After getting home I knew I had to do more research into this wall. Reading between the lines of the Wikipedia page I figured out that this wall is a reproduction of wall #6, “Hawaiian Humpbacks”, which was previously destroyed. It’s not exactly the same as the original but it is very close and it is part of the Wyland collection. A while later the Wyland Foundation posted some clarifying information.
Excerpt from @wylandfoundation on Instagram
Wyland’s first Whaling Wall in Hawaii was destroyed when the Prince Hotel built directly up against it in a total disregard for one of Hawaii’s favorite landmarks. “I have to admit I was pretty discouraged that this hotel had a total disregard for one of my favorite Whaling Walls, the 6th of what would be a planned 100,” Wyland says. “As fate would have it, a very similar wall near the Honolulu Airport became available many years later. I had drove past that wall on the H-1 freeway for years and imagined resurrecting the first mural there. Even better, the airport had 2 sides. I could simultaneously resurrect the vision for the old Whaling Wall on one side and paint a new one on the other side. The old one was easy, capturing the spirit of the first Honolulu Whaling Wall. The new one allowed me to give the thousands of commuters a sunrise view over Diamond Head crater. I loved the idea of making a wall disappear into the natural world.”
Standing up against the wall, Wyland somehow painted the warm sunset colors of the sky, Diamond Head crater, and the sunlit surface with humpback whales swimming across the wall. The above and below view gave a 2-worlds view of Hawaii’s humpback whales, the state’s marine mammal, along with dolphins and sea birds. Today the mural is the largest in the state of Hawaii with millions of cars viewing the old and the new Whaling Walls dedicated to the people of Hawaii.