Malama Hawaii. Talking Regenerative Travel with Cultural Representative Kainoa Daines

Kainoa Daines is bringing Aloha to the people through his work as the Hawaii Visitors and Conventions Bureau as Director of Culture and Product Development. In this episode listen in as he shares Hawaii's experience during no tourism in the height of COVID, re-setting the dial on nature, responsible tourism and new developments with the Malama Hawaii volunteer program. In this episode Captain Dan 'talks story' sharing experiences from both sides about travel, connection, safety, conservation and the Hawaiian culture. Move over boring, here comes adventure and culture

With the new Malama program, several organizations offer opportunities for visitors to pay it forward, like beach clean-ups, native tree planting, and more. Engage in some of our volunteer opportunities below, and in exchange, experience Hawaii on a much deeper and connected level. Through the Malama Hawaii Program, you could qualify for a special discount or even a free night from a participating hotel when participating in its dedicated volunteer activity. Don't miss out on this episode, giving back and getting back your Aloha!

More at visit Hawaii on Malama:  https://www.gohawaii.com/malama
Hawaii Visitors Bureau website: https://www.hvcb.org/
Voluntourism opportunities supported by Hawaii's Visitors Bureau: https://www.gohawaii.com/malama#asset-aid-12186
Recommended reads: Hawaii's Story by Hawaii's Queen Liliuakalani
Connect with Kainoa Daines on Instagram

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Transcript

0:03

Hey adventures Welcome to the no ordinary adventure podcast, a place we call home for adventure and the conversations you want to have. We bring you inspiration stories from the field and talk with adventure travelers and industry experts from around the world. This is a place to fill your heart and head with travel knowledge. Now, your host Dan Blanchard, a lifelong Mariner traveler and CEO of UnCruise Adventures, a small boat adventure company defining the UN in UnCruise. Let's get started. Hi, my name is Captain Dan Blanchard. I'm the owner of UnCruise Adventures and welcome to no ordinary adventure, my podcasts that I've been doing for some time now. And today we're going to talk Hawaii, hang on and listen as we talk to one of the kingpins in the change of applying visitor industry to a more authentic Hawaiian cultural product. Canola. Welcome. Hi. I'm having me. Good to be here. Yeah, we'll say aloha. My name is kinda dame's Director of Culture and product development at the Hawaii visitors and convention bureau. I've been blessed to be a part of the Bureau for a little over 10 years now. And my background prior to that was with several hotels in Waikiki. Prior to the bureau was the queen Kapiolani hotel. I was director of sales and cultural director there for over a year. And for five years sales manager, the Miramar in Waikiki, which is unfortunately now Saks Fifth Avenue part of the international marketplace. So that hotel is gone. And prior to that, I was actually with a little tour company out of Canada, called Fun Sun vacations. I was the destination representative in Waikiki. And before that, I was getting my degree at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, the William F Hara College of Hotel Administration. Go Rebels. That's awesome. Well, you know, I was sitting here a couple months ago thinking okay, you know, we're, we're out of the woods here, we've managed to deal with the Delta, and we're gone along and, and then of course, we're getting rumors of new variants, which, I mean, it's starting to sound like maybe it's not going to be as bad as we thought. But yeah, I think probably you and I both are sitting here going, oh my gosh, another round. But the reality is, is why is doing such a great job. When COVID hit in 2020 and everything began shutting down at the end of March, we thought what are we going to market we're a marketing agency, you know, and in airports are shutting down and flights are canceled and we actually became the quarantine Enforcement Task Force. And so we were on boots on the ground for almost a year helping the state of Hawaii Department of Health of it Tourism Authority you know that this whole team ah, you know, all the police departments etc. To make sure and this is again we didn't know much we're still learning but to keep everybody safe that included the people coming from wherever they're well continent to us only because International was completely shut down. And we had some angry people like why are you bothering me? I'm, you know, I know I have to quarantine but the majority. And the feeling that we got was everybody was very grateful. That the way we handled things initially. It was bittersweet, though, right? Because, you know, our in our line of work, that there's no visitors here now, what do we do, but I live in Honolulu. And I'm just outside of Waikiki and a little neighborhood called mo Ely. And I remember walking down to Waikiki Beach. I think he was probably in June or July, and jumping in the water with five other people. Waikiki Beach with like, all they're all local combiner people and I'm looking around