Welcome to HONOLULU

Honolulu is the capital of and the most populous census-designated place (CDP) in the U.S. state of Hawaii. Although Honolulu refers to the urban area on the southeastern shore of the island of Oahu, the city and the county are consolidated, known as the City and County of Honolulu, and the city and county is designated as the entire island. The City and County of Honolulu is the only incorporated city in Hawaii, as all other local government entities are administered at the county level. The population of the CDP was 371,657 at the 2000 census, while the population of the City and County was 909,863. In the Hawaiian language, Honolulu means "sheltered bay" or "place of shelter."

Honolulu is located at 21°18′32″N 157°49′34″W / 21.30889°N 157.82611°W / 21.30889; -157.82611 (21.308950, -157.826182).

According to the United States Census Bureau, the CDP has a total area of 105.1 mi² (272.1 km²). 85.7 mi² (222.0 km²) of it is land and 19.4 mi² (50.1 km²) of it (18.42%) is water.

The closest location on the mainland to Honolulu is the Point Arena, California Lighthouse, at 2,045 nautical miles (2,353 statute miles) or 3,787 kilometers. (Nautical vessels require some additional distance to circumnavigate Makapu'u Point.) However, part of the Aleutian Islands of Alaska are slightly closer than California.

Honolulu has a warm semiarid (BSh) climate according to Köppen classification, and enjoys warm weather and plenty of sunshine throughout the year. Despite its location in the tropics, the climate (temperature, precipitation and humidity) is moderated by Hawaii's mid-ocean location.

Temperatures vary little throughout the months, with average high temperatures of 80 - 89°F (27 - 32°C) and lows of 65 - 75°F (19 - 24°C) throughout the year. Temperatures rarely exceed 90's°F (32°C), and with lows in the upper-50's°F (~15°C) occurring once or twice a year. Waters off the coast of Honolulu averages 82°F (27°C) in the summer months and 77°F (25°C) in the winter months.

Annual average precipitation is 18.3 inches (464 mm), which mainly occurs during the winter months of October through March, and very little rainfall during the summer. Honolulu has an average of 270 sunshine days and 98 wet days a year.

Tourist Attractions

Waikiki Aquarium

The Waikiki Aquarium is one of the premier marine science institutions in the City and County of Honolulu and the State of Hawaii. Founded on March 19, 1904, this marine aquarium is the third oldest public aquarium in the United States. Since 1919, the Waikiki Aquarium has been an institution of the University of Hawaii System.

Situated beside a living coral reef on the Waikiki shoreline, the Waikiki Aquarium is home to more than 3,055 organisms of 464 species of marine plants and animals. Each year, over 350,000 people visit. The Waikiki Aquarium was designated a Coastal Ecosystem Learning Center of the Coastal America Partnership federal program.

The Waikiki Aquarium was established by the Honolulu Rapid Transit Authority, a forerunner of the present-day TheBus It was hoped that the aquarium would entice travelers to ride the trolley all the way to the end of the line at Queen Kapiolani Park where the Waikiki Aquarium is located.

Considered a scientific instruction at the time of its opening, William Jennings Bryan and Jack London traveled to Honolulu to see the Waikiki Aquarium first hand. Biologist David Starr Jordan said the Waikiki Aquarium to have the finest collection of fishes in the world.

The Waikiki Aquarium developed displays of living corals starting in the middle to late 1970s. These aquarium structures were reliant on a permanent provision of seawater and therefore the aquarium seawater situation was not so different from the ones on the reef.

Living corals are more complex to sustain in aquariums than most marine fish. Aquarists must be more aware of the physical, chemical and natural necessities of corals if they hope to accomplish success. Lighting, water chemistry, water motion, and temperature are the main features of concern to aquarists preserving living corals (Carlson 44).

The Waikiki Aquarium was the first aquarium in the world to maintain the chambered nautilus and the first to breed them.

National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific

The National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific (also Punchbowl National Cemetery) is a cemetery located in Honolulu, Hawaii that serves a memorial to those men and women who served in the United States Armed Forces. It is administered by the National Cemetery Administration of the United States Department of Veterans Affairs and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Thousands of visitors visit the cemetery each year, and it is one of the more popular tourist attractions in Hawaii.

The cemetery is located in Punchbowl Crater (Pūowaina in Hawaiian), located just north of downtown Honolulu. In ancient times Punchbowl was used as a site for human sacrifices, and pū-o-waina means "hill of placing (human sacrifices)."

In February 1948 Congress approved funding and construction began on the national cemetery. Since the cemetery was dedicated on September 2, 1949, 34,000 veterans of World War I, World War II, the Korean, and Vietnam wars have been interred. The cemetery is now full and a new veterans cemetery has been built and dedicated on the windward side of O'ahu at Kāne'ohe.

