🌺 Living with Aloha: Mālama Kauaʻi 🌺

Welcome to the Garden Island — E Komo Mai!

Aloha is much more than a greeting. It carries values of love, compassion, mutual respect, and care for one another and the world around us.

During your stay, we invite you to practice kōkua — to pitch in, help, and show consideration for others. Here are a few simple ways your kōkua can help mālama Kauaʻi — care for this beautiful and fragile island:

🪸 Kōkua for the Reefs — Mindfulness
Most Hawaiian reef-building corals grow only about ½ inch per year. Please never stand on or kick the coral. A single accidental step can erase decades of nature’s growth in a split second. Float horizontally, keep your fins up, and rest your feet only on clear, open patches of sand.

🐢 Kōkua for the Honu — Respect
Honu is the Hawaiian word for our beloved green sea turtles. One way to practice aloha is by giving our native wildlife plenty of space — both on the sand and in the water. Please stay at least 10 feet away from honu. When swimming near them, never float directly above or crowd them; they need a clear, unblocked path to the surface so they can breathe freely.

🦭 Kōkua for the Hawaiian Monk Seals — Compassion
Hawaiian monk seals are endangered and found nowhere else in the world. Only about 1,600 remain.

If you see one stretched out on the sand, it is usually doing exactly what it needs to do: resting, recharging, and sleeping after hunting in the ocean. Giving monk seals quiet, undisturbed rest is one of the simplest ways we can help protect them.

Please admire them with quiet awe and stay at least 50 feet away, or 150 feet from a mother and her pup.

Bonus Kōkua: Spot a monk seal? You can report your sighting to the Kauaʻi Conservation Hui at 808-651-7668. Their dedicated staff and volunteers help monitor individual seals and protect resting areas when needed.

🤙 Kōkua for the Community — Kindness
On Kauaʻi, there is rarely a need to rush. Practice aloha on our two-lane roads by safely pulling over when appropriate to let others pass, offering a smile, and remembering that you are visiting a vibrant, living community — someone’s home.

And these are only a few ways to mālama (care for) Kauaʻi. As you explore the island, we invite you to notice other small ways you can care for this special place and the people, wildlife, and natural world that call it home.

Perhaps the most beautiful part of practicing aloha is that you can take it home with you. When you return home, carry your kōkua with you by treating your own environment, neighbors, and wildlife with the same respect, kindness, and mindfulness you practiced here on Kauaʻi.