HOKULEA, THE HISTORY OF HAWAII'S VOYAGING CANOE

Today, The Grandma has received sad news. A beloved friend has passed away.

The best 007 Agent, the unforgettable Dr. Jones, the immortal Juan Sánchez-Villalobos Ramírez, the great Richard Lionheart; the intelligent Franciscan friar William of Baskerville; the mysteryous Jim Malone, the brave Marko Aleksandrovich Ramius... the list is as eternal as the path that he has started to follow, a way to unknown like the Hawaiian people have done since they learnt how to sail by their canoas and how to say goodbye to their community when the moment arrives.

May the winds be with you, dear Sean! You will be forever young.

More information: Sean Connery

 May you stay forever young.

Joan Baez

 

Hōkūleʻa is a performance-accurate waʻa kaulua, a Polynesian double-hulled voyaging canoe.

Launched on 8 March 1975 by the Polynesian Voyaging Society, she is best known for her 1976 Hawaiʻi to Tahiti voyage completed with exclusively Polynesian navigation techniques.

The primary goal of the voyage was to explore the anthropological theory of the Asiatic origin of native Oceanic people of Polynesians and Hawaiians in particular, as the result of purposeful trips through the Pacific, as opposed to passive drifting on currents, or sailing from the Americas. DNA analysis illuminates this theory. A secondary project goal was to have the canoe and voyage serve as vehicles for the cultural revitalization of Hawaiians and other Polynesians.

Between the 1976 voyage and 2009, Hōkūle‘a completed nine additional voyages to Micronesia, Polynesia, Japan, Canada and the mainland United States, all using ancient wayfinding techniques of celestial navigation.

More information: Hokulea

On 19 January 2007, Hōkūle‘a left Hawaiʻi with the voyaging canoe Alingano Maisu on a voyage through Micronesia and ports in southern Japan. The voyage was expected to take five months.

On 9 June 2007, Hōkūle‘a completed the One Ocean, One People voyage to Yokohama, Japan.

On April 5, 2009, Hōkūle‘a returned to Honolulu following a roundtrip training sail to Palmyra Atoll, undertaken to develop skills of potential crewmembers for Hōkūle‘a's eventual circumnavigation of the earth.

On May 18, 2014, Hōkūle‘a and her sister vessel, Hikianalia embarked from Oahu for Malama Honua, a three-year circumnavigation of the earth. She returned to port in Hawaii on June 17, 2017. The journey covered 47,000 nautical miles with stops at 85 ports in 26 countries.

In between voyages, Hōkūle‘a is moored at the Marine Education Training Center (METC) of Honolulu Community College in Honolulu Harbor.

Polynesian voyaging canoes were made from wood, whereas Hōkūle‘a incorporates plywood, fiberglass and resin.

Hōkūle‘a measures 18.7 m LOA, 4.72 m at beam, displaces 7,260 kg when empty and can carry another 4,990 kg of gear, supplies and 12 to 16 crew. Fully laden, with her 50.2 m2 sail area, she is capable of speeds of 7 to 10 km/h while reaching in 46 km/h trade winds. Her twin masts are rigged either crab claw or Marconi style with a small jib. She is steered with a long paddle. She has no auxiliary motor. Her escort vessel tows her into harbor when necessary.

Her name means star of gladness in Hawaiian, which refers to Arcturus, a guiding zenith star for Hawaiian navigators. Arcturus passes directly overhead at Hawaiʻi's latitude, helping sailors find the islands.

More information: Hawaiian Paddle Sports

E Hoomau Maua Kealoha.

May our love last forever.

Hawaiian Proverb

NI'IHAU & LEHUA, THE ROBINSON'S FORBIDDEN ISLAND

Today, The Stones and The Grandma are enjoying a wonderful day in Niʻihau, one of the Hawaiian Islands known as the forbidden island and inhabited by The Robinsons.

Niʻihau is the westernmost main and seventh-largest inhabited island in Hawaii.

It is 28.2 km southwest of Kauaʻi across the Kaulakahi Channel.

Its area is 180 km2. Several intermittent lakes provide wetland habitats for the Hawaiian coot, the Hawaiian stilt, and the Hawaiian duck.

The island is designated as critical habitat for Brighamia insignis, an endemic and endangered species of Hawaiian lobelioid.

The United States Census Bureau defines Niʻihau and the neighbouring island and State Seabird Sanctuary of Lehua as Census Tract 410 of Kauai County, Hawaii. Its 2010 census population was 170.

Elizabeth Sinclair purchased Niʻihau in 1864 for $10,000 from the Kingdom of Hawaii.

The island's private ownership passed on to her descendants, the Robinsons. During World War II, the island was the site of the Niʻihau Incident, in which, following the attack on Pearl Harbor, a Japanese navy fighter pilot crashed on the island and received help from residents of Japanese descent.

The island, known as the Forbidden Isle, is off-limits to all outsiders except the Robinson family and their relatives, U.S. Navy personnel, government officials, and invited guests. From 1987 onwards, a limited number of supervised activity tours and hunting safaris have opened to tourists. The island is currently managed by brothers Bruce and Keith Robinson. The people of Niʻihau are noted for their gemlike lei pūpū (shell lei) craftsmanship. They speak Hawaiian as a primary language.

