WELCOME TO OCEAN DEFENDER HAWAII Ocean Defender is a trademarked company designed to initiate a conscious movement geared towards saving and restoring our precious marine resources.
We stand for the protection and preservation of all marine life on Planet Earth, through education, information and awareness.
Our Main purpose is to inform and educate people about marine creatures, their habitat and how important it is for us to protect them in today’s world.
We invite you to become a part of the Ocean Defender family, as we strive to make our vision a reality. Stay connected while we create new avenues to keep you informed, and new ways for you to take part in helping to reach our goals.
ORIANA KALAMAWe would like to introduce our team and we’ll start with our CEO and Founder Oriana Kalama
Her mother is a Psychologyst with expertise in Environmental Education and her father is the Conductor of the National Symphonic Orchestra of Panama.
At the age of 8 she moved to Panama city, Panama in Central America where her father is from and attended primary and elementary school there.
Her early interest in arts and previous years of dance training took her to Havana, Cuba at the tender age of 14, where she lived for a few years while studding modern dance and ballet at the National School of Dance ( E.N.A ) .
When she was 17 her parents busy work schedule moved the family back to Brazil where she finished high school at Collegio La Salle in Salvador, Bahia.
She worked as a deck hand and naturalist on board several charter boats on Maui ( Silent Lady, Four Winds, Lani Kai, Paragon, Maui Magic, Mahana Naia ), and had the opportunity to observe the humpback whales of Maui ( breeding season ) and many other marine creatures that inhabits the Hawaiian ocean waters for over 15 years ( 1989-2007 ).
In 2002 she became scuba certified PADI Rescue Diver but her true passion is free diving as one of her motto’s became ” thanks but no tanks ” , her free diving personal record is 130 feet.
In the 15 years she worked on the ocean waters of Maui, she learned how to appreciate the ocean and all it’s creatures and also realized how important it is to live in harmony with them and protect them. She developed personal relationships with tropical reef fish, turtles, dolphins and had many interactions with large cetaceans and pelagic animals such as giant manta rays, whale sharks, short fin pilot whales, bottle nose dolphins and humpback whales.
Oriana was married to big wave legendary surfer Dave Kalama from 1993 to 2001 and has two children with him. During the years of marriage she became his tandem surf partner and traveled through out Europe, Polynesia and Australia participating in surf meets and tandem surf demonstrations.
In November of 2009 she started a small group called Ocean Defender Hawaii with the purpose of educating and informing people on line, about marine creatures, their habitat and how important it is for people to protect them in today’s world.
Creating awareness, educating, and helping fix the current problems the ocean is facing became her life’s number one goal.
Her group, Ocean Defender Hawaii was actively involved in the approval of the ” Nishiki Bill” and the ” Molina Bill ” by the Maui County Council, both pertaining to the treatment, collection and county regulation of tropical reef fish aquarium collecting and the Bills are effective on January of 2011.
She is currently working on an Educational Plan ” Children of Pacifica ” that will reach the youth of Polynesia to teach them how to take better care of their precious and most valuable natural resource that is the ocean.
HOW IT ALL STARTEDI used to think I lived in a perfect world… everything was perfect in my eyes. The Ocean was perfectly blue, the mountains were perfectly green, life around me, seemed to be normal and perfect. I felt blessed to live in Hawaii, to enjoy good health and a good job.
On a Sunday afternoon, March 2nd 2009 to be exact, my kids and I decided to go to Fukushima’s store in Haiku, to get some food after a surfing session. We were very hungry. As I was driving, I came in to a blind corner and right before my eyes, there was big truck stopped in the middle of the highway trying to do an illegal U turn. I hit the breaks with all my might and stopped inches from the truck. Instinctively I look at the rear view mirror and I saw this truck trailing a big boat coming at us. I turn my body trying to reach for my children who were in the back seat, even though there would be nothing I could do. Then I felt the big CRASH…
From that day on, life as I knew it changed for ever. The car crash injured my lowed back really bad. My right leg had no power, I had no balance, I could barely stand up to take a shower, could not reach down to pick up the soap if it fell.
There would be no surfing, no 12 miles hikes, no sailing or hoisting sails, no running on the beach barefoot, no Ashtanga yoga… I couldn’t even keep my job as a chef in a busy restaurant. Standing on my feet for 12 hours was impossible.
I couldn’t run in the mornings, so I walked slowly on the beach, feeling the pain in my back with every step as I walked the beach barefoot.
