Luxury Home Magazine

The Creation of Paradise By Jacob Sato V olcanic in nature, the Hawaiian Islands evolved out of a 1600 mile floor fissure on the bottom of the Pacific Ocean. This fissure is known as the Hawaiian Ridge. The domes seen above the water are today’s Hawaiian Islands. Each island is composed of one to many individual volcanoes that formed over the Hawaiian “hot spot” as a result of a moving Pacific tectonic plate on the Earths crust. Today, the Big Island of Hawaii sits on top of this “hot spot” and is home to the most active volcanoes in the world. In stark contrast, it has been over a million years since the last eruption occurred on the two primary volcanoes on Oahu. While many people think of the Hawaiian Islands as small, the reality is that the Hawaiian Islands are enormous mountains. For example, Mauna Loa of The Big Island is 60 miles long and 30 miles wide. When considering the heights from the sea floor, this mountain is 30,080 feet and towers 13,677 feet above the water. This mountain literally stacks up to the mountains of the Pacific Cascades such as Mt. Rainer in Washington, which reaches 14,400 feet above sea level. There are 18 commonly accepted islands and as many as 130 smaller formations in the entire Hawaiian Archipelago. However, there are eight main islands that comprise of the State of Hawaii. These islands are: Hawaii, Maui, Oahu, Kahoolawe, Lanai, Molokai, Kauai and Niihau. Natural plant and animal migration over thousands of years, as well the relatively recent importation of plants by humans, made the Hawaiian Islands the place we call paradise today. In Luxury Home Magazine, we feature some of the most beautiful homes created in Hawaii. To live in one of these homes would not just be a dream, but a dream in paradise. It does not get better than that! www.luxuryhomemagazine.com 26