Q. How much money has Dolphin Discovery invested in Sea Life Park since acquiring it in January?

A. Well over a million dollars, and it's probably getting in the neighborhood of $3 million. We spent a lot of energy and effort over the last 10 months in developing a master plan that will be executed starting in about 12 more months and will take about four years to be completed. In the meantime, what we've had to do is implement new operational procedures, as well as tackle any immediate needs both on the infrastructure side as well as on the operational side.

Q. What are some of the changes that visitors may notice?

A. Dolphin Discovery, since the very beginning, has been built on the foundation of being an interactive company, where people can interact with the animals that we take care of. We've expanded that to a variety of animals, and now it's no longer just an interaction with dolphins. You can now interact with sea lions and sting rays. Our Sea Trek adventure takes you inside our aquarium and you now become part of the exhibit. We've also taken over the operations of the food and beverage. We implemented a video service for our customers and taken over the photo operations, creating a whole new photo and video department.

Q. What are your long-range plans for Sea Life Park?

A. We're definitely very ambitious, and we'd really like to bring the park past where it was when it had its glorious years back in the late 1970s, early 1980s. Sea Life Park at that point was considered ... one of the top attractions in Hawai'i. It has sort of fallen down to probably the top 15 attractions, versus top five previously. Now we're looking at a new Sea Life Park that can be again in the front of the leading attractions in Hawai'i.

Q. How has attendance been doing since the acquisition?

A. We've been doing really well. This has been by far the best year at Sea Life Park. This past summer was a very good summer for everybody (in the visitor industry.) For us, it was an especially exciting summer because of the new lines of experiences that are offered at the park. The world in general is changing more from a passive, observer world to an active, interactive world, and the public definitely shows that trend. People are more and more demanding on the level of involvement in the experiences they want to engage in.

Q. Do you have any attendance figures?

A. I haven't tallied completely the full summer yet, but it's definitely been a major shift in our attendance into interactive components of the park. We've probably increased four-fold the capacity of our interactive programs.

Q. Have you had difficulty recruiting employees, given the tight job market in Hawai'i?

A. From an original staff of 93, we are now at about 200 staff members. It has been a bit of a challenge recruiting more than anything else. There are a lot of talented people in Hawai'i. It's good for them that there are a lot of job offers. A lot of companies are looking for talented people, and very few people ... are looking for jobs. So it's definitely been a challenge to find the staff for our park. We've been very lucky — the local community in Waimanalo has provided us with a lot of support. A lot of our staff actually comes from Waimanalo and from Kailua.

Q. Why was Dolphin Discovery interested in acquiring Sea Life Park?

A. If you look back at Dolphin Discovery's history over the last 11 years — which is the life span of the company — while our strength was in Cancun, Mexico, where the company was created, it's always had an international goal in mind. In 2003, we opened our first international location (outside Mexico), in the British Virgin Island of Tortola. From there, we expanded in 2004 with two more locations, one in Anguilla and one in Antigua. So, Sea Life Park comes along the way as one of the new parks for Dolphin Discovery. It is the first U.S. site, but definitely not the last.

Q. What were the challenges you faced in making the transition from a marine biologist to businessman?

A. I really enjoyed the opportunity to train other people as much as I was, and I am enjoying training the animals. I did realize very quickly that the challenges were far greater when dealing with people. First of all, they talk back, animals don't. It was a big struggle for me because I felt like I had so much experience with the animals that it was just natural for me to be good with people. In fact, it was probably the opposite. It was a pretty hard-learned lesson because I found myself in a managerial position, and even though I was so motivated, so excited, so enthusiastic, I was failing miserably.

Q. Did you get any help?

A. At that point, it was probably my father who was most influential in my career, because I remember very well a conversation we had. He said, "Listen, son, you can't be a manager because you want to be one, you have to study to be one." I took a lot of classes in management skills. I also follow Stephen Covey's principles in "The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People." That was a very strong foundation for my leadership career. I also took the Time Quest course from Franklin Covey. I have to say that those have been the strongest influence in my management style and management skills. I probably would have never been able to be successful without the proper training.