Give Back on Your Hawaiian Vacation with Pacific Whale Foundation

You don’t have to work too hard to find a reason (or several) to plan family travel to Hawai’i, but with Pacific Whale Foundation’s Malana Pono Program in Maui, you have a reason to both visit the island and give back while you’re enjoying paradise. The program is designed for both visitors and locals to participate in a volunteer program that has been put into place for the winter to help “care for the island,” or mālama ʻāina. The program, a revamped version of a previous Volunteers on Vacation program, is designed to help people connect with the island and develop a better understanding of how to care for it.

The program is ideal for families, as it gives children a chance to learn about the unique ecosystem of the Hawaiian Islands, the Pacific Ocean surrounding them, and the marine animals inhabiting it. Visitors can participate in a number of ways, from donating to taking part in a volunteer program doing things like cleaning beaches and monitoring marine debris, photographing local dolphins and humpback whales to contribute to the program’s Photo ID Catalog, and helping with counting humpback whales.

Through PWF, you can also take a PacWhale EcoAdventure ecotour. Not only do you get to take the family on a whale-watching excursion where you see these gentle creatures up-close and personal in their native habitats, but you also get to do it in a way that is as minimally invasive to the local landscape and native wildlife as possible. In addition, proceeds of these cruises go toward PWF’s ongoing research and conservation efforts for the islands, oceans and wildlife.