How Hawaii was Created

The Hawaiian Islands are located on the Pacific tectonic plate, which is moving in the direction of Japan at a rate of about 9 cm per year. The islands begin from the volcanic eruptions, which have spewed and oozed from the same geographic location for millions of years. As the plate floats over this hotspot magma finds its way to the ocean floor and continues to accumulate ever higher until the plate has moved past the hotspot.  Currently, the Big Island of Hawaii is over this hotspot and is the only Hawaiian island, which has an active volcano where flowing lava, can almost always be observed. This island rises 18,000 feet before it breaks sea level and continues another 14,000 feet above it. Viewed from the perspective of the sea floor this mountain is the tallest in the world at 32,000 feet. All of the Hawaiian Islands put together make up only half the landmass of the Big Island.

All of the Hawaiian Islands began over the same hotspot before the Pacific tectonic plate carried them to where they lie today. They all began as huge mountains like the Big Island, but over the eons wind, rain and subsidence make them ever smaller. Often, a huge section of the island will cleave and slide back to the sea leaving that side of the island a long and towering cliff-line as is found today on the island of Molokai. The wind and rain carve beautiful valleys that meander to the heart of the islands. The mountains themselves are laced with faults and lava tubes filled with water adding to island water reservoirs. The rain, condensed from the air via the orographic lifting of the trade winds by the mountain slopes, continually replenishes these reservoirs. Spectacular waterfalls flow continually from high on the green valley walls. Virtually the only way to see this most spectacular Hawaiian scenery is by helicopter.

Kauai is the northernmost Hawaiian island but it was once located where the Big Island of Hawaii lies today.  During these millions of years of tectonic drift the island has been beautifully carved and cultivated by wind and rain into the spectacular garden paradise of today. Photos and video of the garden island can be found at http://www.bluehawaiian.com/kauai/ and at http://www.bluehawaiian.com/kauai/tours/