Turquoise waters, white sand, coconut trees, flower collars, exceptional climate… How can we not find his happiness in this paradisiac archipelago as sublime as multiple? At 17 hours of flight from Paris, in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, the American state of Hawaii has eight islands and one hundred islands. Six of them visit: Oahu, Maui, Lanai, Molokai, Kauai and Big Island, all magical names that designate wonderful islands, all different. Let yourself be charmed by the Polynesian Archipelago of Aloha and embark on a dream destination.
The Incredible Diversity of Islands in the Archipelago
Each island has its own identity. Oahu is the most famous and popular island. This is where the capital of the state, Honolulu, offers soft festive folly along the beaches of Waikiki bordered by skyscrapers that the Hawaii state police series has made mythical. But Oahu is also the sweetness of life of Haleiwa, the seaside resort, a sport invented in Hawaii by Duke Kahanamoku swimming champion. In this small town with colorful wooden houses on the north coast of the island, the Triple Crown of Surfing takes place every winter, one of the world's largest surf competitions, which is known for its very high waves with impressive rolls.
Maui is the island of valleys, it is particularly popular for its sleepy volcano, Haleakala, whose ascension offers unreal lunar landscapes, and for its tropical open-skinned garden of Hana Road, a multi-stop route with magnificent waterfalls and trails in the heart of a lush nature.
The two small sister islands of Maui, Lanai and Molokai, which are part of the county of the island, are unavoidable wild pearls. Lanai, with barely 3,200 inhabitants, is above all a seaside resort with beautiful beaches and a paradise for golfers, while Molokai, much less tourist than the other islands, is above all renowned for the great beauty of its Kalaudad peninsula, a happiness for hikers.
More peaceful and smaller than the other large islands of the archipelago, Kauai, called the «garden island» is a festival of colors where the emerald of Na Pali coast to the acclaimed mountains alongside the ochre of Waimea Canyon, the great canyon of the Pacific.
Big Island, the largest of all the islands of Hawaii, has both the highest Pacific summit, the Mauna Kea, where the constellations can be observed in a particularly pure sky at the Onizuka Astronomy Observation Center, and the most active volcano in the world, the famous Kilauea, which can be found in the world. watch the lava flows sink into the ocean. An unforgettable show.
Beautiful and magical nature
Superlatives are missing to describe the generous Hawaiian nature. The Lost series screenwriters in Hawaii were not mistaken for it: although inhabited, these islands are still intact and pure. Some kind of lost paradise. But reality goes beyond fiction because we need to be on the spot to realize how wonderful Hawaii is. The Hawaiian beaches are beautiful and among the most beautiful in the world, like Lanikai Beach with crystalline waters on Oahu, one of President Barack Obama's favorites, born in Honolulu, whose secondary residence is nearby. Finally, what gives the islands of Hawaii a unique look is their prodigious reliefs, because the archipelago owes its training to volcanoes, and active or extinct, they are still ubiquitous on the archipelago. Created by volcanic activity or excavated by watercourses for millennia, the Hawaiian landscape looks fabulous and it is easy to understand that much of Jurassic Park's film has been toured on the green mountains of Na Pali Coast in Kauai. And this natural beauty concerns all islands of the archipelago. Not to mention the exceptional diversity of flora and fauna on all islands… Hawaiian waters alone contain 110 species of fish found nowhere else on the planet. The famous bay of Hanauma is a giant open-air aquarium on the southeast coast of Oahu.
The Rich Hawaiian Cultural Crucible
Hawaii is geographically the most isolated archipelago in the world but is part of the Polynesian triangle which includes Micronesia, Melanesia and French Polynesia. His first inhabitants were therefore Polynesian, first Marquisian and then Tahitian.
But these native people are now in a minority on the archipelago after being decimated by the diseases imported by the English explorer, Captain James Cook, who discovered the archipelago in 1778. In order to support the island's labor needs, the archipelago had to host several waves of migrants from all over Asia, and these workers were permanently settled on the spot. So most of the inhabitants of Hawaii are the direct descendants of these men and women who come from China, Japan, the Philippines, Korea, but also Puerto Rico and Portugal… Moreover, the famous ukulelé to a Portuguese woman from Madeira who came to live at the same time in Hawaii has been invented and has transformed the braguinha, a small Portuguese guitar, into the most popular instrument of Hawaiian music.
Every Hawaiian is therefore born from an impressive twist made up of four different origins, and it is often impossible for most inhabitants to rebuild their genealogical tree so many mixtures. Hawaii is thus a cultural mosaic between Asia, Polynesia and America - since it became the 50 th American state in 1959 - where the cultures of the different peoples were carefully preserved. Chinatown in Honolulu is a fine example: it is one of the most authentic Asian neighborhoods in the western world.
The Inevitable Pearl Harbor
A trip to Hawaii cannot be complete without Pearl Harbor's visit to Oahu Island, not far from Honolulu. It is a memorial and therefore a fairly solemn visit, in total contrast with the idyllic Hawaiian beaches but it is a major site of the archipelago not to be missed. The battle of Pearl Harbor is a fundamental episode of American history, but also of humanity, because it was the Japanese attack on December 7, 1941 on the famous American military base of Pearl Harbor that led to the US entry into World War II. The most striking visit of the Pearl Harbor Museum Complex is the USS Arizona Memorial, a large, white ship-shaped monument, located just above the mythical USS Arizona ship, which has been 12 m deep since the Japanese assault. Bombed, he sank in just nine minutes with 1,177 military personnel who are still in the wreck. On a huge wall of white marble, the names of those men who were 20 years old at most… Finally on a lighter note, Pearl Harbor can be closed by visiting the Pacific Aviation Museum Pearl Harbor, an exciting and playful museum that has 70 years of aviation history throughout the Pacific.
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When is it? All year round. However, there are two seasons: winter, from December to March, with 25 ° C on average and a few showers, and summer warmer and drier, with temperatures around 30 ° C.
Go there. It takes at least 5:00 p. m. with a stopover in the United States or Canada.
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