It started with a new vision statement: “We live to create extraordinary lifetime memories. The only thing that matters to us is that you feel our aloha!”
Last fall, with that as its guide, the leadership team of the Grand Wailea, a Waldorf Astoria resort, set the wheels in motion for a multifaceted cultural program open to everyone.
“E komo mai (welcome)!” the hotel’s employees say. “Come, learn … reflect … enjoy.”
>> Morning chant: Once a month at dawn, a group gathers on Wailea Beach, where Kainoa Horcajo, the resort’s cultural ambassador, teaches the oli, or chant, “E Ala E” (“Awaken”). Translated from Hawaiian, the chant says, “Arise and awaken, sun in the east, from the ocean, the depths of the ocean. Climb to the heights, the high heavens of the sky. In the east, there is the sun! Awaken!”
The group then enters the sea, allowing the calm morning waters to relieve stress, and emerges to greet the rising sun with “E Ala E.”
>> Hawaiian Outrigger Experience: To the west of the Grand Wailea’s 40 oceanfront acres is Kealaikahiki, “the pathway to Tahiti.” Tahiti is 2,700 miles directly south of this channel. The first voyagers to Hawaii from Tahiti and the Marquesas sailed through Kealaikahiki between A.D. 300 and 500.
The Grand Wailea is in the ahupuaa (land division) of Paeahu; “pae” means “to embark or disembark,” and “ahu” means “altar.” Before leaving this place and when they returned, voyagers would present offerings at a shrine (now on the hotel’s grounds) to express their hope — or thanks — for a safe journey.
Veteran waterman Kevin Hoke invites visitors to pick up a paddle and experience ocean voyaging in his 40-foot outrigger canoe. During daily excursions in the waters off Wailea Beach, he explains the importance of the canoe in ancient times for fishing, war, trade and transportation.
Participants also learn three chants, including “E Ku Mau Mau,” which villagers recited as they hauled huge logs from the mountains to the sea to build canoes. From the sea, spectacular views of Haleakala, the West Maui Mountains, Lanai, Kahoolawe and Molokini islet vie for attention—and be sure to keep an eye out for turtles that pop to the surface to breathe.
>> Cultural tour: There are many beautiful hotels in Hawaii; only the Grand Wailea, however, was designed as a microcosm of an ahupuaa, starting with the cliff and waterfall by the porte-cochere. “Like an actual ancient land division extending from the mountains to the sea, water is a major element here,” said Horcajo, who leads a weekly tour of the resort. “It goes through the entire property, under the porte-cochere to the lobby, down to the gardens and out into the pools and ponds.”
A 7-foot bronze statue of Kamehameha, also at the entrance, is an accurate depiction of the great warrior king who united the Hawaiian Islands under one rule. It’s among 21 of the resort’s historically and culturally significant sculptures created by the late Herb Kane, an esteemed Hawaiian artist, author and historian.
During the tour, Horcajo also points out plants valued by the Hawaiians. For example, the leaves of the ubiquitous ti were woven into slippers, tied into hula skirts, used as plates and administered to alleviate fever and to wrap laulau.
Architectural highlights include Humuhumunukunukuapuaa restaurant. Open-air with a thatched roof, it’s in a saltwater lagoon teeming with some 30 species of tropical fish, including its namesake, Hawaii’s state fish. The lagoon represents the loko ia (fishpond) in the ahupuaa, where mullet, milkfish and more were raised. Some loko ia were reserved for chiefs; others were open to everyone.
>> Ka Malama Dinner: Horcajo loves the mountains. Executive sous-chef Mike Lofaro feels a kinship with the ocean. Once a month they collaborate on the five-course Ka Malama (“the month”) Dinner at Humuhumunukunukuapuaa, which is based on the kaulana mahina, cycles of the moon that the Hawaiians used to track time and manage resources.
“The cycles outlined what work could be done and what foods could be gathered at what times and in what ways,” Horcajo said. “With regard to the ocean, the kaulana mahina follows the tides, limu growth, fish migration and spawning periods. On land it identifies the days to weed, mulch, plant and harvest. In this way the people protected the resources and maintained a sense of place — a close connection with the land and sea, which nourished them.”
Ka Malama menus change monthly based on what’s abundant during a particular period. Horcajo and Lofaro fish and forage for ingredients. They’ve hiked into remote valleys to gather pohole (fiddlehead ferns). They’ve clung to rugged cliffs to pick opihi. They’ve paddled a canoe a mile offshore to catch malolo (flying fish).
“When we first started doing Ka Malama in March, Kainoa and I agreed we would only take what we needed from healthy stocks so an area would not be depleted,” Lofaro said. “Sometimes we’re looking for things that are hard to find, and we must use other resources to get the quantity we need. For example, we wanted to use a native taro from Waikapu for one dinner. Kainoa made many calls to friends, family, small farms and other producers to get enough of that specific variety because having it was important for what we are doing — holding true to tradition.”
“SEARCH Hawaii”: This monthly half-hour TV series on KHON, subtitled “Where Food Meets Culture,” chronicles Lofaro and Horcajo’s search for ingredients for Ka Malama. It launched earlier this month with a focus on Hawaii island. For the episode filmed on Oahu, to air in November, the men picked ulu (breadfruit), harvested oysters at Kualoa Ranch’s Molii Fishpond and discovered what’s being done to eradicate invasive seaweed and revitalize native species in Maunalua Bay. Each program ends with Lofaro preparing a dish inspired by the ingredients gathered.
Yvonne Biegel, the show’s executive producer and the Grand Wailea’s director of public relations and marketing communications, said the show encourages viewers to use local ingredients. “It teaches them about ancient protocols and traditions for farming and fishing and introduces them to the unsung heroes of those industries and to fresh, delicious, nutritious and often little-known foods found in nature.”
“SEARCH Hawaii” will air on the following Sundays: Nov. 8 and 22 (focus: Oahu), Dec. 6 and 27 (Kauai) and Jan. 3 and 17 (Molokai) and Feb. 7 and 28 (Maui). The show airs at 6:30 p.m., except on Dec. 27, when it airs at 7 p.m. Go to SearchHawaiiTV.com.
If you go …
Grand Wailea, Maui
>> Location: 3850 Wailea Alanui, Wailea Resort
>> Rates: Start at $359 per night through mid-December. Kamaaina receive as much as 25 percent off.
>> Contact: 875-1234, gwreservations@waldorfastoria.com
>> Website: grandwailea.com/activities/resort-events
>> Notes: The Grand Wailea hosts the Huakai o na Waa (Journey of the Canoes) on Thursday and Friday. This is a free event that includes the premiere of the 55-minute documentary "Ohana Hokulea." This is the first time footage from the voyaging canoe Hokule’a will be shown publicly. Details are on the website.
Cheryl Chee Tsutsumi is a Honolulu-based freelance writer whose travel features for the Star-Advertiser have won several Society of American Travel Writers awards.
