Amazing Quest: Stories from Hawaii | Somewhere on Earth: Hawaii | Free Documentary

Well, today

somewhere

on Earth we are going to discover the Hawaiian Islands in the heart of the North Pacific, an archipelago made up of eight islands and a chain of atolls, without dazzling white sand or coral reefs, but instead constantly changing landscapes sculpted by the whims of the ocean storms and volcanic eruptions

hawaii

is a living land a dynamic force here man is eclipsed by nature whose unbridled force rules supreme scott has been living on kauai for 12 years explores the rugged landscape from waimea canyon to the Napali Coast This is one of the cradles of Hawaiian civilization, home to the first inhabitants of the island, Oahu is known throughout the world for its impressive winds and waves, Yuko has found her place in life here, she is a pilot of a sailing plane, is always looking for the slightest breeze to satisfy his passion, Olivier. a french astronomer spends much of his time on the top of the big island the roof of the archipelago at 4207 meters the top of the dormant volcano mauna kea is a window to the stars where olivier explores the depths of the universe it's a bit like the monasteries of the middle ages because there is a search for knowledge and we work alone we are on a modern spiritual search the scientific search kawaii is 5 million years old and the oldest of the Hawaiian islands erosion has left its mark sculpting its vertiginous cliffs and sunken canyons kawaii is the fourth largest island eighty percent of its surface is completely virgin territory they call it the kawaii garden island it does not have a large city the inhabitants are fervent defenders of the rural way of life they have even passed a law that prohibits any construction erected higher than the coconut trees, even today those who live here consider their island as a sacred gift from their ancestors Scott, a New Yorker has no Hawaiian blood but firmly believes in this heritage, it was not actually part of his plans to settle on an island wine here on vacation and never left in 1999 he became a guide he and his friend are helicopter pilots they spend their time looking for abandoned trails used by the first inhabitants of the island about fifteen hundred years ago and the shooting is coming uh, the Hanalei Ridge on the back of 2000, that little false summit right there, looks like it might be a little difficult to traverse, yes it would be really difficult, that trail has been eroded over many years, no one has hiked it in a long time, many Hawaiians like me , I'm a quarter Hawaiian, my dad is half Hawaiian. um, you get the feeling of the presence of my own ancestors who are still with me when I look at the pants.

I'm a lucky guy who lives on an island. in the middle of nowhere I'm a very lucky guy, away from a lot of things, it's a lot of challenges for us to fly around the island, but you also see a lot of things that no one else can see here, no one, huh. Look, it goes all the way to the top, so here we are at the end of the world, it basically looks like we've walked to the edge of the

earth

and then it falls and there's the Pacific. In the ocean it is 2,800 miles to Japan and Asia from here and there is not much between the islands to the northwest called the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, inhabited mainly by monk seals and sea birds, not much else, so we are the most isolated land mass in the world. world. here and when we arrive here at the edge of the Nepalese coast it is literally that you are walking to the edge of the world I do not feel isolated here I feel at home here it is part of part of our world and it is a very special place where we have a lot of clarity, a lot vision, the Hawaiians say they call it peak, which is the naval or the navel of the world, so everything that begins starts here and then spreads out.

To the world, the ocean off Kauai often puts on a magnificent spectacle. Oh, I love being here at the top, you know, here we are a thousand meters above the sea and it gives you this perspective where you can see the whales, you can see their shadows. you can see their water jets, you can see their fins, their pectoral fins slap or their tails rise up and if you're really lucky, you can see a whole gap where it surges and then splashes into the water for countless Americans, Hawaii. It has always been a magical name that awakens the imagination.

Jack London was one of those who started that legend. The globe-trotting writer, author of White Fang, was fascinated by these islands. In 1907, he left everything behind and embarked with a crew on an epic journey across the Pacific to On board his sailboat the Snark left San Francisco in April and it took almost two months to reach the Hawaiian Islands. Upon arrival he was amazed by his words. For 27 days we had been in the desert depths and it was quite difficult to realize that there were so many life in the world that made us dizzy and Kauai is the embodiment of that vertigo.

The Nepalese coast is made up of five valleys protected by an imposing natural palisade fifteen hundred years ago. These canyons carved into the rock by the wind. and rain were home to a thriving civilization like no other in the islands down here, all of these valleys were populated by Hawaiian people in ancient times, which is why there are ancient trails leading in and out of all of these valleys and along the coast, each basin or Each valley was ruled by a particular chief of that valley and was divided into two parts, so the part next to the ocean was for fishing and the park towards the upper part of the valley was for agriculture and they traded with each other and you can still see many ancient rock walls and archaeological ruins down there, the fog comes suddenly covering the chasms and swallowing the landmarks for certain people, this is a sign that the gods are present and when the fog comes in, it comes in very quickly and if you are in the poly or on the canyon walls, you will not be able to see anything and you will be totally excluded, and that could be dangerous even today.