like this is and along the shoreline, people fishing, nobody fishes in Waikiki anymore, because there's too many people. I just sat there like, this is kind of kind of amazing. So and then seeing the change. It's been, it's been good. But yeah, it was interesting to see us kind of relax a minute. Well, you're probably one of the few people that can say they've gone back to that beach and experienced it like it was 1920. Yeah, yeah. 100 years ago. Yeah. Wow. Well, so tell me I mean, I know you're involved with Hawaii visitors and conventions bureau with but tell me how that what do you do there beyond being a a guy looking out for COVID? What's your job looking like these days? We're in a different world. My role is culture and product development. And I've been in this role. It's a brand new role that I was able to actually write my own job description. About three years ago. I've been with the Bureau for 10 years. My first seven years I was the Director of Sales for the Oahu Visitor's Bureau. So I only promoted the island of Oahu within the big HBCD family. And I found it challenging for me to be as a Hawaiian to only promote one Island, it was really painful. I love all Hawaii. And while I was the Sales Director, I was also cultural advisor for the state for HVC B, but it wasn't till 2008 to end of 18, or 19, I'm sorry, I lost track of time. But I was promoted to this position and to now my role to sort of sum it up is sort of a cultural conscience of the Visitor's Bureau, and keeping everybody accountable for their level of culture and how they are incorporating it. And so I was able to incorporate my personal life. In my personal life. I'm very active in the Hawaiian community. I dance hula, I'm a member and Officer of the Royal Order of command mayhem, founded by King command in the fifth back in the 1860s, my great grandfather founded the Mali chapter on his on the Kings behalf. So I mean, it's very involved in the community, Hawaiian civic club, etc. And so able to bring all that into hospitality and merge the two and I love it. And I really enjoy being able to share that message of reclaiming our narrative as a native people, if you will, I think that's an important part of why people come to any destination is to learn more about the people that live there. And Hawaii is no exception. And when they come here, I think what is painful is my Four Bears of the the original founders of the Visitor's Bureau in 1903. They were I know, we've been we've been around for a little while. They were from the continental US and they were promoting a fight either way they thought it was in their mind. So coconut bra cellophane, grass skirts, Tiki monkeys parrots things that none of its Hawaiian truthfully, none of it is. When we dance hula we didn't use coconut bras. We went topless. No. So we didn't we that's that's the issue. But we didn't have these things in our culture. And yet, it's been there still, you know, Brady Bunch Hollywood, there's a fine line between having fun and making fun. So I get that's my job in a Kukui nutshell. And Kukui nutshell, which I honor the light of the kukui nut. You know, that is so interesting that you shared about the early Visitor's Bureau because I'm really involved with the Native community here in Juneau, Alaska. Oh, yeah. Yeah. And I was adopted many years ago and such but but their early images of people coming to Alaska on quote, expeditions. Sure. And, and they, they had the Alaskan Natives were a feather cap, like you'd find in the Plains Indians, right? That's their version of a Native American, when that was never even common here. So I kind of chuckle with what you're saying, because that that same thing happened back then. But the joy is, and this is why I so appreciate what you're doing. The joy is, the real thing is actually much more enticing and beautiful than the imitation. Native cultures have a rich story to tell. We've lived in these places like Alaska, natives, Hawaiians, Native Americans, we've lived in these places for 1000s of years. And so we understand the landscape. We understand how things operate, if you will, we know how to take care of the land, because the land then takes care of us. It's this very reciprocal feeling. And I feel like our western brethren, my father's from Utah, full disclaimer. But I feel like we on that side have lost our identities in a sense. And so we take advantage in some ways of these native cultures. And as I love the shift that we've taken, in fact, I just came back from the American Indian Tourism Conference in Phoenix, and there was a lot of Sitka Alaskans and other tribes from Alaska and other parts of the US. And it was great, like, like I mentioned native peoples reclaiming their narrative. And that's exactly what I get to do every day and shift people's reality because you're right. People don't realize how rich the culture really is here. I'll have a group of travel agents that might be taking on a tour before and I would ask how many of you knew that Hawaii was once a former Kingdom? Maybe half if I'm lucky, but raise their hands because that wasn't taught in high school. They learned about Pearl Harbor. They learned about pineapples, and maybe Elvis Presley. And