Hawai brings to your mind beaches, sun, volcanoes, lava, tourism, travel and more. Located on Oahu, less than an hour’s drive from Honolulu, is the Polynesian Cultural Center. Through music, dance, craft demonstrations, and games, the center portrays the culture and daily life of the Polynesian islanders in Hawaii, Tahiti, the Marquesas Islands, Tonga, Samoa, and Fiji, as well as that of the Maoris in New Zealand. The center is divided into sections representing each of these locations. Many of the performers come from the islands that they represent, providing a high degree of authenticity. Visitors can tour the facility during the day or see a show in the evening.

Hawaii Volcanoes National Park encompasses 333,308 acres from the summit of Maunaloa to the sea. Discover 150 miles of hiking trails through volcanic craters, scalded deserts and rainforests, as well as a museum, petroglyphs and two active volcanoes: Maunaloa, which last erupted in 1984 and Kilauea which has been erupting since January 3, 1983. Crater Rim Drive is the 10.6-mile drive that circles Kilauea Caldera. Driving around this loop will take you to the park’s main attractions: the Kilauea overlook, Devastation Trail and Kilauea Iki Crater Overlook.

Mauna Kea, which in Hawaiian means “White Mountain,” is the tallest of Hawaii’s volcanoes and in fact the tallest mountain in the world if measured from the floor of the ocean to its summit. It received its name, no doubt because snow is frequently seen on the summit even from the distant shores. The snow occasionally reaches several feet deep. The summit of Mauna Kea is home to numerous observatories. It is considered one of the best places to view the heavens from the surface of the planet. Several tour companies offer evening trips to the summit of Mauna Kea to view the sunset and then view the stars.

Get access to basic information on the islands, from weather to where to stay, for free! Each of the categories has select free sections so you get a sneak peek at what the full package will include. More on Volcano Lava Flow. “The app is so conversational and fun to read. I love the humour in the entries and how straightforward the reviews are! A must-have app when travelling to any of Hawaii’s major islands!”

Lo’ihi means “long one”, a reference to its elongate shape. For a 3-d image, check out the Hawaii Undersea Geological Observatory (HUGO) home. Right now, the summit of Lo’ihi is about 970 meters below sea level. It is growing on the lower flanks of its two neighbors, Kilauea and Mauna Loa, with its base at a depth of about 4000 meters below sea level, so you can say that Lo’ihi itself is about 3000 m high. We don’t really know when it will reach the surface or even if it will. There is an underwater volcano off the NW coast of the big island of Hawai’i named Mahukona, and there is debate about whether it ever grew above sea level, or died out prior to doing so. The most often-heard time required for Lo’ihi to reach sea level is about 10,000 years, but that is really only a guess. It might be 30,000 years for all we know. It is far enough away from the coastline of Hawai’i that I imagine that at first it will be a separate island when it breaks the surface. As it grows (and especially if Kilauea and Mauna Loa are still erupting) it will soon be joined to the island.