Hawaiian Trivia

Those that know the real me will not be surprised that I have been doing a lot of reading about the island.  Thought I would share some fun facts I've collected about Hawaii so far from books & the internet:


1.  The state of Hawaii consists of eight main islands: Niihau, Kauai, Oahu, Maui, Molokai, Lanai, Kahoolawe and the Big Island of Hawaii.  Kauai is one of the 2 oldest (which we visited last weekend), the Big Island is the youngest (where we will spend our last few days).  The Big Island is aptly named- all 7 of the other islands could fit inside its land mass.

2.  There are only 12 letters in the Hawaiian alphabet.
Vowels: A, E, I, O, U
Consonants: H, K, L, M, N, P, W


3.  Supposedly, there are NO snakes in Hawaii.  I'm a big fan of this fact.  The state is extremely strict on what is brought here from visitors.  If snakes were to live here- it could kill off a great deal of the bird population.

4.  Iolani Palace is the only royal palace in the United States that was actually home to a reigning monarch (prior to the U.S. government overthrowing the monarchy).

5.  The island is the worldwide leader in harvesting macadamia nuts and orchids.




6.  Kilauea Iki (on the Big Island) is the world's most active and largest volcano.

7.  Honolulu is the 11th largest metropolitan area in the United States.


8.  Hawaii is the only state that grows coffee.

9.  Hawaii is the most isolated population center on Earth. It is 2,390 miles (3,850 km) from California, 3,850 miles (6,195 km) from Japan and 4,900 miles (7,885 km) from China.  


10.  Hawaii has its own time zone. It’s called Hawaiian Standard Time. There is no daylight savings time in Hawaii, which means that in summer, Hawaii is two hours behind the U.S. West Coast, while in winter, Hawaii is three hours behind the U.S. West Coast.


A Few Interesting Facts About our Hawaiian Experience:
1.  We are 2 of the ONLY people here without tattoos- I swear!  At the beach today- there were tattoos everywhere.  One girl had them head to toe (including neck)- sorry, we were too afraid of her and her tatted boyfriend to snap a picture.

2.  Saturday mornings- we start watching ESPN Gameday at 0400 when Spence gets in from work.  What a great start to the morning!

3.  According to Spence- a huge number of E.R. patients he has seen so far are patients with surfing related injuries- ouch!  Not something he gets at all in Columbia, SC...