Entries tagged 'Kona-Kohala'
Hate Crimes in Hawaii? Big Island Case Underway
I've often blogged about violence in Hawaii and my suspicions that a lot of violent or threatening acts are swept under the rug here. So it's good to see the authorities finally recognizing the true nature of the beast. This...
Hapuna Beach, Big Island: Most Dangerous Beach in Hawaii
Hapuna Beach is definitely one of the nicest beaches in the Hawaiian Islands, a long stretch of wide yellow sand rimming a crystal blue bay. Alas, it's also one of the most dangerous. This research surprised me, because Hapuna, while...
Kona Coffee Festival: Cupping, Eating, Learning on Big Island
Each November on the Big Island, the Kona Coffee Festival kicks off with a jolt -- hee hee. The festival is all about the world class Joe that the sunny side of the Big Island puts out. Big Island Kona...
Kona Manta Ray Dives with Open Road TV / Doug McConnell
My friend and fellow Federated Media author, Doug McConnell runs the Open Road TV Website (and does travel-oriented TV segments). He's done a number of nifty video podcast on Hawaii. I'm going to periodically post and link to them because...
Hawaii Vacation Rentals: Off the Grid, Still In Style
Get Al Gore off your case for taking that private jet to Hawaii and stay at the AHU POHAKU HO'OMALUHIA. This is a spa/retreat/vacation home rental on the North Kohala Coast of the Big Island. The main rental house has...
Big Island Travel: "Rolling Green Hills"
Most of the time when I read drive guide articles by mainland writers, I rarely find something original or different. It's far too easy to trod the beaten path and many editors far from Hawaii don't know the difference. When...
Hawaii Celebrity Sightings: Reba McIntyre, Lost
The country singer legend took a private tour of the Parker Ranch on the Big Island, the largest (really!) working cattle ranch in the country and one of the last bastions of the paniolo lifestyle (although this paniolo stuff is...
Hawaii Museums: Hulihee Palace on the Big Island
Update: Hulihee Palace suffered considerable damage in the 2006 Earthquake centered off the Big Island. Tours of the palace are offered on a limited basis due to this damage and reconstruction work may be underway in the near future. This...
Big Island Most Dangerous Place to Drive in Hawaii
Following on the heels of a tropical cocktail post (irony intended), a more sobering note. Ten of the state's 11 most dangerous intersections are on the Big Island. Which is particularly frightening as more than any other major island the...
Hikes for Tykes: Kohala Waterfall Tour on Big Island
In the Kohala District of the Big Island, clouds of mist collide with volcanic mountain ranges. The resulting rains fill hundreds of mountain streams and create numerous waterfalls, most of which are not accessible to the public. This region is...
Kealakekua Bay Update: Buoys, Closure, Still Lots of Room
This in from my friend Jessica Ferracane who reps the Big Island Visitors Bureau and also writes some nice books about eating around the Big Island and Maui. "Temporary buoys mark a 100-foot section along Kealakekua Bay - including the...
YouTube Video of the Day: Turtles in Kealakekua Bay
Turtles are a sign of good luck in the Native Hawaiian culture, a potent aumakua (or animal sign). They are also beautiful to watch in their native habitats. Most snorkel spots around the islands give you a decent chance...
Hawaii Restaurants: Merriman's Market Cafe
Noted restaurateur Peter Merriman was one of the original founders of the Hawaii Regional Cuisine (HRC) over a decade ago. His flagship eatery in upcountry Waimea is an island institution with intricate plates crafted from Big Island produce (he has...
Hawaii Hotels: The Fun and the Beachless
During the winter months, sunseekers flock to Hawaii for the beach. A good swimming beach, however, is hardly a pre-requisite for a hotel location. On the Big Island, in particular, where swimming beaches are few and far between, many resorts...
Earthquake Update: Mauna Kea Beach Hotel Closed Indefinitely -- Did County Inspectors Miss the Cracks?
Holy cow! The October quake that hit the Big Island took its first hotel casualty as the Mauna Kea Beach Hotel, due to extensive structural damage to its roof, was shuttered indefinitely This information came to light yesterday after a...
Hawaii Hotels: First Hotel to Hire Foreign Workers
The Honolulu Advertiser has a good article covering the first instance of a Hawaii upscale hotel hiring foreigh workers. The Fairmont Orchid, on the Big Island, hired these workers to ease an acute labor shortage. They have 100 staff positions...
New Quake: No Big Deal, Only 5.0
The Big Island got hit with an aftershock around 9 am this morning, Thanksgiving Day. We felt it over on Oahu but it was pretty much a little blip. From what I am hearing, there are no reports of additional...
Earthquake Update: Big Island -- Polulu Trail Reopens
The October quake struck pretty much directly off the coast of North Kohala on the Big Island. Access to Polulu Valley, a sheer amphitheater valley literally at the end of the road in North Kohala, was shut down after big...
Hawaii Hotels: Kona Village Resort -- Family Heaven
For the most part, Hawaii hotels are booked up for the holidays. Yes, its kinda crazy out there. But should you get the urge for a post Xmas vacation with the little ones, the Kona Village Resort might be one...
Poolhound: Hilton Waikoloa Village Kiddie Pool
Travel & Leisure readers love the 62-acre Hilton Waikoloa Village on the Big Island. They've given the resort top marks among family resorts in Hawaii for several years now. Am sure the canal boats and the mini-tram used to ferry...