that was the extent of their education about the Hawaiian Islands and I school back in the 50s to 80s. Even right, so, yes, that's not who we are. It's part of our it is part of our culture and history. My my mom's father is actually from Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania, and he was stationed on Mali during World War Two. And had my grandmother not joined the Red Cross as a volunteer, she would have never met him, you know, so my Hawaiian Chinese grandmother from Mali, but so we are all these things, but what are we highlighting that it's the indigenous culture of these islands? And if you notice, I didn't say host because that's actually been a shift in the dialogue that even as the local community Post implies invitation. And everyone is invited, obviously, but the native people here sometimes struggle with the idea of hospitality and tourism. And so it's partly our job yours and mine. And we're doing a great job in it. I feel to help visitors and the local community understand the beauty and benefit of hospitality and be the bridges. And I think we're, I think we're doing, we're doing that we have a lot of work, we absolutely have a lot of work collectively as a as a destination. But with our I think COVID taught us to sort of reset the dial a little bit. And I'd love to share about a campaign that we have. It's a program in a campaign called Mala Mojave. Have you heard of it? At all? No, I have a little bit. But I think for those listening, it would be Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Good. So thank you for that my llama in Hawaii language means to save, to protect, to preserve to maintain. And when we think about what COVID taught us, we need to remember that we have to Mallamma ourselves. Yeah, that that I think if you're not taking care of yourself, what's the point, and then after you've taken care of yourself to Mallamma your family and your friends, right, because those are the people you love, and you choose to share space with. And then we move on with a place that we all share. Right, and that is our home, our our neighborhood, our community, the land that that's on, you know, and so in this case, we're talking about my llama Javi. And in this regard, my llama this place that is Hawaii. And so we have a program that people can visit for travelers and you can experience go and help restore an 800 year old Hawaiian fish pond, or go and help pull weeds in LA Carlo, which is a taro farm. You know, there's a program I think on Maui that stay, people can stitch quilt patterns and quilt squares, excuse me, for blankets for elders. And so there's so many different programs, if you go to go have it comm slash Mallamma. There, you can learn more about that. But I think it's a great thing that as a destination, we've shifted our we're continuing to shift our narrative, right, my llama taking care of each other taking care of ourselves. In addition, we have a lot of our hospitality partners, hotels and attractions also involved in the program. And I love that that is a big part of the destination shift. We also now have a layer for our groups market for corporate social responsibility. And for the layman, that's just for groups to be able to give back when they're traveling as a group. They can make a lot of impact when you have 500 people at that ancient fish pond moving boulders to fix the rock wall. Thank you for that, you know so. So there's a lot that we're doing here. And I'm excited to be able to welcome your passengers in the near future. Again, I think it'd be more applicable in the pre and post. But yeah, there's a lot going on here and I love it. Well, it's such a joy for me. I as a young man, I traveled away like so many in a very early days. And I think that was when I started to understand that there was a big change happening in the way the culture was being presented. And so when we originally came to Molokai and and started working with the locals there we originally were had a had a plan where we were actually going to help in the ponds, pulling trees. And now No, because many people don't realize that these massive fish ponds with Molokai has many, many. I think it's is it the 40s or 50s or something like that? Well, one point I think that the most of all Hawaii? Yeah, yeah, it was mine our island really? Yeah. And but most people don't realize you can't use mechanized equipment, because these are historical areas. Right. So all this removal has to be done by hand. It's hurt us. I've done it for a few days. It's arduous work. But you know, I think that's the joy that I'm seeing. That is probably the biggest change that I've seen in the last 40 years in Hawaii is the crew culture coming out. Now. I know that from Hawaii visitors standpoint that you're you've got some things out to the travel agent community, the webinars, kind of talking about regenerative travel, which is kind of what we're dealing with. Tell us that we had Julie, a good friend of mine and who works for me was recently on one of your programs. Yeah, so tell us about that for maybe the agents in travel industry folks that are on with us. Yeah, no. So that was the theme was Mala Mojave. And so what was the beautiful opportunity for us