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Moving to Puna - jennysart - 10-30-2011
I am moving to Hawaii this summer after my teaching contract expires. I have family in Maui, but it is just way too commercial, busy and expensive for me. I have been researching where else to live in Hawaii and I am really interested in learning more about the area around Pahoa. I am coming from Kentucky where I have been a teacher and professional artist for 12 years. I sell work at galleries around the US and feel confident my work will sell in Hawaii too. My husband is retiring from his job as an accountant from the state and is looking forward to the move. We have one son in the 5th grade. We love water; snorkeling, swimming and fishing, gardening-growing gourds especially, and just being outdoors. I am interested to know if anyone has had luck growing gourds in Puna? I have read that they are difficult to raise due to various pests. I do understand the importance of gourds in Hawaiian culture- I have been researching them for years. It is one of the reasons that we decided to move to Hawaii!
Any advice or information would be appreciated. Thanks! [
]My web-site is www.jzgourds.com
RE: Moving to Puna - DanielP - 10-31-2011
Jennysart,
My first suggestion is to move over and rent a vacation rental for a month or two while you look for a longer term rental. Then take the time to get to know the island.
It is good that your artwork will sell in many galleries in the country, since relying on the local economy for a needed income is probably a non-starter. Few and low paying jobs for almost anything along with a higher cost of living.
As far as your child in school, that can be another challenge. Others can comment on that better than I.
Use the search function on this site to answer many questions.
Aloha, Dan
RE: Moving to Puna - TheodoreJay - 10-31-2011
Well its good you have island family to lean on for sure. I would start out by seeing if you can make Maui work cause there's allot of tourist dollars on the Lahaina side of the island but you could work away from there and visit as needed.
Yes I would definitely do a month long rental in Puna to Hilo before packing up all the gear. In particular get to know local artists and see how they do at it making a living on the Big Island. Also Kona or Waikoloa areas might be better for selling art cause there's more money going around over on that side. Definitely stop in at all of the art galleries to see what you will be up against. If you move here you'll probably need to switch to island type settings and style (most people aren't looking for a Kentucky setting when buying art on the Big Island). The Art Center at Volcano National Park has a good sampling of local artists. The Pacific Fine Art Gallery in Kona is a good example of higher end market work. A visit to Honolulu should be in your planning to see what that better art market has to offer.
Akiko's B&B has an artist type studio just north of Hilo if you are looking for a fairly cheap place to stay and work and quiet off the grid. As for Akiko's special monthly rate. Standard studio rate is $50/night for 2 weeks. Akiko has her own little gallery right on premis and probably knows a few of the local artists on the island as well.
Look for alternate work while visiting cause if you are depending on the tourist market that can go too heck based on the next recession and don't give up on the connection on the mainland that you have started already.
You'll need to check out the local schools as well. Depending on how your 5th grader gets along the switch might be a difficult one. Hawaii is known for eating up outsider school kids.
The Puna side is not know for good beaches so keep that in mind and the best snorkeling is on the west side of the island so do some time in Waikoloa and Kona town as well.
RE: Moving to Puna - birdmove - 10-31-2011
Maui is good too, but you'll find housing to be way more than in the Puna area. The advice to come and stay here before you make this important decision is a very good one.
Jon
Jon in Keaau/HPP
RE: Moving to Puna - jennysart - 10-31-2011
Thanks, I appreciate all the advice. Our son goes to private school here- Kentucky schools are the worst in the country. We would do the same in Hawaii. Keep in mind that we are coming from Kentucky which ranks at the bottom in just about everything. Anywhere else will be better. We do plan to rent at first. I am definitely looking for island living- not Kentucky. I love to garden- I dry and can a lot of our food. One thing that attracts me to the Puna area is its lushness and the availability of rentals with land. I would like to grow gourds, but I would also like to know if there is a source for buying gourds on the island. I have found a few web-sites, but nothing like gourd farms that exist in the states. I am okay with shipping them, but I like using locally grown products. Keep the advice coming.........
RE: Moving to Puna - hawaiideborah - 10-31-2011
We rented a vacation rental for 5 months when first arriving in Puna from these guys:
http://www.hawaiiparadisevacationrentals.com/
They (Mark and Ron) will work with you on price for longer term stays.
We rented in HPP and were NOT looking to end up buying in HPP (Hawaiian Paradise Park), but after exploring all the other areas and our criteria we did end up purchasing in HPP after 5 months of looking.
