Image courtesy of Nasa's Virtually Hawaii Project (copyright by P. Mouginis-Mark)

Hawaii Island (19° 45' N - 155° 45' W) with 4,028 square miles of land area is bigger than all the other islands of the Hawaiian Archipelago  combined.  This island is also home to the massive Mauna Kea volcano.  Mauna Kea towers 13,796' (4,205 meters) above the sea and is frequently snowcapped in the winter.  Mauna Loa is even more massive than Mauna Kea, but doesn't quite reach as high as its neighbor to the north.  In all, five volcanoes combined to form the entire island.  The leeward side of the island off Kailua-Kona provides calm and deep water that scientists aboard the Oscar Elton Sette find to be an ideal place for the study of pelagic fish and we often come here to tag and track tuna and billfish.