The May/June 2008 issue of HAWAII Magazine features a story on cartoonist Robert Ripley’s fascination with our Islands. Ripley created Ripley’s Believe It or Not! —the strange-but-true trivia-filled newspaper cartoon series. And, reports writer Greg Daugherty, he visited Hawaii four or five times during his brief, illustrious life.

The “believe it or not” Ripley nuggets you’ll find in our story include:

• How the amateur anthropologist—portrayed as a hardy world adventurer—actually preferred to travel in the lap of luxury.

• How most of his “Believe or Not” items were actually uncovered by an associate combing the shelves at the New York Public Library.

• How he saw water falling “uphill” in Oahu’s Nuuanu Valley.

• How he discovered the “House of Everlasting Fire”— better known to most of us as Kilauea volcano’s Halemaumau crater.

You’ll find the full text of Daugherty’s story—along with vintage cartoons and photos from Ripley’s Hawaii sojourns—in the current issue. Here's an excerpt:

When Robert Ripley arrived in Hawaii for the first time in 1922, the young “Believe It or Not!” cartoonist recorded a couple of surprises in his dispatches home. First was the genuine friendliness of the Hawaiians who greeted his ship. Second, the hula turned out to be less risqué than he had expected—or maybe hoped.

From his first trip to the Islands, Ripley was amazed by their natural wonders, which would figure in his cartoons for decades to come. Many he sketched at the actual sites, later transforming the sketches into finished artwork at his drawing board in New York.

Ripley's interest in all things Hawaiian went so far that he hired a well-known Chinese-Hawaiian author, actress and lecturer named Li Ling Ai and gave her the fancy title: director of the "Ripley's Believe It or Not!" Far Eastern Department.

You'll find HAWAII Magazine in most bookstores nationwide. In addition to print subscriptions, we now offer digital subscriptions and single copies as well.
 
 

You ask.  We answer.

HAWAII Magazine reader Dorci Whittington writes:

In the early part of the ’90s, I went to see a dinner show at the Maui Tropical Plantation starring Buddy Fo. It was the most fun show I have ever been to. We went every time we were on Maui. When we came back and the show was no longer going, I only got blank stares when I asked about Buddy. I hope you can find some information. Is he still going strong and entertaining people?

At 75, Buddy Fo is still going strong.  We just talked to him on the phone.  He sounds great, and he and wife Sammi perform Monday nights at the Fairmont Orchid on the Big Island.

Fo was tickled that you remember his Hawaiian cowboy show at the Maui Tropical Plantation, Dorci. It was just one step in a legendary career.

After World War II, Fo put together the Invitations, the first Hawaii vocal group to land a national recording contract. Their Liberty Records album, RSVP, was named by HONOLULU Magazine as one of the 50 Greatest Hawaii Music Albums.  Unfortunately, it’s no longer available. Here's what they looked like, in red shirts and white pants they bought from Liberty House.

After the Maui shows, Fo retired—only to be dragged out of retirement by his friend Don Ho. Fo’s memories of playing with Don are captured in the new biography, Don Ho: My Music, My Life.

Here’s a little bit of Fo’s sophisticated sound.

 

You ask. We answer.

We got a question from HAWAII reader Lisa Marie McCormick about road construction on the Queen Kaahumanu Highway on the Big Island.

My husband and I come back each year for a week or three. We stay at our time share in Waikoloa and travel into Kailua-Kona early to dive. On our January visit, the last eight miles between the airport and Kailua-Kona took over an hour. And that was at 6:30 a.m.!
 
I was told by some local friends that they already built a section wrong, and had to rip it up and start over. What is the timeline for completion, and how far will the construction reach?

First, the answer to the first half of your question, Lisa Marie: Unfortunately, not any time soon.

Widening the main highway into Kailua-Kona from Keahole Airport from two to four lanes was slated for two phases. Construction of the first phase—from Kailua-Kona to Kealakehe Parkway—began in July 2005. It was slated to end more than a year ago, in April 2007. After delays, state officials are saying it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas this year for completion.

The second phase of construction, from Kealakehe Parkway to Keahole Airport, could then begin as early as spring 2009, with completion—cross your fingers here—in spring 2011.

That's just under six years to build eight miles of road—two years more than it took to build San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge.

