60 Fun Facts About Maui

Where does Maui rank in size among the Hawaiian Islands?

At about 727 square miles it trails only the Big Island.

Maui's nickname comes from the low isthmus that joins its two volcanoes. What is the island called?

The isthmus is only about six miles wide, and Kahului sits on it.

How high is Haleakalā's summit, Puʻu ʻUlaʻula (Red Hill)?

Measured from the seafloor the volcano is about five miles tall.

What does the name Haleakalā mean in Hawaiian?

Early Hawaiians applied the name to the whole mountain, not just the summit crater.

In legend, the demigod Māui snared the sun from Haleakalā's summit in order to do what?

His grandmother, who lived in the crater, is said to have helped him.

Who voices the demigod Maui in Disney's Moana?

He returned for Moana 2 and played the role again in the 2026 live-action remake.

Which town is the county seat of Maui County?

It sits just west of the island's biggest town, Kahului.

Kahului Airport's code is OGG. What does it honour?

Hogg was a Kauaʻi-born pilot who flew for what became Hawaiian Airlines into the late 1960s.

Which explorer became the first European to see Maui, in November 1778, without ever landing?

He could not find a suitable landing spot and sailed on.

The 1790 Battle of Kepaniwai on Maui was fought at the mouth of which famous gorge?

The invaders landed at Kahului with about 1,200 warriors while Maui's king was away on Oʻahu.

The name Kepaniwai means "the damming of the waters". What dammed the stream during the 1790 battle?

None of Maui's major chiefs died, but the losses among ordinary warriors were enormous.

Which king moved the capital of the Hawaiian Kingdom from Lahaina to Honolulu in 1845?

He had lived on the sacred island of Mokuʻula in the middle of Lahaina from 1837 to 1845.

Lahainaluna Seminary, founded in 1831, printed the first newspaper west of which mountain range?

Its students, including the historian David Malo, helped translate the Bible into Hawaiian.

Lahaina's giant banyan tree, planted in 1873, grew from a seedling sent by missionaries in which country?

Sheriff William Owen Smith planted it to mark 50 years since the first Protestant mission in the town.

By 2005 the Lahaina banyan had how many trunks?

It was the largest banyan in Hawaii and covered a quarter-mile circumference of the park.

In 1827 the British whaling ship John Palmer did what to Lahaina?

Governor Hoapili built the Old Lahaina Fort four years later to keep rowdy sailors in check.

Whaling in Lahaina collapsed at the end of the 19th century mainly because of what?

Whalers had come to Lahaina for fresh water, fruit and potatoes to restock their ships.

Roughly what proportion of Lahaina was destroyed by the August 2023 wildfire?

More than 2,200 buildings burned and 102 people died, making it one of the deadliest US wildfires in a century.

How many bridges does the Hāna Highway cross between Kahului and Hāna?

Forty-six of them are only one lane wide, and most date from 1910.

Approximately how many curves are there on the Road to Hāna?

The 52-mile trip takes about two and a half hours without stops.

What shape is Molokini, the islet off Maui's south coast?

It is the rim of a partly submerged volcanic crater and shelters snorkellers from the channel's currents.

Molokini sits in the ʻAlalākeiki Channel between Maui and which other island?

The islet is a state seabird sanctuary and is home to some 250 marine species.

In which year were Molokini and its surrounding waters declared a Marine Life Conservation District?

The protected area covers the islet, the crater and 77 acres of seabed.

Which branch of the US military ended live-fire training on Maui County's smallest island in 1990?

The whole island was handed to the state of Hawaii in 1994 after decades as a bombing range.

Maui is Hawaii's leading whale-watching centre. Which whales winter in the sheltered ʻAuʻau Channel?

A national marine sanctuary protecting them was designated in 1992, with its education centre in Kīhei.

Sunny Kīhei receives no more than how much rain in a year?

At one point it was among the fastest-growing towns in the United States.

Big Bog, above Hāna on Haleakalā, averaged roughly how much rain a year from 1978 to 2007?

That is more than 33 feet of rain, and it falls only a few miles from arid Kīhei.

Roughly how many people lived on Maui at the 2020 census?

That makes it the third most populous Hawaiian island after Oʻahu and the Big Island.

In which year did commercial sugar production on Maui finally end?

Sugar had been one of the island's two main crops for more than a century.

Hawaii's first commercial winery, founded on Maui in 1974, initially made wine from what?

Founder Emil Tedeschi came from a Napa Valley winegrowing family.

Hoʻokipa Beach on Maui's north shore is renowned worldwide for which sport?

Maui became the sport's proving ground in the early 1980s, and nearby Pāʻia calls itself its world capital.

The big-wave break at Peʻahi got its nickname in 1975 from which film?

