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Joined: Jun 2010
Just wanted to sign up and say hello now that I have been lurking around here for about a year now. [  ] My fiance (at that time, now married since Feb 20! Woohooo!) and I stayed in Leilani about a year ago. We both fell in love with the east side of Hawaii and have begun selling all our possessions we will not move with and are eagerly saving our pennies to purchase ag land to begin our homestead. (Bet ya'll haven't ever heard that before! [  ] ) There is so much great info from a local perspective on this forum and I am grateful for the hours many of you have spent behind the computer screens sharing your insights to life on the Big Island. If anyone is interested in seeing pics from our trip last year you can look at many of them on another forum I actively participate in here:
http://www.palmtalk.org/forum/index.php?showtopic=19674&view=findpost&p=327868
I'm sure it will be several years before we can save enough money to purchase the land we have our hearts set on. For now we are keeping our ears tuned into native FM's streaming webcast and living vicariously thru your posts. [8D]
William DeBoe
Delray Beach, FL
Moe'uhane Oihana mahi ai
Mahi 'ai 'Ulu
Posts: 5,640
Threads: 101
Joined: Dec 2008
Welcome William & co!
Don't wait too long, property prices aren't going to stay this low.
Good idea to get rid of all the stuff, it makes moving so much easier.
ETA:
Great pics. If you like palms, this is the island for you.
How is Hawaii better than Florida, if I may ask?
Posts: 79
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Joined: Jun 2010
Thanks for the welcome Paul! I don't dare ever fall into the idea that one is better than another per se (even though we don't have spam loco mocos in FL!), they are just different... Tropical agriculture is what we want to be involved in (not used automobile financing, where's the emoticon for punching myself in the face??) Rainfall there is 2-3 times what we recieve, our soil is extremely alkaline and I'd rather dig holes in stone than deal with what I can't grow here, BI's temps are perfect, life is slower there and we are trying to make a decision to live consciously; more closely to how we believe we were intended to...
William DeBoe
Delray Beach, FL
Moe'uhane Oihana mahi ai
Mahi 'ai 'Ulu
Posts: 1,351
Threads: 80
Joined: Jul 2008
E Komo Mai William! Congratulations on your recent marriage too! Sounds like you're doin' your homework - it's always a good thing...so much info here as you said.
There are many friends and great diversity and some challenges too here in Puna...always room for a Puna Lover! [ ]
Carrie
http://www.sapphiresoap.etsy.com
"Even the smallest person can change the course of the future..." Galadriel LOTR
Carrie Rojo
"Even the smallest person can change the course of the future..." Galadriel LOTR
Posts: 100
Threads: 14
Joined: Apr 2007
No gators, snakes, sandy sinkholes, or annual hurricane damages in Hawaii.
Hawaii has more scenic climate zones to choose from - desert, rainy or snowy mountain tops, cool breezy cliffside living, beside the obvious tropical beachfront/island that they share. Lots more black barren landscape - near Hilo, South End, Kailua, and some of the fresher lava flow on the Puna side.
No Disneyworld or Busch Gardens in Hawaii. No waterfalls (free to view) in Florida, but much more fresh waterfront there (like the Everglades National Park).
Very different music and language in Hawaii (I know there are reggae/Cyndi Lauper concerts, sometimes but I mean the ukulele and Don Ho type heard no where else) so you need a special dictionary to comprehend what is going on.
Many different international cultures in Hawaii (Japanese, Polynesian, Haole - not the majority, Portuguese, Puerto Rican, etc. I bought a cookbook that outlines a slew of influences from the railroad or sugar cane plantation immigrants). Where else can Spam be served when you eat out?
Posts: 2,189
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E Komo Mai and Aloha!
Puna is a wonder to be sure. Financial issues are a major hurdle so plan carefully. Once that is handled, the sky is the limit for opportunity. We have chosen a rural setting after a lifetime of suburbs. The difference is amazing. I never knew the joy of a farm fresh egg... now I have 40 or so hens. Fresh Lamb is so much better... yes we raise those too. We have a fruit orchard, I learned to drive a tractor, have the joy of luxuriating in the rain or sun at will.... (it's always one or the other somewhere). Just remember, you can't come here and "fix it" to "make it better the way we used to back home". Embrace Hawaii in its entirety, good and bad, charming and aggravating. It is what you fell in love with after all.
