The Big Island

Big Island Title

The Big Island is the largest of the Hawaiian islands(4,038 sq. miles--about the size of Connecticut), the youngest (800,000 years), and the least populated (with 30 people per sq. mile). It has the nation's wettest city (Hilo), the southernmost point in the United States, the world's biggest telescope, the ocean's biggest trophy marlin, and America's greatest collection of tropical luxury resorts. It also has the highest peaks in the Pacific, the most volcanoes of any Hawaiian island, and the newest land on earth. (source: http://www.frommers.com/destinations/hawaiithebigisland/)

It is the biggest of the island chain; one can put the rest of the Hawaiian islands here & still leave some room. This island has some 266 miles of rugged coastline of lava fields, high seacliffs, rocky shores and rather limited stretches of sandy beach. It rises from sea level to the highest volcanic peaks in the islands, Mauna Kea (White Mountain) at 13,796 feet and Mauna Loa (Long Mountain) at 13,677 feet. If its height is measured from the ocean floor, Mauna Kea is 2,000 feet taller than Mt. Everest, making it the tallest mountain in the world.

During the cold months (around November through March), one can walk along the white sandy beaches of the Kohala Coast and see the contrast of the sunset on the western horizon against the snow capped tips of Mauna Kea on the northeastern side.

Sunset photographs are among my favorite. What a better place than Hawaii to capture such an awesome phenomenon of nature! Check out my other Web pages for more sunset photos.

Kohala Sunsets

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(taken from the best seat in the house at the Brown's Grille,
Orchid at the Mauna Lani Hotel)

Snow-capped Mauna Kea

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(Mauna Kea photo courtesy of Island Heritage Publishing)

The Island of Hawai`i is believed to be the first island settled by the migrating Polynesians sometime around 500-700 AD. With its southerly location at the end of the Hawaiian chain and with its towering mountains visible from far at sea, the Big Island may well have been the first stop for the new settlers on their journeys from the Marquesas and islands of Polynesia far to the south.

The Polynesians noticed that a migratory bird, the Golden Plover, appeared on their shores in Fall, and flew north in the Spring each year. Noticing that the bird did not have webbed feet, they knew it had to reach land somewhere to the north. They sailed north and 2,500 miles later discovered the Hawaiian Islands. Golden Plovers are a common sight on the golf courses on the Kohala Coast today.

People in the Big Island are warm and friendly. There are more native Hawaiians living here and fewer tourists clad in Aloha shirts, unlike Maui and Oahu. Like the other islands, the pace of life is noticeably slower than it is in the mainland.