Moving to Kailua on Oahu (Honolulu, Kaneohe: condo, crime, houses)

[simonhere]

My employer is transferring me to Oahu. It’s a good, secure job, and the boss is paying for my move. – so the normal admonitions don’t apply.

I’ve never been to Oahu, and I’m bringing my wife (a stay-at-home mom), a 5 year-old, and a 6 year old. We are white people and regarded as easy-to-get-along-with. Normal Catholic family.

The plan (subject to change) is to buy a house in Kailua and send the kids to St. Anthony Parish School.

As such, I have a bunch of dumb questions:

1. What is the reputation of St. Anthony School? My kids are good students with no special needs.

2. How is the St. Anthony church community? We are very active in our current church. Cool priests? Family friendly?

3. We are vegetarians in a big, Mainland city. Will we starve to death or no problem? I hear people complain about the price of milk and eggs, which we don’t consume. What about the price of rice, pasta, broccoli, soy milk, and tofu?

4. We love to get around on our bikes. Is Kailua bike friendly? Hilly? Traffic?

5. Will we face any of that anti-white stuff that I read about on the message boards? We treat everyone kindly.

6. What’s the difference between Kailua and Kaneohe? Our home budget would be a 3 bedroom under $600,000. It seems that there is so much more in Kaneohe. Why is that? Is it goofy to go to school in Kailua and live in Kaneohe? What are the quality of life considerations?

7. Is my commute to downtown Honolulu going to be bad from Kailua?

8. How windy is it on the beach? Are these awful trade winds like on St. Kitts where sand is blowing in your eyes and you can’t have a peaceful conversation?

9. Any good hikes nearby in Kailua?

10. Nightlife?

11. Crime?

12. Easy to meet people?

13. Municipal pool?

14. Municipal tennis courts?

[hotzcatz]

1. Don't know about the school.

2. Don't know about the church.

3. There are loads of fresh vegetables available and some nice health food stores although you may have to drive to Down to Earth near the university for one of the biggest and oldest health food stores. They did just open a Whole Foods in Kahala mall so if you can afford their prices, you will have another shopping option. There are a lot of vegetarians who live in Kailua.

4. Kailua is good for bicycles although they could use some more sidewalks and bike paths. It is fairly flat through out most of the town. Kaneohe is much hillier.

5. Not much if any anti-white in Kailua, it is a very haole town.

6. Kailua and Kaneohe are pretty close to each other although Kaneohe has more hills and more local folks living there. All kine locals, local haoles too. Kailua has had a lot of new folks moving in but it is a nice town. There is a marine base right between the two so there are military folks there, too. Most of the military's traditional entertainment is over in Honolulu though since that is central to Pearl Harbor as well as KMCAS (Kaneohe Marine Corps Air Station).

7. Easier commute to downtown from Kailua than from the Ewa directions. The Pali highway goes almost directly from Kailua to downtown and the Likelike goes from Kaneohe to downtown. I think Pali is a bit faster. There is also H3 now so the Kailua/Kaneohe/KMCAS folks can go directly to Pearl Harbor area easily which cuts back on the traffic on the Pali and Likelike.

Oh, that's pronounced "pah-lee" and "lee-kay-lee-kay". Folks don't call the highways by their numbers except for H3 and the usual mainland directions of "north", "south", "east" and "west" are place names, not directions in Hawaii. It is "mauka" which means "towards the mountains", "makai" which means towards the water/ocean, and in Kailua it is "Kaneohe side" which is the side nearest Kaneohe or "Waimanalo" side which is the side towards Waimanalo. In Honolulu, it is "Diamond Head" which is the side nearest Diamond Head/Waikiki and "Ewa" which is the side towards Ewa Beach and Pearl Harbor.

8. The trade winds are a wonderful and desirable light breeze, usually almost constant in the summer which keeps our islands cool. Make sure your house has a lot of exposure to the trades since otherwise you will be hot since it is too expensive to run an air conditioner in Hawaii and if your house is properly built you won't need to. The usual weather report is "bright and sunny today, with 10 to 15 mph trades and occasional windward and mauka showers". Most times when it rains it is a short shower, sometimes while the sun is still shining and it makes for glorious rainbows.

9. There's some hiking around although you may have to drive a bit to get to some of them.

10. More nightlife in Honolulu, but there's some in Kailua. Depends on the kind you want, there's more variety in Honolulu but the traffic isn't as bad at night.

11. Most of the crime is of the theft/burglary variety although with the economic downturn crime is rising.

12. Yup, folks all over. You will meet them at your church, on the beach, when your kids play with other kids, etc.

13. I think so, but the beach is right there, a wonderful long stretch of white sand with gently sloping entry so why bother with a freshwater chlorinated pool?

14. Yup, Oahu has quite a few tennis courts and there are some in Kailua.

[simonhere]

Thanks so much! Of course, I welcome the input of others as well...

[wb3690]

my friend's sons went to St. Anthony's and LOVED it.......they have since moved on (navy family). several friends in Kailua send their kids to Le Jardin Academy as well.

Kailua is one of my favorite places.....I love Kailua Town, the farmers markets and the unique stores you can find in Kailua.

Love Kailua Beach....I sit out there at least once a week......it's gorgeous, that and Lanikai.

they have a raquet club right in kailua.....I also believe there are courts over by the pool.

lots of good hiking in kailua and down the windward side of the island........we love living here (we're actually over on the Marine Corps Base, my husband is Navy). We've lived in Hawaii for 12 years and our time is winding down....sadly we'll be leaving this summer and it makes me sad to think about it.

we've always been very comfortable in hawaii and never experienced anything negative towards us being military or being white. I'm not saying it doesn't exist, but I haven't personally experienced it. hawaii is magical......totally different and a wonderful unique place to live. enjoy!

