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
Flowers Island N.A. Coster, visited Flowers Island on several occasions. In September 1830 he notes that there was a congregation of 35 consisting of people by the names of Kean, Sturge, Roger, and Perry. By 1891 the population had reached 64, 30 of them were Church of England, 4 were Methodist, and 30 were Salvation Army. There was no school on Flowers Island but records do show that the children were attending school in 1874. W. Kean, who was sent to school in Greenspond and was the only literate person on Flowers Island, found a Methodist teacher around 1875, Miss Lucrecia Oakley,