Weird Facts About Hawaii That Are Actually True
Hawaii is the strangest state in America, and that is not an insult. It is the only state that was once an independent kingdom, the only one with a royal palace, the only one that grows coffee commercially, and the home of a mountain that is technically taller than Mount Everest. It is also the widest state, the most isolated population center on Earth, and a place where the alphabet has 13 letters and the beaches come in five colors. Here are 21 weird facts about Hawaii that are actually true, each with the story behind it.
Weird Nature Facts
1. A Hawaiian mountain is taller than Mount Everest
Mauna Kea on the Big Island rises 13,803 feet above sea level, but measured from its base on the ocean floor, it stands about 33,500 feet tall, taller than Everest’s 29,032 feet. Most of the mountain is underwater, which is why it does not get the title in most record books, but by the honest measurement, Hawaii holds the world’s tallest mountain. The summit is also one of the best places on Earth for astronomy: above 40 percent of the atmosphere, with dry stable air, which is why thirteen telescopes from eleven countries crowd the peak.
2. Hawaii is still growing
Kilauea’s eruptions keep adding new land to the Big Island, and a brand new island is forming underwater off the southeast coast. The seamount, now named Kamaʻehuakanaloa, is growing toward the surface and will become Hawaii’s newest island in tens of thousands of years. It is already an active submarine volcano with its own eruptions, and researchers watch it as a preview of how every Hawaiian island began: a bump on the seafloor that refused to stop growing.
3. The whole state is drifting toward Japan
The Pacific tectonic plate carries the Hawaiian Islands northwest at about 4 inches per year. Hawaii is literally moving closer to Asia, one fingernail of distance at a time.
4. Hawaii is the widest state in America
Measured from the western tip of Niihau to the eastern tip of the Big Island, and counting the full archipelago to Kure Atoll, Hawaii stretches about 1,500 miles across the Pacific. That is wider than Texas, even though its land area would fit inside Texas 40 times over.
5. There are no native snakes in Hawaii
Snakes never reached Hawaii naturally, and the state works hard to keep it that way: owning a snake is illegal, and there is a hotline for reporting sightings. The only snake established in the wild is the tiny, harmless, earthworm sized Brahminy blind snake, accidentally introduced from the Philippines. The ban exists to protect native birds, which evolved with no snake predators and nest on the ground without fear. A single established snake species could undo millions of years of island evolution.
6. Hawaii has beaches in five colors
White sand is only the start. Punaluʻu has black sand from shattered basalt, Papakolea has green sand from olivine crystals, Kaihalulu on Maui has red sand from cinder, and Papohaku has pale gold. The color of a Hawaiian beach tells you exactly what volcano made it.
7. Only two land mammals are native to Hawaii
The Hawaiian hoary bat and the Hawaiian monk seal are the only mammals that reached the islands on their own. Every other land mammal, from cattle to mongooses to rats, was brought by humans, which is why the native birds and plants evolved with no defenses against them. The monk seal, with only about 1,600 left, is one of the most endangered marine mammals on Earth, and seeing one resting on a beach is a privilege: the law requires staying 50 feet away.
Weird History Facts
8. Hawaii has America’s only royal palace
Iolani Palace in downtown Honolulu was home to Hawaii’s monarchs, from Kamehameha III to Queen Liliʻuokalani. It had electric lighting four years before the White House, indoor plumbing, and a telephone, making it one of the most technologically advanced buildings of its era. King Kalakaua, who built it, was called the Merrie Monarch for his love of music and hula, and the palace hosted state dinners that rivaled European courts. Today it is a museum, and you can tour the throne room where the monarchy ended.
9. Hawaii was an independent country within living memory’s reach
The Kingdom of Hawaii was overthrown in 1893, and Hawaii did not become the 50th US state until 1959. People born as citizens of the Hawaiian Kingdom lived well into the 20th century, and in 1993 the US Congress passed a resolution formally apologizing for the overthrow.
10. Honolulu is technically 1,500 miles long
The City and County of Honolulu covers all of Oahu plus every Northwestern Hawaiian Island out to Midway, a span of about 1,500 miles. By that quirk of boundaries, Honolulu is one of the longest cities on Earth, most of it uninhabited atoll and ocean.
11. Mongooses were imported to kill rats, and it backfired
In 1883, sugar planters brought 72 mongooses from Jamaica to control rats in the cane fields. Nobody checked the schedules: rats are nocturnal, mongooses are diurnal. The mongooses ignored the rats and ate Hawaii’s ground nesting birds instead, and the islands are still paying for it. It is the textbook example of a biological control gone wrong, taught in ecology classes worldwide, and Hawaii’s conservation agencies still spend millions managing the damage.
Weird Culture and Daily Life Facts
12. The state fish has the longest name in the animal kingdom’s hall of fame
The humuhumunukunukuapuaʻa, the reef triggerfish, has one of the longest common names of any animal. The name means “triggerfish with a snout like a pig,” because the fish grunts like a pig when pulled from the water. It became the official state fish permanently in 2006 after a temporary designation lapsed in 1990. The fish earns its name beyond the grunt: it can lock its dorsal spine upright like a trigger to wedge itself into reef crevices where predators cannot pull it out, and it spits jets of water to uncover food buried in the sand.
