Posts Tagged ‘Hawaii’

For a short while Hawaii was second in the nation on the average price of a gallon of gasoline, just behind California. However, that was short lived. Gas prices are back on the rise and Hawaii is back out in front. Unfortunately.

The nationwide average price for a gallon of regular gasoline was $2.68 as of this morning. The average price of gas in Hawaii, $3.05, just edging out California’s $3.02 average price. And for those that think that price is just on the Big Island, where prices are usually a little bit higher, think again. $3 gas is popping up all over the greater Honolulu area.

The price of gas bottom out in the low $2 range earlier this year as the economy was struggling to recover. The thought of $3 or even $4 gas was long gone as the price hike was thought to have gone away. But it’s back and appears to be here to stay.

Let us know what the price of gas is near you in our comments section below.

Hawaii’s New Hidden Treasures

The international phenomenon of geocaching has hit Hawaii. Residents and visitors alike put on their hiking boots and head into more or less challenging territory to find small boxes filled with a gift and a logbook.

“It’s like a high tech easter egg hunt,” says Alicia Greenwald, a Kane’ohe resident, of her new hobby. “It gets me off the couch and makes me do something really exciting.”

She finds the coordinates to a new location on the internet, and then uses her small GPS device to hunt down the treasure. There are approximately 900,000 of the waterproof containers hidden all over the world. About 500 are in Hawaii. Their number increases every month. The caches can be anywhere – from the slopes of Mt. Olomana to lava tubes on the Big Island, on beaches, in the rainforest, even in the water. The latest version is a cache in form of a small web camera. The finder has a trophy picture taken which is then instantly placed on the attached internet site.

The rules of the game are simple, and the game is free. Participants register on a website, for example on geocaching.com; they put a trinket and a logbook into a waterproof container, it can be Tupperware, a coffee can or anything that has a lid and withstands the elements. They hide it and publish a coded location on the website. The finders of the cache replace the gift with a new one and write their name with a friendly greeting in the logbook. Later they return to the website and list their success.

Pierre Michael came all the way from Switzerland to catch some winter sunshine and geocaches. “It’s such a great thing to do,” he says. “It gets you out into nature, to places that you’d never see and at the same time you can make new friends.”

Caching enthusiasts have quickly built a strong network on and offline. They exchange treasure hunting tips, reviews of gear and personal stories.

“Everyone wants to be a treasure hunter,” adds Pierre. “It’s a childhood dream and there is nothing more exciting than finding something that you really have to look and work for. It does not matter what is inside the box, there is no material value. It’s just about getting there and telling about it.”

Besides being strung to shiny, pretty leis, the Hawaiian kukui nut has an interesting history and a multitude of uses.

This precious gift of nature is also called candlenut. This comes from its century long use as a light source. They were strung on the midrib of a palm leaf, which served as a wick, and then lit. Their high oil content let them spread their light all through the tropical nights.

Kukui nut oil is an excellent skin treatment. It moisturizes even very dry skin, heals broken skin, and is used as a soothing relief after sunburn and reduces redness and swelling in other minor burns.

This potent oil penetrates the skin quickly without leaving a film. It contains the vitamins A, C and E and a high level of antioxidant, which all help to slow down the aging process of our skin and keep it supple and soft.

It has a light and pleasant scent and is used in massage oils, skin creams or just pure. Try it on a cotton ball as a make-up remover and if applied regularly it will reduce fine lines and small wrinkles.

Kukui nut oil users have also reported relief with skin conditions as psoriasis and eczema.

What is good for the skin is very often also beneficial for the hair as well. Kukui nut oil heals a dry scalp, and makes hair wonderfully soft and shiny. It detangles rebellious hair and seals the hair to make it resistant to the damaging effects of water, wind and sun.

Just put a few drops of it in your shampoo or regular conditioner or just rub in into your palms and distribute a small amount evenly over your hair.

With all those great benefits you can feel good about getting nuts!

When I still lived in Europe I used to drive for hours to find the best treats. One of my annual pilgrimages took me to Bruges in Belgium, where, hidden in the Old Town district, in between the canals and medieval walls, paradise awaited on a small, cobble stoned street. It was a tiny chocolate factory that produced unbelievable truffles and pralines. All were made with real butter and of course the best chocolate around. The fillings were also composed out of the best and freshest ingredients – puree of raspberries, champagne, nuts and cognac or just pristine cream and vanilla. Oh, heaven in a bite!

Some years ago I moved to America and prepared myself for strong withdrawals and sad nibbles on Hershey bars. Little did I know that after a gourmet coffee boom and a fine food craze all over the United States that there are not only wonderful imported chocolates, but also home grown delicacies right here in Hawaii.

Local farmers discovered that, in our climate, cocoa beans grow just as well as coffee and a booming new business started in the 90’s in Kona on the Big Island.

Companies like The Original Hawaiian Chocolate Company and Hawaiian Vintage Chocolate blazed the trail for more growers and manufacturers of a unique and utterly tasty product that is one of the fastest growing new industries on the islands. Cocoa plants are also spreading their roots on Maui and Oahu’s North Shore. The new crop tries to fill the gap of the lost sugar and pineapple production, but still has a long way to go.

