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Hawaii
Fire-O! by Ken Gambier The Hawaiian Islands have some unique features. They were created over a period of millions of years from a hotspot on the earth's surface thousands of feet under the Pacific Ocean. This spewed out lava that cooled and formed solid land which built up until it rose above the surface of the sea. The Pacific Plate on which this formed was - and is - moving northwest at the rate of about 3 inches a year and so the new islands gradually drifted away and ceased to grow. Thus the oldest inhabited island is Kauai, 500 miles to the northwest of the youngest island Hawaii, popularly known as Big Island. There are six principal islands (from northwest to southeast) - Kauai, Oahu, Molokai, Lanai, Maui and Hawaii. They are all inside the Tropic of Cancer so enjoy a warm climate, with a temperature of around 25C in February. Another unique feature is their remoteness, placed right in the centre of the Pacific, over 2000 miles from the nearest land, mainland USA. The clocks are set 10 hours behind GMT and appear to be 5 hours ahead of Tokyo but Japan is a day in advance across the International Dateline. They were first occupied about 400AD by Polynesians from the Marquesas Islands followed by Tahitians about 500 years later. Captain Cook landed on Big Island and was feted by the inhabitants. Later however, due to an unfortunate incident, he was killed there and a monument marks the spot. The English had a strong influence on bringing democracy to the islands but never colonised them. The British flag sits in the corner of the Hawaiian flag with horizontal stripes making up the remainder. The islands became the 50th state of the USA in 1959. There was no Hawaiian written language until missionaries devised a means of representing the spoken word. They compiled an alphabet of seven consonants and five vowels, and no Hawaiian word has two consonants together. The words are therefore of simple construction often consisting of several syllables e.g. Honolulu My wife and
I joined a small party of 10 people to visit four islands - Oahu, Maui,
Hawaii and Kauai - to experience some of the wonders not normally seen
by tourists. This involved a certain amount of hiking in rugged terrain.
On arrival we were given the traditional Hawaiian welcome of a lei, consisting
of a ring of flowers to wear round the neck. The tour started fairly normally
in Honolulu where we visited Diamond Crater, which at 761ft overlooks
the famous Waikiki beach, and then the USS Arizona memorial at Pearl Harbor.
This is very well presented and organised with free tickets limiting the
number of visitors, and a film show giving a dramatic and evocative introduction
to that disastrous day in December 1941 when Japanese aircraft bombed
the US navy to destruction. A museum includes photographs taken by Japanese
pilots as they flew over the American fleet. A boat then takes visitors
across the harbour to the USS Arizona, which lies on the bottom where
she was sunk 60 years ago. A roll of honour lists the hundreds of sailors
who perished on the ship that day, and whose bodies remain there. Many
of our party left their leis at the foot of the roll of honour. One day we drove round the perimeter of the island which has a narrow, winding road - known as the Road to Hana - with over 600 bends and 56 bridges, which took us to some spectacular sea coasts, cliff walks and waterfalls. It took over 12 hours to complete the loop and we arrived back after dark. Another day we went on a cruise to see humpback whales. They congregate in the warm shallow waters between the islands, particularly to the west of Maui, where the females calve. We were there at the right time of year, as in the summer the whales swim north to Alaska where they can gorge on the generous supply of krill in the colder waters. The whales we saw off Maui were very active, with the females protecting their young from harm and the males competing to mate with the available females. We saw many "blows" when the whales exhale air as they come to the surface, and several examples of breaching, when they leap out of the water, often slapping their tails as they do so. We then flew to Big Island to see Kilauea, the active volcano. This last started a major eruption in 1983, which has continued on-and-off to the present day. The lava flows down the side of the mountain into the sea about eight miles from the caldera; it has run over a coast road, which can no longer be used. We saw a video of recent eruptions and as recently as January 2001 there was very visible activity. It was much quieter during our stay on the island but we did see the red glow of lava at night, and during the day there was much smoke and steam. In places there were warnings not to walk on the lava as it might be fragile enough to put one's foot through. We walked in an older part of the crater last affected by eruptions in the 1970s and found plants and even small trees growing in cracks in the lava. Only a few feet away, steam puffed out of vents. We made a helicopter flight over the volcano and were able to see red-hot lava beneath cracks in the surface. On another occasion, we made a long trek 2 miles downhill to the coast to see the Captain Cook memorial, where some of the party swam and snorkelled in the clear, warm sea, where many brilliantly coloured fish could be seen. The cooling effect of the swim was soon dissipated by the return walk uphill to the van! One evening we drove up to an observatory at 9000ft on Mauna Kea where an open event was being held. We drove through cloud, which was inauspicious at the time, but we came through it to clear skies. There were videos showing the work of the observatory and several telescopes focused on the moon and the planets. We were able to see Jupiter with several of its moons and Saturn with its rings. We were also able to observe a binary system with two stars rotating around each other. We then flew to Kauai to see the oldest island in the chain. It was much more weathered than the others and covered with vegetation, and farms in the valleys, but the mountains were still high and rugged. Kawaikini, the highest point at 5243ft, has 465 inches of rain a year and is reputed to be the wettest place on earth. 10 miles away at the coast the rainfall is only 40 inches. This creates a situation where there are many tumbling waterfalls converging into wide rivers, which can be enjoyed in comparatively dry comfort. Perhaps the most spectacular sight is Waimea Canyon, half-a-mile deep and described by Mark Twain as the Grand Canyon of the Pacific. We made a trek along the rim of the canyon to the top of a high waterfall. On a helicopter flight around Kauai, we were able to fly into Waimea Canyon and other deep valleys almost to the face of waterfalls without going under the raincloud. It was a wonderful experience and well worth the expense. We were presented with a video of a typical flight, which we have been able to play at home as a magical reminder. As we left
to fly home our tour leader said "Do tell other people that Hawaii
is much more than a hotel resort with sandy beaches and pretty girls in
grass skirts". I can endorse that and recommend it to anyone who
likes to travel off the beaten track. First published in VISA issue 42 (autumn 2001) Another view of Hawaii (and Fiji and New Zealand!) |