Channels of the Hawaiian Islands Channels of the Hawaiian Islands In an archipelago like the Hawaiian Islands the water between islands is typically called a "channel" or "passage". Described here are the channels between the islands of Hawaiʻi, arranged from southeast to northwest. The ʻAlenuihāhā separates the island of Hawaiʻi and the island of Maui. The maximum depth of this channel is , and the channel is 30 miles wide. There is a significant wind funnel effect in the channel, which is subject to scientific investigations. ʻAlenuihāhā means "great billows smashing." The ʻAlalākeiki Channel separates the islands of Kahoʻolawe and Maui, at a distance of
Northwestern Hawaiian Islands of Cancer, making them the only islands in Hawaii that lie outside the tropics. The Northwestern or Leeward Hawaiian Islands include: The Northwestern Hawaiian Islands were formed, approximately 7 to 30 million years ago, as shield volcanoes over the same volcanic hotspot that formed the Emperor Seamounts to the north and the Main Hawaiian Islands to the south. As the Pacific Plate moved north and later northwest over the hot spot, volcanic eruptions built up islands in a linear chain. The isolated land masses gradually eroded and subsided, evolving from high islands in the south, much like the Main Islands