Channels of the Hawaiian Islands of Niʻihau and Lehua. Kumukahi means "first beginning." The Hoʻomoʻa Channel separates the islands of Lehua and Nihoa. Hoʻomoʻa means "to cook." The Hawaiʻiloa Channel to the northwest of the islands of Nihoa. Named after Hawaiʻiloa, hero of an ancient Hawaiian legend about the settling 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
Hawaiian monk seal its own, and returns to the sea to forage for the first time since the pup’s arrival. Most seals are found on the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands. The Hawaiian monk seal is endangered, although its cousin species the Mediterranean monk seal ("M. monachus") is even rarer, and the Caribbean monk seal ("M. tropicalis"), last sighted in the 1950s, was officially declared extinct in June 2008. The total population of Hawaiian monk seals is in decline - the larger population that inhabits the northwest islands is declining while the smaller population on the main Hawaiian Islands is increasing. In 2010, it was