If you’re on Oahu, it’s multicultural party time. Get yourself to downtown Honolulu’s Chinatown Arts District today. It’s First Friday, with all the galleries open, bars packed, the young and trendy packing the sidewalks, and serious revelry. Not enough? Tonight’s also the official Chinese New Years street party. There will be firecrackers and lion dancers up […]
The Hawaii Superferry’s low passenger counts are threatening its ability to continue its sole Oahu-Maui route.Pacific Business News reported today that attorneys for the embattled inter-island ferry service considered the situation an “emergency,” in a December letter submitted to the state Public Utilities Commission. The letter requested the PUC extend the Superferry’s current $39 one-way promotional
The Big Island has more coral in the waters near its shores than any other major Hawaiian island.New maps from a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration coral reef studyshow that live coral covers 57 percent of the waters surrounding the Big Island. That’s more than 29 square miles of living reef.The NOAA findings support previous studies
Folks who love Waikiki’s Royal Hawaiian Hotel already know that it will close June 1 for extensive renovations.But before the “Pink Palace of the Pacific” shutters its doors for seven months, it’s inviting its fans to take a sentimental journey. Book the “A Hui Hou … Until We Meet Again” package —offered now through May 31.
Molokini will be closed temporarily later this month to dispose of some unexploded ordnance found on the island.The Maui News reported todaythat the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service would be shutting down all access to the island for a day to dispose of the materials. The closure of Molokini for a radius of one nautical mile
Wish you were on Maui right now? A lot of folks you know might be there already.Maui is the fastest-growing winter beach destination in the United States, according to online travel site Orbitz, which researched hotel bookings from Dec. 21 through Feb. 28 over the last three years. Maui’s bookings rose the fastest of all beach destinations
Dressed in his signature baseball cap and surrounded by beauty queens, Robert Wyland welcomed guests this weekend to the grand opening gala of the newly renovated Wyland Waikiki.The 400-room boutique hotel, formerly the Ohana Waikiki Surf, is far from the surf, three blocks off the beach. What it lacks in ocean frontage, it now makes up
How much should you pay for Internet access on your Hawaii vacation? Some places, it’s free. Other places, it’s as much as the wince-inducing $20 a day at Oahu’s Pacific Beach Hotel.Frankly, we think Internet access should be just another part of your standard hotel experience, like air conditioning and bath soap. We searched out a very
Travel + Leisure Magazine’s 2008 list of the world’s 500 best hotels features 16 properties from Hawaii.The annual list is determined from a poll of T+L readers, who graded their experiences at hotels and resorts worldwide.The highest ranking Hawaii resort this year?The Big Island’s consistently top-ranked Four Seasons Resort Hualalai, which broke into the T+L list’s Top
Hawaii is known for having a seemingly endless supply of cool surf spots. But still, it can get seriously gnarly finding a perfect spot. Too many bodies competing for the same wave. Lack of parking. No places to paddle safely into the surf. No showers to rinse off afterwards. Now imagine what it feels
The Ritz-Carlton Kapalua reopens today (1/7/08), after a $160-million transformation. The luxury oceanview resort on Maui’s northwest shore has been “privately” open for the last 10 days, housing the golfers, officials and media for first PGA tour event of the year, the Mercedes-Benz Championship, won by Daniel Chopra in a playoff.The PGA golfers move on to
Yes, that was Hawaii’s own Israel “Iz” Kamakawiwoole’s singing “Somewhere Over the Rainbow,” as the ball dropped in New York City’s Times Square for the 100th year in a row.The million-plus revelers in midtown Manhattan and millions more watching on TV around the world got to hear the late great vocalist about 8 minutes after
