TNT NewsHawaii® is an ongoing monthly newsletter we send to people like you who visit our website and request information about Hawaii. The newsletter is just one way we hope to keep you connected with Hawaii before and after your visits to the islands.
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* Coming Events (see below)
Discover exciting upcoming events on Kauai, Maui, the Big Island, and Oahu.
* Best (Hidden) Places Hawaii (see below)
Find your way to the special places in Hawaii that other visitors may miss.
* Taste of Hawaii Recipe (see below)
Try a mouthwatering Hawaiian recipe from one of the most-renowned chefs in the islands.
* Travel Tips (see below)
Hawaii is so unique that it even has its own time zone. Enjoy the latest pointer from our collection of travel ideas to enhance your Hawaiian vacation.
* Ask the Big Kahuna (see below)
Find answers to questions from travelers. Submit a question for the Big Kahuna to answer in a future issue.
Kauai
February 21 and 22
WAIMEA TOWN CELEBRATION
It’s an annual town party festival! Continuous entertainment, food, crafts, games, Coors beer garden, Lappert’s ice cream eating contest; ukulele contest at the old Waimea Sugar Mill; hat lei contest and Hawaiian cultural demonstrations at the West Kauai Technology & Visitor Center; and many sporting events on Saturday.
Maui
February 14 – 16
KUKAHI 2003 WITH KE ALA O KA MAILE
One of Hawaii’s most celebrated entertainers, Maui’s own Kealii Reichel has the distinction of being the only solo performer to sell out every one of his Castle Theater performances. Always the innovator, this year he brings the Maui Symphony Orchestra to the stage in enchanting evenings of music and hula.
Big Island of Hawaii
February 16
WHALE WATCHING CRUISE
Kona Outdoor Circle, a nonprofit organization to keep Kona beautiful, is sponsoring this whale watch cruise. Enjoy live music by noted island slack-key guitarist John Keawe, enjoy pupu (snacks) and soft drinks (other drinks available for purchase).
Oahu/Waikiki
All month
K-NEX BUILD IT! EXHIBIT
Bishop Museum presents this traveling exhibit featuring K-NEX parts that allow young visitors to build bridges, skyscrapers, houses, traditional structures, vehicles and masks with their parents, families and friends. The exhibit emphasizes Korean architectural shapes, colors and functions.
For contact details and a complete annual calendar of events by month for each of the Hawaiian Islands, visit our online Events Calendar.
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Contact:
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Idea Travel Website: https://www.ideatravel.com
Kauai’s Spalding Monument
The monument itself, built to honor a former plantation manager, is not the real goal of your outing. The visit is worthwhile because of the views and the hikes. The sugar plantations have closed and future use of the land is not certain, so this is a good time to enjoy the sights here.
You get there by going north on Kuhio Highway from Kapaa, and turning left onto Kealia Road. Keep right past the closed post office, and head uphill on the paved road through bougainvillea; the road becomes pothole paved. Pass pastures on the left and cane fields on the right and look for the line of Norfolk pines up and to your left, which mark Spalding Monument.
The SPALDING STROLL is down the dirt drive fringed by tall Norfolk pines that lead away from the palm-encircled monument. You get some blue-water looks of the Kapaa coast and close-up views of a moist woodland valley. This hike will delight bird watchers. In about a mile, where a road veers to the right, the path you’re on starts to drop steeply. The road continues down to a valley inland from Kealia, but you’ll probably want to turn around.
WAIPAHEE FALLS, once a renowned tourist attraction, has been fenced off and closed for years due to flash flood and other hazards. Still, the walk to KANEHA RESERVOIR, near the falls, is beautiful, taking you through scenery evoking the green hills of Africa.
The trailhead for the falls is down Kealia Road. As you face the gate at Spalding Monument, go .5-mile to your right and look on your left for a Kealia Hunter Checking Station, Unit C mailbox. Park there. At first you will get only occasional glimpses of the Anahola Mountains on your right. At .3-mile, veer left when you have a choice, and at 1 mile also go left as you pass a paved airstrip on your right. Beyond the airstrip, views open up, and in another .25-mile you reach the road that comes in from the locked gate at the monument. Continue to your right on the road.
At about 2 miles in, you’ll start to get big views of the Makaleha Mountains to your left, and, in the mid-distance, of fleecy monkeypod trees scattered over line-green slopes. At 2.75 miles, take a left fork in the road that leads to the reservoir and fenced -off spur trail to the falls.
Kauai Trailblazer, 62
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Flower of the Sea (Pua o ke Kai) is a 4 bedroom, 3 bath, soulful artistic retreat on acreage on Kauai’s beautiful North Shore with lake and ocean views.