More information: The Vintage News

Niʻihau is located about 29 km west of Kauaʻi, and the tiny, uninhabited island of Lehua lies 1.1 km north of Niʻihau.

Niʻihau's dimensions are 10 km × 30 km. The maximum elevation (Paniau) is 390 m. The island is about 6 million years old, making it geologically older than the 5.8-million-year-old neighbouring island of Kauaʻi to the northeast.

Niʻihau is the remnant of the southwestern slope of what was once a much larger volcano. The entire summit and other slopes collapsed into the ocean in a giant prehistoric landslide.

Elizabeth McHutchison Sinclair (1800–1892) purchased Niʻihau and parts of Kauaʻi from Kamehameha V in 1864 for $10,000 in gold. Sinclair chose Niʻihau over other options, including Waikīkī and Pearl Harbor.

By around 1875, Niʻihau's population consisted of about 350 Native Hawaiians, with 20,000 sheep. This era marked the end of the art of Hawaiian mat-weaving made famous by the people of Niʻihau.

Makaloa (Cyperus laevigatus), a native sedge, used to grow on the edges of Niʻihau's three intermittent lakes. The stems were harvested and used to weave moena makaloa (mats), considered the finest sleeping mats in Polynesia. The mats were valued by aliʻi and foreign visitors alike, but by the end of the 19th century, Hawaiians had stopped weaving makaloa due to changes in population, culture, economics, and the environment.

In 1915, Sinclair's grandson Aubrey Robinson closed the island to most visitors. Even relatives of the inhabitants could visit only by special permission. Upon Aubrey's death in 1939 the island passed to his son Aylmer, and in 1968 to Aylmer's youngest brother Lester. Upon Lester's wife Helen's death, the island passed to his sons Bruce Robinson and Keith Robinson, the current co-owners.

More information: Travel Awaits

Ku’ia kahele aka na’au ha’aha’a.

A Humble Person Walks Carefully So As Not To Hurt Others.

Hawaiian Proverb

After meeting The Robinsons, altogether have flown to Lehua Island a wonderful paradise north of Niʻihau and a Hawaii State Wildlife Sanctuary. Both families have watched some of the most beautiful endemic Hawaiian species and have learnt which projects are protecting the island nowadays.

Lehua Island is a small, crescent-shaped island in the Hawaiian islands, 1.1 km north of Niʻihau, due west of Kauai. The uninhabited, 1.13 km2 barren island is a tuff cone which is part of the extinct Niʻihau volcano.

Lehua was one of the first five islands sighted by Captain James Cook in 1778 which he spelled as Oreehoua.

Lehua Island is a Hawaii State Wildlife Sanctuary. As a restricted sanctuary, all activities are prohibited on the island without a permit. Public access to the island is restricted to areas below the high tide watermark.

Lehua provides habitat for at least 16 species of seabirds, as well as non-native Pacific rats. A population of European rabbits had lived on the island for many years, but were removed in 2005.

More information: Tourist Destination

When weather and wave conditions permit crossings from Kauai, Lehua is a noted destination for snorkelling and scuba diving. It is also well known for an unusual geological formation dubbed the keyhole. Located in one of the crescent's narrow arms, this is a tall, thin notch cut from one side, all the way through to the other side of the arm.

The United States Coast Guard maintains Lehua Rock Light (a lighthouse) on Kaunuakalā, at 215 m the highest point of the island.

Lehua is one of the largest and most diverse seabird colonies in the main Hawaiian Islands with 17 seabird species and 25 native plants (14 Hawai'i endemics, occurring nowhere else in the world) inhabiting the steep, rocky, windswept slopes of the tiny island.

Lehua is an important part of native Hawaiian culture -the Ni'ihau community gathers 'opihi (limpets) in adjacent marine waters and on the island are several important native Hawaiian cultural sites.

Invasive rats were foraging on native plants and seeds, which imperilled the entire ecosystem. These impacts contributed to erosion, which can in turn impair near-shore marine and coral ecosystems and fisheries. Native birds like the threatened Newell's Shearwater were likely being restricted from breeding on Lehua Island due to predation by rats. Smaller, open-nesting seabirds such as terns and noddies were conspicuously absent from Lehua save small numbers found in sea caves, also a suspected artefact of rat predation. Invasive rats ravage other threatened birds.

Therefore, in August 2017, the DLNR Division of Forestry and Wildlife (DOFAW) with project implementation partner Island Conservation implemented an aerial application of bait with supplemental hand application to eradicate non-native invasive rats. Signs of seabird revival were found post-eradication.  The official Final Monitoring Report Issued on Lehua Restoration Project found no rodenticide in environmental samples and minimal impact to species other than rats.

More information: Hawaii Magazine

Kuhi no ka lima, hele no ka maka.

Where the hands move, there let the eyes follow.

Hawaiian Proverb

KAUAI, THE ISLAND ON WAIMEA CANYON STATE PARK

Today, The Stones and The Grandma have flown to Kaua'i, one of the Hawaiian Islands. Before flying, they have done some models of Cambridge Exams to prepare their next objective.

Kauaʻi is geologically the second-oldest of the main Hawaiian Islands after Niʻihau.

With an area of 1,456.4 km2, it is the fourth-largest of these islands and the 21st largest island in the United States. Known also as the Garden Isle, Kauaʻi lies 169 km across the Kauaʻi Channel, northwest of Oʻahu. This island is the site of Waimea Canyon State Park.

