Island Hopping! Maui to Big Island to Kauai to Oa

I forgot to visit the lavender fields while visiting with my sister and her husband in Kihei. I must visit this place this coming August 2006. Haleakala at 4am-I must take this sunrise picture this upcoming trip, too.

Oh, I went to Paia and ate at this charming breakfast restaurant. Their breakfast plates were gargantuan and their prices for their food very inexpensive. I shopped this quaint country town. Paia has a great health food store in town, so I shopped for my groceries here.

Quick Tips:

Go eat a Casonova's in Makawao-Awesome Italian food.

Turtle watching is at Lahaina Beach next to the Lahaina Harbor. Surfing lessons are available here, too.

Patey's Place-Lahaina's unadvertised hostel-very cool place to stay, three blocks from the beach and convenient to everything in Lahaina. Shhhh! Patey's Place is a Local's secret!

Best Way To Get Around:

Renting a car? www.priceline.com-I rented my car for per day. Ride the bus when going to Kaanapali Shores for and back to Kahului for . Forget the taxis-too expensive. You will be better off hiring a private limo driver instead of a taxi.

I have been so busy this past year, I haven't had the chance to write about my trip to my condo in Maui to Big Island, again then having a whale of a time visiting Kauai and Oahu!

It was virtually impossible to get accommodations through RCI at the spur of the moment anywhere within the Hawaiian Islands while I was staying at my condo at Kahana Falls in Maui for the month.

My girlfriend discovers I am in Maui and invites me to stay at her home in Waikoloa, Big Island of Hawaii. I hop on a shuttle to Kona from Maui. I decide to stay and hang out with my girlfriend and her family. Her husband offers me to borrow the Jeep, so I may visit the places I missed the last time I was in the Big Island. After visiting my girlfriend for one week, I began wondering what kind of trouble and adventure I could get myself into.

I had not made plans to visit Kauai much less anywhere else. I hopped on a shuttle from the Big Island and arrived in Kauai, right in the middle of the red season bookings! I managed to find a place to stay on a wing and a prayer. I stayed at the Kauai International Hostel in Old Kapaa Town. The dude from the hostel picked me up—very cool!

This is what is available at the Kauai International Hostel:

Airport Pick Up
Car Parking Available-In front of Hostel Internet Access
Laundry
Bicycle Hire
Wheelchair Friendly
Linen Included
Credit Cards Accepted
Security Lockers
Luggage Storage
Children Friendly
Guest Kitchen
Telephone/Fax Facilities
Travel Desk/Travel Info
Common Great Room and Lanai
No Curfew
!!WIFI IN LOBBY!!

I shared a room with four women in a large, multiple bunk-bed set-up, dorm room on the second floor. There are no elevators. This hostel was converted from a plantation estate home to a hostel. The Hostel kitchen is huge and very clean with a great room attached. At the hostel, you may watch TV or just hang out underneath the lanai.

You may book your reservations online via www.hostel.com. The rate to stay at the hostel was truly, surprisingly affordable, friendly, and pleasant.

I rented a car at Lihue Airport a couple days later and explored the entire island.

After staying in Kauai for about a month-I scratched my head-"oh-I think I will go to Oahu now and bumble around . . ."

This hostel was like staying in a very large apartment with six other co-ed roommates. The dorm room was very clean with its own kitchen set up in each dorm room. Very cool!

Here's the description of Hokondo Hostel:

Waikiki Beachside Hostel is the largest of the Hawaii hostels. This hostel offers excellent service, facilities and most importantly, a unique and fun atmosphere for exploring Hawaii while meeting new friends from around the world.

Hokondo has an outdoor lounge and entertainment area with 61" screen TV, disco lights and BBQ area with dining that can seat over 50 people. Additionally, there are 10 high-speed Internet-access computers. Hokondo offers tours for affordable rates, rent surfboards, boogie boards, snorkel equipment, mopeds, and much more!

Hokondo's location is in Honolulu only 1 block from Waikiki beach, where shops, restaurants, bars, nightlife, and major tourist attractions begin at the doorstep.

At Waikiki Beachside Hostel, Hokondo goes above and beyond what any other Hawaii hostels offer; Hokondo's level of service is unparalleled. Hokondo is confident that your stay at the Waikiki Beachside Hostel will be the best stay you have at any hostel in Hawaii.

Please note, you must be over 18 years of age to stay at this hostel.

Best Things Nearby:
Just beachfront homes and a beaches everywhere.

Best Things About the Resort:
Palapas are Hawaiian shelters, water, toilets, and cold showers available, too.

Resort Experience:
Marcia camped at Anini Beach for $5 per night. Despite the heavy tropical rainstorms which unsuspectedly arrived in the late evening, Marcia said she was safe camping at Anini Beach by herself.

