Channels of the Hawaiian Islands 7 miles. ʻAlalākeiki means "crying baby." The Kealaikahiki Channel is the channel between Lānaʻi and Kahoʻolawe. It literally means "the road to Tahiti"; if one takes a bearing off of Kealaikahiki Point on Kahoʻolawe while in the channel and heads directly straight, one arrives, more or less, in Tahiti. In practice, however, Polynesian navigators probably did not quite ply a straight route to Tahiti. The channel is 17 miles wide. The ʻAuʻau Channel is one of the most protected areas of ocean in the Hawaiian Islands, lying between Lānaʻi and Maui. The channel is also protected by Molokaʻi to the
Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary The Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary is one of the world's most important whale habitats, hosting thousands of humpbacks ("Megaptera novaeangliae") each winter. The sanctuary encompasses in the islands' waters. It was designated by United States Congress on November 4, 1992, as a National Marine Sanctuary to protect the endangered North Pacific humpback whale and its habitat The sanctuary promotes management, research, education and long-term monitoring. With its boundaries including waters from the shoreline to depths of in many areas, the sanctuary encompasses a variety of marine ecosystems, including seagrass beds