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Maui is
located right in the middle of the inhabited part of the
Hawaiian island chain, with five nearby islands in plain
sight. It's location may be one of the reasons for it's
appeal. Maui, the middle child, is surrounded by ohana,
family, and perhaps for this reason more than any other,
residents say they feel protected and safe here.
It is intangibles like this that make up "sense of place", and the
feeling engendered by this island seem to arise from
subtleties and nuances like this. |
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It has been said
that Maui is actually part of a large geological
formation called Maui Nui (Great Maui), which is
comprised of the islands of Maui, Lanai, Molokai and
Kahoolawe. If sea levels were to drop only 300 feet,
say geologists, these four islands would stand
joined together as Maui Nui. Today this ancient
geopolitical entity is still conjoined, collectively
known as "Maui County".
Maui, with it's 727.3 square miles, is the second-largest island in
the Hawaiian archipelago. After Oahu, Maui is also
Hawaii's second most-visited island in the state,
welcoming about 2 to 2 1/2 million people each year.
Twice already it has been named "best island in the
world" in the annual Conde Nast Traveler reader's
poll.
It confirms what the residents have known since before the coming
of Wester civilization: Maui simply is "no ka oi",
the best.
With Maui's relatively small bit of space are contained three cloud
wreathed peaks more than a mile high, thousands of
tumbling waterfalls and sparkling pools, remote
valleys and rainforests with plants and indigenous
creatures not seen anywhere else in the world,
intensely brilliant rainbows that stack up two and
three high sometimes, stark raw laval fields looking
like a moonscape, 120 miles of shore line and more
than 80 sandy beaches (including two that are more
than a mile long), and coral reefs and waves that go
on for days. There's a lot of nature and natural
wonders packed into this little place.
In the east, one of those mountains, 10,023 foot high Haleakala, or
"House of the Sun", is a shield valanco with a
crater so big and so deep that it can swallow up the
island of Manhattan whole. Haleakala is a mountain
range all by itself, and even makes it's own
weather.
The summit of the second shield volcano making up Maui is 5,788
foot high Puu Kukui, which is also the second
rainiest peak in Hawaii with about 400 inches of
rainfall a year. This volcano is twice as old as
Haleakala and has weathered into the deeply carved
and eroded mountain range known as the West Maui
Mountains.
Between the two volcanoes is the valley like isthmus formed by
their lava flows. The last one was Haleakala's 1790
eruption. The flat, fertile isthmus which link the
two volcanoes give the island it's nickname, "The
Valley Isle." |
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