HERE ON THE BIG ISLAND - Seeing Hawaii When You Aren’t Here October 6, 2008
Posted by Kelly in : About Hawaii, Big Island Hawaii, HERE IN HAWAII, HERE ON THE BIG ISLAND, Hawaii Travel, Updates , 2commentsHERE ON THE BIG ISLAND
By Kelly Moran
Seeing Hawaii When You Aren’t Here
People have a tendency to see what they want to see. And if you want to be in Hawaii, don’t be surprised if more and more things start you thinking of Hawaii.
I don’t mean the ads and articles in travel magazines. Whether you’re a longtime subscriber (to what I heard a frequent-flier call “travel-porn”), or just back-date browsing in a waiting-room, those articles and ads are deliberately intended, designed, tweaked and polished for the purpose of making you think about coming here.
I also don’t mean “Hawaii 5-0,” or “Lost,” either. Nor the mystique of “tiki” that has likely propelled a million visitors into the Pacific. Ever since Trader Vic’s first opened, thousands of bamboo-torches have lit up back-yard bars. And upscale establishments with superficially thatched roofs (like the Tonga Room in San Francisco’s Fairmont Hotel) have been popular for decades.
No, not those things. It’s little things I mean. You’ve just seen a mai-tai on a passing tray, and suddenly you think of the first mai-tai you had on your first visit to Hawaii. There’s a palm-tree on the breast-pocket of someone’s sport-shirt, and you remember looking up under a real one, to see if the nuts might fall. (Actually, in Hawaii’s public parks, coconuts are removed so they don’t.) Your menu has a less-familiar Hawaiian word, like “haupia,” and because you know that means there’s coconut in it, you start wondering what an airline ticket costs now. Maybe it takes only hearing or reading the word “coconut” . . . ?
There’s a wonderful feature in the Honolulu Star-Bulletin’s online edition called “The Search for Signs of Hawaiian Life.” People send in digital photos from all over the world — pictures of mainly (and literally) SIGNS: for restaurants, shops and other businesses that somehow echo things Hawaiian. There isn’t much surf on the Adriatic coast, but here’s a picture that a friend took, just outside of Dubrovnik, in Croatia. Makes you want to hang ten, doesn’t it?
Incidentally, in light of my recent blog asking if you are ready to live here, a new book may be a cautionary tale. It’s called “Off the Grid Without a Paddle,” by Lynne Farr, who moved to the Big Island with her husband before they had really checked the place out.
HERE ON THE BIG ISLAND - Are You Ready to Live Here? September 16, 2008
Posted by Kelly in : About Hawaii, Big Island Hawaii, HERE IN HAWAII, HERE ON THE BIG ISLAND, Hawaii Travel , 3commentsHERE ON THE BIG ISLAND
By Kelly Moran
Are You Ready to Live Here?
Many people dream of living in Hawaii. Take a few vacations here - maybe even just one - and the idea will certainly cross your mind. But whether you do move here, or just keep dreaming about it, is up to you, because living in Hawaii, full-time, is not for everybody.
In my last blog, I talked about relocating your pets. Now I want to talk about relocating yourself. I can help you do it. But I want you to come with your eyes open. If you are serious about living here, full-time, there are some aspects of life here that you should keep in mind.
The Climate. People who move to Alaska are people who trulyenjoy wintertime. If you move to Hawaii, your favorite season had better be summer, because unless you live more than 2,000 feet above sea level, you’re going to be hot most the time.
And probably wet, too. You may not want to live on the rainy, windward side of the Big Island, but with the exception of our desert-like leeward shoreline, this island is also very humid. Granted, we don’t have a wet-blanket humidity, like Florida or the Gulf Coast, but there’s always moisture in the air, and you should be prepared to deal with mold and mildew.
The Cost. If the reason you like summertime is because you can beat the heat with air-conditioning, remember that electricity on the Big Island already costs nearly 40 cents a kilowatt-hour, and is sure to go higher. Although there are now State income-tax incentives to install solar hot-water systems, many homes here still have electric water-heaters and ranges. Add in what your hair-dryer or your power-tools will consume, and you can expect your monthly electric bill to be gigantic.
Stroll through a local supermarket; most necessities are more expensive here than on the Mainland. And as the price of oil climbed, this past year, fuel-surcharges raised the cost of shipping. And the price of airline tickets. Getting you here also costs more, now, than ever before.
