Hawaii... Which Island is Best ?

[Bruce B]

I stayed on the big island a couple of years ago on the Kona side in Feb/Mar. for 10 days. I took in everything I could. Went zip-lining, snorkeling, helicopter tour around the island, luau (sp?), went to top of Mt. Mauna Kea and rented motorcycle and explored all the parks. It's the first vacation I've taken in my life where I didn't want to go back home and was seriously looking at real estate.

 

[flez007]

I like Big Island a lot!

 

[steve williams]

I like Big Island a lot!

It really is a Big Island

When we stayed there for a week I logged well over 1000 mies driving everywhere on that island

 

[rbbert]

"They" say 11 of the earth's 13 different climate zones are present on the Big Island!

 

[BobM]

We honeymooned in 1991, flying into Oahu, spent a week in Maui, then a week in Kauai, then 2 days in Oahu before coming home. Maui was wonderful and seemed to have the most to do and see. Kauai was just beautiful, peaceful and serene. Oahu was a city to be passed through on your way somewhere else.

We went back for 10 days vacation 3 years later and stayed on Maui again. A lot had changed - the road to Hana was paved and it lost some of its charm, but gained some safety I'm sure.

If/when we go back now that the kids are grown I want to visit the big island.

 

[jkeny]

I stayed on the big island a couple of years ago on the Kona side in Feb/Mar. for 10 days. I took in everything I could. Went zip-lining, snorkeling, helicopter tour around the island, luau (sp?), went to top of Mt. Mauna Kea and rented motorcycle and explored all the parks. It's the first vacation I've taken in my life where I didn't want to go back home and was seriously looking at real estate.

Yea, I brought wife & two kids to Maui in 1995. Long trip from ireland but worth every minute of the plane journey.
Stayed in Wailea but travelled the island, Lahaina, Halekala, Kihei - loved it all.
Stayed in SF on the way back but coming from Maui it was unfair to the city which I took a while to get to like.

For me Maui was the only holiday place I considered buying property on. At the time, for the money we could have sold our house for, we would have bought a fine piece of real estate in Maui. Work prospects was the limiting factor. Ah well, someday, maybe?

 

[rbbert]

I really can't say I have a favorite island, but I've only spent time on the big 4. Each has its own appeal, and I think you're selling Oahu short if you judge it by Honolulu; there's a whole lot more to that island.

 

[JackD201]

True. Lots of great places on the windward side. For surfers Oahu is Mecca.

 

[still-one]

We go just about every year. We like to spend one week on The Big Island and one week on Maui. This coming Jan/Deb will be the same plus three nights on Oahu. For us Oahu is too busy and Kauai too slow and the one road makes it a pain.

 

[mauidan]

Of the of eight major islands of the archipelago, I've been on seven.

Since I retired over two years ago, I haven't been to Oahu other than to catch a flight to the mainland.

On Maui, there's really only one road to the resort areas both West and South.

When people who have never been to Hawaii ask me where they should go, I always tell them to go to Wailea and stay at the Kea Lani.

BTW, many years ago, someone told me Kauai is the Hawaiian word for Mayberry.

A hui hou.

 

[JackD201]

Kea Lani's renovation is nice and fresh. Love that you can snorkel and see turtles right off the beach. The wife was doing yoga and a humpback breached a few hundred yards off shore. Surreal.

 

[KeithR]

I think Maui is becoming similar to Florida now that its so built out- and there are far fewer things to do outside the resorts than other islands. The Road to Hana is pretty overrated...Mammas is a good spot on the way back though (and overpriced). Lahaina Grill is one of my top 5 restaurants anywhere, period. the Grand Wailea where we stayed was fabulous though- you really don't need to leave it.

I just got back from Kauai and personally found it much better. Unless you require 5-star dining outside of hotels or nightclubs, no contest (I can have that in LA every night). And the Princeville Golf Course (where I stayed) is magnificent- i can see golfers in love with that place. The helicopter tours are a must to see the Napali Coast. It's sleepier than Maui or Oahu- but let's not kid ourselves that Maui is a late night mecca.

Next up for me is Kona...i've heard mixed reviews of the Big Island, but imagine I'll be into it.

KeithR

 

[rbbert]

'ULU Ocean Grill at the Four Seasons just north of Kailua-Kona is an incredible dining experience; probably even a little pricier than Mama's, though. The original Merriman's is also on the Big Island, but I think the one on Maui is better. Also, as you might expect, you'll do a lot more driving on the Big Island than the others so you should allow for the time that takes.

 

[mauidan]

Thought you folks that have visited Maui, would enjoy this story from today's Maui News.

Aviation pioneer lays claim to code for airport - By MELISSA TANJI MN Staff Writer

What is OGG? That’s the question Maui District AirportsManagerMarvin Moniz probably gets asked the
most, all in relation to the three-letter code for Kahului Airport that adorns tickets and luggage tags.

Most airport codes make some reference to the city in whichthey are located. For example, HNL is easily understood as Honolulu, in Denver the code is DEN and Los Angeles International Airport is LAX, Moniz said. But perplexed members of the traveling public have asked via email and phone: “Where does the OGG come in? We can’t seem to figure it out.”