I waved at all my friends who would pass by running. I couldn’t surf so I started snorkeling more, I snorkeled everywhere. I switched from Ashtanga yoga ( one of the hardest ) to just plain meditation which I needed more. Slowly I was beginning my new life and starting to accept it. Not that I wanted to, I was still mad, but I had to, other wise I would have turned in to a grumpy monster.
One of the blessings that came from this car crash was my new job. Working on fast restaurants serving 200 covers was not physically possible for me any more so I found my way back to the kitchen doing some catering. At first I started with my friends parties, and they told their friends and they hired me for their parties. My reputation as a chef grew rapidly, and soon after I had this magnificent wedding to cater with the opportunity to make a good chunk of money. I took the job and worked very hard. The guests said the food was incredible. I also made their wedding cake, and it was beautiful. It had three layers, edible gold ribbons and many hand made flowers, it was the best cake I had ever made. I was very proud of my work. The family who I catered for at the wedding liked my work so much that they offered me a permanent job as their private chef, and I still work for them today. The financial aspect of my life was good, but my physical and mental conditions were not as good.
Not being able to do all the activities I was used to do when I was 100% healthy gave me some free time. After doing what I was able to do every day, I would come back home and spend some time in the internet. My sister Lia lived in Los Angeles at that time, she told me about facebook, and that I should have one since I had more time now so that me and her could talk (chat) through it.
After setting up my little facebook account, I started surfing the web more and felt drawn to ocean videos and pictures of marine creatures and sea life in general. It was like therapy for me to see the ocean, I felt I could travel to different places of the world through the videos and the pictures.
At the same time I saw myself posting all this ocean videos I found on my wall and my friends were loving it, it was fun to share with them and heal myself a little by looking at the videos too.
It was November and the humpback whales were starting to show up on Maui. Now that was something I could still do even if I was half dead, whale watch!.
I had worked on sail boats and cruises for 15 years as a naturalist and deck hand, so I had a relationship with this whales for a long time. I knew their healing power and magical energy, and I always waited for them anxiously every season. But this season was going to be special for many reasons, I could feel it.
One morning, after coming back from my beach walk I went on facebook, and in my home page I saw a pirate flag. “Uhm… the jolly roger”, I thought it was cool and I read what it was, a group called Sea Shepherd . I clicked on the link to read what the group was about and to my SHOCK and PANIC I found out about the whale slaughter in the Southern Ocean, happening in a Sanctuary!
My body dropped on the ground and I remember covering my face in shame and crying curled up in a ball, for a long time.
How could I have been so ignorant all this time? Was I blind? my life was so perfect that It made me completely blind to the reality of one of the things I loved the most, the ocean and the creatures that live in it.
Suddenly my focus changed completely, If they are still killing whales, what else is happening in the ocean that I don’t know about?
That question opened up this huge can of worms, and they started crawling out of control. I was sick to realize all the things I didn’t know about “Shame on me”, I said to myself, “shame on you girl”.
A few days went by and there was this new energy growing in my heart, this feeling or need to do something about all the things I had just found out about. I felt the need to defend the ocean. It was so strong it made me cry of frustration because I had no clue about how to do this, how to tell the world what was happening.
As I swept my little house near the beach, I looked at my window and I could see the windy ocean, that beautiful blue with white floating tiny clouds. Then I saw a spout. The first whale of the season on the North Shore, right there in front of me, it was a sign, I knew it.
As I swept my little house near the beach, I looked at my window and I could see the windy ocean, that beautiful blue with white floating tiny clouds. Then I saw a spout. The first whale of the season on the North Shore, right there in front of me, it was a sign, I knew it.
I dropped the broom and I decided that day, November 24th 2009, to make a commitment to myself to defend the ocean. I wanted to reach out to like minded individuals, so I started thinking of a name for a group… “I want to defend the ocean, so the name should be Ocean Defender.”
The name summed up all that I felt at that moment, and everything that I wanted to do. I was exited to find out that there were people like me, exited to have created a place where they could express their love for the ocean, and the issues that threatened their shores.
Ocean Defender started to grow, and the word spread all over the world. We now have over 30,000 members, and friends in many countries who are helping us defend their areas. We are committed to this cause, and will continue to share the magnificent beauty of the deep, we will continue to inform all defenders, so that together we can “protect what we love“.
Aloha,
Oriana Kalama
CEO/Founder
Contact Us If you have any questions, or would like to sign up for our emailing list, you can reach us at:
oceandefenderhawaii@gmail.com
We would love to hear from you!
Aloha!
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