Good luck.
Pam
I want to be the kind of woman that, when my feet
hit the floor each morning, the devil says
"Oh Crap, She's up!"
I want to be the kind of woman that, when my feet
hit the floor each morning, the devil says
"Oh Crap, She's up!"
Posts: 311
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Joined: Jun 2010
quote:
Originally posted by pslamont
Embrace Hawaii in its entirety, good and bad, charming and aggravating. It is what you fell in love with after all.
Amen! And Aloha...
Posts: 1,351
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Joined: Jul 2008
Originally posted by Pam Lamont:
quote:
Just remember, you can't come here and "fix it" to "make it better the way we used to back home". Embrace Hawaii in its entirety, good and bad, charming and aggravating. It is what you fell in love with after all.
This is so right on!
Carrie
http://www.sapphiresoap.etsy.com
"Even the smallest person can change the course of the future..." Galadriel LOTR
Carrie Rojo
"Even the smallest person can change the course of the future..." Galadriel LOTR
Posts: 92
Threads: 6
Joined: May 2009
quote:
Just remember, you can't come here and "fix it" to "make it better the way we used to back home". Embrace Hawaii in its entirety, good and bad, charming and aggravating. It is what you fell in love with after all.
Couldn't agree more. I took the time to look at your photos and your caption above the broken wind turbine thought, "oh, don't say that to a local..." (I also thought, "I hope you killed that frog after you took the picture", but maybe you are one of the lucky few that hear coqui as music.)
If you are from the mainland you'll be much happier in Hawaii if you never mention how anything is done better "back home". I say this in all seriousness and tongue firmly out of cheek. Hawaii is what it is and ain't in any hurry to change.
However I would say it was hard to adjust to this mindset when the mainland way is "how can we make things better?" or "lets do something about this".
Once you let that go and let Hawaii be Hawaii, its much easier. Just a different approach to life and locals are not too interested if they perceive you to be a mainlander. You'll be accepted eventually but it takes a while, we've been here two years and still get the feeling we are visitors to the locals.
The upside to letting go of the mainland mindset is lower stress and probably longer life, downside is progress in Hawaii happens at a glacial pace.
It sounds like you and your wife are a perfect fit for the island and should have a great life out here. You two will be preoccupied building a house and a life so doubt you'll have time for any of Hawaii's issues for quite awhile.
Take the time to find an honest realtor (I think there are a couple on Punaweb) so you get a straight opinion of where you choose to homestead and you two should be very happy on the Big Island.
Welcome!
Posts: 79
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Joined: Jun 2010
Thanks for the warm welcomes everyone!
It seems plenty of people come to Hawaii and want to make it like it was "back home". Don't worry, Boca Raton style McMansions in Kona seemed like the bloody Antichrist to us, we couldn't wait to get back to our jungle home and listen to the coqui try to keep us from sleepin (that time change was a mean one!) We promise we won't ever mention "how we used to do it back in the states!" (don't worry, its the mainland, we know!!) We have snowbirds that love to come down in the winter here and tell us how great they do everything up north. I can totally understand how much it makes ya wanna give em stink eye! I can appreciate the local mentality, April and I got resident prices at a couple places... I'm guessin a few folks thought we were kama'#257;ina cause "we stay on the other side of the island"
Hawaii has so many hardware shops! I was stoked!! I've been involved with construction in Exuma and know what it means when things work on island time. Truthfully I'm the white American and my last name isn't "Rowe"... I know what that should mean there, but I now have a bunch of friends that made me family on those little islands and everyone knows everyone. Kinda miss that cracked conch come to think of it, maybe time for a vacation!
As for the pace of island life, I think we can manage that.
William DeBoe
Delray Beach, FL
Moe'uhane Oihana mahi ai
Mahi 'ai 'Ulu
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