Hawai'i has a rich history dating back over 1,000 years. On a Walk Maui tour, you'll explore everything from the first Polynesian migrants to the modern era. Our tours are a unique way to add a fun and easy cultural component to your Maui vacation and a fantastic way to learn a little bit of the history that makes Hawai'i such a magical place.
This blog features links to news stories, events, and other activities on Maui that we think will be of interest for historically and culturally minded visitors (and kama'aina).
For more information about our walking tours, visit our main web site at http://www.walkmaui.com.
Showing posts with label Hawai'i history. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hawai'i history. Show all posts
Sunday, January 15, 2012
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
A Look Back at Hawai'ian Tsunamis
With this weekend’s small tsunami behind us, we thought it would be worth taking a look back at some of the other tidal waves that have hit Hawai’i over the past 200 years.
According to Dr. George Pararas-Carayannis’s in-depth tsunami page, a major, destructive tidal wave hits Hawai’i once every twelve years. So when the news media kept saying on Saturday that we are overdue for a “big” tsunami, they weren’t kidding. It’s been 50 years since the destructive 9.5 magnitude Chilean earthquake that created the tsunami that devastated Hilo – statistically, we should have had at least three or four destructive tidal waves since then.
(In 1975, a 7.2 earthquake off the coast of the Big Island generated a tsunami that swamped the Keauhou Landing area of the Puna coast of Hawai’i, killing two people, but the majority of destructive tsunamis are not locally produced. Most come from South America or Alaska.)
A number of minor tsunamis have also reached the islands since 1812 (the first historically recorded tidal wave), but since 1964, those have been relatively rare as well. Why the long drought (so to speak)? Does it mean we really are overdue for a cataclysmic tidal wave? Considering how many earthquakes happen each month around the so-called “ring of fire” in the Pacific, it does seem like it is only a matter of time until a major wave hits the islands. While things went well this weekend, let's hope that state and local agencies take a hard look at Saturday's evacuations and make the necessary changes to the system to ensure even greater compliance when the real thing eventually happens.
Another resource we found is the University of Hawai’i’s Center for Oral History. Check out their “ Tsunamis in Maui County: Oral Histories” page, which is full of reminiscences of the 1946 tsunami – generated by an earthquake in the Aleutian Islands – that slammed in the north shore of Maui and affected the island from Lahaina to Hamoa Bay. The memories of the survivors of that tsunami serve as a cautionary tale; as Barbara Cannon told the interviewers in 1999:
According to Dr. George Pararas-Carayannis’s in-depth tsunami page, a major, destructive tidal wave hits Hawai’i once every twelve years. So when the news media kept saying on Saturday that we are overdue for a “big” tsunami, they weren’t kidding. It’s been 50 years since the destructive 9.5 magnitude Chilean earthquake that created the tsunami that devastated Hilo – statistically, we should have had at least three or four destructive tidal waves since then.
(In 1975, a 7.2 earthquake off the coast of the Big Island generated a tsunami that swamped the Keauhou Landing area of the Puna coast of Hawai’i, killing two people, but the majority of destructive tsunamis are not locally produced. Most come from South America or Alaska.)
A number of minor tsunamis have also reached the islands since 1812 (the first historically recorded tidal wave), but since 1964, those have been relatively rare as well. Why the long drought (so to speak)? Does it mean we really are overdue for a cataclysmic tidal wave? Considering how many earthquakes happen each month around the so-called “ring of fire” in the Pacific, it does seem like it is only a matter of time until a major wave hits the islands. While things went well this weekend, let's hope that state and local agencies take a hard look at Saturday's evacuations and make the necessary changes to the system to ensure even greater compliance when the real thing eventually happens.
Another resource we found is the University of Hawai’i’s Center for Oral History. Check out their “ Tsunamis in Maui County: Oral Histories” page, which is full of reminiscences of the 1946 tsunami – generated by an earthquake in the Aleutian Islands – that slammed in the north shore of Maui and affected the island from Lahaina to Hamoa Bay. The memories of the survivors of that tsunami serve as a cautionary tale; as Barbara Cannon told the interviewers in 1999:
“On the horizon was like a big wall of water. We got in the car and we drove . . . we were caught between our home and the nurse’s cottage, when the car began to float. I said, ‘Willie, let’s leave, let’s get out, let’s get out,’ and he tried to open the door and he couldn’t. We kept bobbing along. And he said, ‘I can’t open the door.’ But as he said that he opened the window, and it released the pressure, so he was able to open the door, so we swam from the car.”
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Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Holo Mai Pele -- Hi‘iaka: Ka Wahinepo‘aimoku at the Maui Arts and Cultural Center
Danced by Halau O Kekui, the work is a sequel to the groundbreaking Holo Mai Pele, first presented at the MACC in 1995. The evening will combine hula, chant, drama, and storytelling to recount the tales of Pana'ewa the lizard god from Hawai'i island, Kapo'ulakina'u from the island of Maui, and the forest goddesses Ko'iahi, Mailelauli'i and Kaiona of the Waianae mountain range.
For anyone interested in Hawai'ian storytelling and/or hula, this promises to be a great night. Last time we checked, tickets were still available at all price levels (including the $12 seats in the balcony); you can check for tickets and read more about the show at the MACC's website.
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Sunday, January 17, 2010
Polynesian Voyaging Lecture at the Maui Ocean Center
On Tuesday, January 19, at 6:00 p.m., the Maui Ocean Center is hosting a free lecture about Polynesian sea voyaging with Kekai Kapu.
Kekai Kapu will speak about ancient Polynesian navigation as well as the upcoming voyage of the Mo'okiha O Pi'ilani, the sixty-two-foot double-hulled voyaging canoe that is going to circumnavigate the globe in 2012. Kapu is a board member of Hui O Wa'a Kaulua (the Assembly of the Double-hulled Canoe), a Hawai'ian cultural practioner, and an expert on Hawai'ian weaponry.
The doors open at 5:50 p.m. (enter through the Ocean Center's front gate). The lecture is slated to run about an hour.
The Maui Ocean Center is located in Ma'alaea, just off the highway. For more information about the center -- and directions -- please visit http://www.mauioceancenter.com/.
Kekai Kapu will speak about ancient Polynesian navigation as well as the upcoming voyage of the Mo'okiha O Pi'ilani, the sixty-two-foot double-hulled voyaging canoe that is going to circumnavigate the globe in 2012. Kapu is a board member of Hui O Wa'a Kaulua (the Assembly of the Double-hulled Canoe), a Hawai'ian cultural practioner, and an expert on Hawai'ian weaponry.
The doors open at 5:50 p.m. (enter through the Ocean Center's front gate). The lecture is slated to run about an hour.
The Maui Ocean Center is located in Ma'alaea, just off the highway. For more information about the center -- and directions -- please visit http://www.mauioceancenter.com/.
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