Hawaii 101

It has come my attention that some people who do not live in the Pacific Ocean may be a bit confused about the geography of Hawaii. Since I recently had the opportunity to travel to another island let, allow me to educate you. The four largest islands in Hawaii are Kauai, Oahu, Maui and Hawaii. There are other islands but this is Hawaii 101 so let’s just keep to the basics, shall we? “But Mr. Haolewood,” you ask, “you just said that one of the four largest islands in Hawaii is Hawaii. I’m so confused!” A very understandable question and one which drives to the heart of many misunderstandings about Hawaii. The largest of the Hawaiian islands is called Hawaii just as the state is called Hawaii. In an effort to clear up the confusion the island of Hawaii is generally referred to as “The Big Island.” The Big Island is the most volcanically active as you can see from the picture of steam vents that I took during my recent visit there.

But just because it’s big doesn’t mean a lot of people live there. In fact far more people live on Oahu than all the other islands combined. Oahu is home to Pearl Harbor, the famous beach Waikiki and the state capitol, Honolulu. So if you are still confused just remember The Big Island is the largest, Oahu is the most populated, Maui is the whitest and Kauai is the best.