The United States Census Bureau defines Kauaʻi as census tracts 401 through 409 of Kauai County, Hawaiʻi, which comprises all of the county except for the islands of Kaʻula, Lehua and Niʻihau. The 2010 United States Census population of the island was 66,921. The most populous town was Kapaʻa.

In 1778, Captain James Cook arrived at Waimea Bay, the first European known to have reached the Hawaiian islands. He named the archipelago the Sandwich Isles after his patron, the 6th Earl of Sandwich, George Montagu.

During the reign of King Kamehameha, the islands of Kauaʻi and Niʻihau were the last Hawaiian Islands to join his Kingdom of Hawaiʻi. Their ruler, Kaumualiʻi, resisted Kamehameha for years. King Kamehameha twice prepared a huge armada of ships and canoes to take the islands by force, and twice failed; once due to a storm, and once due to an epidemic. In the face of the threat of a further invasion, however, Kaumualiʻi decided to join the kingdom without bloodshed, and became Kamehameha's vassal in 1810. He ceded the island to the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi upon his death in 1824.

More information: Go Hawaii

In 1815, a ship from the Russian-American Company was wrecked on the island. In 1816, an agreement was signed by Kaumualiʻi to allow the Russians to build Fort Elizabeth. It was an attempt by Kaumualiʻi to gain support from the Russians against Kamehameha I.

Construction was begun in 1817, but in July of that year under mounting resistance of Native Hawaiians and American traders the Russians were expelled. The settlement on Kauaʻi has been considered an abrupt instance of a Pacific outpost of the Russian Empire per se.

Hawaiian narrative locates the name's origin in the legend of Hawaiʻiloa, the Polynesian navigator credited with discovery of the Hawaiʻian Islands.

The story relates how he named the island of Kauaʻi after a favorite son; a possible translation of Kauaʻi is place around the neck, describing how a father would carry a favorite child. Another possible translation is food season.

Kauaʻi was known for its distinct dialect of the Hawaiian language; this survives on Niʻihau. While the standard language today adopts the dialect of Hawaiʻi island, which has the sound [k], the Kauaʻi dialect was known for pronouncing this as [t]. In effect, Kauaʻi dialect retained the old pan-Polynesian /t/, while standard Hawaiʻi dialect has changed it to the [k].

Therefore, the native name for Kauaʻi was said as Tauaʻi, and the major settlement of Kapaʻa would have been pro Kauaʻi's origins are volcanic, the island having been formed by the passage of the Pacific Plate over the Hawaii hotspot. At approximately five million years old, it is the oldest of the main islands. The highest peak on this mountainous island is Kawaikini at 1,598 m.

The second highest peak is Mount Waiʻaleʻale near the center of the island, 1,569 m above sea level. One of the wettest spots on earth, with an annual average rainfall of 11.7 m, is located on the east side of Mount Waiʻaleʻale. The high annual rainfall has eroded deep valleys in the central mountains, carving out canyons with many scenic waterfalls.

On the west side of the island, Waimea town is located at the mouth of the Waimea River, whose flow formed Waimea Canyon, one of the world's most scenic canyons, which is part of Waimea Canyon State Park. At three thousand feet 910 m deep, Waimea Canyon is often referred to as The Grand Canyon of the Pacific.

Kokeo Point lies on the south side of the island. The Na Pali Coast is a center for recreation in a wild setting, including kayaking past the beaches, or hiking on the trail along the coastal cliffs. The headland, Kuahonu Point, is on the south-east of the island.

More information: Planet Ware

Ua ola no i ka pane a ke aloha.

There is life in a kindly reply.

Hawaiian Proverb

VISITING MAUI & KNOWING THE LEGEND OF HAWAIʻILOA

Today, The Stones have flown to Maui, one of the Hawaiian Islands. The Grandma, who is a great fan of volcanoes and Astronomy wants to visit this unique place on Earth. The family has revised some English grammar and practised some A2 Cambridge Exams.

The island of Maui is the second-largest of the Hawaiian Islands at 1,883 km2.

Maui is part of the State of Hawaii and is the largest of Maui County's four islands, which include Molokaʻi, Lānaʻi, and unpopulated Kahoʻolawe. In 2010, Maui had a population of 144,444, third-highest of the Hawaiian Islands, behind that of Oʻahu and Hawaiʻi Island. Kahului is the largest census-designated place (CDP) on the island with a population of 26,337 as of 2010, and is the commercial and financial hub of the island.

Wailuku is the seat of Maui County and is the third-largest CDP as of 2010. Other significant places include Kīhei (including Wailea and Makena in the Kihei Town CDP, the island's second-most-populated CDP), Lāhainā (including Kāʻanapali and Kapalua in the Lāhainā Town CDP), Makawao, Pukalani, Pāʻia, Kula, Haʻikū, and Hāna.

Native Hawaiian tradition gives the origin of the island's name in the legend of Hawaiʻiloa, the navigator credited with discovery of the Hawaiian Islands.

According to it, Hawaiʻiloa named the island after his son, who in turn was named for the demigod Māui. The earlier name of Maui was ʻIhikapalaumaewa. The Island of Maui is also called the Valley Isle for the large isthmus separating its northwestern and southeastern volcanic masses.

