Hanauma Bay memories, history, and changes
Park Superintendent Alan Hong (now retired) personally greeting visitors to the new visitor center in 2002. For the Oahu crowd, and visitors to Oahu, today was a milestone that will probably go unnoticed. In 2002, in response to numerous complaints that the Hanauma Bay Marine Conservation District was being "loved to death," a new visitor center championed by Park Superintendent Alan Hong was opened. In addition to providing opportunities to learn more about the bay and its inhabitants, a new requirement was that residents and visitors alike needed to watch a short, 9 minute video at least once a year. Jeff Kuwabara, then the UH Education Specialist for Hanauma Bay, pointing out features of the reef on display in the visitor center in 2002. The video emphasized visitor etiquette on the reef, some natural history, some regulations (no touching sea turtles), and ocean safety. The etiquette? Don't feed the fish, don't touch the reef, and don't stand