Kaunaoa Bay hotel reopened in early 2009. Kaunaoa Bay Kaunaoa Bay has one of the few white sand beaches of the Kohala Coast, the western side of the island of Hawaii. A historic hotel, the Mauna Kea Beach Hotel, is located on beautiful Kauna'oa. The word 'kauna'oa' may refer to a few different things, any of which may have been why native Hawaiians named this beach so: the first definition refers to a thin, orange vine with yellow flowers, (Cuscuta sandwichiana), which is found throughout most Hawai'i (this is the official lei vine of Lanai). However, the second definition refers to a
Cuscuta sandwichiana a twining vine with thin, leafless yellow to yellow-orange stems and very small yellowish flowers which grow in small clusters along the stems. Lei (garland): "Kaunaʻoa kahakai" was used for both "lei o ka poʻo" (head lei) and l"ei āʻī" (neck lei) Medicinal: Plants of both "kaunaʻoa kahakai" and "kaunaʻoa pehu" were pounded until soft, strained, and juice drunk to thin blood for women who had given birth or who had thick blood. Cuscuta sandwichiana Cuscuta sandwichiana ("Kauna'oa kahakai") is a parasitic vine and the only member of the genus Cuscuta that is endemic to the Hawaiian Islands. It parasitizes