Everything about Hawaii
Many Americans spend their vacations on Hawaii, since this beautiful island truly is paradise on earth. If you want to picture Hawaii, think about brightly coloured flowers, white beaches and delicious cocktails. However, Hawaii has much more to offer.
Various islands
Hawaii counts a total of 137 islands (they are also called atolls, which means they are ring shaped). These islands find their origin in volcanos. However, not all the islands are inhabited. This is due to the many still active volcanos. Luckily, you can also find inactive volcanos, which you can admire in the national parks. The most important inhabited islands are: Kauai, Lanai, Kahoolawe, Maui, Molokai, Oahu and Niihau.
What can you do in Hawaii?
Hawaii is perfect for enjoying the beach, relaxing and taking in the sun. But Hawaii has much more to offer than just that. If you are looking for more during your holiday, here are five tips that might help:
1. Hawaii Volcanoes National Park
This national park is located on Hawaii itself and has over 30 million years of volcanic history. The most famous volcanoes are Mauna Loa and Kilauea. If you would like to hear about the history and the volcanoes you can choose to have a guide lead you, they will be able to tell you everything about the area.
2. Oahu
This island is known for its national historical monument of Pearl Harbor, and for that reason gets a lot of visitors each year. You can also visit the Iolani palace on this island, this palace used to be home to Hawaiian royals. It is a beautiful palace and definitely worth your while. In addition to all this, the island is also great for surfing.
3. Lahaina
The coast of Lahaina is one of the best places in the entire world to go whale or humpbacks watching. An incredible experience you won’t forget.
4. Mauna Kea Observatory
Mauna Kea is the name of the highest mountain in the world. On the top of this mountain are thirteen telescopes located, they are used by astronomers from eleven countries to connect with each other and inform the world. This point is also known to be the connection point for the earth and the universe. In the visitors centre they explain very well what their purpose is.
5. Akaka Falls
Close by a town called Hilo located in a large park you can find a 129-meter-high waterfall which is called Akaka. This waterfall is absolutely gorgeous and can be admired from multiple angles.
History
The Hawaiian Islands have been discovered by the Polynesians in the 8th century, they started a colony here and brought along animals and plants. Shortly after the European explorer James Cook arrived on the island. He arrived during the holiday Makahiki (during this holiday taxes were being collected) which caused people thinking he was a god. When they released he wasn’t a god after all he was killed during a fight. Kamehameha was most powerful and wanted to rule over all the islands. He made sure he got his hands on many western weapons, which helped him win a lot of fights and eventually he ended up founding his own kingdom. Later on, the believe in gods decreased, due to external influences. The people started converting to Christianity. Since the Polynesians had weak health a lot of them died from western deceases, causing the population to shrink. Meanwhile their export of sugar became more and more important, with The United States as their largest customer. This created a lot of new jobs, which made the island appealing for outsiders. Even though this made the original Hawaiian population even smaller, their traditions and ways of living were preserved. And this is still the case up to this day. Hawaii became the 50th state of The United States in 1959. Nowadays they are mostly dependent of trade and tourism, their economy is still growing.
Best time to visit
Because of the tropical climate in Hawaii, the temperatures vary between 25 and 35 degrees Celsius all year round. Which means the weather is almost always nice. Most people visit Hawaii in the winter months. It is much less busy in the months between April and November, which would make it the best time to visit.
