All language subtitles for S01Eawaii

Once it cools in the ocean,

the lava hardens and forms a crust

that expands the surface of hawaii's coastline.

Since the 1980s,

lava has expanded the island by more than 500 acres.

Called lava extensions,

these tracts of new land belong to the state of hawaii.

The ruling was handed down by the state supreme court

after several landowners claimed the new shoreline properties

as their own.

But as the volcano creates, it also destroys.

The smoking lava wipes out highways...

Devastates wildlife...

And turns entire neighborhoods into smoldering dead ends.

Still, life endures.

Even as the volcano continues to erupt,

new homes are under construction

right on top of the old lava flows.

Heading west from hawaii, the next island in the chain...

Maui.

The aviation hero charles lindbergh said of maui,

"if there was a heaven on earth, it's here."

today, the port city of lahaina, on maui's west coast,

bustles with a fleet of pleasure boats.

But in the 1800s,

this was the center of the pacific whaling industry.

Hundreds of whaling vessels filled the harbor.

And thousands of sailors prowled the streets.

Among them was a young man named herman melville,

whose experiences at sea

later inspired him to write the novel moby-dick.

Now the whales here have nothing to fear

but tourists with cameras.

Maui is the whale-watching capital

in this part of the pacific.

Each year, more than a thousand humpback whales,

like this mother and her calf,

migrate here from their arctic feeding grounds.

The mother whale keeps her baby close.

They'll swim together like this

for the first year of the calf's life,

the mother teaching valuable skills

that will help her baby thrive and grow.

What may look like play to us

can be the mother showing her calf how to maneuver

when attacked by a predatory shark.

Another reason so many people flock to maui is the shoreline.

There are more than 80 beaches.

While most look like this one,

others have sand of bold, unexpected colors:

black, green, red, all from ancient lava flows.

At every turn, maui is a romantic paradise,

considered the number-one destination for weddings

in the world.

Traveling on west maui,

the mountains and rugged coastline

are a magnificent wilderness,

so wild that parts of it have yet to be fully explored.

Much of this part of the island is a rich nature preserve,

the largest in the state.

Rare vegetation grows

at a rate of only about one foot every 10,000 years.

No wonder public access is limited.

One footprint in the soil causes damage

that can take thousands of years for nature to repair.

The highest peak in the mountain is pu'u kukui,

meaning "hill of light."

ancient hawaiians believed this rainforest

was the meeting place between heaven and earth.

If this was the realm of the gods,

then it was good enough for kings as well.

According to legend, an 18th-century maui king

sometimes lived near the mountain,

atop his own godlike realm,

a spectacular rock formation called kahakuloa head.

Each morning, the king would dive from here

and plunge hundreds of feet into the ocean.

800 years ago, the people of maui

made this area a home for their gods.

This massive temple, pi'ilanihale heiau,

is built of lava rock spread over nearly three acres.

But perhaps the most famous home on maui,

for mortals at least, is here,

a church on the south side of the island

where the greatest aviator in the history of the world

is buried: charles lindbergh.

The man famous for his 1927 nonstop solo flight

from new york to paris

lived in maui during the last years of his life.

In 1974, he was diagnosed with lung cancer

and informed that he had perhaps a week to live.

Rather than receive treatment stateside

that might prolong his life,

lindbergh told his doctor that he wished to die at home.

"i would rather spend two days on maui," he said,

"than spend two months alive in new york."

inland from lindbergh's grave is haleakala,

the world's largest dormant volcano.

Its name means "house of the sun"

because at dawn,

it's as if the sun rises from the crater itself.

The crater is 21 miles in circumference

and 3,000 feet deep.

The feeling of solitude at the summit is immense.

After his visit here, mark twain wrote,

"i felt like the last man on earth,

neglected of the judgment and left pinnacled in mid-heaven,

a forgotten relic of a vanished world."

traveling west from maui,

the island of lanai is the next stop.

Lanai is a private island with two exclusive resorts.

So exclusive that in 1994, it was chosen as the site

of one of the most extravagantly private weddings ever.

Every hotel room on the island was rented and kept empty.

Helicopters on nearby islands were paid not to fly.

Security was so tight

that the only people allowed on the island

were the 100 or so wedding guests.

The cost?

it didn't matter.

The groom was the richest man in the world, bill gates.

Just a few miles north of lanai is molokai...

A small island of stunning beauty.

The sea cliffs on its north shore

are the highest in the world,

rising 2,000 to 3,000 feet above the waves.

But behind the beauty, a far different story.

Gravestones crowd the shoreline

of what was once a notorious leper colony.

Leprosy is a chronic infectious disease

that disfigures the skin.

In the 1800s, people with the disease

were exiled here by the government.

The living conditions were savage.

As one observer put it,

"prepare for molokai as for the grave."

but one man set out to change that.

For 16 years, a belgian missionary named father damien

cared for the sick here.

