The word I learned is "kanakas" -- kanaka is the Hawaiian word for man, or person, or human being. Another word for man is "kane", which is specifically male, as opposed to "wahine", woman. Given the context of the song, I would have expected the word "wahine" there--but I learned the song long before coming to Hawaii, so I always thought "kanakas" DID mean women!

The whole verse as I learned it is:

And now we're anchored in the bay with kanakas all around
With chants and soft "aloha oe's" they greet us homeward bound
And now ashore we'll have good fun, we'll paint them beaches red
Awakenin' in the arms of an island maid, with a big fat achin' head!

Of course, that may well have been folk processed from an earlier version.

Aloha,
Mark (in Hilo, which is not where John's gone--but that's another story)