More information: Maui County

Maui's diverse landscapes are the result of a unique combination of geology, topography, and climate.

Each volcanic cone in the chain of the Hawaiian Islands is built of dark, iron-rich/quartz-poor rocks, which poured out of thousands of vents as highly fluid lava over a period of millions of years. Several of the volcanoes were close enough to each other that lava flows on their flanks overlapped one another, merging into a single island. Maui is such a volcanic doublet, formed from two shield volcanoes that overlapped one another to form an isthmus between them.

The older, western volcano has been eroded considerably and is cut by numerous drainages, forming the peaks of the West Maui Mountains in Hawaiian, Mauna Kahalawai.

Puʻu Kukui is the highest of the peaks at 1,764 m. The larger, younger volcano to the east, Haleakalā, rises to more than 3,000 m above sea level, and measures 8.0 km from seafloor to summit.

The eastern flanks of both volcanoes are cut by deeply incised valleys and steep-sided ravines that run downslope to the rocky, windswept shoreline. The valley-like Isthmus of Maui that separates the two volcanic masses was formed by sandy erosional deposits.

Maui's last eruption, originating in Haleakalā's Southwest Rift Zone, occurred around 1790; two of the resulting lava flows are located at Cape Kīnaʻu between ʻĀhihi Bay and La Perouse Bay on the southwest shore of East Maui, and at Makaluapuna Point on Honokahua Bay on the northwest shore of West Maui. Considered to be dormant by volcanologists, Haleakalā is certainly capable of further eruptions.

Maui is part of a much larger unit, Maui Nui, that includes the islands of Lānaʻi, Kahoʻolawe, Molokaʻi, and the now submerged Penguin Bank. During periods of reduced sea level, including as recently as 20,000 years ago, they are joined together as a single island due to the shallowness of the channels between them.

Maui is an important center for advanced astronomical research. The Haleakala Observatory was Hawaii's first astronomical research and development facility, operating at the Maui Space Surveillance Site (MSSS) electro-optical facility. At the 10,023-foot summit of the long dormant volcano Haleakala, operational satellite tracking facilities are co-located with a research and development facility providing superb data acquisition and communication support. The high elevation, dry climate, and freedom from light pollution offer virtually year-round observation of satellites, missiles, man-made orbital debris, and astronomical objects.

More information: Go Hawaii

No Keia La, No Keia Po, A Mau Loa.

From this day, from this night, forever more.

Hawaiian Proverb

LILIʻU LOLOKU KAMAKAʻEHA, THE LAST QUEEN OF HAWAII

Today, The Stones have been relaxing on their private beach. They have studied Used To and they have played some oral games to improve their speaking.

While The Stones were studying, The Grandma was reading about Lydia Liliʻu Loloku Walania Kamakaʻeha, the last Queen of Hawaii.

Liliʻuokalani aka Lydia Liliʻu Loloku Walania Kamakaʻeha (September 2, 1838-November 11, 1917) was the only queen regnant and the last sovereign monarch of the Hawaiian Kingdom, ruling from January 29, 1891, until the overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom on January 17, 1893. The composer of Aloha ʻOe and numerous other works, she wrote her autobiography Hawaiʻi's Story by Hawaiʻi's Queen during her imprisonment following the overthrow.

Liliʻuokalani was born on September 2, 1838, in Honolulu, on the island of Oʻahu. While her natural parents were Analea Keohokālole and Caesar Kapaʻakea, she was hānai (informally adopted) at birth by Abner Pākī and Laura Kōnia and raised with their daughter Bernice Pauahi Bishop. Baptized as a Christian and educated at the Royal School, she and her siblings and cousins were proclaimed eligible for the throne by King Kamehameha III.

She was married to American-born John Owen Dominis, who later became the Governor of Oʻahu. The couple had no biological children but adopted several. After the accession of her brother David Kalākaua to the throne in 1874, she and her siblings were given Western style titles of Prince and Princess.

More information: Used to

In 1877, after her younger brother Leleiohoku II's death, she was proclaimed as heir apparent to the throne. During the Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria, she represented her brother as an official envoy to the United Kingdom.

Liliʻuokalani ascended to the throne on January 29, 1891, nine days after her brother's death. During her reign, she attempted to draft a new constitution which would restore the power of the monarchy and the voting rights of the economically disenfranchised.

Threatened by her attempts to abrogate the Bayonet Constitution, pro-American elements in Hawaiʻi overthrew the monarchy on January 17, 1893. The overthrow was bolstered by the landing of US Marines under John L. Stevens to protect American interests, which rendered the monarchy unable to protect itself.

The coup d'état established the Republic of Hawaiʻi, but the ultimate goal was the annexation of the islands to the United States, which was temporarily blocked by President Grover Cleveland. After an unsuccessful uprising to restore the monarchy, the oligarchical government placed the former queen under house arrest at the ʻIolani Palace.

On January 24, 1895, Liliʻuokalani was forced to abdicate the Hawaiian throne, officially ending the deposed monarchy. Attempts were made to restore the monarchy and oppose annexation, but with the outbreak of the Spanish-American War, the United States annexed Hawaiʻi. Living out the remainder of her later life as a private citizen, Liliʻuokalani died at her residence, Washington Place, in Honolulu on November 11, 1917.

