Most of the books I’ve written about Hawaii have been about traveling through the islands.
Where to go.
What to see.
How to plan your trip.
What makes each island different.
My newest Hawaii book goes somewhere else entirely.
This time, we’re going into the stories that helped shape Hawaii.
The gods, goddesses, legends, and beliefs of ancient Hawaii.
And we’re getting very close to release day.
Hawaii Has Always Been More Than a Destination to Me
It’s easy to fall in love with Hawaii because of what you can see.
The beaches.
Volcanoes.
Waterfalls.
Mountains.
Rainforests.
Ocean.
But the more I learned about Hawaii over the years, the more interested I became in the stories connected to those places.
Because so much of the Hawaiian landscape has a story.
The volcano isn’t simply a volcano.
The ocean isn’t simply water.
The forests, winds, rain, mountains, plants, and animals all exist within a much richer cultural world.
Once you begin learning those stories, you start looking at Hawaii differently.
That’s the world I wanted to explore with this book.
Meet the Gods of Hawaii
Hawaiian tradition is filled with powerful figures and fascinating stories.
There are gods associated with the forces of nature, creation, agriculture, the ocean, war, and many other parts of life.
And then there are the stories connecting them.
Family relationships.
Rivalries.
Journeys.
Love.
Conflict.
Transformation.
Creation.
Destruction.
Some are beautiful.
Some are strange.
Some get pretty wild.
And that was part of what made this book so much fun to work on.
I wasn’t simply researching a list of names and what each god represented.
I was discovering stories.
Pele Is Only the Beginning
If you’ve traveled to Hawaii, there’s a good chance you’ve heard of Pele.
The goddess associated with volcanoes and fire has become one of the best-known figures from Hawaiian tradition outside the islands.
And understandably so.
It’s difficult to stand near Hawaii’s volcanic landscape without appreciating the extraordinary forces that created these islands.
But Pele is only one part of a much larger tradition.
That’s one of the things I wanted this book to show.
There are so many other figures and stories worth discovering.
And once you begin seeing how those stories intersect, Hawaiian mythology becomes much more than a collection of individual legends.
It becomes a world.
The Stories Changed the Way I Look at Hawaii
This may be my favorite part of researching a book like this.
You learn something, and suddenly a place you’ve seen before has another layer.
A landscape isn’t simply beautiful anymore.
There’s a story attached to it.
A name you’ve encountered while traveling suddenly means something.
Something you’ve seen represented in Hawaiian art or culture has context.
That’s one reason I think learning about a destination before and during a trip makes travel so much better.
Understanding where you are changes what you see.
And you don’t have to be a scholar to enjoy these stories.
You just have to be curious.
This Isn’t Another Vacation Planner
That’s what makes this book so different from my other Ocean Breeze Adventures Hawaii books.
I’m not telling you which island to choose.
We’re not comparing hotels.
I’m not building an itinerary.
There won’t be a discussion about whether you need a rental car.
This time, we’re stepping away from the logistics of visiting Hawaii and exploring part of the cultural history behind the destination.
And I love being able to do that.
Travel isn’t only about figuring out where we’re going next.
Sometimes it’s about understanding the places we’ve already fallen in love with.
Why Put This Book Under Ocean Breeze Adventures?
Because this still feels very much like travel to me.
Some of my favorite travel experiences happen when I understand something about a place that I didn’t know before.
History does that.
Food does that.
Language does that.
And stories absolutely do that.
You can visit somewhere beautiful without knowing anything about it.
But when you begin understanding the people, history, traditions, and stories connected to a place, the experience changes.
That’s what I want Ocean Breeze Adventures to be about.
Not simply going somewhere.
Understanding a little more about where you’ve gone.
We’re Almost Ready
The new book is nearly here.
And I’m excited about this release because it’s such a different addition to my Hawaii collection.
If you’ve used my other books to help plan a Hawaii vacation, this one isn’t going to tell you where to go next.
Instead, I hope it makes you curious about the stories that were there long before any of us arrived with a suitcase.
And maybe the next time you stand near a volcano, look toward the ocean, hear a Hawaiian place name, or encounter one of these figures during your travels, you’ll recognize something you didn’t before.
Final Thoughts
I’ve spent years writing about how to visit Hawaii.
This book gave me the opportunity to explore another reason I find the islands so fascinating.
Their stories.
The gods and goddesses.
The legends.
The relationships between people, nature, and place.
And all those stories that add another layer to a destination so many of us already love.
My newest Hawaii book is almost here.
And this time, instead of helping you plan your next Hawaiian adventure, I’m inviting you into a very different one.
We’re going into the world of the Hawaiian gods. 🌺
Coming September 23
The wait is almost over. Hawaiian Gods, Myths, and Legends releases September 23, and I can’t wait for you to discover the stories waiting inside.
Diana
Ocean Breeze Adventures