Hawaii is everywhere. It's in our clothing design, on television, part of our culture ... but mostly it's in our dreams. When the idea of a tropical paradise comes up, the fi rst place that comes to the world's collective imagination of island perfection is Hawaii. Waterfalls here seem to seek out only the loveliest cliffs and hillsides to cascade down. The rainforests are lush with greens, unique fl ora and fauna and everything that exudes exotic-ness but always seems inviting — like the kind of place you could take a family stroll. There are impenetrable red-rock canyons, silk-sand beaches that stretch off to the horizon, steaming volcanos that fl ow hot and red into the sea and fields of freshly-hardened, black lava that look like a sunburnt moonscape. There's also something inspiring about a culture where fl ip-fl ops, T-shirts and shorts are daily attire. Hawaii offers a vast realm of discovery and exploration. And then there is the sea …
The ocean defines Hawaii for most visitors, especially divers. It's a place where the chaos of evolution has taken bold steps to enthrall and surprise even the most well-traveled bubbleblower. A place where massive schools of spinner dolphins, green sea turtles, manta rays, reef sharks and whales share space with tiger morays, rockmovers and endemic fish whose one imperative while evolving seems to have been to become the most colorfully and interestingly designed species in the sea. And it's common to see most of these distinctive creatures on a single dive.
Off these shores are a lifetime of deep-blue adventures. What's even more remarkable about Hawaii is that although it's such an integral part of our tropical island consciousness, it's the most remote chain of islands on earth. Its closest neighbors are more than 1,000 miles from Hawaii's idyllic shores. It's literally in the middle of nowhere, an accidental sprinkle of volcanic treasure smack in the center of the vast field of the Pacific Ocean.
The islands of Hawaii exist in that rare realm of Polynesian perfection that will always leave you yearning for more.
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