More information: History 101

The cause of Hawaii and independence is larger and dearer
than the life of any man connected with it.
Love of country is deep-seated
in the breast of every Hawaiian,
whatever his station.

Liliʻuokalani

KANEʻOHE BAY, DIVING & PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN

Today, The Stones have visited Kāneʻohe Bay, one of the most wonderful places in O'ahu where they have received the amazing visit of Jack Sparrow. They have practised diving and they have discovered some places where Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides was filmed.

Before visiting Kāneʻohe Bay, The Stones have studied some English grammar. They have revised Conditional Tense, Demonstratives and Such/So.

Kāneʻohe Bay, at 45 km², is the largest sheltered body of water in the main Hawaiian Islands. This reef-dominated embayment constitutes a significant scenic and recreational feature along the northeast coast of the Island of Oʻahu. The largest population center on Kāneʻohe Bay is the town of Kāneʻohe.

The Bay is approximately 12.8 km long and 4.3 km broad, with a mouth opening of about 7.4 km and maximum depth of 12 m in the dredged channel. It has one of the two barrier reefs in the archipelago, the other being the 27 mile barrier reef of Molokaʻi island, and also has extensive development of shoaling coral reefs within a large lagoon.

Two navigable channels cut across the northern and southern ends of the barrier reef. The deeper, northern channel, located off Kualoa Regional Park, provides entrance from the North Pacific Ocean to a ship channel dredged the length of the lagoon between 1939 and 1945.

More information: Would/Wouldn't, Demonstratives & So/Such

The lagoon contains extensive patch and fringing reefs and its southern end is partly enclosed by the Mokapu Peninsula. This peninsula is occupied by Marine Corps Base Hawaii.

There are five named islands or islets within Kāneʻohe Bay. A sand bar (Ahu o Laka), Kapapa, and Kekepa (Turtleback Rock) are all islets on the barrier reef. Two islands within Kāneʻohe Bay are prominent: Mokoliʻi (Chinaman's Hat) and Moku o Loʻe (Coconut Island), the largest of the five.

Mokoliʻi is a volcanic remnant at the very north end of the Bay, site of former Kualoa Airfield. The community on the northern side is called Waikane, or North Koʻolaupoko.

Coconut Island is an isolated volcanic remnant located in the southwest part of the bay.

Coconut Island is owned by the state of Hawaiʻi and home to the University of Hawaiʻi, and Pauley-Pagen Laboratory (SOEST). Coconut Island was used for the opening sequence of the television program Gilligan's Island.

In August 2010, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides was filmed on the bay. Geologically, Kāneʻohe Bay forms part of a former caldera of the Koʻolau volcano. In prehistory, most of the volcano catalysmically slid into the Pacific Ocean, leaving behind only the Range and the Bay.

More information: Hawaii Magazine

Not all treasure's silver and gold, mate.

Jack Sparrow

VISIT SEA LIFE PARK, MAMMAL PARK & BIRD SANCTUARY

The Stones & The Grandma continue in Waimānalo. Today, they have decided to visit Sea Life Park Hawaii a marine mammal park, bird sanctuary and aquarium. They have enjoyed seeing animals and they have learnt lots of things about nature conservation in Hawaii.

Sea Life Park Hawaii is a marine mammal park, bird sanctuary and aquarium in Waimānalo near Makapuʻu Point, north of Hanauma Bay on the island of Oahu in Hawaii.

The park first opened in 1964, and includes exhibits that let visitors interact with the animals by swimming with dolphins, sea lions, and rays, taking a sea safari in the aquarium, and feeding the sea turtles. The park was acquired in 2008 and is operated by Palace Entertainment, the U.S. subsidiary of Parques Reunidos from Dolphin Discovery, which had acquired it in 2005.

The Hawaiian Reef Aquarium is a 1,100 m3 tank that is home to more than 2000 reef animals, including sharks, stingrays, turtles, and schools of tropical fish.

The Hawaiian Ocean Theater is the venue for the main shows, which includes dolphins, penguins, and sea lions. The shows include information about the newest training techniques and about the park's conservation efforts.

The Penguin Habitat is home to the park's penguins, which are part of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums Species Survival Plan for the Humboldt penguin.

Visitors can interact with the animals at the Sea Turtle Feeding Pool, Sting Ray Lagoon, Swim with the Sea Lions and Swim with Dolphins pools.

The Dolphin Cove Show features an open-air theater from which visitors can watch dolphin performances.

More information: Sea Life Park Hawaii

The Bird Sanctuary is home to many wild marine birds including iwa (great frigatebirds), boobys, shearwaters, and albatrosses, most of which came to the sanctuary sick or injured. Visitors can see how these birds are cared for and rehabilitated.

The Hawaiian Monk Seal Habitat lets visitors see these native animals, and interact with the trainers before and after the shows.

Sea Life Park Hawaii includes several programs that let visitors interact directly with the animals in the water. All programs are run several times daily.

-Dolphin Royal Swim Program, Dolphin Swim Adventure, Dolphin Encounter, and Dolphin Aloha all let visitors interact directly with dolphins in the water.

-Sea Lion Discovery lets visitors swim and play with sea lions in the water. Visitors are also taught the signalling system used by the trainers to communicate with these animals.

-Sea Trek Adventure is an underwater stroll in the Hawaiian Reef Tank, surrounded by eels, stingrays, sea turtles, and numerous other reef species.

