Welcome to the Orchid Island! The Big Island of Hawaii is the largest of the six-island chain that makes up the Hawaiian Islands and continues to grow daily, with the addition of lava flow that hardens as it hits the sea and forms black sand beaches. Formed by volcanoes a half-million years ago, the Big Island is the youngest and has the most diverse terrain of all the Hawaiian Islands.

This island of amazing contrasts has topography that ranges from lush rainforests and monolithic cliffs to beaches of many colors and active volcanoes. Helicopter tours carry sightseers over the two-mile lava lake known as Kupaianaha, an 800-foot cylinder cone, to view flowing lava and steam clouds that rise from the ocean as the hot lava meets the sea. Flying over majestic Mauna Kea, visitors see snowcapped peaks from December to May with panoramic views of the lush valleys and sun-drenched beaches below. Measured from its base 32,000 feet beneath the ocean’s surface, to its 13,796-foot peak, Mauna Kea is the tallest mountain in the world.

The Big Island’s southern tip extends farther south than any other state in the United States and to the southeast far below the ocean’s surface, Lohi, a sea mountain bubbling lava, is slowly building yet another island that will emerge in about 10,000 years. Far above the sea, at Keck Observatory on the summit of Mauna Kea, the world’s most powerful telescope searches the heavens.

With its clear waters, blue skies and varied terrain (as tamed or as wild as it comes), wherever guests go on Hawaii’s Big Island, chances are they will enjoy a new experience – e komo mai (welcome); explore to the heart’s content!