He cleaned their wounds, built decent housing

and buried thousands as they succumbed to their disease.

Father damien eventually contracted leprosy himself.

He died in the colony in 1889

and is buried on the grounds of this church.

A century later,

the catholic church beatified him,

one step from sainthood.

The graves on molokai bear witness

to his extraordinary life.

Pushing west, the island of oahu.

It materializes out of the pacific,

a lush green vision

just 44 miles long and 30 miles wide.

But then, a startling contrast.

Honolulu, the state capital and largest city in hawaii.

Downtown honolulu is considered

one of america's prettiest and most compact cities.

Most of its financial, business district

and residential high-rises

are elegantly situated within just 12 square blocks.

Because it's so isolated, hawaii is a slave to its energy needs.

It gets about 90% of its energy from imported oil.

But change is in the wind.

The state has committed to going green,

producing 70% of the energy it needs by the year 2030.

This windmill farm, for instance,

is turning wind gusts into electricity.

A single wind turbine can generate enough power

to provide electricity for hundreds of homes.

On oahu, research is underway to make renewable energy

using hawaii's own natural resources,

such as pumping cool ocean water

to supply the air conditioning for downtown honolulu...

And converting algae into biodiesel fuel

for cars and trucks.

Hawaii has become a living laboratory

for sustainable energy.

While tourism may be oahu's number-one cash crop,

these sprawling plantations make a case for pineapple

as a close second.

Around 1900, a man named james dole

came to hawaii determined to start a new business.

Intrigued by the local popularity of pineapples,

dole purchased 60 acres here on oahu

and began growing the fruit.

In no time, this crop yield multiplied, demand grew,

and an empire was born.

At its height, the dole empire produced

about 250 million pineapples a year.

When it comes to oahu, no destination attracts

quite like a giant wall of water.

Two of the best surfing spots on the planet are here...

Waikiki...

And the north shore,

home of the famous banzai pipeline.

The hawaiian sport of surfing is at least a thousand years old.

And oahu is at its heart and soul.

When captain cook's expedition first reached hawaii in 1778,

an officer described the amazing sight

of men on surfboards.

"the boldness with which we saw them perform

these difficult and dangerous maneuvers

was altogether astonishing and is scarce to be believed."

some early surfers

used the thick palm-like leaves of a banana plant

to ride the waves.

The story of modern surfing

begins with a man named the duke, duke kahanamoku.

He was a gold medal swimmer at the 1912 summer olympics.

But perhaps his greatest love was surfing,

and his skill with his board caught on.

One of his most famous exploits

is the day he rode a 30-foot monster wave

off the coast of honolulu for almost two miles.

It's said that in oahu, every surfer on every wave

rides with the spirit of the duke.

December 7, 1941.

Several miles up the coast from waikiki,

japanese aircraft swooped in for the kill.

Torpedo bombers hit first...

Targeting the battleships anchored in the harbor.

A second wave of dive bombers

attacked u.s. airbases across oahu.

Hundreds of american aircraft were destroyed or damaged

before pilots could even get them off the ground.

Incredibly, the damage to america's pacific fleet

could have been far worse.

A third wave of japanese air attacks had been planned.

The target: the fleet's enormous fuel storage.

Fortunately, the japanese believed

enough damage had been done

and the attack was called off.

Because the fuel was saved,

the u.s. fleet was eventually able to mobilize

and take the war to the japanese.

During the two-hour attack on pearl harbor,

21 vessels were destroyed.

Worst hit was the u.s.s. arizona.

Today, this memorial perches above the ship's watery grave.

Nearly 1,200 young men died aboard the arizona

when a bomb made a direct hit,

igniting the ship's forward magazine.

The ship sank in nine minutes.

Today, the u.s.s. arizona memorial

is the number-one destination for tourists visiting oahu.

The last of the eight major hawaiian islands

is also the oldest--

kauai.

The island was born of a volcano

that ruptured from the ocean floor,

only to burn out and become extinct

about five million years ago.

The same eruption that raised kauai

from the icy depths of the pacific

also carved this into its heart.

Waimea canyon is called the grand canyon of the pacific.

In polynesian mythology,

the canyon and other wonders on the island owe their creation

to the hawaiian fire goddess, pele.

According to legend, pele traveled to kauai

and dug into the earth,

searching for a fire pit in which to live.

It's said that pele tore open the earth at waimea canyon,

but found only water.

Eventually, she fled kauai and continued her search for a home

on the other islands in the chain.

But perhaps there's more to the myth than meets the eye.

Researchers have noted

that the supposed movement of the fire goddess

from island to island

just so happens to coincide with the geological record

of volcanic activity in hawaii.

Last stop on kauai

is one of the wettest environments in the world,

mount waialeale.

Average rainfall here: 440 inches a year.

So much water flows through the mountain

that waterfalls abound.

Hawaii by air, a stunning journey

unlike any on the face of the earth.

A dazzling trip through time, imagination,

and a rainbow of life.