• Campground Type: State/Province Park


• Campsite Type: Tent


• Price Range: $0 - $10


• Cleanliness: Very Good


• Campground Facilities: Very Good


• Recreational Facilities: Very Good


• Campsite Satisfaction: Very Good


• Family Friendliness: Poor


• Service: Very Good

All the beaches in the Big Island of Hawaii range from pure white, green, amber, beige, brown, red, and black sand. It is miraculous how one island can have a myriad of sand colors!

Please look at my pictures and notice the sand color. Also, the sunsets looked different when you head to South Point verses standing at the Waikoloa Village Shoreline.

Just look at the pictures. The only place I would not recommend diving is heading North towards Niihau, Hawaii's Forbidden Island. The ocean has unpredictable, violent undercurrents. Always take an experienced LOCAL master diver with you when diving in Kauai!

There were people diving in this underground cave. We snorkeled in this 55ºF freshwater sea cave. It was really cold inside the cave when it was blistering hot outside the cave.

Every beach we hit, the waves were rough with the exception of Anini Beach. The ocean was tranquil and looked like glass. The sad part about Anini Beach what that the coral formations died and deteriorated into large, broken coral stems all over the beaches.

Oh—I wasn't feeling well after all that diving I was doing in Maui.  My illness began after I was diving with Scuba God Jay.  Since I forgot to refill my prescriptions when I was on the mainland, I had to go to the VA Hospital in Wailuku.  I had a slight fever with a slight shortness of breath.  I had my albuterol inhaler prescription refilled here, but I did not see the doctor.  

I still wasn't feeling well when I went to visit my girlfriend and her family in Waikoloa for the week.  I was having a difficult time breathing.  Unknowingly, the Kilauea Volcano had been erupting the last 2 weeks while I was in Maui.  

I visited the volcano and saw the lava run down to the beach shoreline while on the Big Island this time.  The ash and the smoke were smoldering hot letting off a steamy gas as the lava flowed into the ocean.  I was far away, but you could see the lava flowing fast in the distance. I took my albuterol inhaler for what I thought I was having an asthma attack, but there was no sign of relief.  I leave my girlfriend and her family for Kauai.

When I arrived at the Kauai International Airport, I began to have heavy chest pains like my air passages were being stifled.  I was picked up by the Hostel's driver and taken to the Kauai International Hostel.  I was feeling terrible at this point.  The next day, I hopped on a bus to the Lihue Airport and rented a car at the Lihue Airport.  After renting the car, I went to the VA Hospital near Wal-Mart in Lihue.  

Ironically, it was Labor Day Weekend, so the VA Hospital was closed.  I drove my car down the street from the VA Hospital to the emergency room at this civilian hospital.  The nurse took me into the triage clinic immediately.  To my dismay, the doctor examined me and informed me that I was having an allergic reaction to the volcanic ash wafting through the Hawaiian Islands.  

What truly amazed me the most about the HMO services in the Hawaiian Islands-there is NO waiting!  I was seen immediately by the doctor after checking in with the triage nurse.  Plus, there was NO waiting for my prescriptions!  Awesome!

I was prescribed prednisone to cure the lung inflammation/infection from the volcanic ash.  So, if you get these exact symptoms, go to the doctor immediately.  The doctor did say that if I did not come in when I did, I would have suffocated from the allergic reaction.  Whatever you do, do NOT wait to see your doctor on the mainland!

So, no matter what island I visited, I did not realize that every step I took, I was kicking ashes towards my lungs!  Everywhere I walked was either old or new volcanic ash accumulating in my lungs, on my clothes, in my hair, on the soles of my shoes-everything.  Plus, combined with the wind, the ash was blowing throughout the islands.  The doctor told me that each and everyday, at least 20 people walk into the emergency room with these horrible allergic symptoms.

I arrived at the Kauai International Hostel after seeing the doctor.  Wow, I felt like I was choking.  I took the prednisone and went to sleep.  The next day, I felt some relief!  I could finally breathe.  So, I decided to explore Kauai armed with prednisone and albuterol inhaler in hand.

I did notice a few things about the Big Island of Hawaii-the beaches are alright, but they are not the best beaches I have seen within the Hawaiian Islands.

This landscape is formidable and unforgiving on your feet, due to the lava flows that are forming the entire island. So, the sand is more coarse than the sand found on the other islands.

If you look closely at the sand on the beaches of Big Island, strangely-their are bits of amber, red and some sort of green pebbles mixed together.

I found this type of green sand at South Point—the most southern end of the Big Island. This bit of green pebble sand mixture was interesting to observe closely. No other place I have visited had green sand, including Tahiti.