Hawai'i Island, Hawai'i USA

Aloha! Captain Create is on the Big Island of Hawaii! We will go to Volcanoes National Park, the Northern “Valleys”, eat purple potato and coconut pie, and of course go to the beach! The islands of Hawai’i are packed with incredible beauty, fun, and great food! There is an active volcano you can visit, lots of adventures to go on, things to do, and yummy foods grown and cooked there.

Let’s Explore!

Hawaii, usually known as “the Big Island” is the home of Mauna Kea, the world’s most active volcano and Volcanoes National Park on the southern side of the island.¹

All of the islands in that region of the Pacific Ocean were made by volcanoes building up from the ocean floor, and the big island has the only active one, which means that island gets bigger every year!¹

This picture is the streams of lava pouring down the sides of Halemaʻumaʻu into the growing lava lake at the bottom, December 21, 2020. (photo by USGS)

You can watch what is going on at the volcano from a series of webcams set up by the National Park Service here.¹

The northern coast is a tropical area, which means lots of green jungle, and very very tall cliffs and valleys. You can hike into them, or see them by boat from the ocean, or take a helicopter ride. Wade, that helicopter pilot you can see, says that the Waipi’o Valley is one mile wide and six miles deep! Waipi’o means “curved water” and is the name of the river that carved the valley down to the beach.²

There are lots of ways to stay fit, and the most famous, and physically demanding ways is to learn to hula! It takes a lot of focus and your whole body to do the moves correctly. Hula was, and still is, a way very important historical way for Hawaiians to pass on stories through movement and music. You can find lessons online taught by Hawaiians who have grown up dancing the hula. ³

Are you hungry yet?

Modern Hawaiian food is a mixture of traditional Hawaiian food and ingredients mixed with the foods of new cultures of people that have moved there. Fish from the ocean, tropical plants, and roots were traditional foods, and now pork and SPAM are a big part of the cuisine, plus influences with chiles, seaweed, and fruits from Japan and the Philippines are common now too!

A fun, and very colorful food you can find all over Hawaii is the obe, or purple sweet potato!
Not only are they pretty, they are rich in antioxidants called anthocyanins, which give them their purple color. Studies have shown that anthocyanins may help reduce blood pressure and inflammation and protect against cancer and type 2 diabetes.⁴ These purple yams are also rich in vitamin C, which helps keep your cells healthy, boosts iron absorption, and protects your DNA from damage.⁴

Let’s get cooking! This is a Obe & Haupia Pie (aka purple sweet potato and coconut pudding pie)

There are a few steps to make this pie, and letting the purple part cool after you bake it is important to not melt the coconut pudding (haupia).

PS, did you know it snows on Hawaii!?

The top of Mauna Kea, the dormant volcano on the big island, is over 13,000 feet! Wade, our helicopter pilot from above, got to snowboard the top of Mauna Kea!