Header photo credit Scott Hess; original photo cut and enlarged. Deep in the forests of the Big Island lies Pahoa Town – a sleepy little town, its sidewalks made of hundred-year-old planks of wood left over from a bygone time. A few old hippies wander around the streets, also left over from a bygone era. Pahoa Town’s rustic colorful buildings look like fake storefronts for a western movie, but they are real and still used as homes and businesses. This…
Once a week when you walk by Macdonald’s inside the Kona Walmart you can hear sweet Hawaiian songs being sung by tutus (grandmothers). They are dressed in colorful mumus, happily strumming their ukuleles and singing their Island songs. Hawaiian songs and hula define being Hawaiian. The ultimate example of Hawaiian Culture is the Merry Monarch Festival, happening in Hilo every April. A humble ambassador of the friendly Hawaiian culture – the shaka sign – is known in all corners of…
To really know our islands you should know the animals in Hawaii. They scurry through the bushes, skip across scraggly lava, and fly through the air. Allow me to introduce you to a few everyday Hawaii animals. Mongoose (Small Asian type) The first one to meet is the cute but unappreciated mongoose. You’ll see this furry little rascal running across the road in front of your car, or slipping out of a bush to grab an old french fry. He…
You smile as a Hawaiian girl puts a plumeria lei around your neck. It’s your first Hawaiian Luau and you’re excited. Wearing your new lei, you walk onto the wide lawn where a 100 people, mostly in flowery shirts, are sitting at tables waiting for the Kalua Pig and the big hula show. There’s the Polynesian Stage, with the wide, silver ocean behind it and the big red sun hanging above the water. You step into the bustling dinner grounds…
You might think of whale watching in Hawaii as a rather peaceful activity. To see a whale surge out of the sea and fall back down in a massive splash is a beautiful sight. Some things are beautiful from a distance. To see a whale up close is rather scary. Let me tell you a real whale’s tale. A Maui Whale Watching Tale We were on a whale-watching boat off Lahaina, Maui one morning, all the camera toting tourists were…
It’s like flying, it makes you feel free and lifts you into the air like a seabird in the wind. Once you try it you’ll be hooked, the word is “stoked”. I’ll give you a hint, it’s a sport, it happens in the perfect warm waters of Hawaii, it gives you a tan, and makes you feel really alive, ok, it’s surfing in Hawaii. On the islands, you can go surfing at any time. You want to lie on a…
Green hills rising up behind the town, tall trees waving in the misty valleys, a cold breeze hitting on your face. Are you in Switzerland? Oregon? Northern California? No, this is Hawaii, a mountainish town on the Big Island called Waimea. This is the Big Island Waimea, not Waimea town in Kauai, not Waimea Valley or the famous Waimea Bay on Oahu. Fortunately, like the Big Island with many names, Waimea has two names, the other is Kamuela. Why is…