-Ray Training Demonstration is and experience where you can train stingrays and interact with them and perform ope-rant conditioning.

-Penguin Habitat & Penguin Trainer Talk. Be able to interact with penguins and hear a brief history of them as well as learn how they swim and play with each other.

-Park Conservation Tour Wonderful Tour around the park and has educational history of each creature and the history on how it ties with the park on the conservation and preservation to marine life.

-Shark Encounter Adventure Tour Visitors will receive a narrated tour of the East Side of the Island and scuba diving with Hawaiian Sharks with transportation in a chauffeur driven style, newer model, all black, air-conditioned, and fully insured, Royal Hawaiian Limousine luxury vehicle!

Sea Life Park Hawaii is active in several conservation areas, including the release of adolescent green sea turtles that were hatched and raised at the park, hundreds of which are released into the wild each year. The park's last spinner dolphin was released in 1983.

More information: Go Hawaii

People are not going to care about animal conservation

unless they think that animals are worthwhile.

David Attenborough

ISABELLA A. ABBOTT, LEADER EXPERT ON PACIFIC ALGAE

Today, The Stones & The Grandma have visited Hana, the hometown of Isabella Aiona Abbott, the Hawaiian ethnobotanist who became the leading expert on Pacific algae.

Isabella Aiona Abbott (June 20, 1919-October 28, 2010) was an educator, phycologist, and ethnobotanist from Hawaii.

The first native Hawaiian woman to receive a PhD in science, she became the leading expert on Pacific algae.

Abbott was born Isabella Kauakea Yau Yung Aiona in Hana, Maui, Territory of Hawaii, on June 20, 1919. Her Hawaiian name means white rain of Hana and she was known as Izzy. Her father was ethnically Chinese while her mother was a Native Hawaiian. Her mother taught her about edible Hawaiian seaweeds and the value and diversity of Hawaii's native plants. Abbott was the only girl and second youngest in a family of eight siblings.

She grew up in Honolulu near Waikiki, and graduated from Kamehameha Schools in 1937. She received her undergraduate degree in botany at the University of Hawaii at Mānoa in 1941, a master's degree in botany from the University of Michigan in 1942, and a PhD in botany from the University of California, Berkeley in 1950. She married zoologist Donald Putnam Abbott (1920–1986), who had been a fellow student at the University of Hawaii as well as Berkeley. The couple moved to Pacific Grove, California where her husband taught at the Hopkins Marine Station run by Stanford University.

More information: Indigenous Goddess Gang

Since at that time women were rarely considered for academic posts, she spent time raising her daughter Annie Abbott Foerster, while studying the algae of the California coast. She adapted recipes to use the local bull kelp (Nereocystis) in foods such as cakes and pickles.

In 1966 she became a research associate and taught as a lecturer at Hopkins. She compiled a book on marine algae of the Monterey peninsula, which later was expanded to include all of the California coast. She was awarded the Darbaker Prize by the Botanical Society of America in 1969. By 1972, Stanford University promoted her directly to full professor.

In 1982 both Abbotts retired and moved back to Hawaii, where she was hired by the University of Hawaii to study ethnobotany, the interaction of humans and plants.

She authored eight books and over 150 publications. She was considered the world's leading expert on Hawaiian seaweeds, known in the Hawaiian language as limu. She was credited with discovering over 200 species, with several named after her, including the Rhodomelaceae family (red algae) genus of Abbottella. This earned her the nickname First Lady of Limu.

In 1993 she received the Charles Reed Bishop Medal and in 1997 she received the Gilbert Morgan Smith Medal from the National Academy of Sciences.

 More information: Hawaii

She was the G. P. Wilder Professor of Botany from 1980 until her retirement in 1982, upon then her and her husband moved to Hawaii where she continued her research as the professor emerita of botany at the University of Hawaii. She served on the board of directors of the Bernice P. Bishop Museum. In November 1997 she co-authored an essay in the Honolulu Star-Bulletin criticizing the trustees of Kamehameha Schools, which led to its reorganization.

In 2005, she was named a Living Treasure of Hawai'i by the Honpa Hongwanji Mission of Hawaii.

She was considered the foremost authority on the algae of the Pacific Ocean basin and in 2008 she received a lifetime achievement award from the Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources for her studies of coral reefs.

Isabella Kauakea Aiona Abbott died at October 28, 2010 at the age of 91 at her home in Honolulu.

Abbott's surviving family includes a daughter who resides in Hawaii and a granddaughter who lives in Hawaii.

To preserve Abbott's legacy and career as a botanist, the University of Hawaii established a scholarship to support graduate research in Hawaiian ethnobotany and marine botany.

More information: Standford News

That was the first time anybody told me
that the scientific names meant something,
just like the Hawaiian names meant something.

Isabella Aiona Abbott

WAIMANALO BEACH, ENJOYING THE HAWAIIAN BEACHES

Today, The Stones and The Grandma have visited Waimānalo Beach, one of the most beautiful places in Hawaii.

Waimānalo Beach is a census-designated place (CDP) located in the City & County of Honolulu, in the District of Koʻolaupoko, on the island of Oʻahu in the U.S. state of Hawaiʻi.

This small windward community is located near the eastern end of the island, and the climate is dry.

