Twelve miles south of Kailua-Kona on the Big Island of Hawaii, the brilliant blue water of Kealakekua Bay is popular with visitors who want to snorkel among its marine life and learn Hawaiian history. Visually striking, a soaring cliff face embraces the bay, which saw British explorer Captain James Cook’s last voyage and violent death in 1779.

However, that historic moment in time is but one of the controversies circling Kealakekua Bay.

The island’s largest bay is part of Kealakekua Bay State Historical Park, which also includes Napoopoo Beach; Kaawaloa, a historic fishing village; and Hikiau Heiau, an ancient place of worship still used for ceremonies today. About 115,000 people visit the approximately 537-acre park annually, according to the most recent study from 2007. Most arrive by boat to snorkel and view the Captain Cook monument, a white obelisk constructed in 1874 near the spot where he was killed. Others hike down a steep trail. 

Similar to Hanauma Bay on Oahu, Kealakekua Bay is a Marine Life Conservation District, protecting the historically significant and ecologically delicate area. Still, some visitors disregard its fragile ecosystem and cultural sites, treating them like a theme park, even as locals and marine life continue to call Kealakekua home.   

Some visitors have demonstrated problematic behavior: walking on protected coral while snorkeling or swimming, bothering protected species, littering or entering the sacred heiau. In one egregious example, a Maui man chased an adolescent humpback whale and dolphins there in 2023; he was later cited for wildlife harassment.

For residents, one of the biggest concerns is visitors trampling the fragile and living reef, Frank Carpenter, the co-owner of Kealakekua Bay tour company Kona Boys, told SFGATE. Kealakekua Bay’s delicate coral reef is home to myriad species of marine life and serves as shelter, feeding and spawning grounds for rare tropical fish, along with other aquatic creatures. According to a Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology study, many reef fish make Kealakekua Bay their permanent home. 

To protect marine life, companies like Kona Boys — one of only a few companies authorized by the Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR) to lead tours and rent kayaks in the bay — begin by educating visitors. A Kona Boys tour starts with a talk on Kealakekua’s history, deep cultural roots and ecological awareness, including not standing on living coral.
 
“It’s not only historically significant, it’s a sacred spot, so it’s really important that you enter it with respect and that you’re coming in there with the right intent and you’re educating the people you’re taking, not only on the marine life and the ecological aspects but also on the cultural aspects,” Carpenter said. “In my opinion, it’s critical that people go with authorized, reputable guides. It’s unfortunate, but some operators are just in it for the money.”

Locals often step in to help educate visitors, with varying degrees of success. Carpenter, a resident of Kealakekua Bay who also serves on the board of several conservation-focused nonprofits, explained some people are receptive to correction when a local lets them know that coral is a living organism that can be easily damaged when walked upon. Those visitors may apologize, but others are defensive and uncaring.
 
“It’s really difficult because the way things are right now, there’s not really any enforcement down there because the state doesn’t have enough staff to be down there monitoring it, and it puts us in a really delicate situation because we want to educate people, but a lot of people down there aren’t open to that,” Carpenter said.

Having visitors understand that coral is a living, symbiotic organism is vital to the bay’s ongoing health.

“I feel so privileged every time I come into that bay to be working in a place of such historical, cultural and biological significance. It’s an incredibly special place,” Julia Rose, the coral restoration program manager for the Nature Conservancy, told SFGATE. “Having some level of reverence when you’re in that space … the corals on the reef, some of those corals were probably there when Captain Cook was there.” 

In 2020, the Hawaii Tourism Authority released its current Destination Management Action Plan (DMAP) for the island of Hawaii and invited community voices such as Conservation International Hawaii Senior Program Manager Ulu Ching into the planning process. The tourism authority’s DMAPs are, as Ching told SFGATE, a “literal road map for how to care for an area.”
 
Ching said that like many others in Hawaii, she has “a love-hate relationship with tourism,” pointing out that while tourism “can be something of a blessing in terms of being an economic driver,” there was also “the extractive nature of tourism, the painting over of really important native narratives of the places where tourism is integral to economy.” 

“It has opened up Hawaii to the world in a way that we — the people of Hawaii — haven’t had control or input into how we’ve been opened up,” she said. For more than 100 years, she added, the tourism industry has been economically dominant in Hawaii, and the residents and Native Hawaiian people want the industry to prioritize their stories, people and places over monetary boons.
 
Shifting to more regenerative tourism is critical for places such as Kealakekua Bay. February 2024 saw the first coral restoration project there, dubbed Kanu Koa, and the community took part in the regeneration of the life form considered sacred in Hawaiian culture for being among the planet’s first.
 
On that day in February, Rose and other divers harvested and rescued coral bits that had broken off with little chance of survival. They were then brought to the surface and passed down a line of community members in attendance. Using marine epoxy, divers fastened the pieces to living coral of the same species over 10-by-10-meter lots. When pieces are given a firm foothold on something else, the regeneration of the coral can be successful.  

Walking on the coral is only one type of disrespectful behavior seen from visitors to Kealakekua Bay. By involving community stewards, the Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources hopes to promote better understanding among visitors.

A generational Kealakekua Bay resident, Shane Akoni Nelsen can trace his lineage in the bay back 500 years. He explains that his ancestors welcomed people from across the globe for centuries, which is part of Kealakekua Bay’s historic significance. He fished as a child, with his community subsisting on fare from the ocean, working together to malama (care for) the land and water. Then, the fish they caught for food began to taste like the sunscreen that coated most visitors entering the water, given the burgeoning tourism industry.

Nelsen leads the community stewardship nonprofit Hoala Kealakekua Nui. He said that the vision for the organization is to “ … restore balance that’s relevant for us today, for the Native peoples that still live down there and struggle to live there today, and to still have the visitor piece.”

“My entire life, about three or four generations, we have been disconnected from stewarding our place because of the MLCD and for the purpose of engaging tourism in the bay because of its historical significance and its pristine marine waters,” said Nelsen, “but [eventually] the lineal descendants were no longer able to provide subsistence … not just in certain areas, but also because of impacts from the tourism industry.” 

Hoala Kealakekua Nui operates under an agreement with DLNR to help steward the land and its resources. Nelsen and his team partnered with the Nature Conservancy to create a multifaceted Community Action Plan that was released in 2022 to help the area’s natural resources thrive again. 

The plan stated that the bay’s top threat was people acting disrespectful toward residents and the bay’s natural and cultural resources. It also said people are trespassing and overpromoting the bay through social media, which contributes to overcrowding. Coral restoration was deemed a critical action item by all involved. 
 
For generational residents like Nelsen, there is a reverence for the area, which remains a final resting place for their ancestors and a ceremonial space where traditions are still honored. Nelsen and his team wanted to integrate traditional knowledge and practices into the tourism industry along with DLNR’s recently approved Kealakekua Bay State Historical Park master plan. It calls for incorporating Hawaiian cultural practices and values into its strategies; adding interpretive programs to promote visitor “understanding, awareness, appreciation, and respect for the significant historic, cultural and natural resources of Kealakekua;” and including local knowledge and stewardship in its management. 
 
“It’s important because if you don’t recognize the Native peoples, their culture and their subsistence, then it’s not part of the management. It’s not included in the vision,” Nelsen states. “We’re still well and alive, we’re not historical and preserved, we’re still there struggling to exist.” 

Editor’s note: SFGATE recognizes the importance of diacritical marks in the Hawaiian language. We are unable to use them due to the limitations of our publishing platform.