Author: JGW
Hawaii, even as the word rolls off your tongue, vivid images are already forming in your mind: Lying on a secluded beach, your cares drifting away with the gentle ocean waves. Exploring lush tropical rain forests, immersing yourself in a thousand different shades of green. SCUBA and snorkeling in crystal-clear waters, coming face to face with schools of rainbow-colored fish. Toast another day with a Mai Tai and catch another brilliant sunset.
Geologists believe that the Hawaiian Islands were formed millions of years ago, born of earth, wind and fire. More than a thousand years ago, Polynesian voyagers arrived on Hawaiian shores bringing to life the spirit of aloha (showing love, kindness and compassion). Since then, many pages have been turned in Hawaii’s history—from Western contact and the Hawaiian monarchy to the plantation era and Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor—but the aloha spirit has endured. It remains a living personification of the very best of Hawaii and its people.
Nicknamed “The Aloha State,” Hawaii is a string of 137 islands encompassing a land area of 6,422 square miles in the north central Pacific Ocean (2,400 miles from the west coast of the continental United States. There are eight main islands: Oahu, the Big Island of Hawaii, Maui, Kauai, Lanai and Molokai.
To discover some of the reasons you should come to Hawaii on your next vacation, spend some time surfing this website. Then fly over and try the real thing. Learn how to surf.
Photo Credits:Photo1: Kauai ATV, Photo2: Jeff Wilmot, Photo3: AFH, Photo4: Wiegand, Photo5: Jeff Wilmot ©2003-2004 Media-HI, Inc. All rights reserved. |