The Isolation. This is something you may not be able to plan for. Hawaii is a very big island, as islands go. But it’s no continent. There are only so many places to drive and things to do, here. How many trips will you really take to the beach, the volcano, or the summit of Mauna Kea? You’re going to spend a lot of time at home, staring out your window at the ocean or the tropical foliage; and believe it or not, you could get bored. You might contract what local folks call “rock fever,” and yearn to get the heck away!
The People. Unlike everywhere else in the U.S., it’s perfectly acceptable, in Hawaii, to talk about race. Nearly everyone here has a multi-cultural background. The various ethnicities of beauty-pageant contestants are proudly and publicly announced. A dinner guest may turn to another and say, “You look Polynesian - are you part-Hawaiian?” (On the Mainland you would never hear: “You’re rather dark - is someone in your family Black?”)
Local people - strangers, even - may ask about your ethnic background. If you are Caucasian, it’s not enough to shrug and say you are a haole - they can see that! You must be prepared to elaborate (”My mother is a German Jew and my father is Polish,” or whatever.) And you will hear plenty of ethnic jokes based on stereotypes; they’re rarely cruel, but they are popular, and you’ll have to take them in stride, especially if it’s your ethnicity that’s being laughed at.
In a multi-cultural environment, too, not everyone will speak English well. You’ll have to get used to hearing “Pidgin”, especially among youngsters. And you must be prepared to slow down, when talking with shopkeepers, service people, and even government officials.
I don’t want discourage you. But living full-time in Hawaii is more complex than it may appear to be when you’re here on vacation. The reality is: some people who move to Hawaii . . . move back.
HERE ON THE BIG ISLAND - Is Hawaii Still a Nation? September 8, 2008
Posted by Kelly in : About Hawaii, Big Island Hawaii, General, HERE IN HAWAII, HERE ON THE BIG ISLAND, Hawaii Travel , 1 comment so farHERE ON THE BIG ISLAND
By Kelly Moran
Is Hawaii Still a Nation?
Something happened in the 1890s, that has not yet been fully resolved. Last month, while most people in Hawaii were celebrating the 49th anniversary of Statehood, political activists briefly took control of Iolani Palace, in Honolulu, claiming it as the seat of a native Hawaiian government that had been illegally overthrown.
Was it illegal? After King Kalakaua died, his sister Liliuokalani became queen. She wanted to change some laws regarding land ownership, and extend the voting franchise to ordinary Hawaiians who did not own property: actions which would have undercut the disproportionally large influence that a few haole merchants had gained under her brother’s (admittedly sometimes careless) reign. So in 1893, a committee of Honolulu merchants persuaded a U.S. Marine commander to lead a company of armed men from their ship in the harbor, to surround Iolani Palace, while the merchants went inside and formally deposed Liliuokalani.
Furious, Liliuokalani sailed to Washington DC, and persuaded both President Grover Cleveland and many U.S. senators that her overthrow was illegal and should be nullified. But the merchants had allies in the Senate too, and considerable influence in the American economy, regarding the sugar trade. Within a few months, there was a brief armed putsch in Hawaii, which failed to restore Liliuokalani to the throne. Brought up on charges, she was convicted of knowing about the insurrection but failing to report it, and sentenced to house-arrest.
In Washington, despite five years of lobbying and debate, the Senate could not resolve the issue of her sovereignty; and in 1898, President William McKinley - an advocate of American’s “manifest destiny” to grow ever westward - annexed Hawaii.
Whether the queen was a victim or a tyrant, and whether annexation was a blessing or a curse, is still debated today. To make her case in Washington, Liliuokalani wrote her autobiography, Hawaii’s Story (Mutual Publications, facsimile edition, 1990); and many subsequent books have followed her lead and taken her side.
The annexationists’ case is especially well made by Thurston Twigg-Smith, grandson of one of the merchant committee’s leaders, in Hawaiian Sovereignty: Do the Facts Matter? (Goodale Publishing, 1998).
Feature films have never covered the drama, but The Trial of Liliuokalani is a provocative stage play - first mounted in Hawaii, in the 1970s - that playwright Maurice Zimring based on court transcripts.
A bill has now been introduced to the U.S. Senate, by Hawaii Senator Dan Akaka, that would grant native Hawaiians much the same status under law as Native American Indians have today, including the right to form a quasi-governmental organization. It has plenty of opponents, who claim it would create a race-based division of the citizenry; and the “Akaka bill” was tabled in the last congressional session. But Hawaii’s Republican governor favors the bill; and passing it is now a plank in the U.S. Democratic Party’s election platform.
