Who We are
The Ohana that brought
this dream into reality
Our Backstory
Our closely-knit ohana (family) has been tied to O’ahu for approximately 40 years. Our parents had their honeymoon right here in Waikiki Beach. As time went on and we were born, our whole family would visit every other year and O’ahu became our second home. The kama’aina (locals) became our extended family and even symbolically adopted us as their hanai ohana (adopted family). Sharing similar close family values, we soon realized that we are more connected with O’ahu than the mainland we were originally from. The motivating factor, however, for uprooting and moving our whole family to Waikiki was the unfortunate failing health of our parents.
The healing powers of O’ahu extended its hands to help us. Whenever away from Hawaii, our mother suffered terribly from migraine pain on an everyday basis and our father had his own set of medical issues to deal with. We could not connect the dots right away, but later realized that whenever we traveled back to O’ahu, we noticed that within 30 min of landing in Honolulu, our parents’ pains and medical issues went away!
You might think, “Well, that must just be because it is a tropical place and less stressful while on vacation”, but that would be incorrect. We have traveled to many beautiful international destinations including other tropical islands as a family and our parents’ conditions would continue to deteriorate even in those other places. As a result, we became full-time Hawaii residents a few years ago.
Because O’ahu has blessed our family with our parents’ improved health, and due to the deeply troubling emotional, physical, and economic impact of the recent pandemic, we as a family, in communication with locals and government offices, decided to find a way for us to do our part and help stimulate the local economy and create much-needed jobs. Through no small effort, a large investment of time and money, and faith that we will persevere, we brought forth a new and exciting unique tour experience that can be enjoyed by people of all ages and all lifestyles, tourists and locals alike.
But what experience could do all that? None other than that of an iconic Venetian-styled Gondola slowly cruising by on the relaxing waterways in the Waikiki area. The same waterways had been conceived of a century ago by Walter Dillingham as “The Venice of the Pacific”. In these Covid-affected times, it makes sense to engage in small group activities. Each of our gondolas carries up to 4 passengers. Additionally, since our gondola cruises never venture off into the open ocean, you can always expect calm flat waters without waves, an experience that sea-sensitive individuals can appreciate. We also pay tribute to the ingenuity and craftsmanship of the ancient Hawaiians by utilizing an ama (outrigger) attached to each gondola for extra stability. When passengers come on board they are greeted with a beautiful flower lei and enjoy a medley of Hawaiian, Italian, and other popular songs. Our gondola cruises provide that unique romantic or family/friends-based setting that you can relax and enjoy in luxury. You can sip chilled sparkling apple cider and indulge in delicious pastries while your friendly personal Gondolier guides you on a melodic journey up to Magic Island for majestic views of Diamond Head and then traverses under the 3 bridges of what we affectionately call Waikiki’s Grand Canal.
It is not our intention to turn the unique beauty of Hawaii into another Venice but simply to provide a different kind of tour experience while immersing the senses with all the beauty and wonder that Hawaii has to offer from a perspective you cannot get anywhere else.