Yesterday I was watching an immersive video on my Apple Vision Pro, which has gotten a resurgence of interest from me over the holidays because I have been letting others test drive it. That immersive video was an aerial tour of the islands of Hawaii, a place where I have spent almost no time (I went there for 36 hours in 1999…don’t ask, it was a work thing). Hawaii has always been a place of great allure ever since I was a boy. It became the 50th state in 1959 and is the only state that is not on the North American continent. It was annexed as a territory of the United States in 1898 when European diseases like TB, Smallpox and Measles brought the population down to a mere 40,000 souls. It’s prior status as an independent Kingdom had lasted 88 years, but was overwhelmed by American interest in having a strategic positioning in the Pacific. Since statehood, Hawaii has been the ideal American vacation spot for those with the means to fly the distance and enjoy an Americanized version of Polynesia with its hula skirts, flower lays and luau’s on the beach. The population of Hawaii is now 1.4 million, so its fair to say it has grown quite a bit. About 1 million of those people inhabit the main island of Oahu which is the third largest of the archipelago (44 x 30 miles) behind the big island of Hawaii and Maui, and only just a tad larger than Kauai. There are four other islands (Molokai, Lanai, Niihau and Kahoolawe), but together they have less than 11,000 inhabitants, so its fair to say that the state has four main islands of significance. Technically there are 137 islands in the Hawaiian archipelago, spread out over like a string of pearls from the Southeast to the Northwest for 1,500 miles. They were initially called the Sandwich Islands for some reason by the Europeans, but reverted to the native name given to the largest of the chain.
If you ask people what Hawaii is known for, they will most likely say surfing, tropical waterfalls, volcanoes and magnificent beaches. That’s all true, but when people travel to vacation in Hawaii they usually have to pick which island they want to go to and therefore the four main islands that can accommodate tourists easily have their own vibe. Oahu (“The Gathering Place”), being the most populated and developed island, is home to the famous Waikiki Beach, the best surfing spots on the north shore like the Banzai Pipeline, Sunset Beach and Waimea Bay. Oahu is also where Pearl Harbor is located and that alone draws 2 million tourists a year. Maui (“The Valley Isle”) is known for its upscale resorts and the Road to Hana, which is a 64-mile scenic road that goes from one end of the island to the other. People who go to Maui go for whale watching (December-May), the snorkeling and to visit Haleakala National Park and its dormant volcano.
Hawaii/Big Island (“The Big Island”) is nearly twice the size of all the other islands combined. If its active volcanoes you want to visit, you go there to the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. The climate ranges from the typical Hawaiian tropical all the way to the snow-capped Mauna Kea. This is the island I happened to visit on what is called the Kona coast where the famous coffee comes from and where the lava pumice makes for black sand beaches. The Big Island is less crowded and more agricultural, and is, indeed, where my step father Irving ran a pineapple plantation from horseback for 40 years. And then there is Kauai (“The Garden Isle”), the oldest and northernmost major island with its lush and tropical, Napali Coast and Waimea Canyon. This is where you go is you want a quieter, more laid-back atmosphere and want to do mostly hiking and outdoor adventures. It rains more on Kauai and that makes it all the more lush.
The minor islands occasionally get some tourists like on Molokai (“The Friendly Isle”) with its more traditional Hawaiian culture and lifestyle, high sea cliffs and authentic Hawaiian atmosphere. Most of us know the island because it was home to a former leper colony at Kalaupapa. Meanwhile, Lanai (“The Pineapple Isle”) was previously one massive Dole pineapple plantation and its now owned 98% by Larry Ellison, the co-founder of Oracle Corporation. He has two Four Seasons luxury resorts as well as most of the islands commercial and residential developments, including the airport, the school and most of the roads. Imagine being the owner of one of the few privately owned homes on the island…
Ellison employs most of the 3,000 inhabitants. Last, but not least is Niihau (“The Forbidden Isle”), which is 100% privately owned by the Robinson family. The Sinclair/Robinson family has owned the island since 1864 when Elizabeth McHutchison Sinclair purchased it from King Kamehameha V for $10,000 in gold.
The family continues their family’s tradition of protecting the island and its inhabitants by maintaining strict policies about access and preservation. There is no public access or tourism infrastructure and less than 100 inhabitants.
It takes about 6 hours of flight time to travel from San Diego to Hawaii and despite the 2,500 mile distance (more or less equivalent to traveling to New York from San Diego), it is considered an easy vacation spot for people here in California. That compares to, say 8.5 hours and 4,000 miles to Tahiti from San Diego. Where 7 million Americans travel to Hawaii each year as tourists, Tahiti draws only about 260,000. I guess its fair to say that if the Hawaiians wanted to see their islands maxed out and touristically optimized, they were lucky that President McKinley annexed then 125 years ago. In the five years since we have lived out on this hilltop full time, I have only barely thought about going to Hawaii. I guess I know that my grandkids would like it, but Kim and I are simply not beach people the way many are and hiking in tropical climes holds little or no interest to me. If I had any thoughts of going to Hawaii, the movie The Descendants from 2011 and starring George Clooney, solidly established Hawaii in my mind as a place I might not enjoy so much. Clooney played a guy named Matt King who was a descendant of the blend of white missionaries and Hawaiian royalty, His family owned a large tract of land located on the south shore of Kauai, around Kipu Kai Beach. The problem was that the movie showed a very work-a-day view of Hawaii on both Oahu (where Matt lived and worked) and then on Kauai, where he went to sort out some personal issues including running a family meeting about selling or holding the family land. Given my dislike of the tropics, the movie showed the worst thing it could have to me, and that’s the humid and drippy side of the state. This was definitely not a chamber of commerce approved movie in my opinion. I wasn’t thinking of going to Hawaii when I saw it, but after seeing it I was even less likely to go.
The one thing I really liked about the movie was the use of many local artists for the song track. The really amazing song was the Israel Kamakawiwoʻole rendition of Somewhere Over the Rainbow. It’s a haunting song that stirs something inside me and makes me think better of Hawaii strangely enough. That must be a common reaction because when I watched the Apple Immersive video, there was the song as we flew over the most beautiful parts of the islands. I cannot imagine a better state song.