Kauai is known throughout the Pacific for its greenery. of its species are not found anywhere else in the world when the first settlers landed here they discovered a fertile and generous land this natural exuberance is a continuous wonder the 18th century was the golden age of exploration expeditions followed one after another there was bougainville the Frenchman James Cook the Englishman who made the first European contact with the islands when he landed in Hawaii in 1778. Ancient peoples The ancient Hawaiians live down here, the Kuaina mainly because of the resources that were available in the area there are springs there to give fresh water and the river.

The water was very easy to divert to create loy, which is what they use for agriculture, it's an irrigation system to grow calora, so they live here and it also gives them protection because if you're deep in a canyon and you have lookouts, you know that there are natural barriers. and boundaries so that anyone coming in would have to come from one direction and it would be very easy to defend this island of Kauai had five times the population it has now in ancient times and that means that when we get off the path of what is now used, to We are often fined, we follow in the ancient footsteps of our ancestors, the Hawaiian ancestors, and we find many secrets hidden there, the cliffs, the fog and the vegetation deepen the mystery of the Napali coast, totally inaccessible.

In certain places the five valleys jealously guard their secrets, unraveling them means taking the pulse of the island to be out here, whoever feels alive and I feel blessed to be here because not only am I in an incredibly beautiful place, but I am in a incredibly beautiful place place that really hasn't been affected much by humanity, so it's truly in nature. It's easy to see how kawaii can cast a spell on travelers. The Hawaiians call this incantation manna, it is the breath of the spirits, their life force and this is what Scott believes he has found here in Oahu, the third largest Hawaiian island.

The essential thing is invisible to the eyes, this land like all the others is. subject to an enormous current of air all the islands are swept by this wind tirelessly regenerated by the ocean the winds of the vast buffet of the Pacific the landscape reshaping the contours of each island there is no barrier reef here so the waves are

free

of grow in impressive waves that then break against the shore people come from all over the world to challenge these waves in certain seasons that can reach several meters high in oahu the waves are dry land years ago yuko left everything behind to come to live in oahu located in the heart of the oahu archipelago is famous for honolulu the capital of the

hawaii

an islands yuko was established at the northern end of the coast wind and waves, two essential elements for their life, they also splash and then also when they suck back, towards the ocean, that energy comes here, so my heart beats all the time once I sew it and if I don't I see it just beautiful.

On a calm day it is very bright but the more water it gets, the bigger and bigger it is and then the giant gets more excited because we can't do anything, they are more powerful than us. I love surfing and flying because there are many similarities because we have to know from the weather what type. about the climate we have and what kind of climate we have just like the water and the sky is the same because we have to guide the current of the wind and then everything is always you have to think and I can't stop thinking, always keep learning to think to have Good time,

earth

and sky Yuko has a deep longing for

free

dom here, far from her family, far from her homeland, Japan, she has reinvented her life, so this is magical every day, especially in the season of winter.

I see the whale from the sky and also. In winter I can check the waves. I'm a surfer and I'm looking for the way all the time and I definitely think you enjoy the view from here. Sometimes we see different kawaii islands there and totally awesome view. The spectacular flight of surfing is very similar. especially in the glider and we have a great view all the time, but of course I have to look down at the ground, make sure there's no one around me, yeah, beautiful, so I can speed up and slow down and get up and then, like a surfing, we call it. the spotter so this is like surfing so I can make very sharp turns and I like to surf all the time so it's similar and I think that's why I mainly love flying the glider and there's not much noise just a noise Like a whisper, this is beautiful. toy for me so this is my baby and also this is my friend and like a family because without this it is very difficult to enjoy my life moment by moment it is a change in the wind and the wind sometimes is strong but suddenly the wind is dying and a little bit different and I really like that this changes because the changes are always I have to be constantly cautious and always be awake to know what is happening.

I love it, Yuko is self-taught, she has found satisfaction in her passion for the air that she discovered a few years ago. here on oahu thanks to some chance encounters becoming a pilot and glider instructor has freed her from limitations living here means a lot to her it is an achievement this wind surfer always ends her flight with a visit to the ocean in hawaii all the islanders get up and go to bed with the sun every night the same ritual is carried out life stops every breath is suspended the islanders pay tribute to the greatness of the pacific yuko has brought a little of the empire of the rising sun along with her hawaii makes me open more opportunities because they are multicultural, many Asians and many people already understand Japanese culture, so I don't have to explain my background, they are already ready to accept me, so I can be open to myself to be open to freedom, this is It is a moment of great patience every time and I love it.