to share with I believe was almost 1000 travel agents. Yeah. And we are grateful we had one day one was activities and attractions. Julie joined us on day one, I believe. And then the second day was our hotel partners and we basically was Island update, but it was everybody who had some kind of voluntourism activity and I've been doing this for a while prior to my visitors bureau. I was in sales of various hotels and why Kiki, and for me with more of a sales background, seeing other hotels talking about their voluntourism programs was super refreshing. It was so great to hear. Finally, that more and more, we're seeing everybody collectively step up and get together. So the thing that Julie was on was to were to talk more about our Mallamma Javi program, and share with the agents that it exists. And that, you know, they should consider booking it as part of the package for their for their clients when they come to Hawaii because their clients become our guests and important for them to have that information now. And that shift that we've been making over the years. When I started 10 years ago, the Bureau of the campaign was called living in the moment. And it was really a couple of visitor couple sitting on death, the commercial or the ad, if you will, sitting on a beach watching a sunset. That was it. And the idea, though, was there's a beautiful sunset on a beautiful beach in Hawaii, and so that the consumer, the viewer, seeing that adding Oh, I'd like to be there living in that moment. Yeah. And when you look back on that to compare what we're doing now, we don't even have visitors in our in our ads anymore. We want to tell you, Okay, that's great, like, cool. But this is who we are. So we've kind of evolved to where maybe there was maybe there's a surfer coming out of the water, where and then and then their campaign evolves, where maybe they're talking to the surfer, getting to know the surfer. And then we moved a couple of now we want to understand why. And I love the art of waves driving or surfing is so important to us here. And if I said just the evolution in 10 years that I've been at the Bureau and then seeing it for the last 20 years that I've been in the industry has been awesome. And so is watching this, this small Amahi webinar that for the travel agency Julia was on. But just great shift in a lot of the feedback from the travel agent community who really does have the pulse on what's going on in the in the industry. They were blown away and refreshed as well to see where we're headed and and where we are. So if your passengers haven't been if you folks haven't been to Hawaii in a while, it is absolutely time to come back, it is time to revisit a brand new destination. Even though you might have been here 1015 times before. It's different. It's changed. We still have wonderful attractions and sites and our our national parks and you know, Polynesian culture center parks. I mean, those things are still there. They're not going anywhere. And they're proud partners and members and part of our family. But it's really been a shift. And I think where we're headed is a beautiful place. Yeah, it really is. And of course, we've been written really best to work with the solitario family in whole lava on the Big Island. In the past, I would have said it was the Hawaii 100 years ago. Yeah, but now I can say no, this is this is becoming white today. This is it today. Yeah. Oh, man. It's a it's a big difference. And a bit. You know, there's another element to that. And by the way, Julie was just ecstatic about your presentation. Oh, good. And, and she, you know, she's a, she's a sparkplug anyway. But you get her excited, and that gets 20 people around her good on your brother. Right. But you know, kind of along with this, this resurgence and regenitive travel and all this kind of thing. And those are terms that we use in the industry, of course, but but there's also this volunteerism, things going on. Yes. And then and what what does that mean, for Hawaii? And you and why deserves you know, what does volunteerism really? How, what's the shoe leather? What's the feet on the ground? Yeah, like? So voluntourism, for us, to me should have been something we've been doing from the beginning. When people their perception that people have when they come to Hawaii is to sit there Muy Thai by the pool, maybe have a surf lesson, go to a luau in the evening, and repeat, rinse and repeat. And that's basically what Hawaii has been for a long time. My grandmother was a tour guide in the industry back in the 70s for a company called unit tours, and she would take people around the islands, unfortunately, not on a ship, but on a plane. But she would take them you know, for a week or two at a time in between the islands. And I remember looking at pictures of her. She passed away a long time ago, but I remember seeing pictures of her. And everything seems so kitschy And so sort of, for lack of a better word kind of cheesy. And you know, I know my grandmother wasn't that that was just the world that there the world she knew she had to kind of live in and operated. And so that was what have it was that and so today when you come now, voluntourism, and I think this is very true for