I drive a cab on Mau’i.

I work the “southside” of the island. Basically Wailea and Kihei.

My “day” starts at 7:00pm, as the sun sets.

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HONEY, WE’RE GOING TO HAWAII!

To those born in the “Aloha State”, you have no idea the thrill that a statement like this invokes first time visitors. “Hawaii 5-0″, “Magnum, PI”. Even more ingrained, almost at the DNA level, is a image from a postcard out of the ’20’s or ’30’s showing Waikiki as it was.

Then they arrive in Honolulu and find that it is just another typical overcrowded southern California city with a really overrated beach.

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After the bars have closed on Mau’i and the phone is quiet, I enjoy taking a bit of time and walking through the public areas of the various hotels in Wailea. The paintings, the sculptures, the landscaping, everything in these beautiful destination resorts is absolutely gorgeous. The general public is welcome to partake of this beauty, but few residents avail themselves of this inexpensive (you just have to pay for parking) cultural experience.

This morning, at the end of my shift, I had some business to conduct at the front desk of the Grand Wailea.

From the main entrance (above) to the front desk, this is what I encountered:
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WEATHER

“Highs will be low 80’s to low 90s. Winds out of the northeast at 10 to 25 miles per hour. Tradewind showers windward and mauka, occassionally passing to leeward.”

With few exceptions, that is the typical forecast for Mau’i. Lets face it, that is also the typical forecast for the entire State. Those of us who live here don’t even think about our weather until it makes a drastic change. But for the visitors to our tropical paradise, weather is very important. Not here but back home.

Oceanic Cable is missing a major profit point. Most of our guests are surprised that our cable system does not carry The Weather Channel. This cable channel is one of the most viewed on the mainland but is not carried on our cable system.

People visiting here want to know what is happening back home. If OC would carry this channel as part of the basic cable service, their ad revenue would dramatically increase. I know that OC carries NBC Weather Plus as part of the digital service package but few hotels have this service. All of the major hotels do carry the basic cable service, and this is where this channel needs to be.

This would also be a great aid for Hawai’i residents needing to travel, whether going to the mainland or Asia. People want to know what the weather is going to be at their destination.

I wonder if anyone from OC reads this blog?

This past spring, I was parked at the Ballroom entrance at The Grand Wailea. It was a slow night, and I was waiting for a dispatch. Finally decided that I needed to check the inside of my eyelids for possible pinholes. Very little radio traffic on the two-way radio and I was listening to an “easy music” radio station.

K A - B O O M!!

My first reaction was to grab the shotgun out of the rack and prepare to defend my self. Oops. I am in a cab, not a patrol car.

B O O M!! - B A N G!!

This second explosion was visible.. One of the “groups” at The Grand were having a display of aerial pyrotechnics. Kewl.

Grabbed my camera and tried to get some shots. They didn’t come out too good.

Then the “little voice” inside my head started talking to me.

“HEY STUPID. YOUR CAMERA CAN TAKE VIDEO!”

This is what I captured on the video:
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Keawakapu Beach, Kihei, in the light of a full moon

I don’t know about you, but I am fascinated by webcams. These little instruments that give all of us a glimpse into areas of the world that we will probably never be able to visit.. From my desk I can ring in the New Year with the revelers in Times Square. See whats happening in Piccadilly Circus. Watch divers off the coast of Australia. There are few places on this globe that don’t have a webcam nearby.

I am sure the following list is not complete but these are the webcams on Mau’i that I like to check out on a regular basis.

Okay, this isn’t Mau’i. Its the webcam atop Mauna Kea, on the “Big Island”

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I haven’t made a new post since August 1. I went on vacation last Monday, August 7. For me that usually means a trip to the Big Island of Hawaii to visit my family and spend some downtime in the peace and quiet of Honokaa. I settled into a very low key routine, free of work, website maintenances and blog postings.

I’ll touch on flying interisland with this return entry.

Interisland flying on Hawaiian Air: My airline of choice to fly between the islands for many years has and still is Hawaiian Airlines. Why? Because I always liked their planes better than the competition. For a long time Hawaiian flew versions of the venerable McDonnell-Douglas DC9. After retiring their entire DC-9 fleet in 2002-03, they adopted the Boeing 717, which is essentially a modernized version of the same jet. Hawaiian began to phase in those planes around 2001 and to date have 11 of them for use on interisland routes. I always like flying on these planes because they have 2 - 3 seating. And since I usually fly solo, I mostly sit on the side where there is only 2 seats.

I also like Hawaiian because they now have assigned seating on interisland flights. This is really convenient as passengers no longer have to scramble for open seats like how it was in the past and how it still is on Aloha Airlines.
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Well, on Mau’i there are many great restaurants. And the nice thing about dining out on Mau’i is that you don’t have to get dressed up. Not one location requires a jacket and tie, but don’t try to get into the fancier ones wearing beach attire. The have to draw the line somewhere.

I have three favorite restaurants:
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I made this video this past spring. Thought you might enjoy it.

It Starts just north of Wailea, in Kihei town, and ends at the main entrance to the Grand Wailea Resort/Hotel/Spa.

Oh, please excuse the one little glitch when my camera decided it wanted to walk across the dashboard.

Extended view includes more pics from Mau’i. Enjoy

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The effect of last week’s foiled terrorist plot has had an immediate impact on tourism on Mau’i.

All month the resort hotels in Wailea have been about 98% occupancy. They usually stay that way until Labor Day. This week, the occupancy rate has dropped to about 60%. Right after the story hit the newswires, people started calling and cancelling their reservations. Airline bookings have also dropped drastically. A lot of workers are going to have their hours cut and the trickle down effect will seriously impact our local economy. The “fall slowdown” is coming two weeks early. Thats going to hurt.

Another political cartoon

FOR MORE PIX - READ THE EXTENDED ENTRY
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