Castaway Island, Fiji (FCI)
World Ocean Month
BY KOLINIO VULAONO — To celebrate World Ocean Month, Castaway scheduled environmental activities to be enjoyed by guests and hosts every Thursday so that they learn more about the significance of the celebration.
The month-long celebration kicked off with an ocean-themed Amazing Race Challenge. This activity was enjoyed by most of the registered kids from the Coral Kids Club. Another activity was a coastal beach cleanup where 12 participants collected 25 kg (over 55 lbs) of waste. Guests and hosts were also able to learn more information about crown-of-thorns starfish, sea cucumber and clams. Live specimens were shown and their role of importance in the reef ecosystem was taught.
The next activities are an underwater cleanup and coastal fruiting tree planting. The main idea behind the celebration is to have an environmental activity once a week that is educational and fun for both guests and hosts.
OUTRIGGER Zone Day
BY KOLINIO VULAONO — In celebration of OUTRIGGER Zone Day on June 10, resort guests, hosts and the executive team took time out to do coral planting and fish-house making. The highlight of the celebration was the fish-house making competition where each team made a fish house to be judged on creativity and design. The Coral Kids Club took home the honors and the fun-filled day ended with refreshments of pastries and ice cream.
Hawai‘i Island
World Ocean Day
BY VICKY AKANA — OUTRIGGER Kona Resort & Spa, Royal Sea Cliff Kona by Outrigger and Fairway Villas Waikoloa by Outrigger hosts joined together with The Kohala Center and The Kahalu‘u Bay Education Center to “Clean & Teach” on World Ocean Day. Cindi Punihaole Kennedy, director of Kahalu‘u Bay Education Center, provided very important and valuable information.
The ReefTeach at Kahalu‘u Bay is a program at Kahalu‘u Bay that educates visitors and residents on how to avoid damaging corals and how to take care of honu (green sea turtles) and reef animals. ReefTeach is a volunteer program founded in 2000 by UH Sea Grant for West Hawai‘i. In 2006, UH Sea Grant was joined by The Kohala Center and has continued to expand into a visible and effective reef protection program. Today, trained and dedicated volunteers of all ages educate visitors and residents about the safety of coral, honu and all other marine life, closing periodically for two weeks for coral spawning. The volunteers are at Kahalu‘u 7 days a week distributing reef-safe sunscreen and reef-safe goggle spray and lip balm. If you bring your non-reef-safe sunscreen to them, it can be exchanged for a reef-safe product for only $8; normal cost is $16. There is a reef-safe sunscreen dispenser available at the beach for all visitors to use for free!
It was a great day for OUTRIGGER hosts and we look forward to being regular volunteers. We also picked up trash at the Bay and on the street and provided information to visitors about where to walk and where to float to protect the corals.
We were so inspired that Francine Molina, human resources manager, myself and our daughters have already registered to be a part of this amazing team.
Kiahuna Plantation Resort Kauai by Outrigger (KPR)
World Ocean Day
BY DONNA KING — Kiahuna Plantation Resort by Outrigger celebrated World Ocean Day by sponsoring a poster coloring contest for our hosts’ keiki. We wanted to spread awareness about the importance of keeping our oceans pristine for all of us and the green sea turtles that come up on our beach every night to rest. We hoped to inspire our younger generation with their participation. We asked our guests, hosts and others to vote on their favorite.
We had seven entrants. Thanks to Sigrid Cariaga’s daughter Hershly, Joletta DeCosta-Mararagan’s children Keeii, Kaezen and Kari, Jenv Tabalan’s daughter Olivia Ann (who, at 1 year-old, was our youngest contestant), Lapule Valente’s daughter Kealohi and Nova Geronimo’s daughter Nadine. Congratulations to Nadine Geronimo who received a nice, crisp $100 bill.
OUTRIGGER Fiji Beach Resort (FOR)
Gifting Life
BY ASHNEEL CHAND — On June 9, FOR held a blood donation drive in collaboration with Fiji Red Cross and the Ministry of Health, Sigatoka branch. Despite the resort’s busy operations, hosts came to donate blood because, as we all know, blood is important to save lives as well as help those suffering from various diseases and illnesses. It always feels good to do good.
Crown of Thorns Starfish Removal and Fish-House Making
On June 13, FOR carried out its third ocean activity for the month with a Crown of Thorns Starfish (COTS) removal and fish-house making. COTS, as they are commonly known, are one of the greatest predators of coral and can have massive damaging effects on the coral reef if its population is not controlled. An adult crown of thorns starfish can consume up to 10 meters square of coral a year and they tend to eat more of the branching and table corals.
The team was able to find 8 crown of thorns starfish within our reef boundary and remove them immediately. The low number of COTS in our reef is a good thing for us, as it makes it much easier for the team to manage its pollution growth in our reef.
