Hawaii by the Numbers

State of Hawaii - became to 50th state 50 years ago.
Flew Continental - 75 years in business.
Flew Hawaiian Airlines - 80 years old on the day we flew to Kona.

The Hawaiian Islands comprise a total of 137 islands and atolls, with a total land area of 6,423.4 square miles (16,636.5 km2). Except for Midway, which is an unincorporated territory of the United States, these islands and islets are administered as the state of Hawaiʻi — the 50th state of the United States of America.

The area code for all the islands is 808.

The Hawaiian Islands comprise a total of 137 islands and atolls, with a total land area of 6,423.4 square miles (16,636.5 km2). Except for Midway, which is an unincorporated territory of the United States, these islands and islets are administered as the state of Hawaiʻi — the 50th state of the United States of America.
The Hawaiian Islands comprise a total of 137 islands and atolls, with a total land area of 6,423.4 square miles (16,636.5 km2). Except for Midway, which is an unincorporated territory of the United States, these islands and islets are administered as the state of Hawaiʻi — the 50th state of the United States of America.

Hawaii – an Ethnically Mixed Plate
Hawaii is one of the most racially diverse places in the world as there is no majority – everyone is in a minority. In the 2000 census, more than 20 percent claimed multi-ethnic backgrounds, far more than any other state. You will find a “mixed plate” of ethnic groups in Hawaii, including Hawaiian, Portuguese, Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, Caucasian and Japanese. More than half of Hawaii’s population is at least part Asian, about the same is part Caucasian, and about a quarter claim Hawaiian ancestry.
As Hawaii has become a home to many different ethnic groups in the last 200 years, each ethnic group has added elements of its own culture to local life. Today, contemporary culture in Hawaii is a mix of the different cultures and ethnic groups that make up its unique population.
Today, there are estimated to be between 255,000 and 275,000 Native Hawaiians living in Hawaii. What can be said about the Native Hawaiian population of today is that it is growing at a rate of about 6,000 people per year and at a higher rate than any other ethnic group in Hawaii.
The majority of the Native Hawaiian people, however, have less than 50 percent pure Hawaiian blood. As of the 1990 U.S. Census, there were 1,108,229 people living in Hawaii. Of those people, 369, 616 were Caucasian, 247,486 were of Japanese descent, 168,682 were of Filipino descent, 138,742 were of Hawaiian descent and 68,804 were of Chinese descent.
Just think of Obama!!

Hawaiian Food

Hawaiian food is very diverse and delicious. I am definitely going to make Kalua Pork very shortly (when John can eat solids again).
This recipe is from Sam Choy's restaurant in Honolulu, most are similar to it.

1 5- to 5 1/4-pound boneless pork butt roast
2 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons Hawaiian alaea sea salt or coarse sea salt
3 frozen banana leaves, thawed
6 cups water, divided
Preheat oven to 350°F. Using small sharp knife, cut 1/4-inch-deep slits 1 inch apart all over pork roast. Rub 2 tablespoons sea salt all over pork. Unfold 1 banana leaf on work surface and place pork roast atop leaf. Fold up leaf around pork, enclosing completely. Repeat wrapping pork in remaining 2 banana leaves, 1 at a time.
Tie with kitchen string to secure, then wrap roast in foil. Place pork in roasting pan; pour 4 cups water into pan.
Roast pork in oven until very tender when pierced with fork, about 5 hours. Unwrap pork and cool slightly. Shred pork and place in large bowl. Bring remaining 2 cups water and remaining 2 teaspoons salt to boil in small saucepan. Add liquid smoke; pour over pork and stir to blend. Let stand 10 minutes to allow liquid to flavor pork. Serve.
Ingredient tip: Hawaiian alaea sea salt is available at specialty foods stores and online from Hawaii Specialty Salt Company at hawaiisalt.com. Banana leaves are available at Asian markets and Latin markets. Liquid smoke is a smoke-flavored liquid seasoning available at many supermarkets and specialty foods stores.

The Big Island

The Big Island – weather is quite diverse. It can be china blue sky in Kona with puffy white clouds and you drive towards Volcano and as you start climbing up to 3500 feet above sea level (which you have to do to get to Sea Mountain) the temperature drops sharply by about 10 degrees and it rains, sometimes it’s misty at other times in can be a downpour.
There are often flash flood warnings, currently the island of Kuwai has had major flooding and the TV showed rain fall up to 22 inches on some of the islands.
In Kona you can have a brochure-blue sky and then drive 70 miles to Punalu’u and you are looking at curves of sterling silver reflecting on the ocean. Both are beautiful.
Even when it rains I enjoy the rain spatter on my face (or car) and everything blurs into elusive half-tones: grey-white clouds and grey-blue ocean.

