Hawai'i

By Alec Schlemmer

(use your "back" button to return to text from images, all photos by the Schlemmer family)

Hawaii is located under the Tropic of Cancer, in the Pacific Ocean. There are eight main islands in the Hawaiian archipelago. The "Big Island" of Hawai'i (another map see Tour, below), Maui, Lanai, Molokai, Oahu, Kauai, Ni’ihau, and Kaho’olawe, are the main Islands.

Undersea volcanoes formed the Hawaiian archipelago thousands of years ago. Over the years, the volcano would erupt multiple times, causing the molten rock to pile up on the already hardened lava. Eventually the lava piled up so much, that it broke the surface of water creating an island. Then the tectonic plates would shift, moving the volcano over a bit a little at a time, moving southeast, until eventually the island wasn’t on top of the volcano anymore. Then the process would start all over again.

Since the plates move so slowly, it has taken very long for the islands to form. The only island currently on the volcano is the Big Island. Since the Island, Kauai, is the farthest Northwest, it was created first. Other proof shows that Kauai was the first island made, because it has the best beaches because all of the hard lava has broken into sand. It is extremely lush because plants have had a long time to colonize the island.

Many plants and animals inhabit the Islands. Europeans brought some and others are native. The Cane toad and the Indian Mongoose were both brought by Europeans. The cane toad was brought to kill rats, as well as the mongoose. The mongoose preferred birds, and not rats, because the rat is nocturnal were as the mongoose is diurnal. The mongoose destroyed many kinds of birds. There are no snakes on the Hawaiian Islands, and it is illegal to have them. It is illegal to have snakes because the Hawaiian State department of agriculture is worried that the snakes might eat all the birds, like the mongoose did. Some of the birds that live on the Hawaiian Islands, only live on that Island, and nowhere else, that is why snakes and mongooses are so bad. The both could wipe out an entire species of birds. If the state of Hawaii let snakes be on the islands, it would just be another way the bird population of birds in Hawaii to decrease severely.

The most famous king of Hawaii is King Kamehameha. King Kamehameha lived from 1795-1819 and is most famous for conquering the islands of Hawaii. He conquered all the islands except Kauai and Ni’ihau, which were 70 miles west of Maui. When the first Europeans came to the islands of Hawaii, he saw how a cannon could have a large advantage in war against other Hawaiians who were armed with only clubs and spears. So when more Europeans came he got a small brass swivel gun , which he mounted on his double canoe, and more guns for his army. With his new advantages, he conquered the islands when they were in civil disorder.

Hawaii is famous for its sugar cane. There are large plantations on many of the islands that collect the sugar cane and then turn it into sugar to be shipped to the main land. When people first started making sugar, there weren’t many physical laborers on the islands, and the Hawaiians were in short supply, so the plantation owners, shipped Japanese, Asians, and Chinese from China, Asia, and Japan over to work in the cane fields. Now the immigration laws have been made, and Washington D.C determines immigration quotas.

Today, since Hawaii is so nice and warm, it is a big place for tourism. That is one way many people make their living, by doing things like working in hotels, tour guides, and souvenir shops. But other people live off things other than tourism, people make surfboards and work in places that people who live in Hawaii go to. I myself have been to two of the islands, twice each. Both the big island and Kauai are extremely nice and it stands to reason that everyone likes to go to Hawaii.

 

My Virtual Hawaii Tour

1 Lava!-Here my dad and I are standing, watching lava come out of a lava tube into the water, that is why there is so much steam. It is hard to see the lava through the steam and water but sometimes we would see glimpses of it through them. If you see it in the picture you will see an orange glow.

1 It is extremely dangerous to be near lava so these signs are posted n every where. There are many things dangerous about the lava. The steam has pieces of volcanic glass in it and the lava is 2000 degrees!

2 This is me standing before a kayak. My dad and I went kayaking to the other side of the bay, and snorkeled. At the other side of the bay is the place where Captain James Cook died.

2 This is Captain James Cook’s memorial of his death. This is were they think he died. Captain James Cook died in a fight with some Hawaiians and a gun accidentally went off and killed him. This small patch of ground is British territory.

2 Paho’eho’e-When we went snorkeling, we saw lots of Paho’eho’e. These are some examples of beautiful lava formations.

3 When my dad and I went down to south point (the southernmost point in US) there was a windmill farm. Not all of the windmills were working, probably because they looked at least 30 years old.

4 This is me in the Kaumana caves. The Kaumana caves are really just an old lava tubes that roof collapsed.

On Kauai, there are wild chickens roaming everywhere. This probably because a storm came and destroyed all the chickens pens. After they were released, they just breed and breed until they became feral.

On all of the Hawaiian Islands, there are both Mongooses and Geckos. The Europeans introduced the mongooses, but it is unknown why the geckos are here. Both of the animals swarm every island and they are pests.

5 Kohala is the oldest (and extinct) volcano on the big island, the mountain is 500,555 feet tall. There are many towns in the Kohala area. We visited the towns of Hawi and Waimea, two of the towns in the area. Both of them are small, but Waimea is the bigger of the two. This where the enormous 210,000 acre Parker Cattle Ranch is located.

6 The Leke'leke burial grounds is a spot where a huge battle was held over a religion. Both sides had guns and shot each other with them. 300 people were killed and this is where they were buried.

7 This is a Heiau, it was King Kamehameha's house. He could live anywhere he wanted, but he chose to live here. As well as his house, this Ahu'ene' Heiau, was also his temple to different gods.

The Hibiscus flower is the state flower of Hawaii. This is a different kind of Hibiscus. This is a White Hibiscus and the state flower is the Red Hibiscus.

8 Our house in Kapaho was on these great big Tidepools. Many animals inhabited them. The Tidepools were formed when lava came down across the beach. People fished on the seaward side of the Tidepools, with nets.

This is a picture of my brother with a skink on his nose. The skink's skin was kind of clear so we could see its organs.

9 When we were going to see lava, on the saddle road there were lots of little groups of turkeys. They were used to cars, but not to people. This is a view of them from the saddle road, a treacherous shortcut between the two largest volcanos on Hawaii, Mauna Kea, and Mauna Loa.

By the side, of the top of the saddle road, there was a shrine to someone's dad. I think that he was killed in a car accident.

On many of the nights, when we were in Kailua, Kona, we had a beautiful sunset. This is a picture of one of them.