If you’ve ever opted to cremate a loved one following their death, you might remember the difficult decision regarding what to do with their remains. Do you make a pilgrimage to their favorite place in the world and scatter their ashes there? Paris? Mykonos? Yosemite? Or do you stay closer to home and scatter their ashes in the corner of the yard where they liked to relax and unwind on warm summer evenings? For some Hawaiians, the answer is obvious: scatter their ashes at sea.
But celebrating the life of their loved one doesn’t end there. After paddling out into the ocean and scattering the ashes, some people opt to dive in right behind them, throwing flowers and swimming with their loved one final last time.
It’s particularly common when honoring watermen, those with a deep connection to the ocean. At the funeral for Hans Sasaki, a man who loved the ocean and would surf every day, his friends and family formed a circle around a small boat, floating on surfboards as his family members poured his ashes into the ocean and others threw flowers and leis in behind him.
Another incredibly unique, and totally lawful, method of scattering ashes in Hawaii is to do so in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. For just $25, and as long as you promise to be discreet, you can farewell your loved one in the national park, but unfortunately, not at or in the Halemaʻumaʻu crater itself. That’s probably for the best, considering it still has the tendency to erupt every now and then, meaning it could end up just spitting your loved one right back out at you.
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