Had a great time this summer.

[hambone]

Spent 3 weeks in Hawaii. 

for Photos, go here   

http://s62.photobucket.com/albums/h105/hambone_04/

Top 10 Observations about Hawaii. (in no particular order)

1.  There's a lot of poverty in Hawaii.  Lot's of people sleeping on the beaches, in parks, on Honolulu's streets.
2.  Honolulu has no one that plans the transportation infrastructure.  The streets aren't well marked.  Streets don't run North/South or East/West.  They just go every which way.  Do not think for one second you can make 3 right hand turns and make the block.  There are a whole lot of one way streets.  Hawaii has 1.5 million citizens.  Half live in and around Honolulu.  There are NO streets with any names you will be able to pronounce.  Bottom line, getting around Honolulu is tough.  It is very congested.  EVERY city in Hawaii has a Kamehameha street, it's usually the main drag.
3.  It is HOT when you are in the sun.  When you aren't in the sun, it's very pleasant.   The humidity isn't nearly as bad in Hawaii as it is in Arkansas.  incidentally, the ocean is cooler in Hawaii than in the Gulf.   No where near as cold as say San Francisco.   
4.  Almost no one has AC in Hawaii.  Even in the hotels that have AC, the corridors aren't air conditioned.  Once you get away from the coast and up in the mountains, you really don't need it.  I needed a blanket a couple of nights.
5   Hawaiians don't get in a hurry.  Everything moves at a snail's pace.   You'll average 45 MPH on the Highways.  On the other hand, once you get out of Honolulu, you can be anywhere on the Island in an hour.
6.  Big Island doesn't have many beaches.  Mostly rocky coast line.  The few beaches they do have usually have large chunk of sharp lava in them.  The beaches are better in Florida. 
7.  There are two kinds of hula.  First, there's the authentic genuine original hula.  That will be some lady about 45 or older (200 lbs or so) waving her arms and swaying her hips back and forth, smiling, and a couple of people behind her strumming a ukulele and chanting.  The other one has a very attractive young thing moving her hips so fast that leis around her hips seems to float in the air above her hips.  There will be 4 or 5 guys behind her pounding drums.  My 13 year old son kept asking, "how does she do that?"  The latter is more entertaining.
8.  There is more desert on Hawaii (by far) than there is tropical rain forrest.  Only the very edge of the east coast of the islands (where the winds blow in) is tropical rain forrest.  Just the first few miles inland.  Once you get over the mountains (on the western side of the Islands) it is pretty dry. 
9.  A lot of the houses in Hawaii have no insulation.  In fact, often they will use a sheet of plywood as the ONLY wall.  They'll put a 2X6 horizontally about 3 or 4 feet off the ground on the inside and one of the outside and that's the wall.  In other words, there are no studs.   Not all walls and not just internal walls either.   Almost all the roofs are metal.  Only saw 1 or 2 shingle roofs and 1 tile roof.  A 1500 sq ft house, just a house, nothing fancy will run you $500,000 (at least that was the advertised price).   
10.  They have a terrible problem with feral cats, feral pigs, feral donkey's, and such.   These animals mess up the ecology by displacing native species to the point of extinction.

BTW,  Gas was about $3.50 a gallon.

Hawaii was nice.  We saw all the stuff you can't see any place else.  The Volcano's, Pearl Harbor etc.  If I'm going to the beach, I'd rather go to Gulf Shores.  It's a lot closer, a lot cheaper, and the beaches are nicer than all but a few beaches in Hawaii.  The one really nice thing about Hawaiian beaches is that the ocean's water is cooler than the gulf's.  Glad I went, but won't be doing it again anytime soon.  The travel brochures are better than the real deal.   Besides, I've got a whole lot of other places I want to go and see.

[EPB23]

did you get a chance to tour the Arizona memorial?  I'm not big on museums, but that one was amazing.

[bdutt]

Did you see Dog The Bounty Hunter?

[EPB23]

Did you see Dog The Bounty Hunter?

is that show based in Hawaii?  I always thought it was LA. 

