Life In Waa Waa

[Wao nahele kane]

So... to keep on the topic.
Jake asks what life is like in Waa Waa and unless you are living in Waa Waa or have some inkling of firsthand experience living in Waa Waa or have a close friend who lives in Waa Waa; an opinion about Waa Waa from one who has always lived elsewhere and only peered in on a drive by and not even spent the night in Waa Waa, yet formed opinions is not what Jake has asked about.

Life in Waa Waa can be either Old Hawaiian or as modern as you wish it to be. It is humid and warm during the summer and sweat does not easily evaporate should you elect to get down and dirty clearing Strawberry Guava (your lot may have none) or vegetation in general. It’s obviously best to wait and clear vegetation during the winter (Waa Waa Greenhorn 101 experience here). Loving the land and being respectful to your lot is expected by your neighbors but not written in a covenant as no written covenants exist in Waa Waa. Most the people share a common thread as people who love Waa Waa as Waa Waa is very unique and special. Everyone knows everyone there and many people walk about the development sharing stories and greeting one another. Lots of people walk their dogs and all the dogs are typically friendly as they pass by or greet you. No dogs sit along the roadway and bark at you as people keep their dogs where they belong, at home with them as loving cared for companions. Some people ride their bikes or walk through Waa Waa and up into the Mango Grove Forest which is like stepping back in time on the Old Puna Trail (Government Beach road). There is around 1 mile of private beach jointly owned by all Waa Waa residents that contain warm tide pool ponds and you can snorkel in some as they are that big and contain fish, coral etc. Sometimes people get naked on the Waa Waa private beach as testament when I saw a very nice rack on my last visit a few weeks back. So if you’re fishing Jake, I won’t pretend to know what’s up with the fish but you will certainly have some interesting side shows to keep your mind occupied if the fish aren’t biting

Anyhow Jake… I’ve written a neighbor and passed along your e-mail, give it time though; they are fairly busy living a quality Old Hawaii Aloha lifestyle and aren’t always checking e-mail.


E ho'a'o no i pau kuhihewa.

[PaulW]

A private beach? Really?

[Wao nahele kane]

Kathy...
The entirety of this entry is not directed at you or necessarily anyone in particular on Puna Web.
You live near Onomea Bay? No, then your neighbors are not causing the problems in Waa Waa and along Government Beach Road. That's a nice area Kathy and I assumed you lived in Puna general because you’re on Puna Web, sorry. Anyhow I apologize for appearing to be such a tool, it was meant jestingly not spitefully, so there is no “attitude”. Script is black and white and does not afford tone of voice. No, I don’t want to be the Waa Waa expert because I’m not anywhere near that and would rather a present in house Waa Waa resident spoke on the thread. In-fact we waited to write anything hoping someone presently in Waa Waa would speak up. Anyhow my other half (Wao Nahele Wahine) remained silent as she has yet to write anything in here so I spoke up after she mentioned this thread to me.

I’m going to state this because I’ve seen many negative ignorant comments made about Waa Waa (I’m not saying it’s you Kathy because it isn’t) and also because the people of Waa Waa are fed up with the abuses that occur around and in Waa Waa. The people in Waa Waa may live off-grid but many do so out of respect for our environment preferring to live a low impact life style and to do our part in lowering our destruction on the planet. Granted some are in Waa Waa to simply stay as far away from normal societal lifestyle people but they are not necessarily kooks. Anyhow, I can’t pretend to know why everyone who lives in Waa Waa lives there, but there is largely a common thread.

Waa Waa appears to be a largely vacant abandon development in the midst of nowhere hidden deeply by the forests only because we have a low occupancy level and large parcels that are heavily filled with jungle type vegetation, but in fact it is merely a few to 10 minutes from regular developments depending on how hard you drive the road. We are fed up with people dumping garbage and criminal evidence near or in the development and want people to know that we are working hard to catch them and we will soon enough begin to nail everyone who does something illegal in our area via the use of high tech monitoring equipment, that will begin as soon as I get out there and install the equipment or get a neighbor to get things rolling, no more funny business will be tolerated.