Three local surfers compared the sudden, unpredictable swells to a shark attack.

Winter waves at Peʻahi can exceed what height?

Spectators watch from cliffs 100 to 150 feet above the water.

Which surfer co-invented tow-in surfing and made his name riding Peʻahi?

He developed the jet-ski assisted method with Dave Kalama, Darrick Doerner and Buzzy Kerbox.

Which school hosts the Maui Invitational basketball tournament, played each Thanksgiving week since 1984?

The Division II host plays in the field every other year against seven or eight Division I teams.

From 1999 the PGA Tour's season-opening Tournament of Champions was played at which Maui venue?

Hideki Matsuyama shot a Tour-record 35 under par there in 2025.

Which favourite wife of Hawaii's first king, later co-ruler as Kuhina Nui, was born in a cave at Hāna in 1768?

A church in the county seat, dating from 1876, is named after her.

Which aviator retired to Maui's remote Kīpahulu district and was buried there after his death in 1974?

He lies at Palapala Hoʻomau Church, a Congregational church founded in 1864.

What happens to a Haleakalā silversword after it flowers for the first time?

Early visitors used to uproot the plants and roll them down the lava slopes for fun.

The nēnē, Hawaii's state bird, lives wild in Haleakalā Crater. What kind of bird is it?

It was named the official state bird in 1957.

When was Hawaii National Park, which originally included Haleakalā, Mauna Loa and Kīlauea, created?

The two halves became separate national parks in 1961.

What did Haleakalā National Park start requiring in 2017 for 3-to-7 am sunrise entry?

The reservation rule was introduced in February 2017 to protect the summit from overcrowding.

When did Haleakalā most likely last erupt?

The lava flows sit at Cape Kīnaʻu between ʻĀhihi Bay and La Perouse Bay; the volcano is dormant, not extinct.

What is the ancient landmass called that the island once formed with Molokaʻi, Lānaʻi and Kahoʻolawe?

The now-submerged Penguin Bank was part of it too.

At its peak 1.2 million years ago, how did the ancient landmass including Maui compare in size with today's Big Island?

It covered about 5,600 square miles before rising seas and subsidence split it apart.

The Maui Ocean Center in Māʻalaea is the largest living tropical reef aquarium in what?

It opened in 1998 and shows only marine life found in Hawaiian waters.

Maui Jim, begun on a Lahaina beach in 1980, moved its headquarters to which US city?

Its then-parent, RLI Corp of Peoria, moved the business there; the luxury group Kering bought the brand in 2022.

Which company began developing the Kāʻanapali Beach Resort in the 1960s?

The Sheraton Maui opened there in 1963 and the Outrigger Kaanapali Beach Hotel in 1964.

From which sugar baron did Alexander & Baldwin buy control of the Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar Company in 1898?

The partners had started with 561 acres of dry land between Pāʻia and Makawao.

Puʻu Kukui, the 5,788-foot summit of the West Maui Mountains, translates as what?

Hundreds of inches of rain a year have carved the range's deep valleys.

Upcountry Kula is home to a well-known farm growing which fragrant crop?

Locals like to say "It's cooler in Kula", and early mornings there can drop to 40°F.

Waiʻānapanapa State Park near Hāna is famous for a small beach of sand in which colour?

Legend says a nearby pool runs red each year with the blood of a murdered princess.

How far does the ʻĪao Needle rise above the floor of the gorge below it?

It is really a sharp ridge that only looks like a spire when seen end-on.

In Hawaiian legend, what is the name of the great fish-hook Māui used to haul up the islands?

He baited it with the wing of his mother Hina's pet bird and tricked his brothers into paddling.

According to Hawaiian tradition, the island of Maui is named directly after whom?

The son was himself named for the demigod, so the trickster gets the credit second-hand.

Which French admiral became the first European to come ashore on Maui, in May 1786?

The bay where he landed on the island's south coast now carries his name, near the site of Haleakalā's most recent lava flows.

Roughly what share of Maui's landmass is formed by the Haleakalā shield volcano?

The rest of the island is the older Mauna Kahalawai, better known as the West Maui Mountains.

In which year was the full road to Hāna officially opened?

Modern construction had begun in the 1870s to serve the Hāmākua Ditch, and the road was not completely paved until the 1960s.

Which 16th-century Maui king built the Alaloa, the 'long road' from West Maui toward Hāna?

Travellers reportedly swung across East Maui's rushing streams on ropes of vines; his son Kihapiʻilani extended the road into the Hāna District.

In which year was the switchback-filled Haleakalā Highway to the summit completed?

Cattle are still often met on the two-lane road, and the National Park Service now charges a per-vehicle entrance fee.