Hawaii information about Hawaii vacations blog

Volunteer vacations, or voluntoursim, is the new eco-tourism, where you put even more than your money toward a good cause; you donate your time, energy, and sweat. Even less than active folks can get out there and lend a hand while they’re on vacation.

My friend Cherie and I have created a new site for Volunteering on Vacation in Hawaii. We’ve listed several vacationing volunteer opportunities already, and more will be coming soon. Plus, Cherie is putting her money where her mouth is when it comes to encouraging vacationers to volunteer while they’re in Hawaii: she’s offering a 5% discount on stays at her upcountry Maui bed and breakfast to guests who volunteer! And, she’ll donate an additional 5% of the total of your stay at the Hale Hookipa to the cause for which you volunteer!

If you have, or know of, other volunteer opportunities in Hawaii, be sure to let us know! Even you folks traveling with young children can find a “voluntourism” opportunity to fit your needs! Cherie is a long-time resident of Maui, knows a lot about the island, and writes a regular Maui blog: Hookipa Aikane (home sharing friend). Her volunteer vacation efforts were recently recognized by O Magazine!

Most of the volunteer opportunities listed so far are environmental in nature: cleaning up garbage, eradicating invasive species, and planting native ones. Habitat restoration and protection takes a lot of work and is extremely important in a fragile environment like Hawaii’s. We hope to add more cultural, historical, and community projects in the future. All of these projects are educational and take place in scenic areas that you might not otherwise see.

So, take advantage of this new source for volunteer tourism in Hawaii. Let us know if you know of any other organizations in Hawaii in need of volunteers. And, of course, we’re always looking for sponsors!

The Holo–holo O’ Wahine, or Women’s Walkabout run by Cherie of the Hale Hookipa Inn, has been changed to May 12 - 18, 2009. You can read more about this year’s walkabout in this post at Cherie’s Blog, Hookipa Aikane on Maui Hawaii.

Ten years ago, when we were living on Maui, I got an email from Dr. Robert Faust who was running an organic coffee farm on the big island of Hawaii, just south of Kona, near the Hawaiian refuge town of Honaunau. He needed help with his various web sites, and he wanted help selling his delicious organic Kona coffee. It was perfect timing, as those were lean years, and living in Hawaii is very expensive (we only lasted a year). They were lean years for Dr. Faust as well, so we let him pay us in organic Kona coffee.

It was a sad day a few years ago when we heard that Dr. Faust had sold his sustainable Hawaiian coffee farm and moved to Oregon, where he still runs his organic fertilizer business.

It was a happy day last month, then, when I got an email from Mike Tucker, who purchased the organic coffee farm, and spent the last couple of years restoring the farm into a sustainable and productive Hawaiian coffee farm, now known as Kona Comfort Coffee. After hearing his story, I told him he should blog about it, and, whadya know, he had kept a journal of the entire experience of rejuvenating the farm. After a few weeks of work, we’re happy to announce a riveting Organic Kona Coffee Farming in Hawaii Blog that tells the story creating an organic Hawaiian agriculture business literally from the ground up. The blog has great pictures of the sustainable Hawaiian coffee farm, and other great pictures of Hawaii’s Big Island!

Of course, the really great news is that the organic gourmet coffee beans from Hawaii are better than ever! This organic Kona coffee is so good that I don’t even put my usual half teaspoon of Hawaiian sugar in it! The chocolate undertones and complete lack of bitterness make it irresistible! Each order of gourmet coffee beans is fresh roasted when you order it, or you can order organic green coffee beans if you’re a home roaster.

Of course, the timing is once again wonderful, as I recently began getting higher search engine ranks for my clients on a full time basis. And, you can purchase organic Kona coffee just in time for the Holidays, and you can even get your organic Kona coffee beans gift wrapped in very cool Hawaiian style!

After five years writing for newspapers in Rogue River and Ashland, Oregon; I finally made it back to Hawaii with my 15 year-old Hilo-born son, specifically to Volcano on the Big Island, about a mile from the entrance to Volcano National Park. I was sure I’d kiss the grown at Hilo Airport, but vanity won out.