Now as far as theft, it’s on the incline not only in Waa Waa but in Hawaii General and across the Main Land U.S. largely because of the economic times. But I would not cite that Waa Waa has anymore house Burglary than the other developments (nor even about Onomea Bay) but I know that a high percentage of people are caught when trying to commit robbery in Waa Waa even in some cases long before they get near a house. So in that respect even bringing up theft is pointless unless you’re going to also note the higher apprehension rate and residents recognition abilities (most developments are not filled with people who know everyone else because they are too large). We do appear to have more than our fair share of dumping type activities occurring outside the development because outside folks think it is a remote hidden place and no-one will see them dump whatever it is they are dumping (that’s going to change). People from Waa Waa often remove the trash along the roadway only to find that new trash appears the very next day. (My sympathies to the Shipman’s for blocking the beach road through their property but we don’t have another access luxury in Waa Waa) Trash dumping mostly occurs just beyond Honolulu Bay as they know if they get to Waa Waa and dump it, they may get busted but that hasn’t stopped the worst type dumping from occurring in Waa Waa, crime evidence dumping (burnt cars with human remains and rape victims and dead bodies etc, done in the dark of night and one during the day, we’ve had enough of that and have had to close our beach access road down). Anyhow, the Mango Grove Forest and the Nanawale Forest reserve surround Waa Waa east, west respectively and people need to be aware that the folks in Waa Waa pick up the messes created as do the folks who live in the Mango Grove forest region. We are not recluses or freaks living with noisy generators etc and most have every creature comfort you’ve got in the powered subdivisions, including full electricity (via solar or generators), water and complete wireless and satellite communications. You don’t need wires and pipes to be fully modernized as all of that stuff comes from somewhere and it isn’t all from some non-onsite re-creatable source.

Anyhow, Waa Waa is a subdivision currently stuck between a rock and a hard place because we don’t want a paved road but we need something to stop this general attitude that the area is a free for all with regard to dumping. There are reliable sound solutions to this problem and they will be addressed soon enough.


E ho'a'o no i pau kuhihewa.

[Wao nahele kane]

PaulW,
Yes, a private beach that is jointly owned and deeded to all the land owners of Waa Waa. This means no-one has true beachfront private property in Waa Waa but it's just as good as such (refrencing the actual beach frontage lots).

The jointly owned beach parcel is irregular in shape and spans the entire length of Waa Waa about 1 mile long and separates the "beachfront lots" from the ocean. This insured that no-one could build to the edge and created a default no-build zone. The Beach lot itself appears as one of the legal ownership parcels within a Waa Waa owner’s deed. I say one of the parcels in the deed because all those who live mauka Government Beach road also jointly own one beach frontage parcel 100'X approximatly 800' + between government beach road and the beach parcel. It is used to access the jointly owned private beach parcel but we have closed it due to abuses from people outside the development and use other access routes granted by neighbors who live between the road and the beach. We may have to block another abused access to the beach also for an absentee landowner. We’re fed up with the abuses.
If one lives on either Pakaka Rd. or Sidelak Rd. they jointly own that respective road with all those who live on that road. We have the right to gate those two roads if we feel it necessary in the future.
Government beach road is owned by the county and we cannot gate access through it but some would probably like to.

See link first page of .tiff file.
Beach lot indicated as 12.60 acres "Beach Reserve" with varios owners
and lot 27 composing 1.993 acres with various owners.
Each citing the instrument # that describes who the various owners are.
http://www.co.hawaii.hi.us/maps/tmk/1/1-4/h14028.tif

E ho'a'o no i pau kuhihewa.

[Bullwinkle]

Getting back to jakes question about what its like to live in Waa Waa

I almost bought there. But after thinking long and hard about continuing my off grid adventures I bailed out.

Life in Waa Waa is life off grid. Life off grid is hard. I have been off grid for 20 years. For 20 years it has been ten hours a month at least in "life support system repair and maint." I have propane and solar as well as genset back up. Its is a given one of the systems will need attention during a normal monthly cycle.