It’s possible, therefore, that when the 50th anniversary of Statehood rolls around, next August, the nature of the day’s events may be rather different than they have ever been before.
HERE ON THE BIG ISLAND - The Great Outdoor Circle August 11, 2008
Posted by Kelly in : About Hawaii, Big Island Hawaii, General, HERE IN HAWAII, HERE ON THE BIG ISLAND, Updates , add a commentHERE ON THE BIG ISLAND
By Kelly Moran
The Great Outdoor Circle
In my last blog I mentioned Hawaii’s billboard laws in passing. But they deserve a blog of their own . . . and a round of applause.
They may be unique in the United States in that they forbid the erection of billboards, not just in some places but everywhere in the Islands. And the idea of banning billboards didn’t come from “green” politicians in the 1990s, nor from hippies in the 1960s. The movers-and-shakers who successfully lobbied the government to ban billboards were women - housewives, mainly - and they did it more than 80 years ago!
They were members of a club called The Outdoor Circle, that had been formed in 1912 with the goal of keeping Hawaii green and beautiful. Some were descended from Hawaiian royalty, but many were the (mostly haole) wives of Hawaii’s mostly haole) richest and most politically influential men. Like “women’s clubs” elsewhere, the Outdoor Circle had gotten trees planted along streets and avenues. But for the women of Hawaii, that was not enough.
Despite the revenues that billboard advertising would generate, and the likelihood that billboards would draw customers to their enterprises, the businessmen of Hawaii agreed with their women-folk that, to preserve the Islands’ unique beauty, they would support laws forbidding large outdoor advertisements and severely limiting other kinds of signage.
The first of these laws was passed in 1927, and more were added as new technologies, such as neon lighting, became available. Additional laws were enacted in 1948 to prohibit aerial advertising, such as sky-writing and the towing of banners by aircraft.
Today, there are no billboards even in the densest commercial or industrial zones; and strict regulations limit the size of signs on a building that proclaim what businesses are inside. The Outdoor Circle has also taken a stand against “Admobile” trucks that don’t haul anything except a rotating set of billboard-size ads on their flanks.
Laws covering other fields comply with the billboard laws here, too. There are size limits on electioneering signs for candidates and issues; and as I noted in my last blog, after an election has been held, those signs have to come down. Under real estate law, the “For Sale” sign in front of a house or property must be removed after escrow closes.
The Outdoor Circle’s current mission statement is: “To protect Hawaii’s scenic environment by advocating for the planting and protection of trees, burying of utility lines, promoting recycling, and fighting for a billboard-free Hawaii, among other issues.” The Big Island branch of the Outdoor Circle is headquartered in Waimea.
HERE ON THE BIG ISLAND: Battling Those Weed Trees June 25, 2008
Posted by Kelly in : About Hawaii, Big Island Hawaii, General, HERE IN HAWAII, HERE ON THE BIG ISLAND, Hawaii Travel, Updates , add a commentHERE ON THE BIG ISLAND
By Kelly Moran
Battling Those Weed Trees
A few months ago, I wrote about a tree that was brought here from Brazil
and that has gone terribly wild. It’s officially psidium cattleianum, but commonly called “strawberry guava”or waiawi (”vy-vee”), and it’s extraordinarily invasive: seeds from the fruit sprout easily wherever they fall, and are spread by birds and pigs; if the tree is cut down, it quickly regenerates from stumps and fallen branches, ultimately forming a dense thicket in which nothing else grows.
Researchers estimate that waiawi is now entrenched in more than 800,000 acres on the Big Island, and though its range may ultimately be limited by drier microclimates and higher alititudes, it is still in-filling where it’s already established, especially in Hamakua and Puna, where it squeezes out practically everything else, especially native and endemic species. It also draws fruit-flies, expanding their range, which frustrates efforts to cultivate more desireable fruit.
To fight this weed tree, the Hawaii Dept. of Land and Natural Resources, the Hawaii Dept. of Agrictulture, and the Forest Service of the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture propose to introduce a Brazilian insect called tectococcus ovatus,which severely weakens - but doesn’t kill - waiawi. It tunnels into the leaves, forcing the tree to make “galls” that contain the pest, instead of making new leaves. This is expected to slow the spread of waiwai, allowing people more time to cut thickets down and keep them down. The insect has no wings, and can move to adjacent trees only on the breeze; moreover, tests prove that it can live only on strawberry guava and on no other plant; so the release of this biological control agent is considered very safe.