13. The Hawaiian alphabet has only 13 letters
Hawaiian uses just 13 letters: five vowels and eight consonants, plus the ʻokina, the glottal stop that is a letter in its own right. That is why Hawaiian words repeat the same syllables and why place names look like beautiful tongue twisters.
14. Hawaii has two official languages
English and Hawaiian are both official, and street signs, state documents, and place names use Hawaiian spellings with ʻokina and kahakō. The unofficial third language is Pidgin, the creole spoken across the islands.
15. Hawaii is the only state that grows coffee
Hawaii’s tropical climate makes it the only US state that can grow coffee commercially. Kona coffee from the Big Island’s western slopes is among the most prized in the world, and coffee is now grown on every major island. The Kona coffee belt is a narrow strip where morning sun, afternoon cloud, and volcanic soil combine, and the harvest is still picked by hand cherry by cherry.
16. Billboards are banned in Hawaii
Hawaii is one of four US states that ban billboards, which is why the highways show you green mountains instead of advertisements. The ban dates to the 1920s and is part of why the islands photograph so cleanly.
17. On Kauai, no building may be taller than a palm tree
Kauai County law limits building heights to about 50 feet, roughly the height of a coconut palm. That is why Kauai has no high rises and why its coastline looks the way it does: the Garden Isle legislated its skyline, and visitors get the view.
18. Hawaii residents live the longest of any state
Hawaii consistently has the highest life expectancy of any US state, around 80 years. Researchers credit the climate, the active outdoor lifestyle, the diet, and strong community ties, which is a decent advertisement for the aloha spirit.
The Weirdest Facts, and Why They Are True
The strangest claims deserve their explanations. Here is the mechanism behind the weirdest entries.
| Weird fact | Why it is true | Source |
| Mauna Kea is taller than Everest | About 33,500 feet from ocean floor base to summit; most of it is underwater | Per USGS elevation data |
| Iolani Palace had electricity before the White House | The palace was wired in 1886, four years before the White House | Per the palace’s official history |
| Honolulu is 1,500 miles long | The city-county includes the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands to Midway | Per the state constitution’s county definitions |
| Mongooses ignored the rats | Rats are nocturnal; mongooses hunt by day, so they ate native birds instead | Per Hawaii DLNR invasive species records |
| A new island is forming now | The Kamaʻehuakanaloa seamount is growing over the hotspot off the Big Island | Per USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory |
| No building taller than a palm tree on Kauai | County ordinance caps heights near 50 feet | Per the Kauai County ordinance |
A Few More for the Road
19. Hawaii has its own time zone and ignores daylight saving
Hawaii runs on Hawaii-Aleutian Standard Time, UTC minus 10, all year. It is one of two states that skip daylight saving entirely, which means the time difference with the mainland shifts twice a year even though Hawaii’s clocks never move.
20. The busiest Costco in the world is in Hawaii
The Iwilei Costco on Oahu is routinely reported as the highest grossing Costco on the planet, doing several times the revenue of an average store. Island economics: when everything is shipped in, the warehouse wins.
21. Hawaii’s state gem is black coral
Most states picked a sparkly mineral. Hawaii picked black coral, harvested from deep water and carved into jewelry, and it is as unusual and as beautiful as everything else on this list.
For the volcano behind several of these facts, see the best five things to do in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park and the best things to do on the Big Island of Hawaii. If these facts made you want to visit, check the cheapest time of year to visit Hawaii before you book.
Video: 50 Facts About Hawaii Nobody Tells You
Fifty deep cut facts about Hawaii: the hidden volcano taller than Everest, the vanishing island, and the beach made of green crystal.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the weirdest fact about Hawaii?
That Mauna Kea is the tallest mountain on Earth when measured from base to summit. Most of it is underwater, which hides the record.
What is Hawaii’s state fish called?
The humuhumunukunukuapuaʻa, the reef triggerfish. The name means “triggerfish with a snout like a pig.”
Did Hawaii have a royal family?
Yes. The Kingdom of Hawaii was ruled by the Kamehameha dynasty and then the Kalakaua dynasty until the overthrow of Queen Liliʻuokalani in 1893.
Are there snakes in Hawaii?
No native snakes, and owning one is illegal. The only established snake is the tiny harmless Brahminy blind snake.
Why does Hawaii have no daylight saving time?
Being close to the equator, Hawaii’s day length barely changes through the year, so there is nothing to save. Arizona is the only other state that skips it.
Hawaii’s weirdness is not trivia for its own sake. Every strange fact on this list is a clue to how the islands work: the hotspot that built them, the isolation that shaped them, the kingdom that ruled them, and the people who keep them strange in the best way. The next time someone tells you Hawaii is just beaches, you will know better. And the next time you stand on a black sand beach, or try to pronounce the state fish, or notice the absence of billboards on the highway, you will be seeing the weirdness firsthand.