the younger traveler. And I'm glad for that, Jen. I don't know what we're assigning them Z I think y z what? Maybe go back to a party. So we're going to come back to the alphabet. But they they are very much what we're calling the mindful traveler. And they want to go to a place where they can give back. And it's just not they still want to have their mind time or the pool. And I'm like, I'll join you. That's, that's great. Let's do that. But in addition, let's go, like I mentioned to this 800 year old fish pond, and let's meet the community. And I think what's beautiful one of our Mallamma campaign, one of our videos is actually Noelani. Li on Molokai II, have you met Noelani? Yes, her she's in one of our videos, we have four of them. And my favorite quote, that she said during her interview, was the best way into a community is to volunteer. And I just out of that, just when I heard that I just sat up and I'm like, file that away in there in the brain. Because that, to me absolutely is the way to meet the people to be part of the place and then have this pride that I did something I gave back to a place that I love. People love Harvey, how could you not love Hawaii? You know, when you arrive here and if you don't love Hawaii, well, come back again. Well, we'll help you up. But how can you not love a place that automatically loves you through the spirit of Aloha? Aloha isn't reciprocal nature, it's a feeling it's an emotion. It's a way of life, that when you come with that genuine aloha in your heart already, you're going to have such a wonderful time, you know, and so giving back to a place only amplifies that Aloha that connection to that community. And so voluntourism, for us, where we're seeing a spike, just a real quick side thing I was when I was when we were filming an oil anything. on Molokai II, I was sharing something with a resident that came up there was a little bit upset about what we were doing. They're filming where you're Molokai II and blah, blah, blah, tourism. And I use an analogy that I'd never thought of before that sort of appropriate to you folks. I said, Do you remember when the ever I think was called the ever given the ship that got stuck in the Suez Canal? And he said, Yeah, I said, Okay, well, that ship is tourism. And we are stuck. But you and I, my friend were the tugboats. We're gonna sit here and we're gonna nudge nudge nudge together to get this shift, right. It you know, and, and he kind of stopped and paused was like, oh, yeah, okay. Alright. So carry on. But, but you know, that's that's just what we're all doing is we're we're the tugboats. And we just got to move this ancient giant beast of hospitality and tourism, because it started before we did in 1903. It was a year in 1800s, tourism, you know, and so we all collectively can be that collective Niger, though, where the fleet of tugboats that are going to write the ship and get it on a much better course. And so that's what Mocha is for me as well. It's I just love that you're working with Mocha in and what I'm what I'm, what I'm doing, personally, professionally, is reaching out to family and friends that I know who are nonprofits that have a farm, that have an activity that you know, needs some help, not a not a tourism activity, per se, but something that they need some help. Again, as I mentioned earlier, being that bridge to help them understand the needs of the visitor, right? Do you have bathrooms? Do you have parking? What are you open? When are you open to visitors? I want that bridge to happen, but at the same time to help help the farm help the nonprofit help my friends and family understand. Yeah, there's, you know, how many people do you want, you only want 10 people every third Tuesday that we can help you out. So we just want to have the communication be healthy and understanding of both sides. And so that's been my heavy lifting, if you will, for these last couple of months, and we're ready for 22 I think 22 We're going to see more and more partners coming online. You know, we're working very closely with our with our partner, the Hawaii Tourism Authority. They're the state agency for tourism where the marketing arm essentially. And we're helping our partners to have a tourism authority as they give us a lot of amazing grants to help nonprofits to lift them up. And so we want to help them further. And so for those who are ready, you know, for nonprofits, we don't want tourists. Okay, cool. Call us when you're ready. We don't want to. And that's, that's really important. Because if there is a balance, I mean, none of us ever want to see culture, culture and heritage sold at a price. Yeah, I mean, that's that's just like why, but when, you know, I think about you know, you talked about aloha and the different meanings of aloha. And, and I think that that is it's the heart and soul if we can, like for instance, you just sharing with me about voluntourism in Hawaii makes me go I'm gonna go back and talk to Walter about let's rekindle that. We had about the about the pons, Walter. And because it fell flat not for any good reason. Really. It just kind of a timing issue. It didn't work. And in so maybe now that's the time because that, you know, people love that