[EPB23]

you're exactly right bdutt, +1 for the knowledge boost.

[hambone]

did you get a chance to tour the Arizona memorial?  I'm not big on museums, but that one was amazing.

Yes we did.  It was emotional.  Waiting about 4 or 5 hours to go out to it was a bummer and the 15 minutes we were actually at the memorial went by awfully fast but, it was definitely moving.   I've never had any other memorial have an effect on me like that one did.  But, I haven't been to the Vietnam Memorial in DC yet.  That's tenatively scheduled for next summer.   My kids are 6th and 8th graders, so next summer, it's DC, Boston, Philadelphia etc. 

[hambone]

Did you see Dog The Bounty Hunter?

No, but I did keep an eye out for him.  We spent a week on Oahu which is where Honolulu is. 

[HognotinMemphis]

I've been to Hawaii about 10 to 12 times in the last 20 years, since honeymooning there in '86. We've been to Maui, Oahu and the Big Island. We gone only to the Big Island after the first two trips.

Here are my comments on your observations:

Honolulu needs to be experienced....once. See Pearl Harbor and the other sites. Take 2 or 3 days at most then no need to ever return. It's basically New Orleans with a crowded beach out back.

There does seem to be a lot of poverty but the islands are mostly rural and you see that sort of thing in just about any state in the union in rural areas. I will say that they all seem fairly happy even in their lower economic class state.

It's not that hot in the direct sun there...certainly no hotter than it is here in Memphis in July and August if you are standing in direct sunlight, if as hot.

Things are slow-moving there...and I like that. Of course, I'm not going anywhere when I am there so it bothers me not.

The Big Island has quite a few very very nice beaches, some of the finest in the world (and that is fact, not just my opinion - check almost any world beach ranking website and there will be at least 1 if not 2 or 3 Kohala Coast beaches in the top 10 or 15 IN THE WORLD.).  We always stay at the same place - Mauna Kea Beach Hotel on the Kohala Coast (western side of Big Island about 30 min north of the Kona Airport. It's one of the more beautiful and relaxing places you'll ever see. And the 1/2 crescent beach there is world famous. The neat thing about all the beaches on the Kohala coast is that they are not private - the public can park and use part of the beach at this hotel as they can at all the hotels with beaches. The Mauna Kea was the first resort built on the Big Island in 1965. John Rockefeller built it. See it at http://princeresortshawaii.com/mauna-kea-resort-hawaii.php.

By the way, the golf course at the Mauna Kea has always been in Golf Digest's Top 100 courses in the world and the tennis facility there has always been in Tennis magazine's top 50 tennis resorts in the world. Course and courts are right on the ocean and the views are unbelievable.

Y'all probably stayed in Kona, didn't you? It's okay but further up the highway there are some fantastic resorts such as the Hapuna Prince (Mauna Kea's sister hotel built about 12 yrs ago) or the Mauna Lani and several others. I hope you didn't stay anywhere on the other side of the island, in or near Hilo. While nice to drive through, Hilo is not where you want to ever stay.

Regarding desert versus rain forest, it depends where you are and on what island. The entire island of Kauai is practically rain forest. And the entire Eastern half of the Big Island is rain forest. Where the Mauna Kea is, they average about 10 inches of rain per year. Get in your car and drive 15 minutes up the mountain to Waimea and you are in the rain forest where they average over 150 inches of rain per year and the temperature is always very cool - 75 in the day and 50's at night.

Glad you got to see the volcanoes. When we last went down to see them about 10 years ago, we stood within a quarter mile of the lava flowing into the ocean. It was quite a scene to say the least. Hope you drove across Saddle Road from one side of the island to the other. And if you did, hope you drove up to the observatories on top of Mauna Kea - the world's tallest mountain as measured from the sea bed to its peak. Yes, taller than Everest. The care rental agencies will tell you not to take your car on Saddle Road but it's a bunch of BS. We did in 2 years ago and it was the coolest stuff I've ever seen. At times, I felt like I was on another planet. The road is a bit beaten up but we drove the whole road from west to east in a Chrysler convertible. So, it's no big deal.

