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How to Visit Hawaii's Papahanaumokuakea, the USA's Newest UNESCO Site

There’s a new spot to add to your Hawaii itinerary, but you might not be able to visit it too easily. Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument is one of the world’s newest UNESCO World Heritage Sites, and it’s the first in the United States in around 15 years. The only downer is that it’s pretty much off limits to tourists unless you’re able to join up with an education or research group.

The area is found in and around the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, but you won't find any tiki torches or umbrella drinks here. That’s why monk seals, sharks, corals, and all kinds of other sea life are free to call it home. Papahanaumokuakea is so important that it was actually recognized by the United Nations for two reasons—for both cultural and natural significance.

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Hawaii Travel / Hawaii / Historical Travel / Travel News / → All Tags

Forget UNESCO, Hawaii Makes Its Own Heritage Sites List

Hawaii has only one entry on UNESCO’s World Heritage List—Hawaii Volcanoes National Park—but the state thinks it has more to offer than that. Hawaii’s tourism bureau came up with its own list of Heritage Sites. And no, Brian Austin Green and Megan Fox’s Big Island wedding venue didn’t make the cut.

Twenty places across all of the Hawaiian Islands were chosen as must-see Heritage Sites for their cultural, natural, scenic and historical significance. The list contains natural wonders, parks, monuments and sacred places that are a part of native Hawaiian customs.

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New Year's Travel / Hawaii Travel / Travel Deals / Hawaii / → All Tags

Helliday Madness Has Us Dreaming of Waikiki to Kick Off 2010

With the holidays in full swing, we're spent. Finished. Dunzo. We surrender. Quite frankly, if we have to brave one more packed-like-sardines parking lot or feign full-on merriment, some of us might have an aneurysm.

Melodramatic? Perhaps, but don't tell us that you, too, aren't feeling the seasonal crunch. And then there's New Year's to consider, party and/or travel planning which is a task in and of itself. Here's an idea, though: doing up NYE staycation-style and planning a Hawaiian getaway to kick off 2010, not to mention cleanse yourself of fruitcake nightmares.

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Airline News / Airlines / LCCs / Canada / WestJet / Hawaii / → All Tags

WestJet Figures Out Way To Monetize Empty Seats

For one reason or another, Canadian low cost carrier WestJet flies planes to Hawaii at less than full capacity. Being an airline, and an LCC at that, they've naturally come up with a way to use that reality to charge passengers. Customers who prefer to have an empty seat next to them - and who doesn't - will now be able to pay to lock in that privilege:

WestJet’s simple solution is to leave the middle seat empty in the first eight to ten rows of its Boeing 737-700s flying between Calgary and Hawaii. The company says there will be a small price increase for passengers wanting the extra elbow room... The empty seats are actually necessary to make the flight to Hawaii... The company’s 737-700s have been flying the shorter non-stop route between Vancouver and Hawaii for several years now. But the airplane... can’t make the longer flight from Calgary to Hawaii with a full passenger load because of range limitations based on the fuel it can carry.

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Hawaii / Hawaii Travel / Movie Travel / Film Festivals / Film Festival Travel / → All Tags

Hawaii Heats Up the Film Festival Circuit

A scene from Noriben, playing at this year's Hawaii International Film Festival.

Though the time for Tribeca, Cannes, and Toronto has come and gone, the film festival circuit hasn't screeched to a halt. There's Sundance to look forward to, of course, but a welcome alternative to similar large-scale hype galas are festivals held far away from Los Angeles, New York, and other metropoles.

Hawaii may not be Hollywood, but there's still creativity abound on the big island. And while it may not attract as much attention as, say, Berlin, the Hawaii International Film Festival has earned a well-respected reputation among cinema's inner circle, with people like Roger Ebert praising its East-meets-West sensibility.

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Airfare Sales / Five Airfare Sales / Oahu / Hawaii / → All Tags

Our Top Five Hawaii Fares of The Moment

We already complained that winter is dragging along when we suggested where to get away overseas. However, maybe you want to stay in the nifty fifty since you’re still going strong on your Obama high. What’s a better option than Hawaii?

