Midway (CVA 41) - Naval Cruise Book

Page 79 text:

. . . then molded by man into a playground

Page 78 text:

The sun is the predominant feature of Hawaii. Even though there is much rain, there is hardly a day when the sun doesn ' t break through the clouds during the afternoon. Dur- ing our stay everyone had the opportunity to spend a few of those afternoons beside the pool ar at one of many natural beaches. I softened by sunlight . . . The sun is not the only distinguishing feature of the islands. They also quietly boast of the wettest spot in the U. S. Rain is nearly as common as clear weather. The most common however is a combination of the two — rain around the mountain peaks and sun over the beaches. The strange sounding possibility of crossing the street into a rain squall is not as impossible as it sounds in some parts of the island. But through it all is the constant tropical breeze that makes even high temperatures comfortable, and around it all is the blue Pacific mellowly whispering its cooling message to all on the islands. This was the land that Captain Cook sailed upon in 1778. It was occupied by 200,000 nature loving Polyne- sians who had done little to enhance or destroy its natural beauty.

Page 80 text:

With the coming of the Western and then Eastern man, the face of the Islands started to change. The huts of natural palm leaves were pushed aside by wood, and later steel and concrete. The dirt foot-paths were replaced by black asphalt and white cement streets. The green hills at the historic Nuuanu Pali, where once King Kamehameha forced an entire army over the Cliffs to death on the sharp rocks below, were replaced by 18 holes of rolling golf course. The naturally-sculptured rock on the South coast of Oahu which resembles a huge crouching lion was to become nothing more than an advertisement for a new place, The Crouching Lion Inn. And so on. But man didn ' t do too bad. In many places the architecture and designs used by man have en- hanced rather than detracted from nature ' s beauty. The modern hotels along Waikiki and the shops in downtown Honolulu are a sight by themselves. These glass and steel monuments to the ingenuity of man fight for attention alongside the grass and foam of nature. The additions of man are es- pecially evident at night. The lights of Honolulu create an impres- sion that nature has only matched in the Milky Way. The lights of the Royal Hawaiian glancing off the beach at Waikiki plus the back- ground of Hawaiian music combine with the lights of the stars and the music of the palms and surf to give one of the most romantic im- pressions known to modern man.