I strongly disagree about the beaches versus Gulf Shores or anywhere near there. There is no beach in all of Florida or Bama that compares with the beach at the Mauna Kea Hotel. The weather is ALWAYS great, the water is always crystal clear and clean - no trash, no jellyfish, no red tide, no algae, no seaweed, no hurricanes, no crap washing up on the beach, etc. And not to mention the crowds you get on beaches in Bama and Fla during summer months. The problem is of course getting to the Big Island or anywhere in Hawaii for that matter. It takes longer to get to Kona on the Big Island from Memphis than it does to get to Paris or London or Amsterdam from here.

Not only do I love the Big Island and the Mauna Kea, I'll get back there as often as I can for rest of my life. It beats anything the Redneck Riviera has to offer hands down in my opinion.

[hambone]

I would compare Honolulu to being more like Miami.

When you get off the "tourists" beaches on Oahu, go to some of the beaches the locals frequent, some of them where wall to wall tents, people living on the beach.  I've never seen people living on the beaches like that anywhere else.   Didn't see a lot of that on Big Island. 

Some of the natives did seem to resent what their island is becoming.

You said....  "It's not that hot in the direct sun there...certainly no hotter than it is here in Memphis in July and August if you are standing in direct sunlight, if as hot."


Don't disagree.  Hawaii isn't much, if any, hotter than it is in Memphis in the sun, but, in the shade, I'd much rather be in Hawaii than Memphis.  The humidity isn't nearly as high.  It is much more pleasant in Hawaii. 


You said...."The Big Island has quite a few very very nice beaches, some of the finest in the world (and that is fact, not just my opinion - check almost any world beach ranking website and there will be at least 1 if not 2 or 3 Kohala Coast beaches in the top 10 or 15 IN THE WORLD.)"


The nicest beach we visited on Big Island was Hapuna beach.  It was nice.  But, I didn't think it was just head and shoulders nicer than say Gulf Shores.  The point I was trying to make is that Big Island is not just one nice sandy beach all the way arround it.   The vast majority of it is lava rocks.   Oahu has a lot more nice beaches than Big Island.


You said......"Y'all probably stayed in Kona, didn't you? It's okay but further up the highway there are some fantastic resorts such as the Hapuna Prince (Mauna Kea's sister hotel built about 12 yrs ago) or the Mauna Lani and several others. I hope you didn't stay anywhere on the other side of the island, in or near Hilo. While nice to drive through, Hilo is not where you want to ever stay."

No, we didn't spend a single night in Kona.   We spent 5 nights at Keahou Bay, 2 or 3 nights in Waimea, 4 nights in Hilo (didn't get rained on during the day not one single time),  2 nights at the Volcano House, and I forget the names of the other couple of small towns we stayed.  We had fun in Hilo, we had only planned to stay overnight there but, we kept finding things to do.  It rained hard in Hilo every night but one.

You said,...."Regarding desert versus rain forest, it depends where you are and on what island. The entire island of Kauai is practically rain forest. And the entire Eastern half of the Big Island is rain forest. Where the Mauna Kea is, they average about 10 inches of rain per year. Get in your car and drive 15 minutes up the mountain to Waimea and you are in the rain forest where they average over 150 inches of rain per year and the temperature is always very cool - 75 in the day and 50's at night."

I drove all over the eastern side of Big Island.  The most rainforrest I saw was down in Puna.  We drove up Mauna Kea from Hilo and the rainforrest comes no where near half way up the mountain.  We drove from Hilo up to through Laupahoehoe to the Waipio Valley and it's not solid rainforrest.  There's a lot of forrest, just not rainforrest.  The point I was trying to make is that probably no more than 15-20% of big Island is rainforrest.  On the other hand, there is a lot of desert on the Island.  I had the misconception that it was primarily rainforrest before I went there.

