The Hawaiian Islands were born of fire thousands of feet below the surface in the icy cold waters on the Pacific Ocean floor.  A rupture in the earth's crust caused a vent to spew hot magma that built upon itself as it reached upward.  When it began, no one knows exactly, but the first of the still existing islands to boil to the surface was Kure.  Nothing remains of that island today but its fringing coral reef, called an atoll.

     As the Pacific plate shifted over the opening of the vent like steel over a cutting torch, more islands were created.  Midway, French Frigate Shoals, Necker, Nihoa - all of these once great islands were born then mostly consumed by the angry ocean. What we call Hawaii is just the last in a series of islands created by this vent.  Someday these, too, will be nothing more than atolls.

     This vent isn't finished yet.  The Big Island of Hawaii is still expanding as lava from its active volcano continues to create additional land.  As we sit here, the future island of Loihi is being created 20 miles southeast of the Big Island.  Although still 3,200 feet below the surface of the ocean, in but a geologic moment, the Hawaiian volcano goddess Pele will add yet another piece of paradise. (Rumor has it the timeshare salesmen are already dividing up the island.)