This part of the island is dominated by the cloud-capped heights of the West Maui Mountains, the other member of the pair of volcanoes (which includes Haleakala) responsible for the formation of Maui.
The Ritz Carlton Hotel, Oneloa Beach, Honokahua Bay (from Makaluapuna Point), west Maui.
When excavation of the site for the hotel began in 1988, hundreds of human skeletons were unearthed almost immediately. The brushy, grassless patch of ground in this photo is part of an immense burial ground ("one hanau", literally "birth sands") containing the remains of about 2,000 Hawaiians buried here between 850 AD and the early 18th Century. Protests by native Hawaiian heritage groups and a candle-light vigil at the state capital won the day: bones that had already been removed were re-interred and the hotel was sited farther inland. Nowadays the only modern intrusion on the sacred grounds is the occasional golf ball sliced into the bushes from the nearby hotel golf course. The ultimate irony: the Ritz Carlton placed bronze plaques around the burial mounds proclaiming its "culture-sensitive" corporate policy that respected the site's spiritual importance. Guided tours of the burial site and brochures describing the site make it sound as if it was their idea to protect the "birth sands" in the first place!
When excavation of the site for the hotel began in 1988, hundreds of human skeletons were unearthed almost immediately. The brushy, grassless patch of ground in this photo is part of an immense burial ground ("one hanau", literally "birth sands") containing the remains of about 2,000 Hawaiians buried here between 850 AD and the early 18th Century. Protests by native Hawaiian heritage groups and a candle-light vigil at the state capital won the day: bones that had already been removed were re-interred and the hotel was sited farther inland. Nowadays the only modern intrusion on the sacred grounds is the occasional golf ball sliced into the bushes from the nearby hotel golf course. The ultimate irony: the Ritz Carlton placed bronze plaques around the burial mounds proclaiming its "culture-sensitive" corporate policy that respected the site's spiritual importance. Guided tours of the burial site and brochures describing the site make it sound as if it was their idea to protect the "birth sands" in the first place!
The Ritz Carlton Hotel, Oneloa Beach, Honokahua Bay (from Makaluapuna Point), west Maui.
When excavation of the site for the hotel began in 1988, hundreds of human skeletons were unearthed almost immediately. The brushy, grassless patch of ground in this photo is part of an immense burial ground ("one hanau", literally "birth sands") containing the remains of about 2,000 Hawaiians buried here between 850 AD and the early 18th Century. Protests by native Hawaiian heritage groups and a candle-light vigil at the state capital won the day: bones that had already been removed were re-interred and the hotel was sited farther inland. Nowadays the only modern intrusion on the sacred grounds is the occasional golf ball sliced into the bushes from the nearby hotel golf course. The ultimate irony: the Ritz Carlton placed bronze plaques around the burial mounds proclaiming its "culture-sensitive" corporate policy that respected the site's spiritual importance. Guided tours of the burial site and brochures describing the site make it sound as if it was their idea to protect the "birth sands" in the first place!
When excavation of the site for the hotel began in 1988, hundreds of human skeletons were unearthed almost immediately. The brushy, grassless patch of ground in this photo is part of an immense burial ground ("one hanau", literally "birth sands") containing the remains of about 2,000 Hawaiians buried here between 850 AD and the early 18th Century. Protests by native Hawaiian heritage groups and a candle-light vigil at the state capital won the day: bones that had already been removed were re-interred and the hotel was sited farther inland. Nowadays the only modern intrusion on the sacred grounds is the occasional golf ball sliced into the bushes from the nearby hotel golf course. The ultimate irony: the Ritz Carlton placed bronze plaques around the burial mounds proclaiming its "culture-sensitive" corporate policy that respected the site's spiritual importance. Guided tours of the burial site and brochures describing the site make it sound as if it was their idea to protect the "birth sands" in the first place!
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Current: 600px x 386px |
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