Form versus function: which should take precedence in building design? The answer to this age-old question is clear to architect and interior designer Michele D'Amico. It's always a fine balance between exterior and interior, between aesthetics and practicality. But, ultimately, D'Amico believes that functionality is key.

When Melanie Boudar was building her luxury Bed & Breakfast home in the rainforest of the Big Island’s Volcano area, she first made a map of the property and its major trees. Then she designed the house to fit around those trees, and rented a huge crane to lift the lumber over them.

Diving with giant manta rays is one of the rarest and most sought-after of undersea encounters, but off Hawaii’s Big Island it is almost a nightly experience as scuba divers and mantas come together in a thrilling ballet. The divers are drawn by the mantas, which are enticed by millions of plankton, which are attracted to the divers’ lights after riding the upward surge of nutrient-rich seawater from thousands of feet below.

Native Hawaiian artist Solomon Enos carries the standard of the Hawaiian warrior. His battlefields are the canvas and the forest. His mission: to fire a passion for art and for the preservation of the ‘äina, the land. In the process of his quest he has become one of Hawai‘i’s most prolific painters. His images bring legends to life in galleries and public places, and on the pages of the best-selling book, The Epic Tale of Hi‘iakaikapoliopele, recounting the life of the goddess Pele and her sister, Hi‘iakaika.

Many hidden treasures await those who know where to explore the Hawaiian Islands…little places tucked away in mountain crevasses, on valley floors, or under a canopy of dense tropical foliage. Happily, not all such adventures require a backpack and compass. If you like to do your adventuring by auto, one excellent place to begin is the Mänoa Valley on the island of O‘ahu.

Twelve hundred feet up the slopes of Maui’s Mount Haleakalä is the unpretentious source for one of Hawai‘i’s most surprising and honored culinary delights. Twenty years after its founding, even the name, Hail‘imaile General Store, belies the trappings of this celebrated Upcountry eatery and the gal who cooked it up. With its 1920s plantation styling and wide-porch-welcome, the venue might evoke the hospitality of the Old South… were it not for those nearby fields of fragrant pineapple and sugarcane.

As if crafting a delicious reduction sauce, chef Roy Yamaguchi has deftly distilled the diverse flavors of Hawai‘i into pure culinary delight. At 37 popular restaurants that bear his name in Hawai‘i, Japan, Guam and on the U.S. mainland, guests are treated to everything from Island-inspired sushi to tropical salads to signature entrees like roasted macadamia nut crusted mahi mahi and a mouthwatering molten lava chocolate soufflé. Each concoction conveys a taste of Hawai‘i, infused with the unmistakable taste of its creator.

Doreen Nagano holds up an 18-by-24 inch stained glass window panel she calls The Tropical Garden. Sunlight ignites the oranges, greens, reds and yellows of the heliconias, birds of paradise, and ti leaves in the lush, lovely vignette. It took a month for the self-taught artist to create the piece from 203 pieces of hand-cut glass. So fine is her craftsmanship, it mirrors the magnificence of nature.

Its flowers shine like points of pure sunlight in the dry forest, or like golden coins scattered over bleak lava flatlands. ‘Ilima is so common in Hawai‘i, clinging to life with a weedy enthusiasm in arid, wind-whipped nooks and crannies, that one is tempted to take the sight for granted. And yet this indigenous shrub provides one of the great traditional lei flowers. It is celebrated in many songs. It is the official island flower of O‘ahu. In every Island-loving heart it represents the subtle beauty of the Hawaiian wilderness.

“I have stood in awe of sculptured landscapes touched by the emerging light of dawn, the day's last rays and the haunting glow of moonlight,” says fine art photographer Peter Lik. “My passion for photography is fulfilled by my search for the spirited heartland of Mother Earth.”