Starting today, that question will be answered in plainview of travelers at Kahului Airport. Hawaiian Airlines will unveil an8-foot-tall, 47-foot-wide wall exhibit on the late Bertram James “Jimmy” Hogg, a Hawaii aviation pioneer and former Hawaiian Airlines pilot, whom the airport code honors. While not uncommon to have a codeor an airport named in honor of a person, OGG has garnered lots of attention.

The exhibitis near Gate 19 on the airport’s second level, so only ticketed travelers will be able to view it. But avideo about Hogg, produced by Hawaiian Airlines, is available at www.youtube.com/hawaiianairlines.Both are part of Hawaiian Airlines’ 85th anniversary festivities.

The decision to have the three-letter code in honor of Hoggwas the result of a question posed to the man who had greatly assisted aviationauthorities with their new radio equipment on Maui, said former HawaiianAirlines pilot Rick Rogers, who now serves as Hawaiian’s archivist and is oneof the leaders behind the exhibit. (Maui Transportation Security Administrationworker Tim Williams was also a catalyst for the project when he noted how many times he getsasked about OGG.) Rogers said that officials from the Civil Aeronautics Authority, now known as the Federal Aviation Administration, asked Hogg, “Would you like the airport named after you?” Hogg agreed. He also got to choose between the airport code being OGG or HOG, as only three letters are allowed. “He thought for a second,(then said) let’s stick (to) OGG,” Rogers said.

That was in 1957, when the CAA determined codes for airports.Rogers said that officials selected Hogg for the honor as they were so appreciativeof his effort in helping with outfitting a freighter plane with new radio equipment so it could be tested by the CAA.

By that time, Hogg had made many other strides in Hawaii aviation history. He was born on Kauai in 1908 in the Grove Farm area and was hired on Jan. 1, 1930, by Inter-Island Airways, which became Hawaiian Airlines in 1941, Rogers said.

Hogg was originally a mechanic helper who receivedtraining from Oakland Technical School on the Mainland. He was the 11th or 12th person hired by Inter-Island on Oahu, Rogers said. A year later Hogg became a mate, which encompassed being amechanic and a co-pilot, flying amphibian planes, including to the old Maalaea airfield. Hogg also flew the first interisland airmail flights between islands in 1934, Rogers said. As a co-captain, Hogg was so skilled he even trained captains how to fly. Rogers said that Hogg was a “pilot’s pilot” and was just good at flying.

At the end of the 1930s, regulators required pilots to be able to fly with instruments only and, at one point, Hogg was the only pilot in the company to have that rating, Rogers said. He rose through the airline’s ranks, becoming the overseer in flight training and aircraft. He also flew new, pressurized airplanes and captainedtrans- Pacific flights, Rogers added.
“Here’s the guy that went from flying a . . . little nineseat amphibian airplane to a full jet,” Rogers said.

Hawaii aviation historian, former TWA pilot and Honolulu Community College aviation program coordinator Peter Forman expressed a similar sentiment. He said that Hogg started out in the “most primitive airplanes” and in the “lowest position possible” in the aviation business, but when he left he was a captain for a DC-9 jet.

In the early days, Forman said, Hogg flew the SikorskyS-38, and it was done by visual navigation. Pilots flew low so they could see the shoreline. Passengers numbered around eight. But by the time Hogg retired, he was flying jets with morethan 100 passengers.

“What a transition,” Forman said. “Aviation grew up while he was a pilot.” What made Hogg a better pilot and more skilled at flying than others was his airline mechanic background, said Forman.For example, pilots were having a hard time during takeoff in the Sikorsky S-43, which carried twice as many passengers as the S-38 but cruised half asfast.
Hogg, then a co-pilot, was able to figure out how to alleviate the problem by adjusting power on the engines.
“He developed a very good technique that other pilots adopted,”Forman said.

A few days after Dec. 7, 1941, Hogg was quickly in the air moving important passengers such as plantation bosses and military officials from island to island. He flew without any instruments,Forman said, as navigation aids were turned off after the attack on Pearl Harbor. Forman added that Hogg was later told that some members ofthe military who did not know who he was while in the air were shooting at him. Forman said it was likely that Hogg did not know shots were being fired. But added that Hogg“had this mission (of moving passengers) and he was going to complete it.” Rogers, who didn’t know Hogg, said that through his research he found out that Hogg was a strict trainer. “He wasn’t one to baby-sit you kindly.” But as soon as you learned the ropes of piloting and earned his respect, “you would be best friends.”

“Everyone thought of him as a tremendously skilled and talented pilot,” Rogers said. Hogg did fly airplanes into Kahului Airport after its threeletter code was dedicated to him. But it wasn’t something he made a big deal about, Rogers said.

He retired from Hawaiian Airlines in 1968, with his final journey traveling to Hilo, Maui and Honolulu.
Hogg died March 30, 1992, at the age of 84 in California,where he moved after living on Oahu, Rogers said.

Back at Kahului Airport, Moniz, a former Hawaiian Airlines employee, said that employees are happy to educate the public about Hogg’s life and be“part of the historical moment sharing the history of Kahului in terms of aviation.”
“This will definitely cut (down) the phone calls and emails,”he joked.