There are inherent constant duties. Batteries for one need constant care - let em get dry they die, high a charge rate - they die, low charge rate - they die, dont float em in time - they die... lose one cell out of the bank - you die as you have to dis assemble the bank and test each cell out, of 6 per battery, out of circuit after sitting off charger overnight- after being fully charged - no mean feat in itself.... meanwhile no coffee.. and its likely to be raining or dark. One low (leaking or dead) cell will keep the entire bank from charging... that is why we keep at least two banks

Run the inverter at low voltage because the batteries are sh_____ (11.8 - 12.0 at 70 degrees being all done) and the inverter overheats and dies.... another 3500 down the tubes or out for repair --- good thing we have propane lighting back up - or we would be in the dark till it gets back. Although the battery says a 100 amps... you are only going to get 60 out of it and going to have make 80 to get back to even... then stuff will work again

The lower the voltage the hotter the power tools run.... I can cook a craftsman 8" grinder with a soft pad in a week if I'm "working it" it, sears hates me.

Propane fridges --- always seem to blow out at a bad time... a little drafty ... the fridge done until re - light - never mind about the food. Slow cool down after grocery shopping typical to the system, it will be 24 hrs until you can sample that ice cream just in from the store. Rust flakes in the supply line? put your ear to the fridge, you can hear the ammonia bubble, bllllooooooop.........blllllllooooop ... that sound needs to be just right and four hours later ... it will be cool enough to use, patience indeed a virtue. Rent mosquito coast ... they got the sound right. No sound..... clean the ruby -- yup real ruby with a tiny hole drilled in it... jet again..... "you mainlanders always make things worse by tinkering with it"

Carl at maine refrigeration... the last parts source for early (read bulletproof" propane fridges - even if there is a c02 poisoning buy back program, just don't use em indoors - grin)

Lighting - ever try to find a humprhies mantle in a hurry - even though you cant find the fixture for less that a hundy - the mantles 10 figure on 2 per year per fixture and hard to find

So after 20 years of being off grid 20 year bullwinkle:

dropped in. tuned in and plugged into helco... my friends accusing me of "swallowing the anchor" and moving on to a cushy life after 20 years in boats and off grid cabins.

So what is life like in Waa Waa .... well in my opinion ... living of grid Waa Waa or not - Life off grid will be hard and somewhat primitive - hope you like warm beer..... from research - gin and tonic works warm for lunch in the tropics when everything is down... cuts the peanut butter sandwiches.

One may have internet ... but one will have a constant expensive technology intensive struggle to power it in my experience. I am one of two out of 45 cabins that have internet. A testament more, to a high frustration threshold than skill by the way
adler barbour
norcold
consul
trace
trojan
humphries
honda
unisolar
starband
suburban propane
hardy diesel
flight systems
maine propane refrigeration
louis equipment
west marine
radio shack
fair plan insurance (high risk fire)
plano power equip
dell laptops - order extra power supply or two ... they dont like inverters - even the good ones
toyota off road, icon, and total chaos - suspension pieces for the "service truck" grin
I brought my vacuum pump - send an email when you get to refrigeration

Just a few of the companies I keep in business as I struggle to keep my "low impact" canyon place comfy -

... took a while to narrow it down


We up canyon have a term for the newbies... as a new buyers and off grid newbies come in ... The old timers heard to mumble "poor bastards" ... the term for less than 5 year residents up canyon... Don't know what you call the pilgrims down in Waa Waa as they go through their first five years off grid.


aloha


edited for spelling and maybe a bit better clarity

[Wao nahele kane]

