KAUAI
In the middle of the Pacific Ocean, just south of the Tropic of Cancer, the Hawaiian Islands languish in azure blue. Fanned by trade winds and smiled on by the Sun God, they are thousands of miles away from any major landmass and just about as far away from anywhere as you can get.
The oldest and greenest of these tropical jewels is the island of Kauai. Formed by a series of volcanic events about four million years ago, the island was lucky enough to be endowed with peaks that thrust high enough into the glaring skies to snag unsuspecting clouds as they make their way across the Pacific. This encounter between high-flying water vapor and Mount Waiʻaleʻale creates one of the wettest spots on earth and provides the island with enough water to be the tropical paradise that it is.