A good number of hosts and guests turned up to make fish houses on the beachfront and the team was able to make six that we sunk on our final ocean activity on June 21.
OUTRIGGER Maldives Maafushivaru Resort (MAM)
Snorkel and Beach Clean up
BY DANIELLE STANLEY (Marine Biologist) — Unlike some other kinds of waste, plastic doesn’t decompose. If plastics were to break down, they will turn into microplastics which are incredibly harmful to marine wildlife. Unfortunately, plastics are the most common form of marine debris. These plastics come in many different forms. Just think about all the plastic items you use daily: the toothbrush you grab first thing in the morning, the container your lunch comes in or the bottle you drink water from after your workout.
This World Ocean Month, our sustainability team and members from our dive center took part in a snorkel and beach clean-up on Lonobu Island on June 17. This clean-up initiative was aimed at raising awareness about plastic in our oceans and promoting the preservation of ocean biodiversity.
Activities included a briefing on plastics and key threats to our marine environment, cleaning the reef and beach area and searching for microplastics and group discussion on this topic. The most common trash found were fishing lines and nets, cans and plastic bottles. Some of the waste collected will be used in a creative arts & crafts session with guests to create more awareness using different resources.
It’s our responsibility to preserve our natural environment and minimize our plastic waste.
Community Engagement
BY DANIELLE STANLEY — As part of our once-a-month commitment to local community engagement, we visited A. DH Atoll Education Centre, in Mahibadhoo, for World Ocean Month. Mahibadhoo is the capital island of the South Ari Atoll, with the largest school in our area.
We took the opportunity to educate students grades 4-6 on the topics surrounding plastics, marine debris and the danger to marine wildlife. We highlighted the importance of World Ocean Month and how students can contribute in their daily lives to make a positive impact on our ocean.
As these students are not engaged in any marine biology and/or education curriculum, it’s important to create this awareness of ocean preservation, using fun and creative activities.
Event activities included a briefing on plastics and key threats to our marine environment, cleaning the beach area, searching for microplastics and group discussion on this topic, marine animal sand sculpture competition and a swim in the sea. Prizes were handed out to the groups with the most trash collected and the best sand sculpture.
The kids absolutely loved it!
Identifying Manta and Whale Shark
BY DANIELLE STANLEY — The Maldives is home to the largest recorded population of reef manta rays (Mobula alfredi) and residential Whale Sharks (Rhincodon typus) in the South Ari Atoll. This phenomenon generally attracts a lot of research, data collection and in-field expeditions for scientists to better understand these population dynamics, migratory routes and more information to fill all gaps within marine science.
Citizen science, by which the public is enlisted to participate in scientific projects, is a powerful tool that can help monitor ecological and environmental factors, respond to crises or inform management actions on a local, regional or global scale. In marine megafauna species, citizen science has been used to understand abundance and demographics, distribution and threats among others (e.g., reef sharks and humpback whales).
This session with our guests was aimed at:
- Creating awareness of research and data collection of marine megafauna in the Maldives
- Biology, ecology and facts about both manta and whale sharks
- Introduction to citizen science and relevance
- Demonstration of how to ID and log encounters
- Encouragement to choose a name (this makes the experience more interesting and intimate between people and nature)
This was an opportunity for the guests to contribute to the database and understand how their efforts in citizen science matter. The same guests will be collecting data in-field with me on one of our manta excursions, so this will give them both theory and practical experience.
Click, HERE, for a presentation on whale sharks and manta rays.
Outrigger O‘ahu
BY PILA HANSON — A big mahalo to everyone who came out to help make and prep the Genki Balls over the last couple of weeks. Please join us as we celebrate the final phase of our record-breaking event by tossing all 5,040 Genki Balls into the Ala Wai! Everyone is welcome, so bring your family and friends!
DATE: July 15, 2023
TIME: 9 a.m. – 10 a.m.
LOCATION: Ala Wai Community Garden Park
PARKING: Parking in the area is very limited, so please park at the McCully Bridge Rec Center and walk down the Ala Wai Trial to our site
Dress Code: OUTRIGGER T-shirt
RSVP: To Pila at pila.hanson@outrigger.com; all are welcomed to show up with no RSVP.
#TeamOUTRIGGER came out in force to the OUTRIGGER Waikiki Beachcomber Hotel to prep the Genki Balls made at OUTRIGGER Zone Day to toss into the Ala Wai Canal on July 15 at 9 a.m. It was dark and hot but great leadership by the “King” and focused teamwork by our willing hosts made for what is likely another record — 5,040 Genki Balls prepped in 20 minutes! Way to go, #TeamOUTRIGGER!