Bullwinkle...
My former father in-law has lived off grid above Ninole for 20plus years now.
I've heard nothing but good things regarding his PV setup (though initially very costly) and there's always plenty of cold beer in the fridge inside the AC cooled house. It all depends on how your system is set up and to what magnitude. That being said, I've seen some really useless small set ups too, not worth much more than keeping some batteries charged and an hour of T.V. running time or other small tasks and something that is really only intended for sailing or camping, but people still tried to use these under powered systems for houses. My hats off to you as you kept the pipe dream alive long enough to become a practical reality.
Even today with the low $ per watt costs on an array it will run minimum $20k - $30k for an acceptable full house setup, otherwise one will have be very careful about how they use the energy.
20 years ago it would have cost well over $100k for an equal PV system.
Just in the last year PV panels have dropped down below $1.30 a watt from well above $2.20 a watt last year (varies slightly by source news) and next year it's expected to drop down to $ 0.60 a watt as the increasing demands for solar PV become even greater.
I would agree with you, if starting such a venture 20 years ago and not spending nearly if not more than $100k on a correctly sized system, one would have been living not far removed from not having power at all and it would have sucked big time.
There are far more efficient solar/PV collectors already in production as we speak in the thin film and ink printed PV manufacturing side of the industry, some at less than $0.10 watt (but not publically available for perhaps another 2 years or less). Solar times have already changed dramatically in the past year alone and the next two years will emerge publically all the systems that were only a wonderful dream 20 years ago and a practical thought 5 years ago and today are all available to industry and municipal interests. Times have changed for the Solar revolution.

Again, my hats off to you for trying and keeping the dream alive, it did finally pay off. PV is now less expensive than coal power and in another 20 years energy will be perhaps only a concern from a decade past fleeting memory.

E ho'a'o no i pau kuhihewa.

[Bullwinkle]

I love pv ... its the batteries / inverting / trouble shooting I hate, batteries will get old and bite you... I love all the craigslists free battery adds. Like I said .... loose just one cell out of the many and the system 50% impaired, Im done with that aspect of of it. Systems are getting better all the time agreed. Battery technology we have access to not much better than in the early 20’s. Lithium and other advanced batteries having the same issues fuel cells do – they catch fire….

However there is always a however isn’t there….. The Japanese are site installing little itty bityy 1kw fuel cells at residential locations to help with load on the grid – another one to watch
I can make electricity with a honda cheaper then I can buy it from helco these days - it really frosts me - Waiting for propane fired fuel cells for ten years now that is why I haven’t taken the cabin to more kw on the roof... I paid about 2.00 a watt and promptly watched it pass 4 as the europeans subsidized and forked up the market.
Being over here I took a couple of kw down and put them in storage rather then risk theft. I put them back up when I visit.
The boat is space and sound limited at 41 ft. 13 foot wide deck all working space... very little room for panels have them on the davits now - subject to big following seas being the downside. Lots of room by comparison for batteries down below – a good thing... One hasn’t lived until spending some time on a sailboat dependent on a ancient 7.5 kw diesel onan, rattles the filings right out ones teeth - grin
Using a 1 kw honda and solar to keep the radar,radios ,12 volt freezer and autopilot going underway these days

[Wao nahele kane]

Sheez...
I never attempted to live on my old boat but seriously considered it. It was an S2-9.2-C so too small for living aboard. I do love sailing though but it didn't seem practical to have that boat in Hawaii, morage issues etc.
My hats off to you again Bullwinkle... living to the max. I like it!


E ho'a'o no i pau kuhihewa.

[Jake]

". . . a very nice rack" bouncing around in a warm tide pool? That's good.

". . . warm beer?" Not good.

Seriously, though, I realize there are innumerable practical considerations to contend with in choosing an off-grid lifestyle. But hey, "if it's easy it ain't worth doing," right?

I've really enjoyed reading everyone's responses. Thanks all. Please keep them coming.


Jake

[Bullwinkle]

Thanks --- its a careful what you wish for kind of deal, you are beginning that journey by moving off grid, my hat off to you, happy to see some one pick up the torch.

As for me a new era ....18 amps out of every wall socket! amazing! welder works in the shop? no special equipment, re wire or oversize tanks! .... Just keep the boat plugged into shore power till I get there.... Im in (or out)

As for us ... Dog and I had to move to puna for electricity - its all upscale for us

lovin every minute of ... cable internet as a bonus ... like good coffee with breakfast , dont miss that oceanview office and job at all after 20 years ... one more jimmy buffet song, soggy bag of chips or another green bit of corroding electrical connector and we are going to pu.....


Bullwinkle whiskey alpha romeo 3435 clear of 9 and 16


aloha

edit - I slog thru these days of migraine auras and just cant see the spaces between the words well. Extra little words sneak in during the edits - sorry