Rock + water
Waterfalls and lagoons that read as the island
Lagoons, streams, koi ponds, lava-rock waterfalls, fountains and aquariums, built in naturalistic rock that reads like the island it sits on.
Chapter 01
What makes fake rock look fake
Three things give it away. The colour is even, so the whole face looks poured from one batch. The texture repeats, the same crack and the same pit every few feet. And the water does not fall the way water does, because it runs down a smooth chute instead of finding the ledges.
Real lava rock and real coral vary in colour, grain and weight from one stone to the next, and a face built from them breaks the water into the sheets, drips and pools that a waterfall in the hills would. Their tagline is the standard they work to: only nature does it better, and the job is to come as close as a crew can.
Tiered lava-rock waterfall spilling into a pool at the Ho'olei entry
How they build it
Pacific AquaScapes has designed and built lakes, lagoons, streams, ponds, pools, spas, waterfalls, fountains, fountain sculptures, aquatic displays, aquariums, zoo environments, rock formations and recreational water attractions. The common thread is naturalistic rockwork set around the water, so the feature reads as part of the landscape it sits in.
The range runs from koi ponds to children's pools. Two examples from their own pages show the intent: a natural spa with a sand bottom, and a slide concealed by a rock formation, so the play equipment disappears into the rock.
They are a dealer and installer of Firestone pond liner for ponds and streams, and they supply coral, limestone and fossilstone from the Philippines for the rockwork.
Chapter 03
The engineering behind it
A waterfall is a pump, a basin and a filter before it is a rock. Sister company Pacific AquaTech, Inc., founded in 1990, is dedicated to design engineering for water features: recirculation, filtration and the current techniques for water-quality management.
Pacific AquaTech has provided design services for major resort and hotel marques, and for commercial and residential clients across Hawaii, Asia and the mainland. That same engineering sits under the rockwork on a Pacific AquaScapes job, so the water that looks effortless has the flow and the clean-up to keep running.
Pacific AquaScapes is a Licensed Specialty Contractor, CT-10771, building Hawaii water features since 1980. Call (808) 682-1020.
Rock and water
Where does the water go when it leaves the rock?
It goes back to the basin and the pump, then up again. Waterfalls and fountains are included in weekly pool maintenance, and hotels and resorts keep theirs on a commercial service plan. A feature built into a new pool starts with pool design and construction, more finished work is in the project gallery, and the resort names behind it are on the clients and products page. To talk through a lagoon, stream or koi pond, send a few lines about the property.