Hanauma Bay is one of the most popular tourist attractions on the island of O'ahu. Since I lived there nearly twenty years ago, this place has experienced a transformation of protection. No longer are thousands of tourists free to descend on the beach; furthermore, there is a required educational training in which each and every visitor to the park must participate. Protections demanded by locals and instituted by state and local governments have halted the erosion of this once sacred place and even helped to heal the detrimental impact of unchecked visitors over the years. These protections did not exist when I lived on the island in the early 2000s; in fact, my last visit there at the time was quite emotional and became one aspect of motivation for my academic work related to Hawai'i and Indigenous rights. I recount the experience in the introduction to my master's thesis, The Changing Color of Feminism: Haunani-Kay Trask and a Multi-Cultural Perspective.
Our purpose today: learn the history of Hanauma Bay, reef ecology, and develop an understanding of the marine life that lives in the bay.
The day began with an instructional session led by Anne Rosa, Marine Education Specialist from the Hanauma Bay Education Program, a program sponsored by Sea Grant through the University of Hawai'i...
After class, we headed down to the beach, got geared up, and had the rest of the day to explore the beautiful bay. Some of our participants were lucky enough to see honu (sea turtle) in the water and a Hawaiian Monk Seal.
Some of us ventured further out to Zone 3 where we encountered a ribbon of garbage. We collected as much as we could before swimming back to the beach.
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