type of thing. And maybe, maybe even after, we can talk a little bit about some, because a lot of our guests come in to a waffle, right before they go to Molokai or the Big Island, and they're always looking for things that they can be involved with pre and post, so maybe we can talk afterwards about that a little bit. Absolutely. Yeah, cuz I think that's true, really, for, you know, the Australians and the Kiwis that come up. They Australians are coming back soon. Soon. Yeah, I think I think you know, soon I keep I keep thinking that we will hope it's for sure, for sure. Well, you have such a great position there. I just love it. I kind of wish I had your job for a few weeks and see how you feel. Likewise, my brother. So we talked about culture a lot. Yeah. And we've talked about the change that's taking place from the Hollywood perception of culture to what is happening today. How does that relate to you? I mean, we're Hawaii, just like Alaska is very much in an ocean water base. And how does that translate into care of the oceans care of the beaches care of, you know, I think of Hawaiian Monk seals that have worked their way from French frigate shoals back to the main islands of Hawaii. Does your job have anything to do with kind of enhancing that? Yeah, I think that's actually a wonderful question we've had, it's been a hot button topic. Over the years, but lately, we've seen sort of a spike in people wanting to mistreat our local animal and plant life that's native to these islands that's endemic, that's a danger to have it is the endangered capital species of the world, which we're not proud of. But it's just there's a lot of endangered species here. And so are campaigning from a marketing perspective of the visitors bureau. This is what you know, HVC is a marketing agency. So part of what we have shifted doing which I'm very heavily involved in, is leave the turtles alone, leave the seals alone. And, and not just showing pictures of beautiful beaches might show a picture with a seal in it, but with a big fat disclaimer, that says you could go to jail and pay a big fine if you go and bother that beautiful animal. Period. You know, so we have to be gentle in our marketing because marketing is there's a poetry to that. But we've begun beginning a little more blunt in it to say knock it off. Leave them alone, they're they're not here on vacation like you are they live here you know, and that's been a big thing that we've seen residents sentiment across the state not just with the animals but the people that you know, everybody kind of got have it back for a minute while COVID was happening. And so we've seen more and more of these the seals on the beaches, more sea turtle more the turtles the whole no swimming in the waters because there's nobody's you know, seeing seeing sea turtles and Waikiki is pretty rare. But I've been I've seen them, you know, because they're while there were less people on the beach now it's pretty busy again, but yeah, these animals and plants plants is another one is staying on the trail. You know, sometimes we talk about going off the beaten trail will not stay on that trail, please. You know, when you're hiking in the mountains. We have invasive species of plants that have been brought over either by accident, well, always by accident, I guess to some extent, and they don't they're not friendly in our native forest. And so when you go traipsing off the trail, you're now transmitting spores and you know, pollen to propagate these things. And so these are native plants can't handle you know, yeah, Pompeii was such a protected place before Western contact before man arrived even before my ancestors arrived. 2000 years ago, you had so many species subspecies of plants and animals that Darwin had come here. Instead of the Galapagos, his theory of evolution would have been a lot more refined, I think. Like the honeycreeper, for example, one bird from the from wherever it came from, I think it came from North America, then branched off into like 50 subspecies found nowhere else in the world. Our state bird DNA is a subspecies of the Canadian goose. I mean, so many different things have come in over the years and change the plants lost their poison. They lost their thorns because there was no need to defend themselves. And so you know, and then when Hawaiians arrive, Polynesians rather than become Hawaiians are 1000s of years. They don't have the immune system that was there. They weren't prepared for Captain Cook of the missionaries when they arrived and so this place is fragile in our messaging is shifting into a place of a watch out, take care, Mama, you know, and being and being part of it with us, and we want to be inclusive, and not exclusive. And this is our home, leave us alone. This is our home, you're welcome. But but you know, careful, don't step over here, watch out over here, you know, we just want you to be mindful. And we are to serve the message is not just for, for visitors. The messaging is also for residents, because I think sometimes we, as residents of Hawaii, we forget that we have a responsibility in the Hawaiian language kuleana also, to this place, and to each other and to ourselves, like the idea of Mallamma