Hanauma's grand plan a reality
By Suzanne Roig
Advertiser East Honolulu Writer
Beginning Aug. 16, visitors to Hanauma Bay will pay their admission fees inside a $13 million education center, walk past informational display signs and watch a seven-minute video before they can take the tram or walk down to the water to snorkel.
• Aug. 15: The bay closes at 3 p.m. to prepare for the opening of the education center • Aug. 16: From 8 a.m. to noon, invited guests will tour the new facilities, followed by the grand opening.
The 10,000-square-foot Marine Education Center, the crown jewel of city improvements at the nature preserve, will open to the public following ceremonies at noon, officials said yesterday.
Schedule of events
The center is the result of hundreds of community meetings between residents and city officials that began when the plan was first proposed in 1998. By the time it was completed, the center was $2.7 million over budget and 10 months behind schedule. But on the verge of its public debut, the center is getting good reviews.
"The new Marine Education Center is magnificent, yet unobtrusive, since it blends right into the natural environment," Robin Bond, president of the Friends of Hanauma Bay, said in a prepared statement. The Friends is a volunteer group of members of the community who educate the public on the marine preserve and helped shepherd the plan through the public comment period.
At the same time, the group criticized the cost increase and delay in completion.
"We firmly believe that had the process allowed the continued partnership with the friends group, we would already be enjoying a less costly, more operationally efficient and safer facility," said Bond.
The Marine Education Center includes a training room, gift shop, public restrooms, snack bar, cashier's office and storage room. Along the lower portion of the snorkeling haven, the city built an information kiosk for docents, and added a lifeguard equipment storage area.
Work on the Marine Education Center and improvements at the lower part of the bay began in April 2001, with completion scheduled for last November.
Over the course of construction, the city paid an additional $80,000 to lower the center of the roof five feet so it wouldn't be seen from the beach, and incurred additional costs from excavation work, wiring and more.
When first proposed, the project split the community, with opponents saying the building was too massive and intrusive and the costs exorbitant, while supporters maintained there was a need for a building where 1 million visitors each year can be educated on the issues of conservation.
