Located on Maui's South Shore, Kalepolepo Park is a tiny little beachfront park in Kihei with a quiet beach (hard to find in busy Kihei). It's a popular local spot for fishing. We parked here and walked east to reach the small monument for Captain George Vancouver.
Captain George Vancouver visited Maui, anchoring at Lahaina. He noted the island appeared impoverished by years of war with little surplus food to offer in trade. Vancouver stopped in Hawai'i three times during 1791-1794, wintering his ships between stints of mapping the northwest coast of America. Vancouver had also visited the Islands with Cook's second and third voyages. As captain of his own ships, he acted as negotiator and peacemaker between warring Hawaiian chiefs and helped patch up relations between Kamehameha and his favorite wife Ka'ahumanu; he refused to sell any firearms to chiefs, but gave them beef, cattle, geese, sheep and goats.
When the south shore of Maui was first visited by Captain George Vancouver it was dotted with small fishing villages and was said to be a retreat for Hawaiian royalty. Captain Vancouver was not the first European visitor to Maui, however, a landing site was erected in the form of a large totem pole. Kihei went mostly untouched for years. Captain George Vancouver settled in the Pacific Northwest in the area of the city of his namesake, Vancouver B.C. On the south Kihei shore the remains of the totem pole monument are present with inscriptions from the Canadian Prime Minister from 1969.
The gift of a few cattle by Captain George Vancouver in 1793 to Kamehameha introduced animal farming and ignited a heritage of cowboy life and ranch culture that is still visible today on many ranches throughout Hawaii.
