Business Monday: Kona Boys helps preserve sense of place at Kealakekua Bay

At the bottom of the windy Napo‘opo‘o Road in South Kona is one of the most precious and iconic Hawaiian sites: Kealakekua Bay.

This is where Native Hawaiians made contact with the outside world in 1779 when British explorer Capt. James Cook arrived on its shores. In modern times, the bay has lured tourists with its rocky and steep Ka‘awaloa Trail and its reef, with distinct turquoise and deep blue waters that plunge from 2 to 300 feet within 30 yards.

“It’s a special and magical spot,” said Frank Carpenter, co-owner of Kona Boys, a company that rents snorkeling equipment, kayaks and surfboards, and offers tours to explore the bay and see fish, dolphins and humpback whales.

But Carpenter said that it also is “a place you should enter with reverence.”

For four decades, the tourism industry, lineal descendants of the wahi pana (storied place) and the state have discussed the best management of tourism and preservation of the cultural significance of the famous bay.

Hoāla Kealakekua Nui, a nonprofit founded in 2016 that initially focused on maintenance and preservation of the park, partnered with the Nature Conservancy 2020 to create a shared vision of co-management and sustainable stewardship amongst the community members, businesses, government agencies, researchers and nonprofit partners.

After creating a community action plan in 2022, Akoni Nelsen, lineal descendant of Kealakekua Bay and president of Hoāla Kealakekua Nui, said the state Department of Land and Natural Resources adopted it into the Kealakekua Bay State Historical Parkʻs final master plan of improvements to preserve the bay and its surrounding land.

Kona Boys was among the partners that helped create the community action plan and supports it by educating its customers during kayaking trips to the bay about its culture and history.

Kona Boys, which has been in business since 1996, is one of only three kayaking tour companies permitted by the state to operate in the bay.

Creating permits and limiting the number was critical to managing visitors who had been exploring the bay without understanding the sacredness of the space.

“We’ve always cared about that community. They look at us as partners,” Carpenter said.

The objectives of the bay’s master plan is to address the site’s community, heritage and environment. Work to enact the plan has already begun. Hoāla Kealakekua Nui works with community partners to raise money to create robust stewardship programs to remove invasive species, plant coral and maintain historical sites like Hikiau Heiau, a traditional religious site.

Carpenter said it took so long for the master plan to come together because cultural, state and commercial entities all had different concerns for the bay.

“You’re looking at preserving the spirit of the place, dealing with invasive species and creating a space to continue cultural practices,” Carpenter said. “It’s a holistic viewpoint.”

At the Kona Boys rental shop, located at 79-7539 Māmalahoa Highway, pamphlets outlining the community action plan were scattered on shelves amid the kayaks, surfboards, snorkel gear and apparel.

Nelsen is working with various community partners and Carpenter, a board member of the organization, to enact the plan that embraces regenerative tourism.

Nelsen said in the 1990s, kayaking the bay started to become popular and soon it was inundated with boats, kayaks and snorkelers.

Nelsen said it was good to have commercial entities part of the master plan, describing Carpenter and his employees as passionate about the culture of the area. Carpenter also paid his employees to attend a cultural education workshop.

“He’s built trust with us,” Nelsen said.

While the community and lineal descendants steward and take care of the bay, Nelsen said Carpenter and his employees respect and engage in the preservation work.

“That’s what businesses need to do,” Nelsen said.

As a transplant from California, Carpenter said it’s the culture that drew him and many others to Hawai‘i: “You can’t come to Hawai‘i and want to take. You have to want to give.”