The Hawaii no one knows

Dawn light illuminates the dunes of Barking Sands beach, the westernmost point on Kauai, which is the northernmost island in the main Hawaiian chain. The Holo Holo, a 65-foot catamaran, slices the jewel blue sea at an easy 20 knots.

Captain Chris Bane shouts, “We’ve got visitors!” and 30 passengers rush to glimpse the dark backs and darting dorsal fins of dolphins, which close in around the catamaran like a motorcade. “These are spinner dolphins,” says Captain Chris, and, as if on cue, one of the turbocharged mammals shoots into the air and executes an aerial maneuver that would inspire any Olympic high diver to retire his Speedo forever.

You’d think this spot would be the living end of the Hawaii experience–and for nearly everyone but travelers aboard this boat, it is. Holo Holo is the only commercial snorkel-tour boat that makes a daily practice of leaving the main Hawaiian Islands. As the catamaran turns to port and aims its twin hulls at the open sea, it touches the threshold of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands Marine National Monument (NHWI was re-named the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument on March 2, 2007), the nation’s newest–established in June 2006–and most remote national marine monument.

The NWHI reserve is unique in that it is huge–100 times larger than Yosemite and bigger than 46 of the 50 states–and that it is mostly underwater. Longer than the distance from Chicago to Miami and 100 miles wide, it contains 10 uninhabited islands, more than 100 atolls, 4,500 square miles of coral reef habitat, and more than 7,000 marine species, a quarter of which exist only there.

The pristine habitat of the Hawaiian monk seal (endangered), the green sea turtle (threatened), and vast colonies of terns, boobies, and other seabirds, NWHI constitutes such a global marine treasure that many scientists have taken to calling it “the rain forest of the sea.”

“This is a virtually unexplored part of the world,” says Jean-Michel Cousteau. Son of famed explorer Jacques, and founder and president of the Ocean Futures Society, he travels the world to urge respect for marine ecology. In April 2006 he went to the White House to show a documentary film he had made about the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands.

His audience included President George W. Bush and First Lady Laura Bush, Hawaii Governor Linda Lingle, various senators, and representatives of the Department of the Interior, the Coast Guard, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). “At the end of the screening,” says Cousteau, “the president stood up, turned to the audience, and said, ‘Get it done!’ Those were the words I wanted to hear.”

The president’s June 15 proclamation of NWHI as a national marine monument cut through legislative proceedings that might have dragged on for a year. Afterward, NOAA head Conrad C. Lautenbacher called this decision “the single largest act of ocean conservation in history.”

The designation will promote scientific research in NWHI and preserve access for native Hawaiian cultural uses. It will ban commercial and recreational fishing (to be phased out over five years) and continue to forbid the dumping of waste, especially fishing gear. Cousteau and others hope that these changes will help stop the decline of the Hawaiian monk seal. Its population has dwindled to as few as 1,200; little is understood about the causes of their decline, but they are known to become fatally entangled in derelict fishing gear.

Most people, including residents, think of Hawaii as a string of six islands that begins with the Big Island and continues northwest to Kauai. In fact, Hawaii is an archipelago that stretches past Kauai for 1,400 miles to extend beyond Midway and Kure Atolls, famous for their roles in World War II.

When Holo Holo turns its stern on Kauai, it crosses 6,000-foot-deep water traveled by all manner of creatures you never expect on a Hawaii snorkel trip–leatherback and loggerhead sea turtles, as well as minke, Bryde’s, fin, melon-headed, and pygmy killer whales, or the occasional sperm whale and whale shark.

After 18 miles of open water, the catamaran nears two dry islets that serve as gateways to the new monument. One is Niihau–privately owned and, though inhabited by about 250 Hawaiians, closed to outsiders save for limited half-day and day snorkeling and hunting tours. The other is Lehua, a 284-acre rock inhabited by thousands of seabirds. The wind fills with the ripe aroma of guano. The low, elephant gray shoreline is creased into long caves from which shoot hordes of petrels and noddy terns that flit through frail-looking sea arches and cliff cracks.

The sea along these rough shorelines is glass-clear. When you snorkel along a sea cliff, you can see clearly down for 100 feet, then look into an ever-deepening blueness below that. The effect unnerves almost everyone. You feel like a feather that just blew off the top of a 10-story building.

The boat crew has a name for one of these dive spots: Vertical Awareness. “The feeling of vertigo as you float in the water–that’s why we go to Niihau,” says Captain Chris.

For now, the new monument is managed by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, NOAA, and the state of Hawaii. Visitation remains limited, although ecotourism will probably find a foothold on Midway. And the monument will eventually bear a native Hawaiian name to recognize its cultural significance. After all, NWHI doesn’t have quite the everlasting ring of, say, Mount Rushmore.

But for now, just experiencing these protected waters is enough. As you hover in aquatic suspension, a Hawaiian monk seal sidles up to you, examining you with pool-black eyes. The seal is a hefty fur-brown torpedo longer than a man. Its black paddlelike flippers act as twin rudders. Sunlight shines through the glassy water surface and dances across the seal’s domed back with the brilliance that medieval architects tried to build into Gothic cathedrals. At such moments, you can be forgiven for thinking that this unknown Hawaii is the best Hawaii of all.

For further information visit http://www.hawaiireef.noaa.gov/  Holo Holo Charters at http://www.holoholocharters.com/ or call 800/848-6130 for information on boat charters to Niihau.

By Paul Wood

Courtesy of Sunset Publishing Corp.