| | For many years, the lagoon next to the Hilton Hawaiian Village (officially known as Kahanamoku Lagoon after Hawaii's Olympic swimming champion Duke Kahanamoku) was dark and uninviting. It was swimmable but little jellyfish often stung those who ventured into it, and the bottom was muddy from years of collected debris. The Hilton recently invested $15 million to renovate this historic lagoon, with excellent results. The project was finally completed in January 2008 after two and a half years of work. Now guests can actually swim in the lagoon, or just wander on its sandy, beautiful shores. Although the the lagoon does not technically belong to the hotel, the Hilton's Regional Director of Public Relations Manager Cynthia Rankin stated, "Since the lagoon is right next to the hotel, we felt it was the Hilton's responsibility to bring it back to it's original state. Prior to this, the lagoon was fed water from an intake system that was directly off of the ocean. This brought in a lot of ocean trash, invasive species, jellyfish, and algae". "A decade or so ago, people used to bring their families and have picnics at the lagoon," Rankin said. But its popularity waned with the decline in water quality, she said. The new state of the art pumping system that has been installed will pump 15,000 gallons of fresh sea water a minute from intakes that are 250 feet below sea level. This cleaner fresh sea water will entirely replace the lagoon water five times a day. | |
| | The lagoon now has extended beaches. Fifty coconut trees and native plants now line its perimeter as well as a board walk that encircles the lagoon. There is also a small island in the center of the lagoon with a waterfall. For safety reasons the lagoon has been filled and is only 5 feet deep at it's deepest point. More than 33 thousand tons of sand was used to fill the lagoon, Rankin says. The lagoon is 18,000 feet in circumference and has sandy bottom. The lagoon is named after Hawaii's most famous waterman - Olympic swimming champion Duke Kahanamoku. "Because of its namesake, we will also be encouraging the local community to hold swimming events at this venue. I foresee a lot of wedding's here too. We will probably see a lot of images of barges carry the groom to the bride waiting on the beach and a lot of picture taking in front of the waterfall on the island. We expect that the lagoon to be enjoyed by our visitors as well as the local community", Rankin continues. Portions of the lagoon surrounding the hotel are private, but the lagoon and boardwalk areas are public and are accessible 24 hours a day. The lagoon is a man-made feature created by hotel builder Henry J. Kaiser in the early 1950s by expanding the old Fort DeRussy Channel. Back to the Hilton Hawaiian Village's home page. | |
