Category: Hawaii Culture & Happenings

In Hawaii, “Almost Pau” is a life strategy, a philosophy that is abidingly optimistic. “Pau” means finished, by the way, in Hawaii. Done. Over. In the past. “Almost pau” is a zen-like acceptance of the fleeting nature of minor inconveniences. “Pau hana” means work is done, literally, but it also embodies the time of day […]

Hawaii’s Great Outdoors, its beaches and natural spaces, are by and large the reason most people seek out a vacation in paradise. “Hawaii voluntourism” is an ever-growing movement among Hawaii visitors at a time when residents have embraced beach and natural space cleanups at unprecedented rates over the past two years of the pandemic. There […]

The Merrie Monarch Festival begins on April 17, 2022. The beloved hula festival was begun in 1963, conceived as an effort to attract visitors to Hawaii Island. It celebrates the legacy of beloved King David Kalakaua, the Merrie Monarch himself, an elected king whose legacy of devotion to arts and culture and to the best […]

Hawaii celebrates Prince Jonah Kuhio Day to mark his birth on March 26, 1871. It is one of three State holidays in Hawaii honoring two of Hawaii’s most beloved figures (King Kamehameha the Great is the other) and momentous statehood that followed Hawaii’s territorial status after the overthrow of the Hawaiian monarchy in 1893. While […]

The University of Hawaii Men’s Baseball team, the Rainbow Warriors, held its “home opener” on Friday, February 18. This comes nearly two years after the pandemic forced college hardball fans to keep away across the country and the last game UH Baseball fans could see the home team in person at Les Murakami Stadium. Baseball […]

Hawaii telescopes and observatories provide scientists with some of the keenest galactic eyes on the planet. While you’re vacationing on the island below, scientists at the Maui Observatory are making discoveries that could impact the entire universe.  Where is the Maui Observatory? The Haleakalā High Altitude Observatory is located at the summit of Haleakala, a […]

We’re in the middle of one of Hawaii tourism’s “shoulder seasons” when demand for travel, accommodations, and tourism-adjacent businesses like restaurants and tour companies dips below peak summer and winter levels. But what does shoulder season mean? Right now, in the middle of October, daily visitor arrivals are averaging ~20,000. Just this past August, that […]

It happened in a geological instant. A “swarm” of low-magnitude earthquakes rattled Hawaii Volcanoes National Park near the Halema’uma’u Crater on Tuesday night before Kilauea Volcano erupted anew mid-Wednesday afternoon. Within minutes, images from the Hawaii Volcanoes Observatory, the US Geological Survey, and other agencies that monitor volcanic activity were flooding social media feeds around […]

Let’s head to the Valley Isle, where Surfing Goat Dairy is a great place to visit during a tour of gorgeous Upcountry Maui.  Our Day Upcountry During a recent visit to Maui, we stopped by the Surfing Goat Dairy and explored Upcountry. With an 11:00 am checkout at the West Maui condo (between Kaanapali and […]

Hawaii Vacation Connection Podcast listeners will have noticed by now that Aloha Bruce has been flying solo of late, as co-host Lanai Tabura has been bouncing around between Hawaii and the mainland for a variety of local and national television productions with Aloha Plate Food Truck. He is a busy man (and Emmy Award winner) […]

 Hawaii’s film and television industry hummed along quietly during the worst of the pandemic. The pandemic slowed productions, but it did not stop them altogether. Funded by big “Hollywood money”, productions were able to maintain rigorous testing and distancing practices. The cameras kept rolling. No one seemed to notice because most of us were self-isolating […]

The topic of fresh fish in Hawaii dining is dominated by the big ones: ahi tuna, marlin, mahi mahi. There’s good reason for that. They’re delicious. But Hawaii is home to a bewildering assortment of tasty reef fish that you are unlikely to find on the menu anywhere other than a dry-erase board on a […]