Hawaii - the Aloha State - welcomes and seduces visitors with its plumeria-scented sea breezes and tropical warmth. This is where East merges with West in a blur of hula and hip-hop, soap operas and creation myths, junk food and Japanese tea ceremonies, Shinto shrines and surf clubs.

Mark Twain declared Hawaii to be 'the loveliest fleet of islands that lies anchored in any ocean', and not even 50 years of mass tourism have managed to prove him wrong. Whether your thing is volcano spotting, surfing or hanging loose on the beach, this is the place to indulge yourself.

Sparsely populated Moloka'i is the last surviving piece of the old rural Hawaii. It exists in a kind of time warp: no packaged Hawaiiana, no high-rises, and more farmers than tourists - and locals are fighting to keep it that way, protesting, picketing and raising hell against the Moloka'i Master Plan, which is eyeing beguiling La'ua Point for luxury homes.

Although the island has long had a reputation for being wary of outsiders, and is trying not to turn into another Hawaiian playground for part-timers and tourists. But there could be trouble in paradise - paradise attracts pirates, and that's how some see Moloka'i Ranch, with its plan for a 200-lot development at La'ua on the West End.