taking care. So yeah, our campaign, our marketing, our messaging has really been shifting too much more than it ever has been. And so we are taking care of those plants and animals and I love being able to share their stories more and more. It's It's amazing. And I'll just share a quickie about, you know, how what happened in Hawaii, affected me in Alaska. And that is, you know, back. I think that the species of whale, the humpbacks that, you know, in Maui County, we have that big pump back preserve area, and that those humpbacks that were born and weaned in Hawaii, or what, come back to Alaska. And I spend all summer feeding in Alaska and become my friends. Yeah, and it's really interesting. We talked a lot about how our how this fiery explorer basically just follows the Hawaiian humpbacks to Alaska, and then Falco and OpEx arrive in Hawaii. And you know, that's a great story. Because not only did the Hawaiians see this as valuable, but that was the first group of whale whales that was protected back in the 20s. From whaling. It was that group that went between Hawaii and Alaska, some of them go between Alaska and Mexico, but most of life, right. And so I look at that every time I see a whale, in Maui County or on the Big Island wherever I go, Well, it's related to me in Alaska, too. So I mean, it's kind of a bringing together not just species, but people which is kind of cool. We actually have a bird to the Pacific golden plover, or in Hawaii COLA that they live after like half the year here and the other half, they're up in the Pacific Northwest and Alaska. And so we do have a great synergy between the two, between the two places, the 49th and 50th. States. Love in that synergy. And that the end of the day. Now if we're doing our jobs, right, you and me, as far as bringing people to destinations. That's what really makes the difference. It turns the clock in the right direction. And I think that passengers, you know that we're talking to the people, your potential passengers, our listeners out there, you folks, we appreciate you because these are people you are people who care about a destination when you travel. And I think that if we got more people on board with that no pun intended, or pun intended, why not on board with the idea of caring about where you're traveling, the footprint that we're leaving behind. There was a when I was at the American Indian Tourism Conference. Another thing that even came up was, you know, whatever the footprint and you know, things you would trash and how we how we impact the place, but even photography came up. And that's a real hot button. Topic here with social media, you might stumble across a beautiful waterfall while you're hiking. And the worst thing you can do is, when you post that picture, don't post the picture. That's not what I'm post away. But don't tag the place. Don't tell us where you are. Tell us you found this great secret little Grotto in Hawaii. And you found this great little waterfall and you're having a lovely picnic and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. But don't tell us where you are. Because let's leave these places secret. Sacred, let's leave them alone for other people to stumble across and find and I mean this for anywhere in the world. Not just tough it but because I represent it especially have i Let's let these these special magical places continue to maintain that magic for other people to stumble across and find on their own, rather than using their device and trying to figure out oh, wait, wait, the GPS says we've got to go on this pen. Don't do that. Don't do that. And I think that we just don't get caught up in wanting to share our stories with our family and friends. Whenever we're traveling. We're like, Ah, look at me look like it to be yay for me. But just taking that moment to say yeah, post a picture. Post way please hashtag go heavy. But, but don't tell us where you are, if you will, if that makes sense. Like let's let that secret magic live on for others to find on their own. And I think this audience gets that. Oh, you know, and I am such a believer in that but you're rekindling it in me. Yeah, because there's such a wonderful mystery we we sometimes will name the general places we go oftentimes for but one of the reasons we don't know And the specific, like, super unique places is, you know, part of this is that, in reality, people are generally drawn to places that are unnamed. And that have that that are hidden away. And then, and that's almost kind of one of the wonderful secrets of travel is, you know, for you and I, and let's just say we go to India someday. And for us to find a special place off the map, that no one knows about that. That is genuine. And okay, you're, you're rekindled Lee, Kimberly me on a lot of spots here. So you know what, we'll close out here, because this has been a really great talk. But is there anything else you want to share with the because our audience is made up of guests that will travel quite agencies and other travel companies that that sell into way? Anything you would like to share with this group that you feel is kind of the most important message you can can send to people? Yeah, thank you for that question. Um, I