Kahoolawe

For decades Kahoolawe has been off limits to the public. The island was long under the control of the US military and frequently used for target practice in training exercises. In 1994 the island was returned to the state, but years of bombing have left most of Kahoolawe littered with potentially dangerous unexploded ordnance. Today the only way to visit the island is as a participant in one of the periodic cleanup or cultural journeys there.

Kahoolawe viewed from an airplane window.

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The 1994 ceremony with US military officials formally signing papers ceding control of the island while prominent members of the Hawaiian sovereignty movement look on. Dr Noa Emmett Aluli of the Protect Kahoolawe Ohana triumphantly raises the finalized documents to the crowd.

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Me with Dr Aluli at the ceremony site.
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Celebrations take the form of hula as the ceremony transferring control of the island concludes.
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It's hard to believe that just a few short miles from Maui lies a place with no permanent population,
a place where the only sounds heard are those of the ocean.
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Some scenes from one of Kahoolawe's small beaches, littered with driftwood and other flotsam from the high seas.