You said...." Hope you drove across Saddle Road from one side of the island to the other. And if you did, hope you drove up to the observatories on top of Mauna Kea - the world's tallest mountain as measured from the sea bed to its peak. Yes, taller than Everest. The care rental agencies will tell you not to take your car on Saddle Road but it's a bunch of BS. We did in 2 years ago and it was the coolest stuff I've ever seen. At times, I felt like I was on another planet. The road is a bit beaten up but we drove the whole road from west to east in a Chrysler convertible. So, it's no big deal."


We drove the Saddle Road and I agree.  It's BS that the rental agencies don't want you on that road.  They just don't want to be responsible for coming to your aide if you are on the saddle road.  There is nothing wrong with the road itself except it's isolated.   And the road up Mauna Kea does not need a 4WD.  They do that just to discourage visitors.  ANY passenger vehicle with fuel injection can make it up that mountain with no trouble.  The only road that you need a 4WD for is the road down to Waipio Valley.   It's about a 30% grade.  Steepest paved road in the western hemisphere. 

You said,...."I strongly disagree about the beaches versus Gulf Shores or anywhere near there. There is no beach in all of Florida or Bama that compares with the beach at the Mauna Kea Hotel. The weather is ALWAYS great, the water is always crystal clear and clean - no trash, no jellyfish, no red tide, no algae, no seaweed, no hurricanes, no crap washing up on the beach, etc. And not to mention the crowds you get on beaches in Bama and Fla during summer months. The problem is of course getting to the Big Island or anywhere in Hawaii for that matter. It takes longer to get to Kona on the Big Island from Memphis than it does to get to Paris or London or Amsterdam from here."

Did you hike down to the Green Sand beach?  I did.  On the way there, it was disgustingly filthy.  Plastic bottles and trash all over the place.  I didn't see the beach at the Mauna Kea but, we went to all the highly recommended beaches and I thought they were real nice, but, I just wasn't awe struck by them.  And they were crowded. 

You said....  "Not only do I love the Big Island and the Mauna Kea, I'll get back there as often as I can for rest of my life. It beats anything the Redneck Riviera has to offer hands down in my opinion."


Well, they don't have a Lamberts restaurant.  And, I've always gone to the Redneck Riveria in the off season, when it wasn't so crowded and not so hot.  I've got too many other things I want to do to go back to Hawaii on a regular basis.  Next summer we're going to DC to see the government, Smithsonian, etc.  Plan to make it all the way up to Maine and see Acadiana NP.  Probably take a month, maybe more.




[/quote]

[HognotinMemphis]

We agree on quite a lot about Hawaii.

I think you would have had a better time at the Mauna Kea than 4 nights in Hilo, but to each his own. Mauna Kea isn't inexpensive either and to appreicate it you have to like playing tennis or golf or vegging on the beach.

Hapuna is nice but Mauna Kea's beach a mile north is better. However, both beaches have been the Beach Guy's #1 beach in the entire world in the recent past. He does a list every year on the top 10 beaches in the world.

Correct that it's not one big beach up and down the coast. The island is a giant lava flow. It's rocky except for beaches here and there. Some people think Hawaii = beaches. It's mostly lava flows and on western side is arid rather than rainforest. But Hilo is one wet city - about 150 inches a year. The whole northern part is rainforest - Waimea, Waipio Valley and north of there. Did you go the most northern tip where you can see Maui from? It's amazing there.

I've never stayed at the Volcano House but would like to do 1 night there some time. Was that enjoyable?

Have never been to Green Sand beach. What you saw doesn't surprise me though. Some of those beaches like that are well publicized and they get a lot of tourists who don't take care of it. The beaches at the resorts, those that have them, are the nicest and best kept. The Four Seasons resort near the Mauna Kea doesn't even have a beach and you pay more to stay there than any other place on the Big Island. Crazy.

No Lamberts there, that's true. But some nice places to eat in Waimea, a 15 min drive from Mauna Kea, on way to Hilo. If I ever return to Destin area, I need to go only in May or Sept or Oct. No more summer there for us...too many tatooed, loud rednecks, crowded beaches and too expensive for what it is. And the water quality is rarely good in July and August - very hit or miss.