Big Island Restaurants: Manago Bay Hotel
This is an excerpt from a book by Jessica Ferracane, "50 Thrifty Big Island Restaurants". Foodies trolling for blue collar grubs should dig in. And a hat tip to the folks at Watermark Publishing who agreed to the excerpts....
Ask Hawaiirama: Earthquake Damage Helpline
Often, being in Hawaii means getting better information. After the quake, I was able to talk to people on the ground that I trusted and get a much better read on damage than MSM. That's part of the reason for...
More Earthquake Aftermath: Little Makena Closed
The state Deparment of Land and Natural Resources has closed Little Beach in the Makena district of Maui, Maui News reports., after a landslide hit the beach area. Cinder cones that form the hill between Little and Big Beaches are...
Big Island Gem: Mahai‘ula Beach
One simple pleasure of exploring Hawai‘i Island’s sunny, lava-drenched west side is discovering a precious nugget like Mahai‘ula Beach, also known as Kekaha Kai State Park. Make it past the bumpy – but negotiable – semi-paved lava road and you’ll...
Hawaiian Culture: Ancient Ponds, Restored
Here's a fascinating article about the history of the anchialine pond's on the Big Island's Kona-Kohala Coast and one man's quest to revive them. These landlocked brackish ponds are linked to the ocean through volcanic tubes. Such natural ponds were...
Hawaii Hotels: Mauna Lani Post-Quake Deal
Someone had to do it. The Mauna Lani Bay Hotel and Bungalows resort just whipped out a "Shaken, Not Stirred" promo deal,with tongue squarely in cheek. The posh resort, which suffered some minor damage from the Big Island quakes on...
Earthquake Update: Saving Your Hawaiian Vacation!
Just spoke to Sharon Sakai of the Kohala Coast Resort Association. She said that the Mauna Lani Bay Hotel & Bungalows had reopened its 4th and 5th floors, leaving only its top floor closed. The Mauna Kea Beach Hotel has...
Quake Update: Hotels are All Open, Running But...
Kawaihae Boat Harbor, the primary freight harbor for the Kona Coast of the Big Island, suffered significant damage to its piers, according to West Hawaii Today. That could impact supplies flowing into the Big Island, although it would be possible...
It's Official: HVCB Says The Earthquake Barely Happened
Update: So this post got me a call from David Wilson, head of McNeil Wilson and the top spinmeister for HVCB. Apparently, the damage to the Mauna Kea Beach Hotel was so minimal that county inspectors already passed the structure...
More Info On Earthquake Damage
This from Sharon Sakai at Kohala Coast Resort Association. More later. "...every hotel property is open for business (Mauna Kea Beach Hotel, Hapuna Beach Prince Hotel, The Fairmont Orchid, Mauna Lani Bay Hotel & Bungalows, Hilton Waikoloa Village, Waikoloa Beach...
More Information Coming: Hawaii Earthquake
The office of Governor Linda Lingle will be releasing more information later this afternoon. I'm hoping for a list from someone. What I'm hearing is that damage on Big Island is perhaps more serious than people initially let one. A...
Big Island Earthquake Update: Part 3
Here's a tenative list of damaged hotels. Some may prove to be very minor but definitely check before you check in. One other consideration. One of the two hospitals in West Hawaii has suffered some fairly serious damage. I'll keep...
Earthquake Update
I've been trying to reach the Big Island Visitor Bureau and the Kona Kohala Coast Resort Assocation to get updates on the hotels. Have not been able to get calls through. Apparently, all flights are on schedule. But am starting...
Big Island Earthquake Update
Most of you have probably read about the quake that hit Hawaii yesterday. It was relatively minor for most of the islands but has had some serious impact on the Big Island and on the Kona (western) side of the...
Taste of the Range: Love Family Farms
One of the real crowd pleasers at the event was the maracuya cheese cake whipped up by Love Family Farms. Ken and Margy Love run this small coffee farm in Kona with a kitschy twist. Visitors can pay to adopt...
Cool Shops: The Gallery at Hilton Waikoloa Village
I stumbled upon this gallery in the massive resort in Waikoloa on the Kona-Kohala Coast of the Big Island when I was visiting this past weekend. It's packed with art, some of it cheesy but a lot of it...
Hawaii Hotels: Best Bars -- Sheraton Keauhou Resort
Where: Lobby Bar at the Sheraton Keauhou Bay Resort Why: Do you really need to ask? If you must, the endless blue Pacific pulsing against a black lava landscape and the sea caves of Keahou Bay, kaleidescopic sunsets like...
Beaches We Love: Kauna`oa
This Big Island beauty fronts one of Hawaii's classic resorts, the angular, elegant and Frank Lloyd Wright-esque Mauna Kea Beach Hotel. The sand is quite fine and the surf generally mellow. Due to its strong westerly orientation sunsets are...
Carnivore's Dilemma: Taste of the Range
A little known fact -- the Parker Ranch on the Big Island is the largest cattle ranch in the country in terms of total acreage. No surprise, then, that the Big Island is ground zero for high-end beef, lamb...
Solar Powered Golf Carts
On the linx at the Mauna Lani Bay Resort, you can cruise the greens in a green machine. Aptly dubbed the "Sun Caddy", this nifty little machine comes courtesy of Berkeley-based Powerlight. I don't know if any other Hawaii...
Green Hotels in Hawaii: Fairmont Orchid
You've all run into those little pamphlets in a hotel bathroom urging you to hang up your towel and use it another day. That's not enough for the Fairmont Orchid (pictured to the left), a luxe resort on the...
