Channels of the Hawaiian Islands Maui. Although the channel is only about at its shortest point, it is one of the windiest and roughest in the Hawaiian Islands. The Kalohi Channel is the stretch of water separating Lānaʻi and Molokaʻi. Depth of water in this channel is about and width is . This is one of the less treacherous channels between islands in the archipelago, although strong winds and choppy sea conditions are frequent. Kalolohia beach on the Lānaʻi coast is also known as "Shipwreck Beach" because of a wreck on the reef there. Kalohi means "the slowness." The Kaiwi Channel (also known as the
Hawaiian Islands 1893. They then established a republic, and despite opposition from the majority of the Hawaiian people, successfully negotiated with the United States for annexation in 1898. The U.S. state of Hawaii now occupies the archipelago almost in its entirety (including the uninhabited Northwestern Hawaiian Islands), with the sole exception of Midway Island, which instead separately belongs to the United States as one of its unincorporated territories within the United States Minor Outlying Islands. The Hawaiian Islands are the exposed peaks of a great undersea mountain range known as the Hawaiian–Emperor seamount chain, formed by volcanic activity over a hotspot in