwi Channel, when on March 16, 1978, Hokuleʻa left Ala Wai Harbor in Honolulu on a voyage to Tahiti. According to the Coast Guard report, the canoe left O‘ahu in 30-knot trade winds, with clear skies, 6-8 foot seas from the NNE, and 8-10 foot swells from the NE. (PVS)

“Swells were high, but the canoe had ridden out such seas before. However, this time it was heavily laden with food and supplies for a month’s journey. The added weight put unusual stress on the canoe, making it difficult to handle.”

“Turning off-wind eased the strain but it also caused the sea to wash in over the gunwales, filling the starboard compartments and depressing the lee hull. Winds pushing on the sails rotated the lighter windward hull around the submerged lee hull, now dead in the water.”

“Five hours after leaving Ala Wai Harbor, Hokule‘a was upside-down in the sea between O‘ahu and Molokai.” (Will Kyselka, An Ocean in Mind; PVS)

“All that night (sixteen crew members) clung to the hulls of the stricken vessel, huddling to protect themselves as best they could from wind and wave. Daylight came. Airplanes flew overhead but no one saw Hokuleʻa. …. Most alarming, though, was the fact that the canoe was drifting away from airline routes, decreasing its chance of being spotted.” (Will Kyselka, An Ocean in Mind; PVS)

“Eddie Aikau wanted to go for help.”

“An expert waterman, he had saved the lives of many swimmers in trouble in the powerful surf of Waimea Bay on the north shore of O‘ahu. … Eddie would go alone.”

“The crew, clinging to the overturned hulls, watch(ed) in silence as he rode the waves into a fate not unknown to many of the people of old who sailed toward distant lands.” (Will Kyselka, An Ocean in Mind; PVS)

In the early morning of March 18, 1978, the Coast Guard arrived to assist the Hokuleʻa; later that day, they sighted Aikau’s surfboard. Eddie was never seen again.

About 4-million years ago, the Waianae volcano started the formation of the island of Oʻahu. About 2.5-million years ago, the Koʻolau volcano erupted on the ocean floor, and continued to grow in elevation until about 1.7-million years ago.

More than 30 separate eruptions flowed out over the eroded landscape and onto the fringing reef about half a million years ago with a series of volcanic vents opened along the southeast shoreline of O‘ahu forming now-identifiable features including Diamond Head, Punchbowl and Hanauma Bay.

It’s not clear how the bay got its name, but there are several varying explanations. In place names, hana refers to a bay or valley. Uma can have multiple meanings:

1) Uma can refer to a curve, as in the natural geological formation of the crescent shape of the bay.

2) Another meaning refers to the sport of hand-wrestling, uma, where opponents knelt with elbows on the ground and right hands locked together and tried to force the other down. Hanauma Bay was known as a place where ali‘i would gather to play uma, as well as other recreational activities.

“Queen Kaahumanu came by canoe and went to Hanauma where Paki was the konohiki over the realms of the [legendary] chiefesses Ihiihilauakea and Kauanonoula. These were the hula dancers, Mrs. Alapai, Mr. Hewahewa, and Mr. Ahukai, who gathered for the love of and to entertain royalty.”

“The men played the game of uma. One man gripped the hand of the other and pushed to get it down. Women joined in and a whole month was spent there. That was why the place was called Hanauma, a noted place.” (Reportedly in Hoku o Hawaii, February 11, 1930

3) The stern of a canoe is also known by the term uma. Traditional Hawaiian navigators would ride a strong current across the Ka‘iwi Channel from Ilio Point on Moloka‘i to Hanauma Bay with relatively little effort.

Thus, three suggested meanings for Hanauma Bay are: curved bay, hand-wrestling bay and canoe stern bay.

In 1928, the City and County of Honolulu established Koko Head Regional Park – the land encompassing Koko Head, Hanauma Bay and Koko Crater – by purchasing it from Bishop Estate. A deed restriction limited its use to public parks and rights of way.

In the 1930s the road along Hanauma Bay’s corner of Oahu was paved and a few other amenities provided that made it easier to visit the beach and reef. After closure during World War II, the Bay area reopened and became even more visitor friendly after blasting in the reef for a transoceanic cable provided room for swimming.

In 1956, the City sold the Hawaiian Telephone Company an easement through the bay for the first leg of a new trans-Pacific undersea telephone cable. A 200-foot wide channel was blasted through Hanauma Bay for the installation of the first trans-Pacific telephone cable reaching from Hawaiʻi to California.

Hanauma Bay became Hawaiʻi’s first Marine Life Conservation District (MLCD,) in 1967. Established to conserve and replenish marine resources, MLCDs provide fish and other marine life with a protected area in which they can grow and reproduce. While state laws restrict the taking of all marine life within the Hanauma Bay MLCD, snorkeling, diving, underwater photography and other similar passive activities are allowed.

More changes in the 1970s by the City cleared more area in the reef for swimming, made an additional parking lot, and shipped in white sand from the North Shore, leaving Hanauma Bay increasingly more attractive for daytime use.

By 1990 overuse of the beach and surrounding area was a real problem, with visitors walking on the reef, swarming the surrounding areas, and parking on the grass and on the sides of the road.

A few years later, in 1998, an admission fee was charged, further reducing the number of visitors. The city charges non-residents (now $7.50 per person) to enter the bay; Hawaiʻi residents get in free. Parking costs $1. Then in August 2002, the Marine Education Center was opened at the entrance to the bay.

Through a mandatory video and displays, all visitors to the park learn about reefs, the nature preserve and its rules, and how to protect the marine life. The UH Sea Grant Hanauma Bay Education Program is an excellent model and example for effective on-site resource education and protection.

Through these programs, the marine life is protected and park visitors (whether residents or tourists) are provided guidelines for appropriate behavior in the marine environment. The benefit goes beyond Hanauma, people can apply what they learn every time they enter the ocean.