Although Hawaii has been a U.S. state
for more than 45 years, there are several aspects of the islands
that surprise many visitors. Here are 20 facts you might not
know:
1. There are no city limits to Honolulu,
unless you count the shoreline. The city and county of Honolulu
include the entire island of Oahu, and for administrative purposes,
the tiny islands west of Kauai and Niihau are part of Honolulu city
and county.
2. The Hawaiian language is spoken
regularly in daily life only in one place -- on Niihau, the small
island just west of Kauai. Privately owned Niihau has no
electricity or central water supply, and visitors generally are not
welcome. If you think you are hearing Hawaiian on the streets of
Honolulu, it is more likely Samoan, due to an immigrant population
from that Polynesian island.
3. Old-timers who grew up working on the
sugar and pineapple plantations, as well as many younger residents
of the state, take pride in speaking variations of Hawaiian pidgin.
The language is basically English, but with some unusual
grammatical construction and verbal inflection. Words and
expressions are thrown into the mix from Hawaiian, Japanese and
Chinese.
4. Since Hawaii is the 50th state, island
residents prefer not to hear travelers use expressions such as back
in the States. Instead, they refer to the rest of the country as
the mainland.
5. Most people know that the Hawaiian
Islands were created by volcanic action. But how many know that
another potential island, Loihi, is growing but still submerged,
some distance southwest of the Big Island. Your descendants may
someday stay at a Starwood Loihi, Outrigger Loihi or Four Seasons
Loihi.
6. Speaking of volcanos, there are two
types of lava -- aa and pahoehoe. Aa is very rough, almost
cinder-like. Pahoehoe is smooth or ropey looking.
7. Waikiki, Honolulus
most famous neighborhood, is not downtown, although many travelers
refer to it as such. There is a Downtown Honolulu, however, three
miles from Waikiki, and it is the seat of commerce and government.
Visitors who seek a sense of history and Hawaiian culture should
leave the beach and head downtown.
8. Honolulus streets
are among the quietest of any busy metropolis in America. It is
considered impolite to honk your horn except in an emergency. (One
new arrival who made this mistake reported that four big guys piled
out of the car ahead of him and asked politely what his problem
was.)
9. With occasional exceptions, politeness
is considered a general characteristic of the population. This
stems from both the Asian and Polynesian traditions, and most
islanders are said to have the Aloha Spirit, a feeling of good will
toward each other and malihinis (newcomers).
10. You wont find any billboards in
Hawaii. This is the result of a state law that dates to the 1920s,
on the theory that a beautiful landscape should not be obscured by
outdoor advertising.
11. A favorite food in Hawaii is mahi
mahi. In fact, the fish is so popular that the seas around the
islands dont provide enough to fill the demand. Most mahi mahi is
shipped frozen into Hawaii after having been caught in Taiwan or
Ecuador.
12. Hawaii has no dangerous animals in its
mountains and forests, with the exception of wild pigs, descendants
of those brought by early explorers to the islands. If you surprise
a sow with babies, she might decide to charge you.
13. There are no snakes on Hawaii. But
there is a colony of rock wallabies living in an almost
inaccessible area of the mountains behind Honolulu. These are
descendants of a pair that escaped from a private zoo in the
1920s.
14. Hawaii has no squirrels, with the
exception of a few in cages at the Honolulu Zoo. Sometimes called
the Hawaiian squirrel is the Indian mongoose, imported into Hawaii
in the late 19th century in a futile attempt to destroy rats that
threatened the sugar harvest. Unfortunately, the rats are nocturnal
and the mongoose diurnal. They only meet occasionally at the change
of shifts. The mongoose has survived mainly by preying on Hawaiis
ground-nesting birds.
15. The state fish of Hawaii is the
humuhumunukunukuapuaa -- more famous for its long name
than for anything else.
16. Hawaii also has a state bird, the
nene (pronounced nay-nay). Some believe it descended from
a flock of Canadian geese, blown to Hawaii on some long-ago
wind.
17. Queen Liliuokalani, Hawaiis last
monarch, was a prolific songwriter. She composed Aloha Oe, the
quintessential Hawaiian song.
18. The steel guitar was invented in
Honolulu. A student at the Kamehameha School for Boys noted an
unusual sound when he slid a comb along the strings of a
conventional guitar, and a new instrument was born.
19. Hawaii is considered to be the
northern apex of the Polynesian Triangle, which generally
encompasses other islands of similar Polynesian background. The
easternmost point is Easter Island. The southernmost is New Zealand
(Aotearoa). The Polynesian islands of Tahiti, Tonga, Samoa, etc.,
are also enclosed within the triangle.
20. Hawaiis most famous musical instrument
is the ukulele. It is actually Portuguese, having been imported by
that group of immigrants in the 19th century.
Robert Bone
has been a travel writer since 1968, when he joined the staff of
travel author Temple Fielding. He can be reached at [email protected].