Family, friends remember man who drowned at Kailua Pier

KAILUA-KONA — To call Raymond Keola Camacho “giving” would be an understatement, said Tasha Kolo.

Not only would the experienced fisherman give away his fish and go buy ice for those he’d never met, Kolo’s godbrother also made it his mission to keep the Kailua Pier, where he’d stayed for the last three months, clean and safe for the community.

“The pier, he feed and take care of all the people there,” Kolo said.

It was for that reason, along with his respect and humility, she said, that many in the area respected him in return.

Camacho, 47, died after being pulled from the waters near Kailua Pier on Sept. 30.

That morning, Keola offered to take a visitor to the area out snorkeling, said Naomi Camacho, the man’s cousin.

Keola was underwater for a few minutes, said Durant Watai-Simeona, before others on the pier noticed he hadn’t surfaced.

Watai-Simeona and an uncle jumped into the water, he said, and they saw him on the sea floor.

“(My uncle) actually swam down there and dove for him, ‘cause I couldn’t reach,” Watai-Simeona said. “I only went halfway and then he was coming up with Uncle Ola and then I felt myself caving in, so I used my last breath and … before I knew it, we were already up.”

With the assistance of others in the area, they brought Keola onto the pier and started CPR until medics arrived.

Acting West Hawaii Battalion Chief Michael Grace said responders initiated CPR after arriving on the scene, then took the man to Kona Community Hospital by ambulance.

Naomi said Keola’s death was attributed to drowning and a shallow water blackout.

His death shocked his family, given his knowledge and experience in the ocean.

“The water was his second home,” said Kolo.

Keola, Watai-Simeona added, was a very capable free-diver.

“He was super experienced,” he said. “He loved the water. I mean, he was out there every day.”

Naomi said her cousin came to Kona about seven or eight years ago and had been staying at the pier for the last few months where he could catch fish to feed himself.

“That’s how we all were brought up,” she said. “Self-sufficient.”

Kolo described her godbrother’s relationship to the ocean with reference to a verse from the Gospel of Luke: “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

“He treasured the ocean,” said Kolo. “His heart was always there.”

And Keola was never selfish with his catch, said Naomi. The woman said he often shared fish or caught fish for people having parties.

That generosity, she said, was how he lived, even with people he didn’t know.

“He would give you his last dollar that he had,” she said.

Watai-Simeona, who said Keola was “like a hanai dad to me and for most others,” said the man also took great care of the pier while there.

“This is our house — I mean, we take care of this place,” Watai-Simeona said. “We pick up everybody’s trash; we clean up the cigarette butts that are left down.”

For her cousin, said Naomi, “family meant the world to him.”

“Keola, he just have one big, open heart,” she said.

That’s a lesson many could learn.

“I wish everybody was like Keola,” Naomi said. “Help one another, take care of one another.”