The biennial Ocean Sciences Meeting, co-sponsored by AGU, ASLO, and TOS will be held at the Hawaii Convention Center in Honolulu on February 23-28, 2014. Increasing evidence of multiple human impacts on the oceans makes this is a critical time for the largest international assembly of ocean scientists, engineers, students, educators, policy makers, and other stake holders to gather and share their results on research, application of research, and education. What better place to hold the meeting than an island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, where there is emphasis on mauka to makai (ridge to reef) connection, the ultimate in ecosystem-based management: where there is interest in combining traditional knowledge with science-based understanding: where islands are in threat of disappearing from sea level rise: and where East and West can easily meet.