As of the 2010 Census, the CDP had a population of 4,481. This neighborhood is close to, but somewhat separate from Waimānalo, although the two form a single community.

Waimānalo Beach (the town) lies along the eastern half of Waimānalo Beach (the beach), with an overall length of nearly 8.9 km, the longest stretch of sandy shoreline on Oʻahu.

Waimānalo Beach has sparse commercial development along Kalanianaole Highway, and is noteworthy for its local flavor and proximity to Makapuʻu Beach and Sea Life Park, which lie closer to Makapuʻu Point at the east end of the island of Oʻahu. There are no hotels here.

Kazuo Sakamaki, the first prisoner of war taken by U.S. forces during World War II, was captured on December 8, 1941 on Waimānalo Beach the day after the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor and surrounding targets in Honolulu by Imperial Japanese Navy forces.

The Anderson Estate, which was featured in the TV series Magnum, P.I. as Robin's Nest, is located in Waimānalo Beach.

More information: Exoticca

Waimānalo Beach is located at 21°20′1″N 157°41′53″W. The nearest town is Waimānalo to the west.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 7.7 km2, of which 5.1 km2 is land and 2.6 km2 is water. The total area is 33.45% water.

As of the census of 2000, there were 4,271 people, 1,006 households, and 848 families residing in the CDP. The population density was 2,617.1 people per 1,011.7/km2. There were 1,046 housing units at an average density of 640.9 per 247.8/km2. The racial makeup of the CDP was 12.97% White, 0.09% African American, 0.23% Native American, 5.34% Asian, 47.39% Pacific Islander, 0.63% from other races, and 33.34% from two or more races. 6.49% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.

There were 1,006 households, out of which 28.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 51.4% were married couples living together, 23.2% had a female householder with no husband present, and 15.7% were non-families. 8.9% of all households were made up of individuals, and 2.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 4.25 and the average family size was 4.50.

In the CDP the population was spread out, with 26.7% under the age of 18, 10.3% from 18 to 24, 28.9% from 25 to 44, 22.5% from 45 to 64, and 11.6% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 35 years. For every 100 females there were 97.5 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 92.7 males.

The median income for a household in the CDP was $55,781, and the median income for a family was $57,281. Males had a median income of $35,074 versus $25,440 for females. The per capita income for the town was $16,089. 8.5% of the population and 5.5% of families were below the poverty line. Out of the total population, 5.3% of those under the age of 18 and 7.9% of those 65 and older were living below the poverty line.

More information: Best of Oahu

 Oi kau ka lau, E hana I ola Honua.
Live your life while the sun shines.

Hawaiian Proverb

THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS, THE MOST ISOLATED ENDEMISM

Today, The Stones and The Grandma have visited the University of Hawaiʻi, in Mānoa, Honolulu. There, they have assisted to an interesting conference about the endemism in Hawaii Islands. Before visiting the University, the family has studied an interesting English lesson about Reflexive Pronouns.

More informaton: Reflexive Pronouns

Located about 3680 km from the nearest continental shore, the Hawaiian Islands are the most isolated group of islands on the planet. The plant and animal life of the Hawaiian archipelago is the result of early, very infrequent colonizations of arriving species and the slow evolution of those species -in isolation from the rest of the world's flora and fauna-over a period of at least 5 million years. As a consequence, Hawai'i is home to a large number of endemic species.

The radiation of species described by Charles Darwin in the Galapagos Islands which was critical to the formulation of his theory of evolution is far exceeded in the more isolated Hawaiian Islands.

The relatively short time that the existing main islands of the archipelago have been above the surface of the ocean, less than 10 million years, is only a fraction of time span over which biological colonization and evolution have occurred in the archipelago.

High, volcanic islands have existed in the Pacific far longer, extending in a chain to the northwest; these once mountainous islands are now reduced to submerged banks and coral atolls. Midway Atoll, for example, formed as a volcanic island some 28 million years ago. Kure Atoll, a little further to the northwest, is near the Darwin point -defined as waters of a temperature that allows coral reef development to just keep up with isostatic sinking. And extending back in time before Kure, an even older chain of islands spreads northward nearly to the Aleutian Islands; these former islands, all north of the Darwin point, are now completely submerged as the Emperor Seamounts.

The islands are well known for the environmental diversity that occurs on high mountains within a trade winds field. On a single island, the climate can differ around the coast from dry tropical (< 20 in or 500 mm annual rainfall) to wet tropical; and up the slopes from tropical rainforest (> 200 in or 5000 mm per year) through a temperate climate into alpine conditions of cold and dry climate. The rainy climate impacts soil development, which largely determines ground permeability, which affects the distribution of streams, wetlands, and wet places.

More information: Love Big Island

The distance and remoteness of the Hawaiian archipelago is a biological filter. Seeds or spores attached to a lost migrating bird's feather or an insect falling out of the high winds found a place to survive in the islands and whatever else was needed to reproduce.

The narrowing of the gene pool meant that at the very beginning, the population of a colonizing species was a bit different from that of the remove, contributing population.

Throughout time, the Hawaiian Islands formed linearly from northwest to the southeast. A study was conducted to determine the approximate ages of the Hawaiian Islands using K–Ar dating of the oldest found igneous rocks from each island. Kauai was determined to be about 5.1 million years old, Oahu about 3.7 million years old and the youngest island of Hawaii about 0.43 million years old. 