Kona to Punalu'u

We checked out of Sea Valley around 10 and headed to Borders (scored 2 books on my reading list) and then to Safeway to stock up on groceries as there is limited shopping at Sea Mountain.
We decided to meander south to Punalu’u and stopped several times. We had planned to get lunch in Captain Cook’s but it was a little early so we took the Napo’opo’o Rd down to Captain Cook’s monument and remembered that there is nothing really there except a beach and the statue. We made a stop at the Painted Church (been there several times) as it is such a beautiful place. The paintings inside the church were done by a Belgian priest with no artistic training. It was his way of teaching the locals who could not read or write.
Back on the road and we were getting hungry so out came the bags of chips.
We found a local restaurant called the Desert Rose in Ocean View and stopped there for a Hawaiian plate lunch. We both had pork and cabbage, John’s also came with fried rice. It was so good.
Soon we were driving through miles of black lava rock scattered among the green and suddenly you are looking at the ocean.
Checked into the condo and then went to check out the sea turtles. There were 2 resting. Signs say to stay 15 feet away from them, but have to admit we (and others) were much closer to them.
Dinner was a local fish, wahoo with baked potatoes.

Sea Mountain Punalu'u Big Island of Hawaii

We just love this resort. We have a 1 bedroom, which is quite large. The bedroom is at ground level and then you go up a few steps to kitchen, living room and lanai. The view from the lanai is the ocean and overlooks the golf course.
The golf course is not quite up to par (LOL) but it has the most magnificent views and every single hole is a Kodak moment. It is never busy and only costs $28 ($22 during the week) with a cart to play!
It is not the resort if you are looking for non-stop excitement and activity. It is 20 minutes from 2 towns which are extremely limited in their offerings. There is the requisite school, post office, police station and (super)market which has the basics. Na’alehu, however, has a gem of a bakery, Punalu’u Bake Shop touted as the southernmost bakery in the USA. There desserts are divine. We have driven in each day to pick up a tasty morsel.

It is totally black at night with only the stars to gaze at. At 6:15am you are awakened by the birds squabbling.

Sea Mountain is at the south east section of the Island so we don’t get any sunsets.
You have to be in Kona on the west coast for those.


But e komo mai – welcome to the Big Island!

Hang Loose

I find the Hawaiian place names very difficult to pronounce. I looked up the origins and found the following:

The Hawaiian alphabet has 13 letters
5 vowelsA (ah) E (eh)I (ee)O (oh)U (oo)
8 consonantsH (heh)K (keh)L (lah)M (moo)N (noo)P (pee)W (weh)' (oh-kee-nah)

All Hawaiian words end in vowels, and even though there are only five vowel letters in the language, they are used in complex ways that create a wide variety of sounds. All vowels have a short and a long sound. In addition, there are nine short vowel diphthongs and six long vowel diphthongs.

Vowels may follow each other but consonants are always followed by a vowel, creating syllables with only two letters. Words never end in a consonant and because there is no "S" in the Hawaiian language, nouns are not pluralized.

The Hawaiian language is a member of the Austronesian family of languages and closely resembles other Polynesian languages like Tahitian, Maori, and Samoan. Although in decline for much of the 19th and early 20th centuries, the Hawaiian language has been experiencing a resurgence in the last several decades as the result of efforts to enroll Hawaiian children in Hawaiian language immersion schools. However, a very small percentage of inhabitants remain native Hawaiian speakers.
What a visitor to Hawaii will certainly discover is the importance of the Hawaiian language in the daily lives of the residents of the islands. Streets, villages, schools, government buildings, restaurants, and parks are commonly named with Hawaiian words.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Finally finished this book, it is a big one. After the initial slow start I thoroughly enjoyed it and am looking forward to the next one in the trilogy.

The Millennium trilogy, of which The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo is the opening instalment, features a classic odd-couple duo: a crusading financial journalist, Mikael Blomkvist, and a freelance private investigator, Lisbeth Salander. Blomkvist bears a more-than-passing resemblance to Larsson himself, whose work exposing racism and fascism made him particularly unpopular with his country's far right.