WHO WE ARE
The award-winning Hanauma Bay Education Program is administered by the University of Hawaii Sea Grant College Program and works in partnership with the City and County of Honolulu Department of Parks and Recreation. Approximately 800,000 annual visitors to Hanauma Bay Nature Preserve are educated on the value of marine resources and reef etiquette. A strong team of volunteer docents makes this significant educational accomplishment possible. The Hanauma Bay Education Program also educates visiting schools and hosts marine and conservation-related evening presentations for the public.
The University of Hawai’i Sea Grant College Program (Hawaiʻi Sea Grant) Hanauma Bay Education Program was created in order to educate the public about Hawai’i’s marine environment, thereby enhancing appreciation and promoting understanding and stewardship of Hanauma Bay. This ties into Hawaiʻi Sea Grant’s mission, which is to promote the understanding of marine and coastal resources in the state, region, and nation through research, extension, education, and communications efforts.
The Hanauma Bay Volunteer Program (HBVP) is one of the oldest volunteer programs in Hawaii. Before the HBVP was formed in 1990, a small group of dedicated community members saw the need to educate the millions of visitors to the bay, which became a Marine Life Conservation District in 1967. Every day they would set up a table at the beach and educate visitors about the fragile ocean ecosystem, identification of marine animals, and how to become ocean stewards. Their dedication sparked the need to develop both an Education Program and a Volunteer Program at Hanauma Bay.
Since 1990, the HBVP has grown to more than 100 volunteers that donate roughly 12,000 hours of their time to the program each year. Our volunteers, also known as Interpretive Guides, still educate visitors at the beach (some of those volunteers being from the original group of community members), but we have also added a Visitor’s Center and a Theater where we further educate our visitors. There are a variety of volunteer opportunities at the bay for all ages.
WHAT WE DO
Volunteer opportunities
-
Interpretive Guide:
-
Interpretive Guides work 4-hour shifts at least once per week and rotate between the three volunteer stations. The shifts include 2 hours at the beach desk, 1 hour in the Visitor’s Center, and 1 hour in the Theater. Volunteers staffing these areas make an effort to reach each visitor to ensure that they are informed of the mandatory orientation video and proper reef etiquette, park rules, and regulations and also answer general questions about the park and marine life identification.
-
-
E Mālama Hanauma Youth Steward:
-
Youth Steward Volunteers are high school students who learn how to become stewards of HanaumaBay by taking ownership of areas of the park. Youth Stewards may also help Interpretive Guides at the volunteer stations. Learn more
-
-
Ho‘okipa Cart Helper:
-
These volunteers are stationed near the entrance to the Visitor’s Center where visitors line-up to the admission ticket windows. They answer questions visitors may have about the park and admission procedures and introduce them to the environment they will be exploring with the aid of specimens, books, or other educational materials.
-
-
School Program Docent:
-
School Program Docents aid the Education Staff when school groups or other permitted groups visit the Bay. A docent may help with natural history tours, 30-minute group orientations, and any other educational activities that the Education Staff run.
-