Mana Cruises and Charters Operates Three Small Vessels in Waikīkī and Ko Olina
2025 SmallBiz Editor’s Choice Award winner: Co-founders Jacob Kahiapo and Mash Hatae want to be “exemplary models of responsible tourism.”
Mana Cruises and Charters, founded in 2017, focuses on sustainability and personal experiences for its guests.
“We’re here to be exemplary models of what responsible tourism can be, what it looks like, and what it is when it’s grown straight from the community we were born in,” says Jacob Kahiapo, co-founder and director of operations.
“Keeping your people and community first in mind, and then allowing people to visit based on that, I believe is really the best way to approach any tourism business.”
The company and its mission were partly inspired by a personal tragedy: the unexpected death of Kahiapo’s close friend Mana.
“That made me realize that not every day can be taken for granted, and every decision you make could be your last. I couldn’t just sit back; I had to step up to the plate and do my best to follow what I thought was right,” he says.
Mana is one of the few words used across all Polynesia, whether you’re in New Zealand, Tahiti, Samoa or Hawai‘i, and holding the same meaning: an unseen and supernatural power that permeates the universe and that we all feel within us. “That’s something that we try to exemplify on all of our charters,” Kahiapo says.
The company has 22 captains, crew members and support personnel and three vessels – the Manakahi, Hilinai and Lanakila – based in Waikīkī and Ko Olina. Lanakila can carry up to six guests, and the other two boats can carry up to 10, says Mash Hatae, co-founder and director of sales and marketing. The trips can include snorkeling, sightseeing, whale and dolphin watching, sailing and fishing.
The small size of each tour group allows for a “genuine, authentic experience, something more personalized and intimate for the people that we meet,” Kahiapo says.
“We make sure that our efforts here, whether through our employees or our givebacks, positively affect our community, rather than just being a business on the water that makes money.”
That means offering metal cups instead of plastic, holding an annual beach cleanup, and giving back to nonprofits and schools through vouchers and donations, among other initiatives, Hatae says.
“The storytelling and knowledge that our team has about every coastline we operate on, whether it’s from Waikīkī or Ko Olina, is passed down from myself and generations before me, as well as cultural practitioners in the area. Whether it’s about Mount Ka‘ala and why it’s flat [at the top], or about Polihua and the navigation that took place there, or even about Waikīkī and why it’s so segmented, the stories behind these places are deeply cultural,” Kahiapo says.