I love jiu-jitsu, surfing and of course flying, but the most important thing is that what is happening in Hawaii makes me feel really happy. Well guys, in the end I always like this for school. of the day or early in the morning, yes, this is a place, it's like liquid sunshine, that's what we call it in Hawaii, it's a blessing. Hawaiians consider this a blessing when something special like this happens, being blessed with rain, just let me know when you do. re released i'm not going to dive every day yuko takes other pilots to surf the winds of hawaii she has made sharing part of the job as soon as the sailboat is released yuko goes out in search of waves everyone's passion the islanders are part of their way of life.

Surfing was invented in Hawaii. The oldest known surfboards were found in the tombs of chiefs. They are believed to date back to the 14th century, when early explorers first saw surfers. They couldn't believe what they saw. There is even a legend that says that the islanders were so skilled with their boards that Europeans thought they walked on water in the time of their ancestors. Surfing was a social and religious ritual. By braving the ocean, surfers could prove themselves and rise through the ranks of society, they could even become kings, this is what surfing means in Hawaii.

Yuko, like the others, is waiting to seize her moment of grace, the fleeting moment in which she becomes one with the Pacific, especially from Asia. Yeah it's not easy to do what I do because I moved here mainly to surf and then I try to think about what jobI can do. I'm creative. I don't work for anyone. I'm always creating my own work. I like to grow up to be independent. That's why I needed to live in Hawaii to become a very strong woman and also a strong creature for human beings, so I can be more goodness than just strengths, I mean a strong woman I like to have both, so I need to learn that this type of nature is always changing every day.

I can't control them the same as other people. I can't control other people. So these places make me realize again and again. I can't control people like the weather. Each island has its own world on Oahu. Life develops to the rhythm of the wind and waves. So four hundred thousand years ago the bottom of the ocean broke loose in an upheaval caused by the incredible upheaval in the bowels of the earth a huge island emerged from the depths of the sea it is Hawaii and will give its name to an entire archipelago some call it a big island this new land is vast and its volcanoes are enormous the great island still evolves according to the whims of the lava flows the craters are deep abysses that sink into the depths of the earth hidden far below the pacific the hot spot as volcanologists call it It creates islands according to its whims, this deep.

The geological phenomenon is the origin of the entire island chain and this is not the end of the story because in ten thousand or one hundred thousand years the hot spot will once again give rise to a new island. Flying over this island is simply spectacular because you can see the lava flows below and they look dynamic even though they are hundreds of years old, you really get an idea of ​​how the island was formed with layer upon layer upon layer of lava giving it gives the island a very dynamic feeling. really alive olivier is an astronomer he came here after his studies to receive job training and never left he works in one of the most mysterious places on the island mauna kea a dormant volcano that rises 4207 meters above sea level those two numbers are That's what we're getting closer to, right in the middle.

In 1967, about 10 countries joined forces to establish an observatory with the most powerful telescopes in the world. Here at the summit, the extreme altitude and isolation make it an almost perfect place. truly spectacular it is such a strange landscape to see man-made objects, but it makes sense why they came here. You really get an impression of isolation. You really feel away from everything and in several different ways. In fact, you have the place that is lost in the middle. There is absolutely nothing around the mountain and when you look a little further away you see the Pacific and you realize that you are on an island, an island lost in the middle of the ocean, so it is really isolated in all aspects, I love it. this island I love the quality and pace of life I love the people I love the summit of Mauna Kea it is difficult to leave this place very difficult I feel that the island is part of me but even more I feel that I am part of this island I really think I have missed Roots here Olivier, a PhD in astrophysics, has been here since 1997.

Born in Paris, worlds away from the North Pacific, for the last 12 years he has been exploring all the roads of the big island, this Frenchman has become a Hawaiian biker Full-fledged Hawaii does not at all fit the typical image of the Pacific islands, largely because of the huge volcanoes that you can see with your own eyes and also because of the wide open spaces, it is not just about the typical clichés of postcard of white sand beaches and palm trees and what I really like is that although we are on an island, traveling here is like visiting other countries, you can visit Switzerland, Ireland, Sweden wherever you want in 10 to 15 minutes and that is fantastic, are two.

