WHAT'S GOING ON?

“Where did all of this traffic come from?” That was the question that I asked my older brother as we headed south to Captain Cook from the main downtown area of Kailua-Kona. It was 1998 and I was visiting for the first time since I had moved to the mainland. We were stuck on Kuakini Highway and Mamalahoa Highway for what seemed like an eternity, literally inching our way in traffic. He explained to me that this was called the “Kainaliu Crawl”, something that was part of everyday life for the people that worked downtown or further north and lived south of town.

I had thought that there had been an accident or something since that was usually the only reason for traffic being so bad in those parts. I couldn't believe it when we finally got home about an hour and a half later on a route that usually takes us thirty minutes. Now, in 2007, it is a million times worse. Because of rising rent and home prices in the areas closer to town, a lot more people were forced to move further south where the rural areas like Hawaiian Ocean View Estates, Ranchos, and so on are more affordable. With more people moving south, the roads were just not planned for so many vehicles. Public transportation is free but the routes are quite limited so it is not used by a lot of people even though gasoline prices are quite high at $3.34/gallon or higher for regular gas. The west and south areas were not planned very well is what it all comes down to.

On the other side of the island in the city of Hilo, there are alternate routes to use to get to wherever you need to go besides the main highway. It is not that way on the Kona side of the island. On weekday afternoons, visitors trying to sightsee and locals trying to just get home are stuck in traffic for sometimes hours. I'm surprised that local hotels and B&B's don't let their guests know that they should try to avoid certain areas between the hours of 2:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. I'd hate to be stuck in traffic when I'm on vacation. The morning trek from the south to the north is not any better either. If you try to travel between 7:00 a.m. to about 9:00 a.m. on weekdays, between the Captain Cook to Kealakekua areas, you will be stuck in school traffic. Ironically, there is a bypass road that was built along the Kona coast that would help to alleviate the “Kainaliu Crawl”. But, due to legal problems with some of the land that the road needs to go through, the road is almost done and sits unused since construction was halted a couple of years ago.

THERE IS STILL GOOD!!!

The Big Island is a beautiful and interesting place to visit. With the Kilauea Volcano, beautiful rain forests with waterfalls cascading down lava rock and beaches of white sand like Hapuna Beach Park, there are many opportunities to explore the island by land, sea and air. Fishing on the open ocean, snorkeling, horseback riding, bicycling around the island with a group, going for a helicopter ride. There's a lot to do here whatever you like to do even though we don't have all of the shopping like on the island of Oahu. But where else could you go play in the snow and then go surfing in the Pacific Ocean a few hours later during the winter season? The people here are friendly and always try to help too. When I lived in the states, it wasn't too often that someone stopped to just see if you were OK when your car broke down on the side of the road. Many cultures have come to make the Big Island their home so you will notice a big mix when you are here. We can't forget the food either! You aren't limited to fish and poi (Taro roots that are pounded into a paste) for all of your meals. You can get fine dining or a budget priced plate lunch (Usually 2 scoops of white rice, a scoop of macaroni salad and at least one kind of entrée) or bento (A meal-to-go consisting of rice and little portions of meat, fish and/or vegetables).

We have the fast food places like the mainland as well as some of the restaurant chains like Denny's and IHOP. You definitely need to try the food at the little mom & pop places where you can feed an entire family for the same price that you'd pay for a plate at a fine dining restaurant. Lodging is varied also. Should you decide that you don't want to do “the tourist thing” and stay in a hotel or condominium, there are many bed & breakfasts spread out throughout the island in very beautiful locations or you could get a camping permit to set up camp in the Hawaii Volcano National Park.

WANT TO MOVE HERE?

The island lifestyle is generally laid back. It is also a very good area to live despite the high cost of living. There are a lot of pros that go with the cons of living here. As I mentioned before, the areas around Kailua-Kona have higher prices for homes (Around $500,000 for a nice house, a little over $200,000 for a condominium, or $100,000+ for a lot) and the southern areas are cheaper (Around $250,000 for a newer house, $30,000 for a one acre lot in HOVE). Of course you will have to deal with fighting traffic to live south of Kailua-Kona, but to me it's a lot better to live in Hawaiian Ocean View Estates (HOVE) where it's nice and quiet for the most part. Not to mention that you'll have an acre to have your home on so your neighbors are farther from you.