Your local friends were correct. According to a December 2007 West Hawaii Today story, a new section of the highway was torn up and laid again last year after the grade of a slope was built incorrectly.

After phase two of construction reaches the airport, then phase three begins—on the highway into Kailua-Kona from the south. 

But that’s a whole other traffic jam, Lisa Marie.

 

Our man at Kilauea volcano, Bill Harby, just reported in.

Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, closed for two days, just reopened this afternoon at 1 p.m. 

Even though the tradewinds that usually clear the air have not returned, the sulfur dioxide fumes from Halemaumau and Pu'u O'o have diminished enough to make it safe for visitors. And the visitors were there.

When Harby went to the reopened park, he saw seven large tour buses parked at the Kilauea steam vents.

However, the prime viewing spot from the Thomas A. Jaggar Museum overlook remains closed.

Harby himself is breathing easier. "It's nice to look out my window just a few miles from the crater," he says, "and see the rain forest instead of the vog." As we talked on the phone, there was the boom of thunder in the distance. "I hope a good hard rain will wash more SO₂ out of the air."

 

Our friend, Big Island writer Bill Harby, wrote us this morning with a report on vog conditions at his home in Volcano Village near Kilauea's summit.
  
Wow, in a matter of minutes the air and skies in my neighborhood went from crystal clear to vog fear.

This is what my backyard looked like yesterday afternoon. It looked a lot like this when I woke up this morning, too.

I live five miles from the summit of Kilauea volcano and about 15 miles from the erupting cinder cone Pu'u O'o—both of which are spewing steam and sulfur dioxide gas right now.

The vog arrived suddenly yesterday. There were clear skies. I blinked. And we were all socked in.

This may force me to evacuate my home in the coming hours. Or not, if our beloved Hawaii tradewinds kick in again. Then we'll be breathing easy again.

Meanwhile, my windows are all shut and I'm laying low. As far as vog conditions go, it's minute-to-minute here.

I'll give a shout (or loud cough) when things change.

 

High levels of sulfur dioxide from Kilauea eruptions today closed Hawaii Volcanoes National Park for the second time this month.

This afternoon’s closure—like the first, on April 8— was caused by noxious fumes emanating from eruptions at Kilauea’s summit Halemaumau vent and further downslope Pu’u O’o vent.

“Our primary concern is for the health and safety of visitors and employees,” said incident commander Joe Molhoek. “We're in close contact with the National Weather Service and look forward to favorable winds by week's end.”

Park rangers were clearing all facilities and campgrounds. Guests at the Volcano House hotel overlooking Kilauea caldera and Halemaumau crater, and residents of Kilauea Miliarty Camp on the summit, were being evacuated. Only National Park Service emergency personnel will remain on duty until weather conditions return to normal.

More than 2,000 visitors, campers, residents and employees were evacuated from the 500 square-mile park on April 8 when volcanic emissions containing high levels of sulfur dioxide enveloped the Kilauea summit. The park remained closed for two days until tradewinds shifted the vog (or “volcanic smog”) downwind of the summit and out to sea.

It was the first time Hawaii Volcanoes National Park had closed since 1982.

You can keep track of sulfur dioxide levels and wind directions at Kilauea here. The site updates information from Halemaumau and Pu’o O’o vents every 15 minutes.
 
 

The cover feature of the new issue of HAWAII Magazine is all about the “15 Things We Love About Hawaii” right now.

Among them, you’ll find the Big Island-made chocolate we’d fly from our Oahu offices to savor. The Hilo designer whose Hawaii-inspired fashions and prints we’d pick up while we’re there. And the hula dancer whose graceful movements we’d most want to accompany an oceanside mai tai and Waikiki sunset when we return home.

We've already clued you in about our love for Lost actor Michael Emerson in a previous “15 Things We Love About Hawaii” post. The love currently quenching our thirst for a carbonated beverage like no other, though? Artisanal sodas from Waialua Soda Works.

Trust us. You haven’t had a great vanilla cream soda until you’ve had a Waialua Soda Works vanilla cream soda. HAWAII editor John Heckathorn and I emptied a small office supply of the stuff in an afternoon binge session. (Our original plan was to share a single bottle.) And I’m still unsure whether associate editor Sherie Char got to enjoy any at all. (Burp.)