Glad you did Saddle Road and glad you saw Waipio Valley. Pretty amazing view down into that valley from that lookout point, isn't it? We drove down that road - very steep. One way road too, so you have to pull over when you meet another vehicle. We were in a 4 wheel drive van that took us down to ride horses along the streams in the valley. Just beautiful. We need to do that again next time we are there.

I'm taking our kids to DC for spring break in March I think. Great time of year there and so much to do. I worked there in the Capitol in summer of '84 for Bumpers so I know how to get around. It's changed a lot since then due to increased security though. I was able to park about 100 feet from the door to the senate right on the capitol grounds back then. Now a car cannot be parked anywhere near the entire capitol.

[hambone]

things to do.  We went to the outrigger canoe races most of Saturday, Mauna Kea one day, went down to Puna one day, toured the macadamia nut factory, Tsunami museum etc. etc.   We did go up to the Pololu valley, the same day we went flumin' da ditch.   The Volcano House was fun, be sure and get crater view.  No point in staying there if you can't see the crater.  They have some cabins also.  I might prefer some of the cabins, didn't know about them until it was too late.  Hanging out in the Volcano House's restaurant overlooking the crater was pretty cool.  No AC there but, we didn't need it.   

The Green Sand beach itself was clean, it was the rocky coastline from where we had to park (the southern most tip of Big Island) and hike to the Green Sand beach that was awful. 

We stayed 5 days at the Sheraton Keahou Bay and it had a wonderful pool with a waterslide, waterfall, etc. etc. etc.  but there was no beach.   They had a free shuttle to a beach just up the road, it was next to Jameson's by the sea (It might have been Disappearing Sands Beach).  Maybe when we get the kids up and out of the house, we'll go back to Hawaii but right now, there's lot's of other places I've got to see.  I'm just hoping there aren't any more major terrorists attacks that cause them to lock down all the sights in DC before we get there.

[HognotinMemphis]

things to do.  We went to the outrigger canoe races most of Saturday, Mauna Kea one day, went down to Puna one day, toured the macadamia nut factory, Tsunami museum etc. etc.   We did go up to the Pololu valley, the same day we went flumin' da ditch.   The Volcano House was fun, be sure and get a crater view.  No point in staying there if you can't see the crater.  They have some cabins also.  I might prefer some of the cabins, didn't know about them until it was too late.  Hanging out in the Volcano House's restaurant overlooking the crater was pretty cool.  No AC there but, we didn't need it.   

The Green Sand beach was clean, it was the rocky coastline from where we had to park (the southern most tip of Big Island) and hike into the Green Sand beach that was awful. 

We stayed 5 days at the Sheraton Keahou beach and it had a wonderful pool with a waterslide, waterfall, etc. etc. etc.  but there was no beach.   They had a free shuttle to a beach just up the road, it was next to Jameson's by the sea.  Maybe when we get the kids up and out of the house, we'll go back to Hawaii but right now, there's a lot's of other places I've got to see.  I'm just hoping there aren't any more major terrorists attacks that cause them to lock down all the sights in DC before we get there.

We did that flumin' da ditch 2 yrs ago. I enjoyed that. Did you? Pretty unique experience among the old sugar cane fields.

[hambone]

I stayed warm but, just barely.  The rest of my family got cold.  We would have enjoyed it a lot more if it had been on a hot sunny afternoon.   Then we'd have had some hellacious water fights.   The most fun we had was on Captain Bean's dinner cruise.  Had a show all the way out, ate supper and then danced all the way back.  We had the whole family up dancing on the table.   

Did you check out the pictures at the website on the original post?

[HognotinMemphis]

I stayed warm but, just barely.  The rest of my family got cold.  We would have enjoyed it a lot more if it had been on a hot sunny afternoon.   Then we'd have had some hellacious water fights.   The most fun we had was on Captain Bean's dinner cruise.  Had a show all the way out, ate supper and then danced all the way back.  We had the whole family up dancing on the table.   

Did you check out the pictures at the website on the original post?

Yes I did. Looks like y'all had fun!