Contact: Suzanne Kobayashi
Phone: 808-828-1918
Flower of the Sea Website: https://www.aloha.net/~seek/pua-o-ke-kai/
Haleakala Crater Sushi
Courtesy of Ben Marquez
Maui Community College
5 oz fresh crab meat
5 oz prepared guacamole
3 c rice, cooked
1/4 c mayonnaise
1 T scallions, minced
1 T wasabi powder
3 T mayonnaise
1 tsp Ko Chu jung
3 tsp mayonniase
1 T Tobiko caviar
Squeeze crabmeat of all excess water.
Combine with 1/4 cup mayonnaise and scallions.
Combine wasabi powder with 3 tablespoons mayonnaise, mix until smooth and place in squeeze bottle.
Combine Ko Chu jung with 3 tablespoons mayonnaise, mix until smooth and place in squeeze bottle.
Place rice in the bottom of a 3-inch ring mold. Top rice with guacamole.
Top guacamole with crabmeat mixture. Squeeze sauces over to garnish as desired. Garnish the top with caviar.
Courtesy of Taste of Hawaii®, the Ultimate Sunday Brunch.
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Agricultural Inspection
The US Dept. of Agriculture says, “American agriculture is under constant threat of attack from countless enemies. These enemies are often microscopic and include plant pests and disease.”
To prevent the unknowing transmission of these hitchhikers, all passenger baggage moving from Hawaii to the US mainland is subject to predeparture inspection at the airport. They ask that you be prepared to open and close your own bags. All agricultural items being mailed must be inspected prior to being taken to the post office.
You must notify the inspector if you have any agricultural items with you. Purchasing items from nurseries and fruit sellers that are qualified to certify them for you takes the worry out of the process. They will package and stamp anything you wish to take that is on the “Permitted” list. Nothing makes everyone back home as happy as fresh Hawaiian fruit, or lovely orchids and tropical flowers.
Agricultural items PERMITTED into the mainland after passing inspection:
Beach Sand
Coconuts
Cooked foods
Dried seeds
Dried decorative arrangements
Fresh flowers (except gardenia, jade vine, and mauna loa)
“Irish” or white potatoes
Pineapples
Plants and cuttings must be certified to be free of pests by the HI Dept. of Agriculture
Seashells (except land snail shells)
Papayas require treatments before shipment to the mainland.
Commercially canned and throughly cooked foods are permitted.
Agricultural items NOT PERMITTED into the Mainland:
Berries (including coffee berries and sea grapes)
Cactus plants or parts
Cotton and cotton bolls
Fresh flowers of gardenia, jade vine, and mauna loa
Kikania and pandanus
Live insects and snails
Plants in soil
Seeds with pulp and fresh seed pods
Soil
Sugarcane
Swamp cabbage (unchoy)
Sweet potato (raw)
Submit your Travel Tips to [email protected].
Dear Big Kahuna,
Aloha,
Are you the Big Kahuna that has held the record for the most pineapples eaten in one seating for the past seven years? Can you tell me what the current record for most pineapples eaten in one seating is?
Dawn
Kentucky
Howzit Dawn,
(That’s the Hawaiian equivalent of the New York “Howyadoin,” the Mexican “Que Pasa,” the Hip-Hop “Whassup,” or my son’s basic “Hey.”)
First of all, I doubt if anyone ate pineapples, as you suggest, in one seating for seven years. If there is another Big Kahuna who performed such a feat, he is indeed a BIG Kahuna.
I wonder if all our readers know what the term “kahuna” means. One of its definitions is “an expert in any profession.” It also is the title of a priest or minister. Some mainlanders may remember the term from the movie “Gidget.” James Darren was Moondoggie, and Cliff Robertson was the Big Kahuna. Robertson played a beach bum and his title signified his surfing skills (not pineapple-eating skills).
Though I am definitely not the ranking pineapple eater of whom you speak, I can confirm that people do have such contests. However, everyone I contacted claimed not to know the official record.
There is a pineapple-eating contest here in Hawaii, fittingly, on Lanai, the Pineapple Isle. Their contest consists of eating pineapple rings dangling from the ceiling. The first person to finish one wins.
If you would like to set a related record, you might try eating the
Dole Pineapple Garden Maze at the Dole Plantation in Honolulu. If so, you had better be hungry. The Guinness World Records folks crowned this maze as the World’s Largest Permanent Hedge Maze with an area of 100,000 square feet. The maze was created in 1997 and has the longest path for any permanent maze at 1.7 miles (2.73 km).
Instead of eating the maze, enjoy a leisurely walk through the maze and work-up a thirst for a juicy pineapple afterwards.
More important than the quantity of pineapples you eat is the quality of pineapples you eat. The best tasting (and best for you) are organic because they have no chemicals added in the growing or processing process. Enjoy.
Aloha,
Big Kahuna
Do you have a question for the Big Kahuna?
Just email your questions to the Big Kahuna.
Due to the great number of questions asked, the Big Kahuna is unable to answer all personally. Questions of general interest will be answered in future issues of this newsletter, usually one per issue. In the meantime, we invite you to explore www.bestplaceshawaii.com.
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