think the most important thing to take away from Hawaii is the and I think we've been dancing on it and talking about it off and on throughout. But that local narrative, that native voice that has been sort of muted for a long time when I mentioned my grandmother earlier, you know, she'd go to work with her uniform on her mobile, mobile uniform, whatever, and do her tour and, you know, and whatnot, and, but when she came home, she was my Hawaiian grandmother eating fish and boy, and, you know, doing her thing, and they were very separate. And I think the conception for people when they see that, oh, that's the Hawaiian way. And so I think what I wanted to say is that what you think you may have known about Hawaii, you you it's not true. And one of my favorite Hawaiian Proverbs is all hip Polk aka Kahala, Hawkeye and that translates into all knowledge is not taught in the same school. And basically, it tells us and helps us to have an open mind. But more importantly, to have an open heart. And when you go someplace, and when you travel, and again, we're speaking about how vitally but I'm really conscious about how we travel as human beings around this planet to have an open mind and open heart to the host culture the indigenous culture to to be prepared to be uncomfortable, to be prepared to be lost but to be open about it and to to kind of go with the flow and whatever other campaigns was let have it happen and so you know, when you're when you're on board, let the water splashing the face getting a little bit the mist today Okay, off the off the ocean as you're going along from island to island, and let that spirit of Hawaii guide you and let that idea of of hospitality, that when you're going someplace that you also have to have that spirit of hospitality in your heart. You know, it's it's a mutual and and that's the beauty of it is a lot of what we live here is reciprocal, like Aloha, we talked about it but Aloha, if you're not giving of Aloha, you may not be giving it back. I mean, it's really, you know, it's a very two sided thing. And so we we hope that when you when you approach it when you think about Hawaii, one of my favorite books I went to, I think you can find it online, is Hawaii story by Hawaii's queen. And it is literally the autobiography of Queen elite will colony the last reigning monarch of our Hawaiian Islands. And it's the story of her life. And she was you know, the major player during the overthrow. She visited Queen Victoria during her Jubilee in 1887. She and her sister in law Queen Kapiolani, the wife of the King of King Kawakawa. They were treated you know, they were picked up in London harbor by the Queen's very own family carriage. I mean, so we have this relationship with England but she tells the story of Hawaii and the trials and tribulations that she went through. And when she was overthrown by the Hawaiian the Provisional Government of Hawaii in 1893. A few years later, she was actually imprisoned in the palace. And while she was in prison there, she wrote a lot of her most beautiful songs. A lot of songs are written in the palace, what a famous and that we know is a law or a law that was written in the palace, not during her imprisonment. But one of the songs that she did right there was called the Queen's prayer. And in the prayer, she's asking the Lord, she's asking Kafka to forgive her captors. This woman had so much Aloha, that while she's in prison for things and we look back on it now for She did nothing wrong. She was trying to defend her, her rightful throne, her rightful, you know, place on the throne. While this provisional government was was trying to change things, but she had so much aloha and forgiveness for these people, that she wrote a song to Ask the Lord to forgive them while she was in jail. So that is the spirit of it. And one of her definitions, the Queen's Own definitions of aloha is to hear what cannot be heard to see what cannot be seen and to know the unknowable. That is what she believed Aloha was. And so again, I'll have pulka, aka the hollow Hall, I open mind open heart, when you travel to Hawaii, you could not have ended this podcast in a more beautiful manner than sharing about the queen. I have read many books about her and the tragedy and the joy and the beauty and her life. And the mix is nothing less than stunning. And what a way to end our time together. It was my pleasure. I really think that this is a great opportunity. And I appreciate what you folks do for the Hawaiian Islands. Thank you. Not not only on behalf of my company, but on those those that are on Molokai that we work with. We deeply appreciate the work you're doing. And we look forward to a time in the future where we can sup in and maybe we can do that on our boat. Absolutely. Well, Aloha Kalikimaka you guys take care enjoy your weekend thanks for listening to no ordinary adventure sharing locally harvested stories about adventure. Be sure to subscribe, leave a review tell a friend and help spread the word. We are a community of nature lovers, intrepid travelers and outdoor adventurers mostly from the comfort of a small boat and we want to spread our love of this fascinating planet. That's it for this episode. Now get outside