story by Dennis Hollier The Waikiki Aquarium might seem modest compared with some of the super-aquariums that have sprouted around the country. It doesn’t offer the drama of great white sharks, like the Monterey Bay Aquarium, for example, or of whale sharks, like the Georgia Aquarium. But it does offer exhibits of astonishing beauty and…
Category: Travel
Mapping the Void
story by Dennis Hollier photos, courtesy Shawn K. K. MurakawaNOAA Fisheries Far out in the North Pacific, a loggerhead turtle paddles lazily with the current, glutting itself on jellyfish and pelagic snails. The water is tinged green with the plankton and other nutrients that are the basis of life in the ocean. A vast, warm-water…
Lord of the Flies
Lord of the Flies Story by Dennis Hollier Photo by Brad Goda Craig Sako works the far end of Lake Wilson. From a small boat, he fishes the shallows along the banks, orchestrating one elaborate cast after another. His rod is a simple bamboo pole with a line tied to the tip, like a child…
Mystery of the Avocado
story by Dennis Hollier photo by Jack Wolford Down at the farmers market at Kapi‘olani Community College, Ken Love and I watch people file through his avocado-tasting booth. Under the canopy, there’s a cornucopia of avocados. Love has lugged in more than 300 pounds of them from the Big Island. The avocado mavens quietly sample…
Ancient Pathways
story by Dennis Hollier photos by Monte Costa Late on a warm evening in June of 1867, the postmaster Henry Greenwell disembarked from a schooner in the scruffy West Hawai‘i port of Kawaihae. Being a punctilious man, Greenwell had no plans to tarry there. In his bags, he carried the overland mail for Kalukalu, and…
Worlds Apart
story by Dennis Hollier photos by Sergio Goes Yellow crazy ants have invaded Mokoli‘i. They swarm over every inch of the tiny islet off the Windward coast of O‘ahu that, because of its distinctive conic profile, is better known as “Chinaman’s Hat.” The small, long-legged ants have profoundly modified what’s left of the native habitat:…
Reservoir Cats
story by Dennis Hollier photo by Ann Cecil “We’ve got clams,” says Knud Lingard, bending down to rake up a passel of corbicula—Pacific clams—from the mudflats of Nu‘uanu Reservoir. The clams are just one of the surprises here, high in Nu‘uanu Valley on O‘ahu. The lake, which once supplied drinking water to Honolulu, is also…
Steel Birds
story by Dennis Hollier photos by Sergio Goes The skies of Hawai‘i teem with helicopters. Behind my home in Windward O‘ahu, I can hear the tour birds thrum in the mountains, looking for waterfalls in the hanging valleys. Over Kane‘ohe Bay and along the North Shore, the big military choppers thump-thump-thump up…
Art of the Warrior
story by Dennis Hollier photos by Chris McDonough Manny Matos presses his forehead against the gray trunk of an old kauila tree. He closes his eyes and mutters a little prayer under his breath. His right hand is wrapped around the slender trunk, as if around the neck of an old friend. In the bright…
Hawaii Seed Savers
story by Dennis Hollier photos by Chris McDonough The great wiliwili tree in my front yard is blighted. Its crown bristles with dried twigs. Leaves still grow on the lower branches, but in twisted, stunted bunches. They’re gnarled and pocked with galls. The old tree is dying — another victim in a statewide epidemic of…