During Hawaii’s winter (October through April) we’ll get frost on some nights up here at Volcano (4,000 feet), but year round the daytime temps average around 65 to 75 °F. Driving down the mountain in just a matter of a few minutes the temperature and humidity climb, flowering plants and trees appear in neat yards surrounding tin-roofed houses, and the air is instantly soft and sweet. It’s like stepping off the escalator at Hilo Airport into the outdoor lobby – just a nice, relaxing and welcoming sensation.

Hilo was my first home in Hawaii. After a Kauai vacation in 1987, my former husband and I put our house up for sale, I graduated a term early so I’d have my teaching certificate, and we moved with our 6-year-old son (now grown) and our pet bird to “affordable Hawaii,” the windward side of the Big Island, sight unseen, no contacts.

The plan: Stay in an affordable hotel for the first night and then begin apartment hunting and job hunting. So trusty Hidden Hawaii guide book in hand (pre-Internet days and non-touristy Hilo hotels always had rooms), we drove to our first choice, a local’s favorite and located in a residential neighborhood called the Dolphin Bay Hotel

The problem: We didn’t know about the Merry Monarch Hula Festival, which happened to be in full swing. This grandmother of all hula competitions attracts hula halau’s (schools/troupes) and spectators from all around the Big Island, and the islands of Maui, Oahu, Kauai, Molokai, Lanai, as well as from the mainland to the small city of Hilo (pop, 45,000).

As it usually does in Hilo at night (the wettest city in the United States), it began to rain. This hotel and every other one in Hilo was booked, dancers were sleeping on the floors. While the kind owner called hotels in Kona, we stood in the rain outside the car while our son tried to calm the now screeching cockatiel in the backseat.

A man drinking beer and working on his pickup (in that order I think) in front of a big plantation home down the street quickly sized up the situation and told us to come stay the night. I’d heard a lot about “aloha” (who hasn’t), but I was hesitant. He came back a minute later, saying his wife had stew on the stove and wanted us to come in for dinner.

So we joined he and his wife and their two sons for a delicious dinner, watched some of Merry Monarch on television, and spent the night in their tidy guest rooms. We fell asleep to the pitter patter of rain on the banana leaves outside the window and woke up feeling more refreshed than we could remember.

Downstairs we found a note on the polished koa table next to a vase of antheriums telling us they’d gone off to school and work (his wife turned out to be the vice principle at a local school). The note said to please help ourselves to breakfast from the cupboards and the refrigerator. And we were strangers. I still haven’t rightly passed on this aloha, but I’m working on it.

While Hilo’s my first love, Volcano has its own charms. Pele for one. Many of the island’s artists live here – something about the creative energy that flows beneath as lava moves towards the sea where it’s forming a new island. Mark Twain reportedly loved it here and stayed at Volcano House Hotel. In Roughing It, he used his sharp wit to point out the injustices done to the Hawaiians.

Hawaiian honeycreepers flit from tree to tree outside my windows. Turkeys cruise through our front yard daily (as our cats look on wide-eyed from a safe distance). Fern flanked trails meandering under majestic koas and fragrant eucalyptus provide wonderful hikes. The sun sets over Mauna Loa, and in the morning we can drive about 1/2 hour down to Punalu`u Black Sand Beach and check out the sea turtles or watch the sun rise over the ocean (if I could get up that early!). Or we can drive about 30 miles to Hilo, down Kalanianiole about five miles, and snorkel on the coral reef at my favorite Windward side beach park, Richardson Ocean Park.

And the volcano vog? While this smog-like volcanic substance does sometimes find its way down the mountain into Hilo, other than the vog in the Park near the lava flow and sulfur vents, it mainly just settles (until afternoon trades blow it out to sea) right where the bulk of the island’s tourists do - - Kailua-Kona.

In my 10 years living in Hawaii (Big Island, and for a bit on Oahu and Kauai), for the most part on a single mom’s shoestring budget, I’ve discovered many amazing places and fun activities that tread lightly on pocketbooks and Hawaii’s fragile eco systems (usually these two go together).

I’ve also learned a lot about the culture from my time teaching here, mostly at a treatment center for teens where I brought in kupuna (elders) volunteers to share their knowledge and where I had the opportunity to tag along on outings. But I’ve probably just written the longest blog introduction in history, so I’ll start sharing these tips next week, along with pictures.

Cindy