On our recent trip to Hawaii we had a feeling that things were less busy than usual. Now there are some numbers to back up our hunch: The national parks in the state saw a drop in attendance of more than 50,000 visitors during the month of October.

It's not as if no one is going: So far this year, 3.8 million people have checked out the state's parks, but that's a decline of about 11 percent compared to the first 10 months of 2007. Things don’t seem to be isolated to just one area, as parks on all the islands have seen a drop in attendance. Even the most popular, the USS Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor, saw nine percent fewer visitors last month than it did in October 2007.

Unlike the operators of other tourist attractions, the government isn’t one to start slashing prices and offering sales. That said, many of the parks' entrance fees are more than reasonable and allow entry for up to a week. So we can almost certainly chalk up the decline in attendance at the parks to an overall decline in tourism on the islands.

Related Stories:
· Hawaii Parks Saw 12.3% Fewer Visitors in October [Pacific Business News]
· National Parks coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: D'Arcy Norman]]]> kjb 2008-11-20T13:02:26-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2008/11/14/82314/085

This week, Kyle Brown updated us on the budget-friendly scene in the islands. Catch up with his adventures in our Hawaii on the Cheap guide.

We quickly got hooked on snorkeling on Oahu, and soon it was the only thing on our minds when we were searching for a place to spend our time. Thankfully, the Big Island didn't disappoint. The snorkeling spots here were just as great as those on Oahu, if not even more impressive. Here's a look at three of our top picks:]]> kjb 2008-11-14T16:18:28-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2008/11/14/8135/0639

Hikes are pretty much free, so we did a bunch. However, we didn't want to spend too much of our, uh, time budget, so we chose some that were pretty short and sweet. Our primary mission was to see one cool thing and then get back to exploring elsewhere. Here are a few of our favorites:]]> kjb 2008-11-14T12:00:12-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2008/11/13/65717/232

Long ago in Hawaii, the kapu system of laws was pretty strict when it came to what was and wasn't allowed, and many things were punishable by death. Guilty parties were wise to try their best to make it to a Pu'uhonua, a place of refuge, to avoid nasty consequences while paying their debt to the community.

One such place is the Pu'uhonua o Honaunau, located south of Kailua-Kona on the Big Island's western coast. Here the National Park Service has preserved the area, offering a chance to see a massive ancient wall that separated the royal grounds from the areas open to commoners and many ki'i, or wooden icons, that would hold the bones of the ancient chiefs to provide spiritual strength to the area.]]> kjb 2008-11-13T17:00:13-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2008/11/13/7528/7247

We've already let you know where we found the best beach action on Oahu, but the Big Island also has some great strands. Don’t tell Oahu, but overall we liked the beaches on the Big Island better. Here are three of our favorites:]]> kjb 2008-11-13T10:15:12-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2008/11/12/8920/6671

With our adventures on Oahu coming to an end, we set our sights on Hawaii’s Big Island. By the time we got there, we were a little tired of swimming and snorkeling--poor us!--so we went on a little road trip up to the North Kohala area of the Big Island in search of Hawi.

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Although we grew quite fond of snorkeling during our time in Hawaii, we realize that it's not for everyone. In fact, there were times when we just wanted to swim around without trying to identify a new species of reef fish. While Waikiki Beach is certainly awesome, we decided to take a look around Oahu for some new favorites. Here’s what we found:]]> kjb 2008-11-12T10:10:11-05:00 Search Jaunted string http://www.jaunted.com/search/