By determining the maximum age of the islands, inferences could be made about the maximum possible age of organisms inhabiting the island. The newly formed islands were able to accommodate growing populations, while the new environments were causing high rates of new adaptations.

Human contact, first by Polynesians and later by Europeans, has had a significant impact. Both the Polynesians and Europeans cleared native forests and introduced non-indigenous species for agriculture or by accident, driving many endemic species to extinction.

Fossil finds in caves, lava tubes, and sand dunes have revealed an avifauna that once had a native eagle, two raven-size crows, several bird-eating owls, and giant ducks known as moa-nalos. Around 861 species of plants have been introduced to the islands by humans since its discovery by Polynesian settlers, including crops such as taro and breadfruit.

Today, many of the remaining endemic species of plants and animals in the Hawaiian Islands are considered endangered, and some critically so. Plant species are particularly at risk: out of a total of 2,690 plant species, 946 are non-indigenous with 800 of the native species listed as endangered.

More information: Arcgis

 People love the ocean.
People are always asking me
why I don't study the ocean, because,
after all, I live in Hawaii.
I tell them that it's because
the ocean is a lonely, empty place.

Hope Jahren

'HAWAII OPERATION', A JAPANESE DECLARATION OF WAR

Today, The Stones have visited the Naval Station Pearl Harbor, a U.S. naval base adjacent to Honolulu.

 

This place enters in History when the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service attacked it in December 7, 1941. This meant the USA formal entry into World War II.

 

Before visiting Pearl Harbor, The Stones have continued with their English course reviewing Past Simple with regular and irregular forms.

More information: Past Simple

The Attack on Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service upon the United States -a neutral country at the time- against the naval base at Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, Territory of Hawaii, just before 08:00, on Sunday morning, December 7, 1941.

The attack led to the United States' formal entry into World War II the next day. The Japanese military leadership referred to the attack as the Hawaii Operation and Operation AI, and as Operation Z during its planning.

Japan intended the attack as a preventive action to keep the United States Pacific Fleet from interfering with its planned military actions in Southeast Asia against overseas territories of the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and the United States. Over the course of seven hours there were coordinated Japanese attacks on the U.S.-held Philippines, Guam, and Wake Island and on the British Empire in Malaya, Singapore, and Hong Kong.

More information: Visit Pearl Harbor

The attack commenced at 7:48 a.m. Hawaiian Time (18:18 GMT). The base was attacked by 353 Imperial Japanese aircraft -including fighters, level and dive bombers, and torpedo bombers- in two waves, launched from six aircraft carriers. 

Of the eight U.S. Navy battleships present, all were damaged, with four sunk. All but USS Arizona were later raised, and six were returned to service and went on to fight in the war.

The Japanese also sank or damaged three cruisers, three destroyers, an anti-aircraft training ship, and one minelayer. A total of 188 U.S. aircraft were destroyed; 2,403 Americans were killed and 1,178 others were wounded. 

Important base installations such as the power station, dry dock, shipyard, maintenance, and fuel and torpedo storage facilities, as well as the submarine piers and headquarters building, also home of the intelligence section, were not attacked. Japanese losses were light: 29 aircraft and five midget submarines lost, and 64 servicemen killed.

Japan announced a declaration of war on the United States later that day (December 8 in Tokyo), but the declaration was not delivered until the following day. The following day, December 8, Congress declared war on Japan. 

On December 11, Germany and Italy each declared war on the U.S., which responded with a declaration of war against Germany and Italy.

There were numerous historical precedents for the unannounced military action by Japan, but the lack of any formal warning, particularly while peace negotiations were still apparently ongoing, led President Franklin D. Roosevelt to proclaim December 7, 1941, a date which will live in infamy.

More information: Japan Today & USA Tosay

Because the attack happened without a declaration of war and without explicit warning, the attack on Pearl Harbor was later judged in the Tokyo Trials to be a war crime.

War between Japan and the United States had been a possibility that each nation had been aware of, and planned for, since the 1920s. The relationship between the two countries was cordial enough that they remained trading partners. Tensions did not seriously grow until Japan's invasion of Manchuria in 1931.

Over the next decade, Japan expanded into China, leading to the Second Sino-Japanese War in 1937. Japan spent considerable effort trying to isolate China and endeavored to secure enough independent resources to attain victory on the mainland. The Southern Operation was designed to assist these efforts.

The Japanese attack had several major aims.

First, it intended to destroy important American fleet units, thereby preventing the Pacific Fleet from interfering with Japanese conquest of the Dutch East Indies and Malaya and to enable Japan to conquer Southeast Asia without interference. 

Second, it was hoped to buy time for Japan to consolidate its position and increase its naval strength before shipbuilding authorized by the 1940 Vinson-Walsh Act erased any chance of victory.

Third, to deliver a blow to America's ability to mobilize its forces in the Pacific, battleships were chosen as the main targets, since they were the prestige ships of any navy at the time.

Finally, it was hoped that the attack would undermine American morale such that the U.S. government would drop its demands contrary to Japanese interests and would seek a compromise peace with Japan.

More information: Time & The Guardian

Yesterday, December 7, 1941
—a date which will live in infamy—
the United States of America was suddenly
and deliberately attacked by naval
and air forces of the Empire of Japan.

Franklin D. Roosevelt