Waiawi does have some practical uses. The fresh fruit, being in the guava family, are easily made into tasty jams and jellies; the wood, like other fruit-woods, makes an excellent smoke for curing meat and fish; and the trunks - if thick and straight enough - can turned into hardwood poles. So there is a small vocal contingent here, mainly in Puna, that objects to introducing tectococcus, in the name of “saving” the waiawi.
But, the USDA counters this misguided effort by pointing out that, if anyone actually wants to cultivate waiawi, or keep wild stands from being infected, they can do what farmers do for any other orchard crop: i.e., protect it with ordinary (preferably organic) insecticidal spray.
There is another invasive weed tree here that was introduced about the same time as waiawi; but it is currently being decimated without human intervention. The rose-apple (syzygium jambos), though not quite as aggressive as waiawi, tends to spread out more, and to form dark “tree-tunnel” arches over back-country roads. The fruit is rather dry: its “rose” being more of a scent than a flavor.
But rose apple trees are being attacked by a “rust fungus” disease that kills new growth and thereby starves the tree of energy. In a couple of years, many stands of rose apple will be bare and dead - and likely will be overtaken by waiawi, which is often found in the same areas.
There is a small but real danger that this rust could spread to other trees in the same (myrtle) family. The worst-case scenario would be a jump to native ohia. So Hawaii forest managers are urging the state to restrict new imports of nursery trees and other plant material that can harbor the rust. For more information about the rust,
click here.
HERE ON THE BIG ISLAND - The Naked Truth about the Kona Coffee “Calendar Girls” June 10, 2008
Posted by Kelly in : About Hawaii, Big Island Hawaii, General, HERE IN HAWAII, HERE ON THE BIG ISLAND , add a commentHERE ON THE BIG ISLAND
By Kelly Moran
Is That Kona Coffee Really from Kona?
Between about 800 and 1,500 feet mauka of the Kona Coast, a lot of folks have been growing coffee for more than 100 years, and their beans enjoy a reputation for delivering a high quality buzz. But right now, growers in the Kona Coffee Farmers’ Association (KCFA) are buzzing like angry bees: they want the words “Kona coffee” to mean just that.
You may not know this, but if as little as ten percent of the beans in a blend were grown in Kona, it can be labeled and sold as “Kona coffee.” The KCFA wants that designation to be allowed only if 100 percent of the beans are Kona-grown; the label of anything else should prominently include the word “Blend,” and list the actual percentage of Kona beans.
Until recently, most Kona coffee beans got a fairly light “American” style of roasting, giving “Kona coffee” a reputation for being on the weak side. That may be why vendors have been blending it with more robust beans from elsewhere, although that, in turn, has made consumers skeptical of anything labeled “Kona coffee.” In fact, roasting Kona beans in the darker “French” or darkest “Italian” styles cancels any perceived weakness.
Almost anyone in Hawaii can grow coffee . . . as an ornamental: it has shiny dark green leaves and bright red berries. But getting a decent cup-a-joe from a couple of plants is far more work than it’s worth. To oversimplify: the berries have to be picked at just the right stage of ripeness, then dried and roasted with expertise. Coffee-farming is very labor-intensive, which helps to explain why a pound of 100 percent Kona coffee typically sells for more than twice the price of supermarket coffees.
But it’s that “premium” status that truth-in-labeling would help to protect.
Kona was not the first place on the Big Island where coffee was raised as a commercial crop. That was in Ola’a - now called Keaau - in Puna. Some coffee is raised there still, and some comes from up the Hamakua coast near Honokaa. But mauka Kona is the Big Island’s major microclimate for coffee. And the KCFA is part of a worldwide movement to ensure the veracity of “local” labeling. “Champagne” has to come from Éperney, France, and anything resembling it that’s made anywhere else has to be labeled “sparkling wine.” Any cheese with veins of azure mold can be labeled “blue cheese,” but only the dairy farmers of Stilton, England can call it “Stilton.”
To drum up publicity for this campaign, the KCFA has published a 2009 calendar called “The Naked Truth About Kona Coffee.” Inspired by an English stunt (which was celebrated in a movie called “Calendar Girls”), a dozen women who actually farm coffee in Kona posed for its pages - yes, in the nude. Okay, most of them are … “of a certain age.” And by posing with strategically-placed tractors or farm implements, none of them shows much skin. But hey! They’re really naked!
