As I compose this posting, Lala early this morning was still a tropical storm heading westward for the eye making landfall over the southern portion of the Big Island of Hawaii.
- However, all signs point towards a strengthening into a hurricane. A Category 1 means sustained winds of from 74-95 MPH.
- If this projected path is maintained, Kona will be seriously impacted, but Hilo might not.
My first job after graduating from college was at the Hutchinson Sugar Company in Naalehu, the southernmost city in the USA. This part of Kau County could well be very severely damaged by this hurricane.
The media have mostly indicated that official historical records don't show a hurricane has ever made landfall over the Big Island. However, Google AI indicates:
On August 9, 1871, a powerful Category 3 hurricane struck the islands of Hawaiʻi (the Big Island) and Maui, causing severe, tornado-like destruction and widespread property damage from Hilo to Lahaina. [1, 2, 3]
- So that graphic is not exactly right.
- Hawaii gets threatened with hurricanes up to Category 5 every year. However, the last one to make landfall is Hurricane Iniki at Category 4 (145MPH) over Kauai in 1992, a third of a century ago. That was also in an El Nino year.
- Damage of around $10 billion in 2026 dollars, with 7 deaths.
- A very unusual storm:
The origin of Iniki is unclear, but it may have begun as a tropical wave that exited the west African coast on August 18. It moved westward across northern South America and Central America, entering the eastern Pacific Ocean on August 28.
- Note the sudden right turn northwards. Meteorological conditions cause this to happen quite frequently, and if you look at the future path of Lala, it is predicted that this will also occur for this storm. The danger is that an earlier northward movement would be catastrophic.
- Iniki means strong and piercing wind in Hawaiian, Lala, not so aptly descriptive, a branch of a tree.
Stephen Spielberg and his crew were filming Jurassic Park on Kauai when Hurricane Iniki struck. From Google AI:
Steven Spielberg used real footage of Hurricane Iniki battering the Kauai coastal waters in his 1993 feature film Jurassic Park. The storm footage was integrated into the movie during the sequences depicting the severe tropical storm that hits the fictional dinosaur island. [1, 2, 3]
Here is a look at the real-life storm footage and how it was handled:
In the Feature Film
So back to our cruisie on the Azamara Journey. Here is a video indicating that Iceland should have been called Greenland, and Greenland...Iceland. About Greenland.
- Is the largest island and most sparsely populated territory in the world.
- Greenland is an autonomous territory of the Kingdom of Denmark, which also owns Faroe Islands.
- Population.
- Denmark 6 million.
- Greenland 56,000.
- Faroe Islands 52,000. There are 17 inhabited islands.
- Land area.
- Greenland 836,330 square miles. Is just a little larger than Saudi Arabia.
- Denmark 16,602 sm. Is bigger than the state of Maryland.
- Faroe Islands 538 sm.
- The capital and most populated (20,300) city is Nuuk, the only stop on Greenland that we have scheduled a tour.
- Most residents are Inuit.
- Is socially progressive, with free education and healthcare, and the most extensive LGBTQ rights in the world.
- 67% of electricity from renewable energy, mostly hydropower.
- Considered to be a part of the North American continent, but has in history been associated with Scandinavia.
- Has been inhabited by circumpolar peoples from 4500 years ago, with Inuit being the most prominent.
- Norsemen from Norway settled in the southern part early in the 10th century.
- Erik the Red was the dominant personage for the island.
- Born in Norway as Erik Thorvaldsson in 950.
- His hair and beard was reddish.
- Father exiled to Iceland when Eric was 10. Something to do with murders.
- Erik made an earlier discovery foray to Greenland in 982 when he was exiled from Iceland. Also something about murders.
- But he returned to Iceland three years later to organize an armada of 25 ships to colonize this new territory he called Greenland, to make it sound more appealing.
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- Died in 1003. How? A lot of books and films have speculated.
- Around the year 1000, Erik's son, Leif Eriksson (meaning son or Erik), and brought with him Christian missionaries. There were 3000 inhabitants on 300-400 Viking farms, a society that survived for half a century. Why and how it disappeared in the 1500s remains a mystery.
- The Red's daughter Freydis was particularly fearsome. Also an explorer, she was legendary in Vinland (modern-day Newfoundland, Canada) around the year 1000
Greenland was a ssociated with Norway from 986 to the early 15th century.- Dano-Norwegian explorers in the 17th century established permanence.
- From the 18th century, following the union of Denmark and Norway with the establishment of the Nuuk settlement, gradually became more associated with Denmark, when the two countries separated in 1814.
- From 1951 to 1953, the U.S. greatly expanded Thule Air Base as part of the unified NATO defense strategy, spending the 2025 equivalent of $1.7 billion. A treaty was signed, which allowed the United States to keep its military bases in Greenland, and to establish new bases or "defence areas" if Denmark agreed,[71]
- Only became a colony of Denmark in 1953.
- Homerule granted in 1979.
- Greenland voted for self governance in 2008.
- There was an effort for the U.S. too purchase Denmark 80 years ago:
The United States offered to buy Greenland from Denmark for US$100 million in 1946 (equivalent to US$1.7 billion in 2025). Denmark firmly rejected the offer, as the island was seen as an integral part of the Danish kingdom, important to its history and national identity.[69][70] In 1951 Denmark and the United States signed the Greenland Defense Agreement, which allowed the United States to keep its military bases in Greenland, and to establish new bases or "defence areas" if Denmark agreed,[71] and if deemed necessary by NATO. The US military could freely use and move between these defence areas, but was not to infringe upon Danish sovereignty in Greenland.[72]
During the second presidency of Donald Trump, the United States has pursued a campaign to annex Greenland by various means.[94] This followed a failed attempt by Trump to purchase Greenlandduring his first presidency, that was firmly turned down by Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen.[94] The Danish Defence Intelligence Service included the United States as a potential threat to national security alongside Russia and China in its threat assessment that year.[95][96] On the international stage, Trump's threats against Greenland have been described as a new, potentially unprecedented challenge to NATO.[97]
Finally, Thule Air base was more recently renamed Pituffik Space Base,and was transfered to the U.S. Space Force. In the old days, the worst air force staff was assigned there for punishment. Today, maybe a bit more glamour, being the the Department Defense's northernmost base, and a vital foothold for the current administration to advancee their options.
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Gerard Butler stars in the disaster film franchise Greenland, which expanded with the theatrical sequel Greenland 2: Migration on January 9, 2026. This post-apocalyptic sci-fi series is not a television show or a Google AI project; it is a feature film franchise following a family surviving a comet impact. [1, 2, 3]
I have noticed both on Prime Video and HBO Max, but have avoided watching them because the original only got a 78 rating from Rotten Tomatoes, with #2 a sufferable 48. After our Greenland adventure, I now have a good reason for seeing both. Not giving anything way, but these films are called Greenland, because that is the ultimate sanctuary to survive an incoming comet....but becomes seismically unstable in the sequel.
I was planning to add our Azamara Journey photos here, but will save them for tomorrow. We just moored off Nanortalik, Greenland.
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