The Big Island

{moszoomimglink:Waipi’o – tiny Hi’ilawe falls} I am writing this fresh from a one week vacation to Kona, spent mostly exploring and marveling at the miracles of this biggest of the Hawaiian islands. It is so big, indeed, that it would easily fit all other islands combined.

{moszoomimglink:All of Mauna Loa} Like all other islands in the chain, Hawai’i is formed by volcanoes that rise up all the way from the bottom of the sea. While underwater, the lava cools very quickly, generating a mountain that is very steep. Once the ocean surface is passed, the lava turns out to be very fluid, so that the aerial part of the islands is quite flat. Don’t expect the volcanoes to look like Mount St. Helens or Vesuvius: they are gentle in slope, and the only really steep grade is where erosion has eaten away a chunk of mountain.

Kauai

Oh, what a surprise! You won’t know what you missed in life until you got to Kauai.

{moszoomimglink:Wailua falls}The Northernmost major island of the chain, Kauai is the one that gets the most water. It is the oldest, too, so that the flanks of the volcano that makes up the bulk of its mass are eroded into deep valleys with sharp razor-edged mountain ridges to separate them. There is, as usual, a wet side and a dry side to it. The wet side is so wet, it is famous for being the wettest spot on Earth. Mount Waialeale is not the highest point on Kauai, but surely the wettest. I am positive that Waialeale must be Hawaiian for “watch out, it’s slippery!”

Maui

{moszoomimglink:A stream falling into a pool}Maui-no-ka-oi, Maui is the best! That’s the motto of the island, and funny enough, it seems consistently not to be true. Maui is always second best at whatever it is good. It is the second-largest island; it is the second densest in population; it is the second highest; it is the second most urban; it has the second-best nightlife and the second best shopping; nature is second best, as is the diversity of the people.

The East Coast

I confess, after Hanauma Bay everything else is a bit ‘so-what?’ You leave the parking lot, look again at the cinder cone and drive on to a long sandy beach. Here I noticed for the first time how quickly the climate changes: you start out in green and lush Honolulu, and here all of a sudden the scenery turns arid, grey, inhospitable. The beach is beautiful and the views of nearby Molokai can be impressive, but you feel like on a desert island.

South-East Oahu

Once you leave town to the East, things become quickly suburban. Evidently, the more affluent side of society resides here. Some beautiful mansions and houses are built around Diamond Head, then urban complexes like the ones you’d find in Southern California.

{moszoomimglink:Hanauma Bay}Once you cross the artificial lagoon of Hawaii Kai, with its huge number of New Homes with New Home Smell, you’ll start seeing what most people want to see when they fly to Hawaii: unspoiled land. Actually, one of the first attractions on your way is one of the most astonishing ones: Hanauma Bay.

Honolulu

The urban heart of the islands is something that you want to avoid if you are traveling to Hawai’i because of the islands. If you are flying in from L.A. or N.Y., N.Y., then you’d be likely to die outside of an urban environment and Honolulu is close enough to carry you over the one week vacation.

{moszoomimglink:From Queen’s beach}Honolulu has most trappings of modern cities, including a vast array of shopping malls and stores. There are beautiful museums and galleries and universities, but none of that really compares with the corresponding institutions and businesses on the mainland. At the same time, you have to search really hard to find a real place, a Hawaiian place.

What Did I See?

No point in telling you what to do, since that’s covered in an impressive array of guide books. Let me just tell you what I saw and how I liked it, and you can then match up my opinionated and subjective views with the glorious details of the professionals.

{moszoomimglink:Heliconia}

Aloha the Concept

{moszoomimglink:Marco and his mahu lei}Hawai’i does a lot to a person, but little is more profoundly life-changing than aloha. You’ll hear this word uttered mainly as a greeting or a good-bye, but it actually means ‘love’. You might think that a people that throws the word love at anyone they see is a bit careless and insincere, but you and I would be wrong. When Hawaiians throw love around, they do so with abandon and inclusion, and their aloha is meant as a real concept.

Aloha the Word

When you’ll land, you’ll notice that words are suddenly all different. Outside of Honolulu, most places and towns have names that are incredibly long and difficult to pronouce, and you wonder why anyone would choose such tonge-breaking complexities at all. Of course, if you spoke the language of Hawai’i, you wouldn’t think the names odd.

{moszoomimglink:Sun setting from the lanai}Take the name of the channel between Maui and the small island of Kahoolawe, called Kealaikahiki. That’s one mouthful or two for you. Yet once someone, say Michener, tells you how to break it up, you’ll have a hard time forgetting it. In this case, the breakup is: ke-ala-i-kahiki. That doesn’t tell you much, right?

Geography Lessons on the Fly

There is nothing as inconsistent as a flight from San Francisco to Honolulu. You’ll start miring at the beauty of the City by the Bay — look at Point Reyes, see the city wrapping around its famed hills, catch the East Bay towns with a glimpse of an eye. Then, all of a sudden, the endless ocean begins, and for hours and hours there will be nothing to see. If you are lucky, a lonely cloud will say hello and unerringly pass by. Sometimes you’ll catch the airplane rainbow hunting the shadow of the plane. But most of the time you’ll be forced to watch the omnibus movie.