Any Tampa Bay people ever been to Hawaii?

[rezfreak]

Originally Posted by Miserable Midwest

Let me know if you find anyplace in the Bay Area where the water look like this:



or a beach like this:



I lived in Pinellas County for 8 years and loved it there, but Hawaii is a whole different experience.

Anna Maria Island (not "quite" bay area but close enough)

[Badbird2000]

I forgot about snorkeling in Hanauma Bay.. beautiful, saw a huge sea turtle (protected by the way, don't even think of touching one) also, on Maui watched the sunrise on Haleakala then rented a bike and rode down back to town. Absolutly freezing until the sun came up, but oh so awesome and worth it

[FloridaKash]

Hawaii is often referred to as a place that is also "Great to vacation but no place to live". We thought about moving to Hawaii in lieu of Florida. But the cost of living was way too high.. and this was coming from Alaska. We would never have been able to afford a home, their food is expensive, my kids would probably have had to deal with racism and the job market there really didn't match my skill set.

Plus, I did not want to live in a place where you have to fly several hours to get out of state on vacation. We already had to deal with that. Gets very expensive with a family of 5.

[planedition]

I don't know if this will help you plan a trip, but I just got back from Maui and Big Island (3 WEEKS). [I specifically avoided Oahu b/c I was not interested in going to places where I would find lots of people or traffic.]

I don't know how anyone in their right mind could say that Hawaii is not worth visiting, or that it's similar to Florida. After staying away all my life, because I thought it was such a cliche tourist destination that was probably tacky or overrun with tourists, I finally went, and I was BLOWN AWAY at how amazing it is.

Positives (Tell me how many of these qualities you find in Florida or Tampa?)

Very few tourists
The feeling that you are a zillion miles from the real world, possibly on another planet
Nice people, laid back vibe (Florida is an uptight rat race by comparison)
Around every corner is another breath-taking perfect vista (we took 1,000+ photos)
Little to no traffic
Cleanest air u will breathe in the USA
Flowers everywhere, it's like the plants there are SO happy to be there, everything is blooming profusely all the time, you can smell flowers everywhere, pick fruit from the side of the road
Extremely quiet, no sirens, cars honking, traffic noise, any noise!
Starry BLACK skies (zero light pollution)
The sunlight there is AMAZING, everything glows, looks better
No bugs (I saw some bees, a few ants, that's IT) I just kept pinching myself at being in a tropical paradise where there were NO BUGS!!!!!!!! It's incredible!!!!!!!!!!
No squirrels, raccoons, possums, dillos, nuisance animals, etc.
Lots of birds
Highs of 84, lows of 70 ALL YEAR ROUND + low humidity
But if you want some cold weather, all you have to do is ascend one of the HUGE mountains and, well, you could snorkel in a pristine reef and ski on the same day (Big Island)!
Pristine forests that smell intensely of pine and rosemary and eucalyptus
Beautiful mountain roads
Waterfalls and rivers and gorges
Local produce galore, because everything grows there
Farms that grow everything from onions to lavender to vanilla
Obviously amazing beaches with every color of sand and with cool clear water FILLED with the most colorful fish I have ever seen, right off the beach; you just step into the water and there's purple fish, yellow fish, etc.
National parks with Mars-like desert terrain, with cactus, etc.
Volcanic landscape
They grow the BEST tasting coffee there, Kona coffee
Costco
What else do you need in life?

Negatives

Expensive
No In-n-Out Burger
Air travel time to get in or out

[annaegel]

One thing you won't get in Tampa is the Hawaiin culture (Polynesian dancing, luau, etc). The water is very clear, so you can enjoy snorkeling. I agree that Waikiki is very crowded and very touristy. If you do decide to go to Oahu, you should go to the USS Arizona Memorial. The North Shore is a lot less crowded. I have stayed at the Turtle Bay Hotel on the North Shore. We went many years ago, and enjoyed the Polynesian Culture Center and Hanauma Bay Nature Preserve. You can go on a guided hike to active volcano's, take a helicopter ride around the island and see the beautiful landscape, etc.

If I were to choice an island or two to visit, Kauai and Maui would be my choices.

[dfrn2112]

We went to The Big Island in May. Beautiful scenery..we rented a car and drove TONS that week! Went over the mountain to the other side..very expensive vacation of course..don't think I'd go back to Big Island, but might visit Maui sometime..saw a black beach, and a white one as well. The water was gorgeous, but I think our water is just as clear to be honest. There were no active volcanoes while we were there, but the daily drives along the shores with the top down on the convertible were GORGEOUS!!

[BucFan]

How expensive of a vacation is Hawaii for 2-3 weeks? Over $5k? Tacky question, but can Hawaii be done on the cheap?
Guess airfare, hotel, and rental car would be the biggest expense.

[rezfreak]

Originally Posted by BucFan

How expensive of a vacation is Hawaii for 2-3 weeks? Over $5k? Tacky question, but can Hawaii be done on the cheap?
Guess airfare, hotel, and rental car would be the biggest expense.

When we went on our honeymoon, we spent less than 3k for 1 week. Airfare for 2 adults was about 1200 and we stayed in a condo, 120ish a night with a full (stocked with pots, pans, dishes, etc) kitchen. We made a lot of our own food to save costs and we didnt even need a rental car since the bus system on maui is SUPERB. Its $1 to any stop on the island (no transfers though) and the buses run every 15 or 20 mins IIRC. The grocery store was about a half mile walk so we just walked for our food.


We stayed on the west side of maui (where most of the stuff is). There is scenic stuff on the east side though, but if you wanted to just visit for a day or two , that'd be the only reason I would personally rent a car. The bus system just runs to everything you need on the east side, so for us it was just stupid and wasteful for a car on maui.

Edit to add: Oh, looks like its now $2 for the bus, as of July. We stayed at Ka'anapali area. Lahaina is where all the shopping (mostly high end, but still stuff for the regular "Joe") and restaurant areas are. http://www.co.maui.hi.us/images/page...FY08_HiRez.jpg The bus ride from Ka'anapali to Lahaina was only about 15 mins or so, maybe 20 max.

edit to add part 2. If you DO go to any hawaii island, I highly recommend getting this book - it gives you the downlow on how to save money and hidden gems of the island that you should go to. They have one for each island, this one is just the one for Maui. http://www.amazon.com/Maui-Revealed-.../dp/0971727996

[BucFan]

Great information. Lived on Oahu as a kid, and last visited in 1980s - time to get back for a visit.

[rezfreak]

We cant wait to go to maui, we're hoping in another few years we can go back, just need to start saving. If we go again, we will do the same thing with the condo/no car. We might rent a car to do the sight seeing on the east side of the island, but it would be a 1 day rental kinda thing.