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With nearly 70 percent of the planet covered by saltwater, many resorts can claim to be by the ocean, but it takes a special commitment to be both by and for the ocean. For guests at OUTRIGGER Resorts and Hotels, World Ocean Month in June offers timely opportunities to experience firsthand the brand’s dedication to marine conservation, from protecting and restoring coral reefs to cleaning beaches of debris and promoting environmental and cultural awareness.
Genki Balls being made at Waikiki Aquarium
These efforts are part of the year-round OUTRIGGER Zone initiative, begun in 2014, that elevated ocean conservation to a core part of the brand, which now includes beachfront properties on both the Pacific and Indian oceans.
“The ocean isn’t just part of OUTRIGGER’s story — it’s at the heart of who we are, and caring for it is a responsibility we embrace,” explains Monica Salter, the company’s vice president of global communications and social responsibility. “World Ocean Month is a time to act and bring together our guests, hosts and communities to champion ocean conservation through hands-on efforts.”
Plastic pollution and marine debris, including massive, discarded fishing nets, pose one of the most visible threats to all kinds of ocean creatures, among them parrotfish, Hawaiian green sea turtles, Laysan albatrosses, spinner dolphins and humpback whales. At OUTRIGGER Kaua‘i Beach Resort & Spa, guests can join community group Ho‘omalu Ke Kai on June 21 and 27 for morning and afternoon cleanups of Nukoli‘i Beach, a partnership that has already cleared more than 10,000 pounds of marine debris from this 2-mile stretch of coastline.
Beach cleanups will also take place June 6 at OUTRIGGER Fiji Beach Resort, June 8 at OUTRIGGER Mauritius Beach Resort, June 12 at Castaway Island, Fiji, and June 16 and 30 at OUTRIGGER Maldives Maafushivaru Resort, which also maintains the uninhabited atoll of Lolubo Island. Castaway Island, Fiji, will also host a reef restoration dive as part of an underwater cleanup June 19.
But cleaning the ocean, including lagoons and nearby waterways, isn’t solely about removing pollution and debris; it’s also about adding living organisms to both land and sea that can improve water quality and reef health. At OUTRIGGER Kā‘anapali Beach Resort, for example, hosts participated in limu (seaweed) planting at Waihe‘e with the Maui Ocean Center on May 31 and will help plant native trees to aid in erosion control in the Pu‘u Kukui Watershed Conservation Area on June 18. Attendees of OUTRIGGER Zone Day, a family-friendly ocean conservation festival at the Waikiki Aquarium June 28, can make genki balls — spheres of mud with toxin-removing microorganisms—that will help restore the water of Waikiki’s Ala Wai Canal, which enters the ocean. The Ala Wai Genki Ball Project is closing in on its goal of placing 300,000 genki balls in the canal, to make its waters swimmable by 2026.
At Thailand’s OUTRIGGER Surin Beach Resort and OUTRIGGER Khao Lak Beach Resort, hosts will help plant more than 1,000 mangrove trees in June to stabilize shorelines, sequester carbon and create habitats for marine life. The partnership with Phuket Mangrove Resources Conservation Center will take place at Surin Beach June 27 and Leam Pakarang, a critical coastal ecosystem in Phang Nga Province, June 28. OUTRIGGER Fiji’s Loloma Hour, a weekly community stewardship event, includes not only beach cleanups and environmental education but also mangrove planting, in a partnership with the United Nations Association of Fiji that has already seen more than 10,000 mangroves added to vulnerable coastlines.
While coral is an animal, it can also be planted, offsetting damage inflicted by climate change and human activities. In Fiji, trained marine staff will guide guests in planting coral on the reef surrounding the private island of Castaway Resort on June 5 and 18. On the latter day, guests can also install artificial reef structures known as fish houses to attract marine life and improve their habitats. At the OUTRIGGER Maldives Maafushivaru Resort, resident marine biologist Chloe Ann Mclanachan will lead coral planting sessions near the resort’s water villas on June 8 — also known as World Oceans Day.
Culture, art and the education of both guests and community members also play a key role in OUTRIGGER’s observance of World Oceans Month and its ongoing OUTRIGGER Zone Initiative. In Hawaiian and other Polynesian cultures, the ocean connects rather than divides, as the Polynesian Voyaging Society’s revival 50 years ago of the centuries-old tradition of voyaging in sailing canoes revealed. The Kanehonamoku Voyaging Academy and Friends of Hōkūle‘a and Hawaiʻiloa (a nonprofit named for the iconic ocean-crossing canoes of the Polynesian Voyaging Society) will bring hands-on cultural exhibits to the OUTRIGGER Reef Waikīkī Beach Resort June 14 as part of OUTRIGGER’s ongoing O Ke Kai (“Of the Sea”) series, which will also offer live music and storytelling.
The OUTRIGGER Reef will also host “Hawaiians and the Sea,” a program in partnership with the Waikiki Aquarium, on Wednesdays in June. Cultural practitioners will share with guests their traditional fishing techniques, the uses of ocean materials and Hawaiians’ ancestral relationship with the ocean. The Hawaiian creation chant Kumulipo, for example, traces the origin of life on earth to the coral polyps.
The lobbies of both OUTRIGGER Reef and the OUTRIGGER Waikiki Beach Resort will provide a showcase for contemporary creations, in the form of Jodi Endicott’s sustainability-themed environmental art, beginning June 8. Renowned island artist Patrick Ching will give a watercolor demonstration at the OUTRIGGER Reef’s A‘o Cultural Center June 5, while guests at OUTRIGGER Kaua‘i Beach Resort can learn how to make their own art from marine debris in workshops led by ‘Ōpala (“Trash”) Art June 3 and 8. Young artists, meanwhile, can participate in the World Ocean Day Poster Coloring Contest at Kiahuna Plantation Resort June 9.
Educating guests of all generations may have the longest-lasting impact on ocean conservation. At OUTRIGGER Kona Resort & Spa, Cindi Punihaole, director of Kahalu‘u Bay Education Center will lead a Talk Story session June 8 that incorporates a short film, question-and-answer session, interactive exhibits and ocean-friendly giveaways.
The next day, the nearby Kahalu‘u Bay Education Center will offer ReefTeach, identifying reef-friendly behaviors, such as never touching or standing on live coral, and supporting marine monitoring efforts. A popular site for snorkelers and surfers, Kahalu‘u Bay began closing for coral spawning for a week each May in 2018, which is helping restore the cauliflower coral population that was down to just six mature colonies in 2017 and now numbers in the hundreds or more.
