camping free in hawaii (Wailuku: how much, houses, closing)

[the assistant102]

can anyone tell me how long you can camp for free in maui.Im looking to camp for 1 year in maui. My husband and i have been to hawaii 4 times and would love to live there 1 year as we realize to live there forever is not a possibility due to family,however 1 year away would be an adventure.ANY COMMENTS WOULD BE HELPFUL. My husband is 47 and Im 45 and love to rough it. THANKS We also need info to ship a car from Baltimore Md.to Maui ,anyone have a price to do this.

[R_Cowgirl]

Assistant - while it's a lovely dream, Hawaii is made up of small, VERY populated islands, with many small towns peppered up and down all the coasts. Your question actually is, "Can we move to Hawaii and be homeless for a year?" And the answer is, "Probably not a good idea." Visiting is far different from living there. There are many, many discussions about this topic on this particular forum. The question is - where exactly do you think you can live? Many of the beaches are government property. Some beaches that look safe aren't. If you live up in the mountains, you have to be sure you aren't on private property -- or worse, camping on the military gun range! You may want to try it for a couple of weeks, or a month. If you make friends who have property that you can "camp" on - that would be ideal. But just packing up your life and hoping for the best for a year is not the best idea. It worked for some back in the 60's, but now is very different in Hawaii. Tread carefully. I'm sure you are both very capable campers, and you need a bit of a reality check on this dream. So take it slow and try it for a short duration. I'll let the rest of the very capable and able posters on this forum pick up from here. Best of luck.

[mogon]

Agree. This is a very bad idea for all of these reasons and more.

[hothulamaui]

there really is no camping on maui like you would find on the mainland. there are some places to camp but you have to have a permit. you just can't throw up a tent on the beach with your car in the lot so you can go to the store when you run out of BBQ coals.

[Galactastica]

if you want to persue this, i think the idea of finding someone who would let you do this on their private property with permission is going to be the best way to go. A year is a long time, whether you did it legally at "regular" campsites or not, I don't think you would last that long with the Police. Maui does have extreemly limited camping as well, it's kind of hard to camp there for long periods at all and there's just not a lot of campsites. Other islands have more camping, but even then you are limited to camping at certain sites for a certain number of days. however, i assume since you want to stay a year you would not be doing it legally with permits, and from my expirience, you will probably get caught within a few days if you are staying at a place you can take your car to.

here is a run down of maui campsites, if it will help you.

Haleakala: they have 3-4 campgrounds, a few of which do not require permits or fees, just park entrance fee. sounds great? well, being in the park you'll have rangers coming by daily and there is a limit on the amount of days you can stay. i'm not sure, but the limit is usually 7 days at other hawaii national parks.

poli poli state park: nights are cold, winter can be below freezing. no showers or anything, just tent camping. be weary of what you read about this park that is not completely official because it's burned down twice from careless cigarette smokers in the past, so it is constantly closing for repairs. it is a bit removed from society, but it still gets traffic from hikers, therefore maintenance workers and stuff frequent it. permits required and a stay limit enforced.

wai'anapanapa state park. this place is effin' beautiful. but again, camping in a highly visited, highly watched park with a limited stay and a small fee.

there are some county parks (some of them are downright shady at night) that are $3 a night or maybe a little more now, but the time limit at these parks is sometimes 3 days. if it's more, it probably won't be more than a week.

if you choose a random beach park to camp at for an extended time, expect no privacy and to probably be found by authorities. i camp everywhere i go, but when i visit maui its so hard to stay in one place for so long that i usually just sleep in my car and avoid the headache of permits and stays that only last 3 days. i would suggest trying to find a cheap cabin, ohana or something that will suit your needs of staying there if you can't find private property to camp on with permission. there may be more rural housing, like treehouses, yurts, etc on the big island that you could check out. you can stay for really cheap and month by month, no worries on getting tickets or anything.

[whynot?]

Originally Posted by Galactastica

if you want to persue this, i think the idea of finding someone who would let you do this on their private property with permission is going to be the best way to go. A year is a long time, whether you did it legally at "regular" campsites or not, I don't think you would last that long with the Police. Maui does have extreemly limited camping as well, it's kind of hard to camp there for long periods at all and there's just not a lot of campsites. Other islands have more camping, but even then you are limited to camping at certain sites for a certain number of days. however, i assume since you want to stay a year you would not be doing it legally with permits, and from my expirience, you will probably get caught within a few days if you are staying at a place you can take your car to.

Well said, Galactastica. Maui is also a very small place. You don't have to be here long before you start to recognize people and have them recognize you. Our law enforcement is not so inept that you won't be "known" within an infraction or two, nor likely so lenient that they will just let you slide.

Best of luck.

[bigounets]

I think it sums it up.
As far as car shipping is concerned. From a west port to Hawaii it's about $1000+. I don't know how much more from the East coast. I would think at least another grand.

[bigounets]

There's another way. Find a youth hostel and work for your room and board. Try the Banana Bungalow in Wailuku for instance.

[KoaKine]

a car from the east coast to Hawaii will be around $2600 to $2700 Its cheaper to drive it to the port

[hotzcatz]

There is always WWOOFing, that would give you a campsite which wasn't closed one day a week. Many of the public camping areas are closed one day a week, they say so they can clean the park but I think it is mostly so folks won't live in the parks.