If you want to help them ensure that calling something “Kona coffee” is more than just a marketing gimmick, you might want to hang their calendar on your wall, or - at least - check the fine print on the label of your next bag of “Kona coffee.”
HERE ON THE BIG ISLAND - Getting Here is Getting Harder April 28, 2008
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By Kelly Moran
Getting Here is Getting Harder
Flying to and from the Big Island has long been a no-brainer; now it’s something you have to think about and plan ahead.
At the end of March, Aloha Airlines suddenly went out of business. The announcement came just as the huge Merrie Monarch Festival week was starting in Hilo, forcing many hula troupes and fans to scramble for passage.
And as if that wasn’t a hard enough knock, ATA Airlines went belly-up a few days later, leaving passengers stranded both in Hawaii and on the Mainland. For Hilo, that knock doubled the pain, as ATA had been flying Hilo’s only non-stop Mainland service - to Oakland, where ATA had a partnership with and connections to Southwest Airlines.
It’s true that Aloha had been operating under bankruptcy protection for a few years. And it’s true that the rising cost of jet fuel is forcing many carriers to cut back on redundant flights, and raise ticket prices. But neither Aloha nor ATA telegraphed a warning of impending collapse to their own people in Hawaii - not to crews, back-office staffers, baggage-handlers . . . nobody got a heads-up.
Hawaiian Airlines immediately added flights, including some to the Mainland destinations ATA had been serving, especially Las Vegas; and also offered free interisland travel, on a standby basis, to Aloha’s ticketed passengers. Other stranded people found seats on the small interisland carriers, Island Air and Go, which - so far - continue to fly.
At the Hilo and Keahole (Kona) airports, half of the facilities are now empty and idle. This, even though both have rather attractive terminals. Hilo’s lounge area has classic, koa lanai furniture. And Keahole - though it’s scheduled to get a major face-lift in the next year or so - is still delightfully old-fashioned, with outdoor wheel-around passenger ramps.
Unfortunately, neither airport is likely to be served by more flights or a new carrier, any time soon.
HERE ON THE BIG ISLAND - The Pidgin You Need - Part 2 April 8, 2008
Posted by Kelly in : About Hawaii, Big Island Hawaii, General, HERE IN HAWAII, HERE ON THE BIG ISLAND , 1 comment so farHERE ON THE BIG ISLAND
The Pidgin You Need - Part 2
As promised in Part 1, here are some “pidgin” words and phrases. Most were originally Hawaiian, but have become colloquial expressions, familiar in everyday conversation. You will probably want to try them out, sooner or later, when you’re here. Just be prepared: some people may respond to your first attempts with indulgent smiles or amused exasperation.
“Pau” - A multipurpose word for finished [doing something], as in “pau hana” - done working. But “pau” or “all pau” can also mean empty or used up.
“Hui” - a group [of people]. Many local organizations use this word in their names, as it implies having a common purpose.
“Hana hou” - Although “hana” means work, audiences will shout “hana hou,” meaning Encore! - do it again.
“Opala” means trash or rubbish, but is not used in a negative sense. When something is inherently dirty, or at least smells bad, it’s “pilau.”
“Keiki” is literally the offshoot of a plant (e.g., bananas reproduce that way), but it’s affectionately used to mean child.
“B’m bye” - or “bumbye” - is a contraction of the English “bye and bye,” generally construed to mean “sooner or later but probably later.”
“Shibai” is Japanese for B.S., and is used remarkably often by contending politicians.
“Chicken skin” is the goose-bumps you get when you’re scared or awed.
“Shave Ice” is shaved ice, but nobody pronounces the “d.” It’s a snowcone, dredged with sweet syrup; try one, sometime, with sweet adzuki beans inside.
HERE ON THE BIG ISLAND - Pidgin - Part 1 April 2, 2008
Posted by Kelly in : About Hawaii, Big Island Hawaii, General, HERE IN HAWAII, HERE ON THE BIG ISLAND , add a commentHERE ON THE BIG ISLAND - Pidgin - Part 1
”Eh, Brah - you kaukau a’ready?”
”Nah. Bumbye.”
”Get grinds?”
”Shoot! Brok’ da mout’.”
After you’ve been here a while, that exchange will make perfect sense. It’s spoken in what’s locally called pidgin, which has a long history in Hawaii, and is still heard, though not as much as it used to be. But before we get into translations, let’s clarify something: it’s not really “Pidgin English.”
