Legend of the Rock Formations
Hanauma Bay is not without its legends. One popular variation speaks of Princess Keohinani and her father who was a mighty chief and protector of the bay. One day the chief was approached by Chief Koko and Chief Hana, two suitors that came to ask for his daughter’s hand in marriage. The Princess could not decide which of the chiefs she preferred, so her father commissioned them to an arm-wrestling match. The victor would receive Princess Keohinani’s hand in marriage.
Surprisingly the two chiefs were an equal match; minutes turned into hours and hours to days without a winner. Princess Keohinani loved them both and their impasse tortured her immensely. She begged her father to somehow end the standstill. So at his daughter’s command, the chief went out, met the men, and ordered them to give up the match or face the consequences. Still, neither man relented so the chief (who was also a gifted magician) used his magical powers to turn both Chief Koko and Chief Hana into mo’o (lizards), with their tails intertwined.
While the next sequence of events is described differently in various Hawaiian legends, the end result is that Princess Keohinani’s love and devotion was so powerful that the gods heard her prayers and intervened. They transformed the two mo’o into huge mountains and assigned them to watch over the Princess and the bay she loved so much, Hanauma Bay. The two chiefs still face each other as they continue to fight for her love, their tails, now stone, but still connected.
In my upcoming novel which will be the third in the Joey Peruggia Adventure Series. Joey, Marie, and Boyce enter a secret cave found on Easter Island. An enormous square opening frames the grotto situated high up on the clifftop, flooding the cave with ample amounts of natural light. The fall from the lip of the cave drops away to one-hundred-and-twenty feet. It peers over the Pacific Ocean and a U-shaped rock formation, giving the site a majestic and out-of-this-world ambiance. Here is where we look out and see the inspirational Bay that has been embedded in my mind.