[simonhere]

Kailua sounds like heaven!

[kaukamom]

My family has lived in Kailua for 4 and 1/2 years. We love it here.

1. What is the reputation of St. Anthony School? My kids are good students with no special needs.

Very good reputation

3. We are vegetarians in a big, Mainland city. Will we starve to death or no problem? I hear people complain about the price of milk and eggs, which we don’t consume. What about the price of rice, pasta, broccoli, soy milk, and tofu?

Food is expensive here. You can join Costco (1/2 hr drive). There are wonderful Farmer's Markets where you can get local produce. There is a natural food store in Kailua and bigger ones in Honolulu. There is a Whole Foods Market in Honolulu, and one being built in Kailua ($$ though). There are tons of Asian restaurants with vegetarian food.

4. We love to get around on our bikes. Is Kailua bike friendly? Hilly? Traffic?

In town is mostly flat with hilly sections surrounding. You can bike from Kailua to Waimanalo beach and it's almost all flat (9 miles). There are some bike paths. It's pretty bike-friendly. Traffic is not bad at all in Kailua. Bad in Honolulu at rush hour.

5. Will we face any of that anti-white stuff that I read about on the message boards? We treat everyone kindly.

Part of the special and occasionally challenging experience here for us Whites is being in the minority. It will change you for the good. Don't go around expecting anti-white feelings and you will meet a lot of fine people.

6. What’s the difference between Kailua and Kaneohe? Our home budget would be a 3 bedroom under $600,000. It seems that there is so much more in Kaneohe. Why is that? Is it goofy to go to school in Kailua and live in Kaneohe? What are the quality of life considerations?

We expect housing prices to continue to decline...Housing in Kaneohe does tend to be cheaper. Kailua has the huge beach. Kaneohe is rainier (closer to the mountains) and loses the sun earlier in the day (again, those mountains). However, parts of Kaneohe are spectacularly beautiful. You'll need to wait in line with others to go to the better public schools in Kailua.

7. Is my commute to downtown Honolulu going to be bad from Kailua?
30-40 minutes, depending on where you work.

8. How windy is it on the beach? Are these awful trade winds like on St. Kitts where sand is blowing in your eyes and you can’t have a peaceful conversation?
There ae trade winds and some days are windy, especially in the winter. You can still h ave a peaceful conversation though most days.

9. Any good hikes nearby in Kailua?
Yes!

12. Easy to meet people? There's a newcomers' association for new people in town. Join a paddlers club (canoe), very popular.

13. Municipal pool? Yes, nice one. YMCA also has nice pool with excellent, cheap swim lessons for kids.

14. Municipal tennis courts? Yes

[TXLara]

About hiking- there is what is known as the "Pillbox Hike" across Ka'iwa Ridge. Trail head is across from Mid Pacific Country Club in Lanikai.

Here is a great site outlining hiking trails: http://www.backyardoahu.com/index.html?mnoa1.htm

Kailua is a great area. It is one of the safer areas of the island. The beach is one of the best. Almost everything you could want store-wise is close by.

[kani-lehua]

and, don't forget that kailua is the place of choice where our current president likes to vacation.

[R_Cowgirl]

Great advice from everyone -- I'll just add one link that may help on the school -- you can check out any school in the US on this site. It should open to the page with St. Anthony's -- if it doesn't just do a search for it by name:
Greatschools.net Search: kailua

One request to all you wonderful responders-- we are trying to create a great Sticky page for each area in Hawaii -- towns, districts, islands, etc. All of you who responded here gave great advice. Would anyone want to post on that first Thread for the benefit of all? we would be eternally grateful!!!

[newUHprof]

I don't live in Kailua (don't want to deal with the commute, even if it's not that bad), but I'll chime in on some points based on my frequent visits.

3. For eating in, you'll want to frequent the local farmer's markets. They are year-round here (bonus!). Big on in Kailua on Thursday nights, probably also smaller ones around town during weekdays. Once you're settled, you can check out the Hawaii Farm Bureau website to find the ones nearest you. For eating out, you'll have options. Asian restaurants are everywhere and tend to be veggie friendly. There are also some cute cafes and things in Kailua that are veggie friendly.

4. Kailua and the North Shore are the only places on the island I've seen with true bike trails. I don't know how it would be biking around town (Honolulu is pretty sketchy for this... lots of traffic and no bike lanes even, much less bike trails). But you could certainly bike along the beach on a weekend afternoon and have a lovely time.

5. We've been here 9 months now. I've had no problems at all (though I hear it's rare for women). My husband has been called "haole" precisely once. Some guys in a pickup yelled "go back to the mainland, haole" and drove off. Whatever. We've never felt any kind of anti-white sentiment from any people we actually met & talked to. I think you get what you give. If you're laid back & welcoming, and if you're OK being in the minority, you'll be fine.

7. Lots of folks in my department live in Kailua, and we looked at houses there before deciding instead on a condo in town. My impression is that you can be talking about an hour or so if you come in between 7-8am (I guess people getting their kids to the private schools or something?). The commute actually lessens after 8am, and when we did our "test run", we left Kailua a bit after 8 and arrived at UH (farther than downtown) by 8:30am. Not sure about the evening drive back. But the point is that if your schedule is at all flexible, it shouldn't be a bad commute.

8. The beach is windy, but it's also one of the most georgeous beaches in the world. You'll see kite boarders there all the time. But it's rarely so windy that you've got the sand blasting in your face.

9. There's good hiking all over the island, and it's a small island so they're all pretty easy to get to.

Good luck with the move!