Here’s an excerpt:

Waialua Soda Works is all about homegrown Hawaii ingredients. There’s Big Island vanilla and Kauai honey in its vanilla cream soda. Island-grown fruits, when available, infuse its pineapple and mango sodas. Maui sugar cane sweetens its root beer. … The contents are handmade and hand-bottled by Jason and Karen Campbell (who) make old-fashioned artisanal soda in the former plantation village of Waialua on Oahu’s North Shore.

Read the full text of our Waialua Soda Works write-up and the 14 other things we love about Hawaii in the May/June 2008 issue of HAWAII Magazine, on newsstands now.

  

Geologists at Kilauea summit’s Hawaiian Volcanoes Observatory bring new meaning to the words “field work" every day.

Just check out these photos of a typical day at the office for Kilauea geologists, posted on the observatory’s Web site this weekend.

Last week was a relatively quiet one on the Kilauea summit. There was a small blast of rock dust at the Halemaumau vent on Wednesday. But otherwise, summit tradewinds from the northeast returned, carrying ash plumes from Halemaumau and Pu'u O'o vents southeast to the sea.

The result? Enough time to snap some photos of the geologists’ 9-to-5.

Yes, that really is a radar gun the geologist in the photo above is pointing at molten lava as it speeds through an underground tube system near Pu'u O'o. Who knew the technology accurate enough to trap speeders on Oahu’s H-1 freeway was good enough for measuring the speed of lava, too.

In the second photo (right), geologists stand just yards away from an open crack in the Pu'u O'o lava tube to measure the chamber’s size. They combine this measurement with the flow-speed measurements to calculate the volume of lava moving through the tube.

(Click on the photos to enlarge.)

You can keep current with what Kilauea geologists are up to—and better still, the one-of-a-kind photos they’re always taking—by clicking HVO's photo archive here.

We make it a part of our own 9-to-5 every day.

  

One of the joys about HAWAII Magazine is that our readers love to talk story with us. As a result, we’ve created a section in our magazine called, “Your Hawaii”—an assortment of short stories about our readers’ Hawaii experience.

In our May/June issue, HAWAII Magazine reader and geologist Lawrence Galiano and his wife, Lori, of Hammonton, N.J., tell us what it was like to spend an afternoon hiking over lava flows at Hawaii Volcanoes National Park.

Here’s an excerpt:

“We were so close to it all—fresh lava was slowly moving just below the surface beneath our feet. … It was amazing to think that this was where the island was growing larger and larger each day.”

You’ll find the rest of Lawrence’s “Your Hawaii” story—along with tales from three other HAWAII Magazine readers—in our May/June 2008 issue, on newsstands now.

Interested in sharing your Hawaii experience with us? Submit your story and photos to yourhawaii@hawaiimagazine.com.

 

A small explosion at Kilauea's summit jolted scientists this morning, while sulfur dioxide-laced fumes fueled another evacuation advisory for a community downwind.

The explosion happened just before 4 a.m. (Hawaii time), sending faintly pink ash across the crater’s overlook. Geologists at the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory said the ash appeared to be rock dust with no volcanic glass fragments. This was the third explosion at Kilauea summit’s Halemaumau crater vent since March 19.

Meanwhile, Big Island Civil Defense issued a brief evacuation advisory for Hawaiian Ocean View Estates after increased sulfur dioxide levels were detected by fire department monitors. The advisory was issued at 7:45 a.m., and cancelled two hours later when levels of the noxious fumes had decreased.

It was the second Big Island Civil Defense evacuation advisory in a week caused by fumes from Halemaumau carried downwind. Hawaiian Ocean View Estates is a rural residential subdivision located south of Kailua-Kona on the west side of the Big Island. Kilauea’s summit is on the east side of the island.

Park ranger Mardie Lane told us that weather conditions at the summit today are overcast skies with still to light variable winds carrying the plume away from the area. However, park visitors should always be aware that conditions can and do change instantly.

"The whim of the wind is a powerful force," said Lane. "It's going to guide us in directions about opening and closing certain areas. So people do need to know that when we make a decision to do something it is for their safety and ours. And this can happen at any time on any day."

Click here for an archive of all of HawaiiMagazine.com's volcano news posts.