There is a rich history of Hawai‘i pre-contact. Stories were passed from generation to generation, orally, to connect people to their home, their deities and their ancestors. One such story concerns the history of Kahuku.
Mo‘olelo – In the legend of Hi‘iakaikapoliopele, beloved sister of the famous volcano goddess Pele, Hi‘iaka toured the Hawaiian Islands with her companions in search of her handsome love Lohi‘auipo. While on O‘ahu, she travelled through Keana to Kahuku, the land known to hover and float above the sea. On the path to Kahuku, she met a kupua (a supernatural being with the ability to change forms) named Lewa, who was an ancestress of Hi‘iaka. But Lewa did not recognize her family member, and being the goddess of rain and wind in the Kahuku area, she sent blustery winds and torrential rain at the uninvited visitors. Hi‘iaka chanted to Lewa, informing her of her association with the goddess Pele and that they were in fact family. Lewa was ashamed and embarrassed. She apologized to Hi‘iaka, stopped the winds and rains, and invited them to eat. Hi‘iaka and her companions joined Lewa and feasted. After their meal, Hi‘iaka proclaimed to Lewa that Lewa would remain in Kahuku and become famous in these parts. The breast-shaped hills of Kahuku will be commemorated as the Breasts of Lewa and the land of Kahuku will be remembered as Kahuku lewa, the land that floats on the sea, as the Hawaiian word Lewa also means to hover or float.
Post-contact saw the transformation of the area from subsistence agriculture to commercial agriculture, beginning with ranching and followed by plantation style sugar cultivation. By the early 1900s, the sugar mill at Kahuku became the center of activity and the lifeblood of the community. In 1958, foreseeing the end of the sugar cane industry, community leaders of Kahuku were concerned about the loss of local employment. A resort was seen as a means to generate alternative local employment opportunities. More importantly, it was seen as a way to keep families intact, allowing them to continue residing in their community. In the 1970s, this vision sprang to life with the construction of a hotel, cottages, cabanas and the homes at Kuilima Estates. The first golf course was also built at that time. The entire project eventually came to be known as Turtle Bay Resort.
After years of community-wide discussions, the City and County of Honolulu enacted zoning changes in 1986 that allowed the Turtle Bay property to transform from a single hotel to a visitor-destination resort. The approvals were memorialized with a Unilateral Agreement signed by the resort owners and the City that specified not only land use rights, but community benefits as well. Although a succession of owners has failed to advance the plans encompassed within the Unilateral Agreement, the document remains in force.
More recently, the property was not immune to the real estate and credit corrections that swept through the world in 2008. Today, we have new owners and a renewed commitment. Replay Resorts, with its extensive experience, has been engaged to oversee the entire resort, the golf operations and the real estate development program on behalf of the ownership group. The first priority in this mandate was to reengage the community in dialogue with respect to advancing future planning.
