Hope you aren’t getting sick of the subject matter – there are SO many things that I see here that just cry out to be included that I can’t seem to exhaust the topic.

The Islands

Whales, Water & “Aloha”

Tees and tanks - no visitor is allowed to leave Hawaii without at least one.  Above are some of the standard subjects.  Others include the “shaka” sign, “humuhumunukunukuapua’a”, various fish, turtles, petroglyphs, palm trees, surfers, boats, slippahs, corals, snorkelers and fishermen.

Konane game

Marco Pono

Ancient Hawaiians played a checker-like board game.  Some “boards” still exist, carved into the lava rocks.  These days, get a handful of kids in a pool and a boisterous tag-like game of Marco Pono is bound to break out.

Maui High Performance Computing Center

Advanced Electro-Optical System

Besides being a premier vacation destination, Hawaii has a very high tech side.  Maui is the home of the MHPCC (above left) which provides heavy-lift computing support to programs around the world.  Maui and the Big Island are the homes of a large array of world class telescopes including AEOS (above right), Keck, Subaru and many others.

King Kamehameha

Prince Jonah Kūhiō Kalaniana’ole

In the United States (of which Hawaii is one, in case you were unaware) only two holidays are observed in honor of royalty.  They are King Kamehameha Day on June 11 and Prince Kūhiō Day on March 26, both for famous Hawaiian leaders.  The statues of these men often sport some degree of decoration which maximizes on the holidays.

Photo by Cheryl King

An unattended Hawaiian beach…

…can gather almost anything

Cheryl King, the sea turtle lady, is also a caretaker of the beaches on the uninhabited island of Kaho’olawe.  The picture on the left is the debris that gathers there over a very short period.  The picture on the right shows typical wash up on a beach on the island of O’ahu.

See lots more about marine debris at Cheryl’s site http://www.sharkastics.org .

Japanese tsunami debris 2012-03-11

Wooden block added to debris field

According to a model of the fate of the debris from the tsunami in Japan on 2011-03-11, the bulk of it lies well north of Hawaii after one year.  That model also predicts that the debris will hit North America, but much of it will bounce off to the south west and return to Hawaii about 5 years from the original event.  See the entire model run and read more about it at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=riNmxxd9nKw .

To learn more about debris movement, scientists have added hundreds of wooden blocks to the field at recorded coordinates and noted any large items nearby.  The hope is that finders will contact the University of Hawaii at Hilo with information about the location of the retrieval.  Each block carries a unique identifier as well as the request for information.

Morning burn of a cane field

“Maui snow drift” downwind of a cane fire

Although they have experimented with other means for preparing sugar cane for harvest, burning continues to be the preferred method.  A burn results in a spectacular blaze with a column of smoke and ash going high in the air before wind takes over and moves it across the island and out over the ocean.  Depending on the direction and speed of the wind and other factors, some fraction of the ash may drop out of the smoke before the column reaches the ocean.  I’ve never personally seen it as bad as it is in the above picture, but I have contended with Maui snow on my car, patio and window sills.

Bethany Hamilton

Michelle Wie