Prior to the opening of the cemetery for the recently deceased, the remains of soldiers from locations around the Pacific Theater—including Guam, Wake Island, and Japanese POW camps—were transported to Hawaii for final interment. The first interment was made January 4, 1949. The cemetery opened to the public on July 19, 1949, with services for five war dead: an unknown serviceman, two Marines, an Army lieutenant and one civilian—noted war correspondent Ernie Pyle. Initially, the graves at National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific were marked with white wooden crosses and Stars of David—like the American cemeteries abroad—in preparation for the dedication ceremony on the fourth anniversary of V-J Day. Eventually, over 13,000 soldiers and sailors who died during World War II would be laid to rest in the Punchbowl. Despite the Army's extensive efforts to inform the public that the star- and cross-shaped grave markers were only temporary, an outcry arose in 1951 when permanent flat granite markers replaced them.

The National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific was the first such cemetery to install Bicentennial Medal of Honor headstones, the medal insignia being defined in gold leaf. On May 11, 1976, a total of 23 of these were placed on the graves of medal recipients, all but one of whom were killed in action.

In August 2001, about 70 generic unknown markers for the graves of men known to have died during the attack on Pearl Harbor were replaced with markers that included USS Arizona after it was determined they perished on this vessel. In addition, new information that identified grave locations of 175 men whose graves were previously marked as unknown resulted in the installation of new markers in October 2002.

The National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific contains a memorial pathway that is lined with a variety of memorials that honor America's veterans from various organizations. As of 2005, there were 63 such memorials throughout the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific—most commemorating soldiers of 20th-century wars, including those killed at Pearl Harbor.

Hanauma Bay

Hanauma Bay (pronounced "ha-NOW-mah", in Hawaiian) is a marine embayment formed within a volcanic cone and located along the southeast coast of the Island of Oʻahu (just east of Honolulu) in the Hawaiian Islands. Hana means 'bay' and uma means 'shelter,' rendering "Shelter Bay" The "Bay" is a tautology: Hawaiians simply call this feature "Hanauma". Hanauma is one of the most popular tourist destinations on the Island and has suffered somewhat from overuse (at one time accommodating over three million visitors per year). In the 1950s, dynamite was used to clear portions of the reef to expand the area available for swimming).

Hanauma is both a Nature Preserve and a Marine Life Conservation District (the first of several established in the State of Hawaii). Reflecting changes in attitude, its name has changed over time from Hanauma Bay Beach Park to Hanauma Bay Nature Preserve. Visitors are required by law to refrain from mistreating marine animals or from touching, walking, or otherwise having contact with coral heads, which appear much like large rocks on the ocean floor (here, mostly seaward of the shallow fringing reef off the beach). It is always recommended to avoid contacting coral or marine rocks as cuts to the skin can result and neglecting such wounds may bring medical problems.

Hanauma Bay is known for its abundance of Green sea turtles, Chelonia mydas, known as Honu. Hanauma is a nursery ground for the immature turtles, which have their nesting grounds at French Frigate Shoals. It is also known for its abundance of parrotfish.

Bernice P. Bishop Museum

The Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum, designated the Hawaiʻi State Museum of Natural and Cultural History, is a museum of history and science in the historic Kalihi district of Honolulu on the Hawaiian island of O'ahu. Founded in 1889, it is the largest museum in Hawai'i and is home to the world's largest collection of Polynesian cultural and scientific artifacts. Besides the comprehensive exhibits of Hawaiiana, the Bishop Museum has an extensive entomological collection of over 13.5 million specimens, the third largest collection in the United States. The museum is accessible on public transit: TheBus Routes A, B, 1, 2, 7, 10.

Charles Reed Bishop, a Hawaiian philanthropist and co-founder of Kamehameha Schools and First Hawaiian Bank, built the museum in memory of his late wife Bernice Pauahi Bishop. She was the last direct descendant princess of the Kamehameha Dynasty, which ruled the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi between 1810 and 1872. Bishop had originally intended the museum to house family heirlooms passed down to him through the royal lineage of his wife.

The museum was built on the original boys campus of Kamehameha Schools, an institution created to benefit native Hawaiian children as outlined in the Princess' last will and testament. In 1898, Bishop constructed Hawaiian Hall and Polynesian Hall in the Victorian architectural style. The Pacific Commercial Advertiser newspaper dubbed the buildings as "the noblest buildings of Honolulu." Both Hawaiian Hall and Polynesian Hall stand today and have been listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Hawaiian Hall is home to a complete Sperm Whale skeleton with papier-mâché body suspended above the central gallery. Along the walls are prized koa wood display cases worth more than the original Bishop Museum buildings. It is also home to The Hawaiian Royal Regalia, including the Hawaiian Royal Crowns and the Consorts Crown.