Of course the economy has been in the toilet, so the demand for a tropical vacation has been on the decline. For those with a jar of coins at home, it’s time to cash them in and book that trip to Honolulu. Things have been heading south since late last year, and if you can act quickly, you can get a good deal before spring starts.

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Recession Tourism / Celeb Travel / Helen Mirren / Hawaii / → All Tags

Helen Mirren Doing Her Bit For Hawaii Economy

In these tough times we all have to do our bit for the economy. For Oscar winner Helen Mirren, that means availing herself of the local tourist opportunities on a day off from work... in Maui. Oh, that lucky lady.

Mirren is out there filming a new version of "The Tempest" directed by "Lion King" creator Julie Taymor, in which she plays Prospera, a female version of the male patriarch who is banished to a deserted island. (Jeremy Irons, Djimon Hounsou and "Forgetting Sarah Marshall"'s Russell Brand costar.) Taymor is shooting for three months on various islands of Hawaii -- and you could do worse.

Related Stories:
· Helen Mirren Too Busy Saving America To Meet With The Queen [Jaunted]
· Yachting Travel: Armani's Summer Vacation [Jaunted]
· Celeb Travel coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: Faded Youth Blog]

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Tourism CrimeWatch: Oahu's Violent Crime Rate Jumps

[Ed. Note: Alex Salkever is the founder/editor of Hawaii travel blog  Hawaiirama.com]

A fatal shooting on the North Shore across from popular tourist and surfing beach Log Cabins has raised the tally of brutal murders within the past month on Oahu to four. Most of the killings have been brazen acts of violence, including two shootings in full public view and one fatal beating at a popular West Side beach park perpetrated against a tourist from the East Coast by a former All-State football player.

Not to be alarmists or anything but Oahu and the Hawaiian Islands have long enjoyed a reputation as a safe haven from violent crime. Sure, everything in a rental car or a beach bag / backpack was fair game for thieves. But no one died. Apparently, that's no longer the case.

In the latest FBI crime survey, violent crime on Oahu is up by 10 percent. A spate of public beatings have also hit the island in recent years. Like the case of the White House aide who got his nose busted outside a Waikiki night spot -- a crime that, to date, has not been solved (to the best of my knowledge).

The cops say Hawaii is safe but they also say they are severely understaffed. The tourism people say visitors are safe as kittens. Overall, Hawaii is still a pretty safe place. But Oahu, at least, is clearly trending in the wrong direction. Perhaps these crimes can explain Hawaii's slipping hotel occupancy rate?

[Photo: imylthinle]

Related Stories:
· Hawaii Hotel Occupancy Plunges Further [HotelChatter]
· At the Risk of Ticking Off a Lot of People....Beat Someone Up in Hawaii and Get Out of Jail Free [Hawaiirama]

Killer Beaches of 2007 / Beaches / Hawaii / Papohaku Beach Park / killer-beaches-2007 / → All Tags

Killer Beaches of 2007: Papohaku Beach Park

Click here to go straight to the World's Top Killer Beaches Map

Though you wouldn't know it with all the snow and ice in the Northeastern US, this week marks the beginning of spring. Spring break, beach season and the imminent start of summer are just around the corner. If April is the new June, we better get you prepped early, so this week we'll be looking at the sandy strands that while beautiful, should come with a warning label. Know about a Killer Beach we haven't mentioned? Help your fellow beach goers out and adventure seekers out--let us know about it.

Papohaku Beach Park :: Map
Hawaii fans love Molokai for its sleepy atmosphere, but Papohaku Beach Park may be a little too sleepy. This stunningly beautiful beach is so isolated that you may even have the sand to yourself--not even lifeguards patrol the three-mile-long beach. Normally, we're all for deserted Pacific beaches, but at Papohaku you may find yourself in trouble.

We're not just talking about the winds that whip off the ocean, spraying sand into innocent beach-goers' eyes. The waves get ripping during a good part of the year, making for tough swimming. Depending on when you take that spring break, you may find yourself fighting some serious swell with no one around to play Lt. Mitch Buchannon for you. Make sure you've got swimming chops before diving in--Papohaku's deserted beauty can be deceiving.

