O‘ahu

O‘ahu has been given the nickname “The Gathering Place.” It is the third largest island of the Hawaiian group, and its lei is made from the delicate yellow ‘ilima, once used only by royalty. Forty miles long and twenty-six miles wide, O‘ahu lies on a northwest-southeast line between Kaua‘i and Moloka‘i. O‘ahu has two mountain ranges, the Ko‘olau and the Wai‘anae, remains of two volcanic domes that formed the islands. Honolulu, the Hawai‘i state capital, is on O‘ahu and is one of the fifty largest cities in the United States.

One of the first things to learn about O‘ahu is the name given to each direction. Instead of north, south, east, or west, people say makai (toward the sea), mauka (toward the mountains), ‘ewa (toward the ‘Ewa plain, or west), and Koko Head, or east.