Molokai Ranch closed earlier this month, forcibly relocating Aloha Music Camp.

For the last five years, the Hawaiian music, dance and culture camp convened each summer at Molokai Ranch’s isolated Kaupoa Beach Village.

This year’s camp—scheduled for June 22-28—will move to the Big Island’s considerably less remote Outrigger Keauhou Beach Resort.

The camp suffered an even more irreplaceable loss last week with the death of much-loved kupuna Auntie Winona Beamer. The noted Hawaiian entertainer and cultural touchstone (in middle photo), along with members of the Beamer ohana—including her son, Grammy-nominated slack-key musician Keola Beamer—hosted the camp each year.

“The camp really is about her life, in a lot of ways,” says camp administrator Mark Kailana Nelson. “Her whole life was dedicated to having Hawaiian culture reach out and be taught and cherished and understood. And that’s why we’re continuing it.”

Nelson and Keola Beamer founded Aloha Music Camp on the Big Island in 2001, before moving it to the beachside lodging owned by Molokai Ranch.

“Molokai was just the most perfect place imaginable. There was a very Hawaiian presence,” says Nelson. “The village was on a secluded beach. The people on Molokai had such aloha. Our hearts really go out to them. So many of them lost their livelihoods.”

The camp is moving to a conventional Hawaii resort—perhaps longer on amenities, but hardly as isolated, or as surrounded by nature.

Nelson argues the camp itself transcends its setting.  “It’s not about the location. It’s the people. It’s the aloha. It’s the ohana. We’ve been fortunate enough to create that experience in two different locations now. That’s what we’re going to do at the Keauhou as well.”

But Molokai will be missed.

It’s a special place,” says Nelson. “The utter silence. The sound of the ocean, the birds, the wind through the trees. Listening to Keola sing ‘Honolulu City Lights’ with the Honolulu city lights right across the channel was chicken skin.

““The first time he did that, there wasn’t a dry eye in the house.”

Aloha Music Camp still has space at its June gathering. For more information or to register, click here.
 
Check out a YouTube video of Aloha Music Camp life on Molokai here.

 

The owner of Molokai Ranch announced this morning that it is shutting down all of its operations on the island on April 5.

Lodging-related facilities closing on the 60,000 acre ranch include its Molokai Lodge, Kaupoa Beach Village and Kaluakoi Golf Course.

A spokesperson for owner Molokai Properties Limited told us that travelers with reservations for lodging or activities at Molokai Ranch should call toll-free (888) 627-8082 for refunds. Refunds will also be given to anyone wishing to cancel lodging reservations for dates before April 5. Travelers already committed to Molokai air travel will be assisted with other lodging on the island.

Molokai Ranch’s management is blaming the closure on continued opposition from Molokai residents to its long-term development plans for its property. Molokai Ranch’s development plans included the construction of a 200-lot luxury subdivision on 500 acres of beachfront land at Laau Point, the island’s westernmost peninsula.

A campaign to raise funds to purchase all of Molokai Properties holdings on the island was launched last year by community group Hoi I Ka Pono.

“For the past five years, MPL has been working with Molokai community leaders and community members on developing and implementing a master plan for MPL’s property and the future of Molokai,” company CEO Peter Nicholas said in a press release today. “Unacceptable delays caused by continued opposition to every aspect of the master plan means we are unable to fund continued normal company operations.”

Access to all of Molokai Ranch’s substantial acreage will be blocked indefinitely after April 5. The ranch’s more than 120 employees will be laid off over the next 60 days.

Molokai Properties Limited is a subsidiary of Singapore-based GuocoLeisure Ltd.

  

Yesterday was not just another day in the office at HAWAII Magazine.

I hopped on a boat with the staff of the Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary, as they went out on a routine research and rescue mission in the waters off Maui.

This wasn’t like my commercial whale watching cruise last year. These were the scientists who watch over the humpback whales and I needed authorization under a federal permit to join them.

Fortunately, we didn’t have to rescue any whales entangled in debris. However, we found ourselves surrounded by humpbacks, breaching, slapping the water with pectoral fins (pictured above), and singing as they glided underneath us, big as buses.

The sanctuary is a part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), dedicated to help protect Hawaii’s humpback whales. As many as 10,000 humpback whales travel from Alaska to Hawaii every year.

For the July/August issue of HAWAII Magazine, I’ll write a story about the NOAA heroes who work with these amazing creatures.  

But till then, here’s my video of a humpback whale breaching in the blue waters of the Pacific, between Lanai and Molokai. (In Hawaii, it's illegal to approach a humpback whale closer than 100 yards by sea. The photo and video may look close, but I've got a camera with a great zoom function).

It was better than sitting at my desk all day.



 

Check out the YouTube video below of Hexanchus griseus.

Talk about living large. It’s an 18-foot six-gill shark that University of Hawaii professors Jeff Drazen and Craig Smith caught on video off the coast of Molokai in 2006.

After it hit their submersible!

The duo was anchored more than 3,000 feet below the ocean surface in pitch-black waters when Hex paid them a visit. You can hear their surprised and animated reactions in the video.

Drazen estimates the width of the shark’s head alone as three feet—about the same distance it moved the submersible.

Also known as the blunt-nose six-gill shark, males of the species mature to an average length of 14 feet, while females average 11 feet. The largest observed sharks of the species have averaged 16 feet in length, so the oceanography professors' video capture is significant.

Hexanchus griseus sharks can live up to 80 years in the wild.