We used Shipman Storage in Keaau, which was great. They have "climate controled" units so no humidity. we were able to down size as we needed into smaller space AND they let us have our container delivered to their parking lot to unload.
We shipped via ABF: http://www.upack.com/
using two of the u-pack cubes.
We wanted to be nearby Hilo for commuting reasons due to high cost of gas here. And we wanted space with privacy and WATER VIEW without wires. As well as the type and size of house we were able to get it in HPP. But we looked all over the area. You will have your own criteria an every subdivision/area here has lots of different places to choose from. People think of an aarea and have a stereotype of that subdivision, but with an open mind you can find what you want most anywhere. At least that is what we found.
Also, if you get a place at the end of the roads you get all the surrounding green area and the property feels huge because you border on the end. There were lots of places like this we looked at on the last house dead ends of HPP on the roads off of Makuu.
There is a big studio stour in Volcano the weekend of Thanksgiving which is wonderful to attend to get an idea of the artisit making a living here:
http://www.honolulumagazine.com/Honolulu-Magazine/Calendar/index.php/name/25th-Annual-Art-Studio-Tour-Sale-in-Volcano-Village/event/4007/
Another well attended event that I love is the HPP studio arts tour. It is huge and really gave me a good feel for the artist community here in HPP:
http://www.paradisestudiotour.com/
Hope this was helpful to you. Good luck with making your dreams come true.
RE: Moving to Puna - missydog1 - 10-31-2011
Really good advice you have gotten, agree with it ...
re the private school idea, you are probably looking at a charter school, so maybe start researching the possibilities? The true "private school" experience on the island is for the wealthy. HPA costs 16-20 thousand a year in tuition, and is not near Puna in any case.
Last I checked, Hawai'i public school was ranked 48th or 49th in the nation, so right there with Kentucky.
I am always ambivalent about wholeheartedly saying yes to bringing a school age child here. Some will thrive and some will not. There is a very strong prejudice towards being born here if you want to be fully accepted. The "solution" to that is find an environment where a good number of the kids are also "transplants."
You will find here that other transplants think it doesn't matter if you are from here, but people born here place great importance on how long you have lived here. Not only you, but your parents, your grandparents, and earlier generations. Perhaps Kentucky is like that too, don't know.
Lots of happiness to be found, but as the parent of a young child, just be aware that his life will be altered by moving to a place where he doesn't automatically belong.
Two other places you might check out are Honoka'a and North Kohala. Both have a strong artistic community. They are more expensive when it comes to housing, but only slightly higher with other areas of cost of living. Both areas have deep soil for gardening, because they are on the slopes of Mauna Kea, where no lava has flowed for thousands of years.
There is also deep soil on parts of the Mauna Loa flanks -- Kurtistown, for example. The lava areas are very fertile, but you'll need to learn a new way of gardening to adapt to ground that you can't put a shovel in unless it has been build up with cinder soil. That was a big shock to me when I moved here, so much rock, so little dirt!
Everything grows like crazy here -- that's the good and the bad news. Good plants, bad plants, bad bugs, everything is competing. Most of the work for me is getting the weeds out of the way, and the weeds never quit.
The west side has much better water accessibility; we have more water views than great water access over here. What there is here is mostly more crowded because there's less to go around, even though we don't have nearly so many visitors.
If you have never been to the Big Island, then I'd say do a two week or longer vacation before you commit to even a rental. It took me several trips to this island to decide where to live, and even then my first few decisions were not right. You may strike it lucky, but the more time you have to look around first, the better.
Best wishes! [
]
RE: Moving to Puna - csgray - 10-31-2011
Private schools here are very limited: Christian Liberty, Malamalama Waldorf are it for Puna, St. Joesephs in Hilo and Hawaii preparatory Academy is a private boarding school in Waimea. The east side of the Big Island has a lot of good charter schools that have a better track record with mainland kids.
Good luck!
Carol
RE: Moving to Puna - jennysart - 10-31-2011
This issue concerning discrimination against outsiders in the schools seems to be a topic on all the islands. Has anyone had a good experience in the public or charter schools? Any your willing to share? He will be going into the 6th grade. Thanks for the info on the areas that are good for gardening.
RE: Moving to Puna - John S. Rabi - 10-31-2011
quote:Your opinion on that will change very quickly after you moved here!
Originally posted by jennysart
Kentucky schools are the worst in the country.
Aloha,
John S. Rabi, GM,PB,ABR,CRB,CM,FHS
888.819.9669
johnrabi@johnrabi.com
http://www.JohnRabi.com
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