We live on a catchment system since county water isn't available to us so it is something that you need to get used to but I couldn't imagine living anywhere else. My husband still teases me to this very day that I must be the only person on earth that would cry to go home to HOVE ever since I was in the hospital in Kona a few years ago with a kidney infection. Hilo and nearby areas are cheaper to live in but jobs don't pay as much in those areas and that side of the island gets most of the rainfall. The areas north of Kailua-Kona such as Kamuela (or Waimea), Honokaa and Waikoloa are reasonably priced as far as housing is concerned. Waikoloa is a drier area and where a few of the larger hotels are located, while Kamuela is a cool climate country kind of area that houses Parker Ranch.

Generally, people that live in these areas work in the hotel industry in the Waikoloa area or commute to Kona for their jobs. Again, public transportation is free but limited. For example, for us HOVE residents, there is a smaller bus that leaves HOVE a little before 4:00 a.m., gets to Kailua-Kona at about 7:00 a.m. and leaves at around 4:00 p.m. from Kailua-Kona. It works well if you are going to town to shop but when you have a full-time job that gets out at 4:30 or 5:00 p.m., it's not a good option for us. You could also catch the bus at 6:00 a.m. in Captain Cook and arrive in Hilo at about 10:00 a.m. You have a few hours in Hilo before the bus leaves for Kona at 1:00 p.m., going through the north side of the island. It's a bigger bus but it gets full on your way to Hilo. You'd better be sure that you make it on that bus back to Kona or else you'll need to find a place to spend the night in Hilo. If it's a Saturday, you'll need a place until Monday since the bus doesn't run on Sunday. Buses only run from Monday to Saturday in all areas. Employment is very good on the Big Island. With so many companies coming to the island, there's always a job to be found.

Whether you want to work in the public or private sector is a choice for you to make. Of course a majority of the jobs are based on the hotel industry because of tourism being a major source of income for the islands. Generally, when it comes to wages, a clerical position pays about $9.00 to $15.00/hour, warehouse positions about the same and construction about $10.00 to $30.00+/hour. Jobs in the hotel industry pay about $8.00/hour for some positions such as a bellboy (More for other positions such as housekeeper) but you also get tips so it kind of makes up for the lower rate of pay. It is a more “seasonal” job than others because even though we have tourists all year long, there is a slow season for tourism. If you really love the outdoors, you can work on the beach, at one of the national parks or on a coffee or macadamia nut farm. Like to dance or sing? If you learn to do the hula or Tahitian dancing, you can find a job at a luau. I've danced hula since I was a teenager so I've had the chance to perform at conventions, hotels, weddings, birthdays, grand openings, etc. Local bands are always looking for members.

I believe that I haven't mentioned anything about the schools on the island. We have public and private schools in all of the major areas of the island. Our children attend school in Kona because we work on this side of the island, just a personal choice that we made since it's easier for us. In Kamuela is a private school called Hawaii Preparatory Academy, said to be one of the most expensive private schools in the United States, where it costs about $40,000/year per child. Recently, a small number of charter schools have also opened on the Big Island. I've heard a lot of good things about these schools and their curriculum. One is West Hawaii Explorations Academy (WHEA) where you can learn about aquaculture and oceanography along with general studies for those who enjoy the outdoors, ocean and want to pursue a career in the field.

I believe that it is a public charter school but I'm not sure. Unfortunately, my children don't swim and one of them gets a rash from cold water so that was out for our choice of schools. If you'd like your child to learn in the Hawaiian language, there are immersion schools where only Hawaiian is spoken. School sports for most schools are the usual as in any other in the U. S. like football, basketball, tennis and soccer. However, other sports are slowly coming into the schools now such as double hull canoe paddling and water polo. No surfing as of yet though which is pretty lame considering we are surrounded by the ocean. Don't forget that “May Day is Lei Day in Hawaii”!! That means you'll probably hear about and/or attend their May Day program at school sometime in May or early April. This goes for elementary to high school.

When I was growing up, we usually ended up doing a hula or playing the ukulele for the program with the court (King, queen, and a set of representatives for each of the 8 major islands) sitting in the front of the whole school. Things have changed though. Our kids get to do choreographed dances to songs like “Locomotion” or “Turn the Beat Around”, dressed in colorful aloha wear. It just makes me laugh but it's so cute to see your little one dancing around barefoot on the grass. They still have the court though so at least that hasn't changed since it's something that only we have here in Hawaii.

I WOULDN'T TRADE IT FOR ANYTHING ELSE

Living on the Big Island of Hawaii is just the best thing on earth. It's as close to paradise as you can get. I've been to and lived in the states and Mexico. My husband who has never been out of the state of Hawaii is always wanting to go to Las Vegas but we've never had enough money to go out of state for a vacation yet. Still, he agrees with me. He'd like to visit the states but not live there because of one small reason. There's no place like home, there's no place like Hawaii and we wouldn't trade our life here for anything else.