How to get there:
On Molokai, from the airport, take the MaunaLoa Highway (460 West) to Kaluako'i Road. The beach is at Mile 14.9, Kaluako'i Road.

There is one parking lot with unmarked spaces. Public restrooms, indoor showers and changing rooms are also available.

Related Stories:
·   Official Site [Maui County]

Restaurants / Food / Hawaii / → All Tags

Chef Mavro: New Menu, New Season, Must Eat

(Alex Salkever is the editor of Hawaii travel blog Hawaiirama.com and a general travel maven on all things Hawaii.)

Chef Mavro does not like to sit on his laurels. George Mavrothalassitism, who toques up amazingly subtle and exquisite grub at his posh eponymous eatery in a blue collar district of Honolulu, revamps his menu four times a year. That's pretty amazing for a guy a ton of accolades (James Beard Award Winner, Fodor's Top 10 Restaurants in America - 2066) and a loyal local following in a restaurant town where patrons are highly resistant to change.

To be sure, the seasonal menus at Chef Mavro do often contain items from past menus, but even so, the top-to-bottom rotation is gutsy. His latest menu just busted out and it looks, as usual, like a real winner. My fave pick? Keahole Lobster a la coque with Kahuku corn cake with lobster coral, cucumber glazed with essence of mint, and pomegranate-yogurt sauce. Mavro also gives a nice commentary on the menu, as well.

But you best bust out that wallet too, because the aforementioned dish is part of a "degustation" menu that will set you back $150 per person without wine. Belly up, go bonkers, and go broke, foodie friends.

Hawaii / Taxes / Extortion / Money / Driving / → All Tags

Yes, Hawaii Can Actually Get Even More Expensive

Alex Salkever is the editor of Hawaii travel blog Hawaiirama.com and a general travel maven on all things Hawaii.

With $9 watered-down Mai Tais, hotel charges for junk greeting gimmicks like cheap leis, and a nasty 7.25% hotel accommodations tax, Hawaii is hardly a cheap. Throw in a $350 for a decent hotel room and you have Manhattan in the Pacific. So, pray tell, could Hawaii possibly become even more expensive?

Yes, and you can thank the state and local governments for that. Effective January 1, 2007, Hawaii's state gas tax goes back up by 11 cents per gallon, reversing a previous reduction put in place to take strain off drivers paying record highs at the pump. Me, I love high gas taxes, They encourage less driving which is fine. But if you're on vacation, you don't have much choice, particularly in Hawaii where you need a rental car for every destination save Waikiki.

Even more damaging will be the .5% in the General Excise Tax, which is essentially the Hawaii state sales tax. That means you can expect your $10,000 Hawaii vacation to cost $50 more than it would have before. So there you go. It IS possible for Hawaii to get more expensive.

[Photo: fonzfoto]

Restaurants / Food / Hawaii / → All Tags

Bring Me the Bucket: Brasserie Francais Honolulu-Style

(Alex Salkever is the editor of Hawaii travel blog Hawaiirama.com and a general travel maven on all things Hawaii.)

The Chinatown District of Honolulu has been perennially on the verge of a nightlife breakout. Seedy enough for prostitutes yet sleek enough for urban swells, Chinatown now has enough watering holes and clubs to make a bar crawl more than a one-night affair. Now Dave Stewart, the impresario behind Indigo Eurasian Cuisine, a restaurant with three bar nooks and a fab Indo-Asian vibe, has rolled out Du Vin. It's an Alsatian-style brasserie down to the weird meats and sweet breads.

Oddly out of place in downtown Honolulu, Du Vin, however, is lovely spot. The wine-by-the-glass menu is pricey but excellent--make sure to ask about the bucket. The crowd is nicely varied from aging boomers down to 20-somethings stepping out. The back room is the place to hang, with dim candles, exposed stone walls, and a speakeasy sensibility. The food is generally good; our risotto was perfectly cooked. The mussels and frittes--natch--hit the spot.

True, its odd to travel to Hawaii to end up in Alsace or--gulp--somewhere in downtown Manhattan. But go with it and the warm weather and you'll have a nice ride.

[Photo: hawaii]