An hour trip to the top of Mauna Kea not only is the mountain quite high but it is also very wide every time he can Olivier, a true enthusiast, makes the trip on his motorcycle Mauna Kea is a wild and hostile territory, patches of snow here and there are a reminder that Whatever the season, freezing storms can break out at any time at 13,000 feet, the air is thin and oxygen-poor, just climbing a flight of stairs takes effort, okay, Greg , I made it to the telescope, so I think we're ready for a dome. rotation when you are okay, is it possible to do just one platform or is it too difficult in the sense that you have to calculate your matrix and those coordinates would be fine?

Do you want me to back off a little? Yeah, that would be great, you know? take the telescope to the zenith or something, so telescope, I have a bit of an emotional attachment to this telescope because I did my thesis on an instrument here, so I came when I was a student. Sometimes I fear it's an emotional connection because you pass. Entire nights watching and it's frustrating, but when it works it's a pleasure. So yes, this telescope has a very special place in my heart. Yes, it's going down and the dome is rotating, so it's perfect.

Olivier's work days are so many sleepless nights on Mauna. kea the setting sun is the last breath before the silence of the foreign night the clouds hide the other reality below little by little the terrestrial world gives way to a world of stars and stars if the most powerful telescopes in the world are installed here in The top of Mauna Kea is because the sky is among the purest on Earth, there is less turbulence than in other places and the pure air allows you to explore unexplored regions. Mauna Kea enters a new dimension. This is a gateway to the depths of space. millions of light years away human time no longer counts here astronomers can witness the birth of our universe finally the steel domes are shaking astronomers in their bubbles become solitary explorers wandering from nebula to galaxy each observation begins entering the coordinates kind of like giving the address

somewhere

in the universe, so the coordinates are 23 hours 3 minutes and 15.6 seconds and the platform is plus 8 52 25.2 at the 2000 equinox, so if you can point the telescope, I will be ready when you are at the top of monakia knowing that this is one of the best places in the world for astronomy, whether you are a student or a motivated astronomer, there is something really magical, it is unique, very special, sometimes It is an instrument that allows you to see the universe in a different way, like we have never done before.

You looked at it before and then you feel the magic. Sometimes it is an observation, discovering a new asteroid or a new supernova in a galaxy. You have that same magical feeling because you are in contact with a living universe where things are constantly changing and that is also magical. So the strange atmosphere that you experience in Monakia, I think is obviously due to the lack of oxygen. Your senses are affected. You are a little slower, a little slower and you also perceive things differently. It's also a little strange because we are so. isolated there is no one around so it is a bit like the monasteries of the Middle Ages and it really is like a monastery because there is a search for knowledge and we work alone we are on a modern spiritual search the scientific

quest

ion of course we are tired after A long night of viewing, but this is the reward, so we enjoyed the view before going to bed and then slept all day before getting up to start another night, oh, that's the tallest mountain in the world measured from the base of The bottom of the sea is a mountain that is 13,000 meters from the base to the summit.

Everest with an altitude of 8,000 meters is higher but it is already on a plateau so its height is actually lower Monekia is the tallest mountain. high of the world stepping on these desolate expanses is also an encounter with the myths and legends of the big island the summit of mauna kea is a sacred place it is a sacred place in Hawaiian tradition because it is where the gods of the heavens meet the gods of the earth giving rise to humanity so it is the center of the universe for the polynesians it is a very sacred place for them for all of polynesia this sanctuary marks the highest point of hawaii monaca is so sacred that hawaiians celebrate their most secret rituals here in the middle of this desert are the tombs of the great Hawaiian chiefs the mystery remains intact as a sign of honor their remains were placed here as close as possible to the gods who walk through this arid desert swept by the winds and snowy in winter are impregnated with an eerie impression a journey suspended between the sky and terrestrial life seems to thrive at the foot of the volcanoes from north to southeast to west each of the cardinal points has its own specific climate the great island is always restless Olivier dedicates time to pass on his passion to his son by teaching him about the Planets and Stars.

I'm out and about doing my observations on Mauna Kea and kids aren't allowed up there due to lack of oxygen, so this is a way to show him what can be seen through a telescope and let him see the wonders. from the sky by itself that's how you control the telescope you can tell it what the object is okay now maybe we can try it yes yes you can try lining it up on the sailboat do you remember saturn is the one with the Sounds good, yes, yes, remember that and Jupiter , I remember it on the map of the sky, yes, um, it showed Venus, huh, that was back then because it was not summer, according to a Hawaiian legend, the universe was formed from the union of darkness and light.

In the warm glow of sunset, the Pacific pays homage in its own way to the mystery of its origins.