[hambone]

at Waikiki beach.   We paddled out and caught 3 waves back in.   We'd paddle like crazy and when the wave caught us, it would pick the back of the canoe up and just surge forward.  Throw your head back.  Then, we'd stop paddling and just ride.  It was so cool, looking down the wave at the surfers.   It was really fun. 

Surfing was fun.  My kids, especially my daughter, picked it up real fast.  Dad, not as fast.  If you want to learn to surf, Oahu is the place.  The waves on Big Island are TOO big to learn plus there aren't a lot of places where it's safe, not many beaches.

[proffitthog]

what does it cost to have a nice hawaiian vaction. middle of the road family of 4..

[hambone]

,

what does it cost to have a nice hawaiian vaction. middle of the road family of 4..

We had 2 adults and 2 kids.  My wife says we spent about $9,000 for the three weeks we where there.  We spent the first week on Oahu on Waikiki beach.  Then, we flew to Kona on the Big Island and spent two weeks.  We had a rental car the entire time.  A Chrysler 300 the first week and a Chevy Trailblazer 4WD the last two weeks.   We did everything outselves, no package or group tours.   That allowed us to move at our own pace, and stay as long or as little where we wanted to stay.  The ONLY thing we didn't get to do was take a horse back ride up the Waipio Valley.  They were booked up for like 5 weeks in advance.  But, we went parasailing, took a submarine ride, surfing, outrigger canoe ride, dinner cruise, flumin da ditch, Mauna Kea, Pearl Harbor, Diamonhead, Volcano's etc. etc.  We flew from Kona home via LA and Dallas.   We used free airmiles.  I don't play golf nor tennis.   Any specific questions?

[HognotinMemphis]

what does it cost to have a nice hawaiian vaction. middle of the road family of 4..

We usually don't do much but tennis and beach and eating. But, we'll spend as much per day on eats as we do on cost of hotel. Without airfare, 9 or 10 nights runs us about $5000 or so. That's just wife and me.

[Lanny]

I want to go but being on an plane for 8 hours is to much for me.  I am way to impatient for that.  As for Boston, Philly and DC, you'll have more fun in Boston, go in late September

[Boarcephus]

I'll echo what hSv said.   Too damn long on an airplane and flying all night long to get back is a bear.  Amazing how much better I feel after a twelve hour drive to Sandestin than I do after a 12 hour trip to Hawaii.  Been a couple times and that's plenty.  We've toyed with the idea of one more big trip and if we do one it'll be to Bora Bora and stay in a little hut over the ocean.

[bdutt]

I'm flying to Hong Kong in October.....16 hours, ugh.

[hambone]

I'll echo what hSv said.   Too damn long on an airplane and flying all night long to get back is a bear.  Amazing how much better I feel after a twelve hour drive to Sandestin than I do after a 12 hour trip to Hawaii.  Been a couple times and that's plenty.  We've toyed with the idea of one more big trip and if we do one it'll be to Bora Bora and stay in a little hut over the ocean.

Well, you could take a connecting flight to say LA, have a layover then on to Hawaii.  That breaks up the 8 hours of solid flying.   Going out, I was having back trouble.  It was rugged, I was uncomfortable all the way. 

[Boarcephus]

Well, you could take a connecting flight to say LA, have a layover then on to Hawaii.  That breaks up the 8 hours of solid flying.   Going out, I was having back trouble.  It was rugged, I was uncomfortable all the way. 

Know exactly what you mean...my back hurt, my butt hurt, not savy enough to play the computer games on back of the seat, tired of reading, and too early in the day to get drunk and pass out and wake up.  Miserable trip to say the least. 

We stayed at a couple super nice places..the Mauna Lani on the big island and the Grand Wailea on Maui but overall just a little disappointed in the trip.  To us, the money spent + the difficulty in getting there was just not worth it.  One nice thing about Sandestin is when we get ready to come home we just load the car and head back to Fayetteville.  In Hawaii, it's just not that simple.  I think in the future we'll keep our trips much closer to home.  Cruises are nice and haven't been on one in 4 or 5 years.  May add that one to our annual pilgramage to sandestin.   One thing we are sure of, where ever we go, the ocean will be involved.