To my great pleasure one of the new local chocolate boutiques just opened in my neighborhood. Forget Belgium and long drives. Now I can hop on my bicycle and work off some of the calories on the way. But the thought about calories ends as soon as the door to the little store on Kainehe Street in Kailua opens.

Melanie Boudar opened her “Sweet Paradise Chocolatier” last month and already has a dedicated community of fans. Chocolate tastings convince even the most critical palettes and, once bitten, no one remains shy to get more.

After a long career in the jewelry business, which often took her to Belgium, where she bought precious gems, Melanie decided to take her affection a step further and study the art of chocolate at the prestigious Ecole Chocolat of Vancouver, Canada and at the Culinary Institute of New York.

Her first career still shows, as she does not just create amazing truffles and other chocolate treats.  She turns every single one of them into a handmade work of art. Personally, I wish they were just a little bigger, just for one small bite more, but their prettiness makes up for that. Each treat is like a small piece of precious jewelry, shaped and dusted with color and delightful decorations.

Lilikoi Silk, Banana Rum, Blood Orange or Dark Chocolate Ginger are my current favorites, and there are many more that I have not tried yet. It is not easy to discipline oneself to moderation; however, the price of $14 for 6 pieces puts a damper on overindulgence. So, for the untamed chocolate craving the good old box of chocolate covered Macadamia nuts has to do, but for that special treat, when you really feel you deserve something that hits all of your senses, Sweet Paradise Chocolatier has a treasure chest to pick from.

I have always wanted to float down the Grand Canyon in a raft or kayak for a week or longer or shorter. I have just always wanted to do it. I have always wanted to climb the Grand Teton that I saw on a road trip with my friend in Jackson Hole, Wyoming when I was 18 years old. What a trip!  We packed up the F150 truck and started the 6,000 mile trip when gas was still around a dollar a gallon.  At the time, I never even heard of Hawaii or the North Shore or Obama.  Later, I saw and dreamed about climbing Yosemite. I stared at the base of the Half Dome for hours when I was traveling as an independent young man and said to myself I can do it.

I don’t know what it is about being out there and hanging by your fingertips or balancing on the balls of your feet.  Maybe it’s that feeling of flirting with nature.  I always just started to do what I wanted to do and as long as no one caught me or stopped me I have usually done it.

Now I want to talk about what I have done. I have lived in Hawaii for six maybe seven years now without leaving the islands.  You know how time flies. I left a good paying construction job to chase my dreams of being independently wealthy in the real estate business so that I can travel and play in the most extreme arenas that mother nature offers thrill seekers.

…and we all know the story of the real estate market. So, I bought, owned, operated, and sold a landscaping company on Maui while staging people’s homes to get a commission. That didn’t work, so I packed my bags to move to the Big Island to sell timeshares. I lived there in a vog-infested environment, lost my health, put on a little weight, and lost a few months of surfing on Oahu to chase that dream of becoming independently wealthy.

The one thing I can say is that I did it. I have done all these things and, in the last year or so, I lived and worked on building a nursery in Waimanalo. I bought and built a music club which has been a great and fulfilling business and musical experience. I broke the first ever C4 waterman stand-up board. (If you know someone else who broke one let me know.) I tried to start a tour company here is Hawaii and failed miserably but guess what — I tried it.

Now that I am thirty and almost thirty-one, I must say I have lived a fulfilling and beautiful life based around one small principle: I do what I want to do and I love doing it. This love came from my parents — mainly my dad.  Like father, like son. He bought me my one way ticket to Hawaii not knowing where I would work or where I would stay. He got me the ticket because I wanted to do it. Key note to homeless island travelers: Don’t sleep at Magic Island overnight because the sprinklers will come on.

Anyways back to the conclusion of this article. Now that I am almost thirty-one, and now that I’ve spent the last year doing what I want to do, I have had the chance to step out of my own narrow line of vision and look at what everyone wants to do and what everyone is doing. So far, I seem to have a little bit of fog in my goggles or water in my eyes because I am not sure what the majority of people my age are looking to do in life. When I look at the whole population of people my age that are in Hawaii I must say some are surfers, some are baby makers, some are business owners (usually of a family business), and the rest are blue collar workers. What I am looking for is some clarity on what people really want to do and the actions they are taking to make it happen. Do other people really have a seed of prosperity they are growing in their own gardens to produce bounty or are they going to continue to shop at someone else’s store of prosperity? Do others have visions like I do?  Are they acting on those visions to achieve their goals or are they just talking about it or saying, “when that happens or all when this happens I do this…” — the old cause and effect?

Well, let me tell you one thing I’ve learned in my near decade of life in Hawaii: You are the cause your reality and life is the effect.  Life effects you and all the people around you as long as you are alive. That is one thing that is as true as Hawaii being the greatest place on earth to live — for a few months out of the year anyways.

The world is a big place.  Let’s go play.

With the Pacific Ocean engulfing the Hawaiian Islands, the fish of Hawaii are numerous, colorful, and everywhere. From large sharks to small beautifully colored fish, the waters are filled with all types. Keeping them straight is a difficult thing, so we’ll try and help you identify some fish to make your hawaii snorkeling adventure that much more enjoyable.

To begin we have to talk about the state fish. That super long word that everyone says with a smile. The Humuhumunukunukuapua’a. What a mouth full.