E`ōpū ali`i

This is a little reminder that means it is important to remember to “Have the heart of a chief.” Be kind, generous, and even tempered like a chief.

Perhaps this is the ancient way of saying: Live Aloha.

He ali`ka `āina; he kauwā ke kanaka

The land is a chief; man is its servant.

This means that the land has little use for man, but man needs the land for sustenance and livelihood. This is an important reminder for modern man to remember just who is in charge–Nature.

Ho`okaāhi no laā o ka malihini 

in the spirit of cooperation and working together, this saying is to encourage a guest after a day to help out with the work with the rest.

Aloha kekahi i kekahi 

This is the Hawaiian way of saying “love one another”

Isn’t this an important message to carry in your heart every day to promote aloha?

Pāpa`i Thalamita crenata known as the Blue Pincher Crab is indigenous to the Pacific Islands and unlike most swimming crabs is most active in the daytime.

They are gray to greenish brown with a white tipped claws and a broad back band. Their bodies are sometimes pink and the upper part of their claws are blue. They grow to a width of approximately five inches. The live in brackish muddy areas and sandy areas of salt water. They dine on limu, small pieces of plant and animal matter, snails, and mangrove detritus.

Ho ̀okaāhi ka ̀`ilāu like ana  

is a Hawaiian saying that means: Wield the paddles together.

This is a proverb that encourages cooperation and working together in harmony as ancient paddlers have done for hundreds of years.

The Marquesans, said to be the first people to come to the Hawaiian Islands created three communities on O`ahu.

Waimanalo a small town on Oahu’s windward (east) coast, near the southeastern tip of the island. It is a Hawaiian homelands community and agricultural lots in the valley extend all the way towards the Koolau Mountain Range,

Kailua on the windward coast at Kailua Bay, and Kaenohe . All three places offered year-round fresh water, fertile valleys, offshore reefs that attracted ample sealife, lagoons that were sheltered for fish ponds and basaltic rock that they used to make tools.

Kona Sunday Fisherman

Kū lived with his wife Hina and their son `Ai`ai in Hāna on the island of Maui. On the edge of the sea he walled off an area and kept all kinds of fish in what was thought to be the first fish ponds. Nearby he made offerings to a small shrine and because of this reverence was always able to land the fish he needed. Fish were said to come to his hook, net, or basket as he prayed for success in his endeavors even when friends and neighbors had no luck. He was always generous to share his catch with those whose fishing skills were less hones.

Fishing is an important part of sustaining a community and Kū`ula knew that it was important to be generous to share but also to conserve his catch in his fish ponds. He was always careful to make an offering of the first fish caught to the ko`a, the fishing shrine.

‘A`ohe hua o ka mai`a i ka lā ho’okaāhi  

means when a task is done together no task is too big…

this is another way of saying many hands make light work, an important lesson to remember.

Hikiau Heiau- Kealakekua Bay, Hawaii

Hikiau Heiau, located on Kealakekua Bay, in South Kona, was a luakini temple where human and animal blood was used as sacrifice by the Ancient Hawaiians.

Sitting on the south end of the bay, at coordinates 19°28′31″N 155°55′9″W, it is associated with funeral rites. The large platform made of volcanic rock was said to be over 16 feet high, 250 feet long, and 100 feet wide. It has been established to be the first place that Hawaiians have sustained contact with Western outsiders. Cook’s journals claimed there were four villages with eighty houses each with several thousand native Hawaiian villagers when he landed living along the three miles of shoreline.

A plaque commemorates Hawaii’s first Christian funeral conducted by
Captain Cook on January 28, 1779 mere weeks before his own death.

Across the Bay is the Captain Cook Monument that was erected in 1874 to mark the place Captain James Cook was killed on February 14, 1779. It is only accessible by boat but makes for a lovely journey through the clear waters often accompanied by dolphins and colorful fish visible to paddlers.

Cook Memorial

Kealekekua Bay State Parkis a 4 acre site with access to the water, picnic tables, rest rooms,and parking.

stones of this ancient heiau