Welcome to MAUI

The island of Maui (pronounced /ˈmaʊ.iː/ in English, [ˈmɐu.i] in Hawaiian) is the second-largest of the Hawaiian Islands at 727.2 square miles (1883.5 km2) and is the United States' 17th largest island. Maui is part of the state of Hawaii and is the largest of Maui County's four islands, bigger than Lāna'i, Kaho'olawe, and Moloka'i. In 2000, Maui had a population of 117,644, third-most populous of the Hawaiian islands, behind that of O'ahu and Hawai'i. Kahului is the largest town on the island with a population of 20,146. Wailuku is the seat of Maui County. Other significant towns include Kihei, Lahaina, Makawao, Paia, Kula, Haiku, Hana, Kaanapali and Kapalua.

Tourism

The big tourist spots in Maui include the Hāna Highway, Haleakalā National Park, and Lāhainā.

The Hāna Highway runs along the east coast of Maui, curving around many mountains and passing by black sand beaches and waterfalls. Haleakalā National Park is home to Haleakalā, a dormant volcano. Lāhainā is one of the main attractions on the island with an entire street of shops and restaurants which lead to a wharf where many set out for a sunset cruise or whale watching journey. Snorkeling can be done at almost any beach along the Maui coast.

The main tourist areas are West Maui (Kā'anapali, Lahaina, Nāpili-Honokōwai, Kahana, Napili, Kapalua), and South Maui (Kīhei, Wailea-Mākena). The main port of call for cruise ships is located in Kahului. A smaller port can be found in Maalaea Harbor located between Lahaina and Kihei.

Maui County welcomed 2,207,826 tourists in 2004 rising to 2,639,929 in 2007 with total tourist expenditures north of US$3.5 billion for the Island of Maui alone. While the island of O'ahu is most popular with Japanese tourists, the Island of Maui appeals to visitors mostly from the U.S. mainland and Canada: in 2005, there were 2,003,492 domestic arrivals on the island, compared to 260,184 international arrivals.

Throughout 2008 Maui suffered a major loss in tourism compounded by the spring bankruptcies of Aloha Airlines and ATA Airlines. The pullout in May of the second of three Norwegian Cruise Line ships also hurt. Pacific Business News reported a $166 million loss in revenue for Maui tourism businesses.

Haleakala National Park

Haleakalā National Park is a United States national park located on the island of Maui in the state of Hawai'i. The park covers an area of 30,183 acres (122.15 km2), of which 24,719 acres (100.03 km2) is a wilderness area.

It was originally made part of the Hawaii National Park along with the volcanoes of Mauna Loa and Kilauea on the island of Hawai'i in 1916, but was made into a separate national park in 1961. The park area was designated an International Biosphere Reserve in 1980. The name Haleakalā is Hawaiian for "house of the sun." According to a local legend, the demigod Maui imprisoned the sun here in order to lengthen the day.

The park features the dormant Haleakalā (East Maui) Volcano, which last erupted at around 1790. The park is divided into two distinct sections: the summit area and the coastal Kipahulu area.

The two sections of the park averages 1,450,000 visitors per year.

Haleakalā

Haleakalā, or the East Maui Volcano, is a massive shield volcano that forms more than 75% of the Hawaiian Island of Maui.

Early Hawaiians applied the name Haleakalā ("house of the sun") to the summit area only, most likely because from the west side of the island, the sun could be seen rising up over the eastern side of the mountain. In Hawaiian folklore, the depression at the summit of Haleakalā was home to the grandmother of the demigod Māui. According to the legend, Maui's grandmother helped him capture the sun and force it to slow its journey across the sky in order to lengthen the day. In modern times, Haleakalā has become synonymous with the entire East Maui volcano.

From the summit one looks down into a massive depression some 11.25 km (7 mi) across, 3.2 km (2 mi) wide, and nearly 800 m (2,600 ft) deep. The surrounding walls are steep and the interior mostly barren-looking with a scattering of volcanic cones. The potentially active volcano has produced numerous eruptions in the last 30,000 years, including in the last 500 years. This volcanic activity has been along two rift zones, the southwest and east. These two rift zones together form an arc that extends from La Perouse Bay on the southwest, through the Haleakalā Crater and to Hāna, to the east. The east rift zone continues under the ocean beyond the east coast of Maui as Haleakalā Ridge, making the combined rift zones one of the longest in the Hawaiian Islands chain.

Until recently, East Maui Volcano was thought to have last erupted around 1790, based largely on comparisons of maps made during the voyages of La Perouse and George Vancouver. Recent advanced dating tests, however, have shown that the last eruption was more likely to have been in the 1600s. These last flows from the southwest rift zone of Haleakalā make up the large lava deposits of the Ahihi Kina`u/La Perouse Bay area of South Maui. In addition, contrary to popular belief, Haleakalā "crater" is not volcanic in origin, nor can it accurately be called a caldera (which is formed through when the summit of a volcano collapses to form a depression). Rather, scientists believe that Haleakalā's "crater" was formed when the headwalls of two large erosional valleys merged at the summit of the volcano. These valleys formed the two large gaps — Ko‘olau on the north side and Kaupō on the south — on either side of the depression.

Macdonald, Abbott, & Peterson state it this way:

Haleakala is far smaller than many volcanic craters (calderas); there is an excellent chance that it is not extinct, but only dormant; and strictly speaking it is not of volcanic origin, beyond the fact that it exists in a volcanic mountain.

Waterfall

A waterfall is a place where flowing water rapidly drops in elevation as it flows over a steep region or a cliff.

Typically, a river flows over a large step in the rocks that may have been formed by a fault line. As it increases its velocity at the edge of the waterfall, it plucks material from the riverbed. This causes the waterfall to carve deeper into the bed and to recede upstream. Often over time, the waterfall will recede back to form a canyon or gorge downstream as it recedes upstream, and it will carve deeper into the ridge above it.

Often, the rock stratum just below the more resistant shelf will be of a softer type, meaning that undercutting due to splashback will occur here to form a shallow cave-like formation known as a rock shelter or plunge pool under and behind the waterfall. Eventually, the outcropping, more resistant cap rock will collapse under pressure to add blocks of rock to the base of the waterfall. These blocks of rock are then broken down into smaller boulders by attrition as they collide with each other, and they also erode the base of the waterfall by abrasion, creating a deep plunge pool or gorge.

Streams become wider and shallower just above waterfalls due to flowing over the rock shelf, and there is usually a deep pool just below the waterfall because of the kinetic energy of the water hitting the bottom. Waterfalls normally form in a rocky area due to erosion.

Waterfalls can occur along the edge of a glacial trough, whereby a stream or river flowing into a glacier continues to flow into a valley after the glacier has receded or melted. The large waterfalls in Yosemite Valley are examples of this phenomenon. The rivers are flowing from hanging valleys.