Kahekili’s Leap at Pu‘u Keka‘a

by Ellie Crowe

Each evening, as a red sun sinks into the ocean beyond Kā‘anapali Beach, conch shells herald a tradition centuries old. With flaming torch borne aloft, a cliff diver races barefoot up a jagged lava path to the top of Black Rock, a volcanic promontory that rises eighty feet above the ocean at the Sheraton Maui Resort. Behind him lies a trail of fire – tiki torches he has lit along the way. At last, silhouetted at the summit, he recites a Hawaiian chant, offers his torch and lei to the ocean below… and leaps into the darkening Pacific.

Divers have performed this ceremony nightly since the Sheraton opened in 1963. They honor a tradition far older, begun by Kahekili, the great chief who ruled Maui when Black Rock was known by another name: Pu‘u Keka‘a.

Born around 1710, Kahekili was said to be a handsome man, stern and reserved, almost seven feet tall and close to 300 pounds. Brave and ruthless, he led a company of fierce warriors, and demanded fearlessness from his men – and from himself. Kahekili excelled at the sport of lele kawa, jumping feet-first from cliffs and landing in the sea without a splash.

According to the Hawaiian scholar Samuel Kamakau, Kahekili “leaped from a height of 360, possibly 400 feet.”

Several places around the Hawaiian Islands are known as “Kahekili's Leap.”

Besides Kāʻanapali Beach’s Pu‘u Keka‘a, there is one at Kahakuloa, north of Kā‘anapali on the West Maui coast, where oral tradition claims Kahekili jumped from a height of 200 feet. And there’s one on the neighboring island of Lāna‘i that has a deadly rock platform below. But of all these, Pu‘u Keka‘a was considered the most dangerous, for it was sacred, a leina-a-ka‘uhane, or “leaping place of the soul.”

Ancient Hawaiians believed when a person died, the soul left his body and wandered until it found a doorway through which it could leap into the spirit world. Thus, to jump from Pu‘u Keka‘a was to risk not only physical injury, but the possibility of leaping straight into the hereafter. When Kahekili leaped from that peak, he became godlike in the eyes of his people; only a person of great mana, or spiritual strength, could do this and survive. Seeing his bravery, his warriors trusted him and followed him into battle.

They also followed the extremes to which he took tattooing. Kahekili claimed Kanehekili, the god of thunder, as his ancestor. It was said that the god had once been a man, Hekili, who lived in Pāpa‘a‘ea on Maui’s north shore, where thunder claps loudly and lightning strikes the forest. Hekili was known to have immense mana, because thunder and lightning destroyed his enemies. When the god of thunder appeared, the right side of his body was black from head to foot. To honor this powerful ancestor, Kahekili and his warriors had the right sides of their bodies completely tattooed – even the insides of their eyelids.

Spiritual portals aside, those who dive from Pu‘u Keka‘a must pay close attention to timing and tide levels, or risk serious injury. Each time these skilled athletes leap, they follow in the footsteps of one of Maui’s most powerful chiefs, honoring him with their courage.