Linguists consider a pidgin to be an abbreviated form of a standard language, with a tiny vocabulary and a very regular grammar, neither of which changes much, over time. A pidgin will also have been deliberately imposed, to enable speakers of different languages to conduct trade and other business. The word “pidgin” itself was coined because it sounds a little like the English word “business.”
In the European colonies of Southeast Asia and the western Pacific, there is a true Pidgin English (also a Pidgin Dutch and a Pidgin French). But that Pidgin English does not resemble Hawaii’s pidgin, because - as linguists insist - what’s spoken in Hawaii is actually a “creole.”.
A creole, they say, is a real language, which is fairly complex in both vocabulary and grammar; and although it may be rooted in one or more conventional languages, it’s continually evolving and expanding on its own.
In the 19th century, Pidgin English was introduced to Hawaii to enable communication between sugarcane field-hands and overseers from diverse backgrounds: Hawaii, Japan, China, the Portuguese Azores, etc. But that early (true) pidgin quickly became a creole, as it absorbed vocabulary words and grammatical constructions from the workers’ own native languages, and especially as it became the first language of local children.
Until World War II, pidgin was the lingua franca (pun intended) of Hawaii’s people. Everyone who’d grown up here, and quite a few newcomers and regular visitors, could understand it. But it was always disdained by sophisticated people, and actively discouraged in schools. Anyone who wanted a white-collar job had to be able to speak “regular” or “standard”
English.
But in the 1970s, when historically significant art and music styles were being revived, many local comedians began doing routines in pidgin; and local writers began creating skits, pageants and plays in pidgin. They did this not only to keep the language from dying out, but to revel in its innate charm and colorful idiomatic expressions.
The dialog above can be rendered as follows, but I think you’ll agree that it loses something in translation:
“Hey, Brother [or friend], have you eaten?”
“No. I will, later.”
“Do you have any food?”
“Of course. And it’s delicious.”
Be forewarned: it’s not advisable to try speaking pidgin with strangers - you will probably “make A” (make an ass of yourself). But there are several pidgin words and phrases that everybody in Hawaii does know and use - I’ll give you some, next time.
If you want a head start on that, go get the book called “Pidgin to da Max“ - a humorous guide to this intriguing, enjoyable pid - oops! - creole language.
Stay tuned for Pidgin - Part 2 ……
HERE ON THE BIG ISLAND - One if By Sea March 25, 2008
Posted by Kelly in : Big Island Hawaii, General, HERE IN HAWAII, HERE ON THE BIG ISLAND, Hawaii Travel , 1 comment so far
HERE ON THE BIG ISLAND - One if By Sea
Until about 50 years ago, you could go from island to island on either an airplane or a steamship. If you went by sea, there was regularly-scheduled service to all the deepwater ports, and you could take as much stuff with you as you could pay for.
Today, you can only fly inter-island; and if your stuff is too big or too heavy to fit on the plane, you have to send it on a barge hauled by a tugboat, and wait for it to get there. And although cruise ships go from island to island every day, they won’t take you on for just one hop.
Of course, there is an inter-island “Superferry” now , that can carry people, freight, autos, trucks, buses and tanks. It began service from Honolulu to Maui and Kauai last fall, but the first sailings were public-relations disasters. The Superferry’s operators had been assured by state officials that they wouldn’t have to file an environmental impact statement. But protesters who massed on the shores, or dove into the water, were insisting that they should - and in court, a judge agreed. Service was trimmed; but stormy January weather kept the ferry in Honolulu, and in February it was suddenly sent to drydock for repairs, and likely won’t sail again until late April.
This is an unfortunate development for all concerned. There are environmental impacts to inter-island seaborne transport. Harbors accustomed only to ocean liners and containerized freight must be re-configured, possibly even dredged anew. And car-carrying ferries do increase the risk of accidentally spreading pests, such as coqui frogs, bee mites, or fountain grass.
But surveys have found a majority of Hawaii’s people would like to have the option of taking a ship instead of a plane, especially if it were cheaper. And many would, at least once in a while, like to drive their own car around another island. The State’s economy would benefit from being able to simultaneously move school groups with their buses to historic places; visitors with their tour-vans to hotels; construction crews with their equipment to public works sites; growers with their produce trucks to farmers’ markets; and soldiers with their armored vehicles to training grounds.
One can only hope that, when the Superferry starts running again, operators and protesters can agree to give it the one test it did not get a chance to meet: providing regularly scheduled service.
But we on the Big Island can only sit and watch . . . and wait another year or two, at least, before a second Superferry arrives, that will serve Kawaihae.
