The Maui Goodness

We’ve just recently discovered Beach Portraits Maui, which is run by Grins 2 Go out of Kaanapali Beach, Maui.  They offer very affordable rates for high-quality photography.

Specializing in beach portraits, they’ve earned a reputation from their professionalism and skill when photographing couples, families and groups on the beach.

Give them a call at (808) 242-12424 or stop by their beach kiosk in Whaler’s Village Kaanapali, Maui.

You can also visit their website to see more examples of their Maui portrait photography.

We just received our new Soma Airbag Designs Surfboard bags.  They’re 6′6″ and can fit 2 boards in each bag.

After close inspection, inflation, and testing, we think Soma has come up with the best board bag on the market.  What makes it so great is its durability and light weight as well as its compact size when not in use.  Often, when we travel inter-island, we have an oversized bag with a couple boards inside of it that have their own smaller bags or socks on.  When arriving at our surf destination, we have our boards out and a huge bag that wont fit anywhere.  With Soma we can deflate the bag and throw it in the closet.  Fantastic idea!

The bag has inflated rails, top and bottom.  It fits 2 boards easily and has room for fins, leashes, wax and other small items.  Another side benefit to the bag is that it works very well as a mattress if you plan on camping out or just don’t want to sleep in a nasty bed at some 3rd world hotel.  It’s very comfortable and even has a separator pad between the boards that can act as a blanket.

These board bags are relatively inexpensive and very sturdy.  We’ll be taking our bags to Bali from Hawaii and from California without worries.

Contact them today to order your next board bag at support@airbagdesigns.com, (877)320-7478 or go to their website and order now at AirBagDesigns.com

Though Governor Linda Lingle never expressly mentioned “Furlough Fridays” in her speech on Friday, she did address the issue of education.  Lingle made it clear that she understands that our system of education is broken and suggested that we concentrate more on the time children are IN classrooms rather than OUT of classrooms.

(QUICK NOTE: Furlough Fridays are days where education is taken away from children in order cut staffing expenses to help the State budget deficit.)

Though we agree that Hawaii education has MAJOR problems, Lingle’s statement, “We need to get more worked up about what happens when they are in school rather than when … they are not in school,” is like saying, “When you have cancer, don’t worry about the fact that your doctor will be around even less to cure you, worry about the cancer!” How exactly does one fix a problem when those closest to it are given less time to fix it?

With a culture that obviously struggles to develop its children to be competitive in our world, wouldn’t you think that keeping teachers employed full-time should remain a priority?  Yes, our deficit is a big problem, but cutting education is the shortest sighted solution one can propose.  In her speech on Friday, Lingle reiterated her proposals to fix our economic woes.  She discussed:

• Programs putting unemployed welfare recipients to work. This sounds great, but in our personal experience, a sizable portion of people on welfare in Hawaii aren’t interested in working.  The idea of compensating employers for hiring welfare recipients is also a good idea in theory, but if an employer NEEDS an employee wouldn’t they have to hire them anyway?  This also seems short-sighted considering that when the program stops, many will go back on welfare because their employer won’t be able to afford keeping them on.

• Tax Credits for construction and Renovation. Island growth is really not a long-term solution either.  We have enormously high occupancy rates and big problems with distribution of scarce resources like water, as well as devastating environmental issues to try and fix before we encourage more construction.

So what is the solution to our economic problems in Hawaii? We feel high-tech industrial growth, long term educational growth, and preparation of  economic down turns will do us better than any other solutions.  Lingle did mention a proposal to set aside 5% of funds when tax revenues are growing.  This is a good idea, but government track records in this area have shown that money set aside often becomes reallocated with time.

The implementation of Furlough Fridays is indicative of Hawaii’s prioritizing education below most other things.  Lingle insinuates that the problem lies IN the classroom and that the problem is quality.  We disagree.  The blame falls everywhere between the parents all the way to the top administrators in the school system, as well as on the heads of legislators.  If administration would let teachers spend more time teaching than testing, if parents took more of an interest in their children’s education and genuinely wanted their kids to be brighter than they are, if government could find better ways to cut from the budget and possibly take federal aid we might see a brighter future in Hawaii.

Are teachers to blame? Surely some teachers in Hawaii shouldn’t be teaching, but for the most part teachers are NOT the reason for our lagging behind most of the country (and the world) in educating our children properly.  The problem is that education is not a priority in Hawaii when it should be #1.  Our spiraling cycle of education continues to build on an already poorly educated culture.  Much of this is due to our citizens already being poorly educated and not seeing the value in it.

Not only would an emphasis in education be helpful to us economically in the long term, but socially we believe the islands would become healthier.  In that, we mean with more understanding of other cultures, higher levels of confidence and income, and a broader more developed economic share of the world’s production and innovation could alleviate some of the ignorance and racial tension that is so prevalent in Hawaii today.

This editorial is just one view point from one of our writers.  Quotation and information was found through the Maui News.  Mahalo for your reporting!

Unless you don’t plan on leaving your resort in Maui, or any island in Hawaii, renting a car is crucial.  Having traveled inter-island again and again, we’ve grown accustomed to renting cars from all kinds of companies.  After much research, Discount Hawaii Car Rentals comes up over and over as having great rates and a large selection.  They will rent you a car from most of the major rental car companies.

Check them out at Discount Car Rentals in Hawaii or call them for the best rate.

The island of Lanai is likely moving into a new phase of housing development.  The county has proposed a project for over 400 new homes in a $23 million affordable housing development to be completed over the next 17 years.

The housing development would be built over 73 acres behind Lanai High School and the Elementary.  Along with the housing, area would be set aside for more empty lots as well as 2 parks and a full community center.

The county will be looking to process the project on a fast track set up to allow exemptions from community plan amendments and change-of-zoning processes.  Being affordable housing will allow it to move faster through the system for approval.

But with anything in Maui County, even if everything goes perfectly, we won’t see construction of new homes anytime in the near future.  Everything takes 100 times as long to process and complete in the state of Hawaii.  That’s probably why most of Hawaii is still beautiful.

You may also be interested in rading about the Lanai Wind Farm.  If you want to learn more about new projects in Maui, Check out Maui Real Estate Development.

We’ve recently discovered one of the best deals in Maui.  For those looking to save some money when doing a private boat charter, check into Maui Fun Charters.  They only allow 6 guests on at a time which makes for an intimate and inexpensive fishing trip.  But if you’re reserving the private charter, you don’t need to fish!  They’re happy to take you whale watching (in season), dolphin watching, snorkeling, or even on a sunset cruise.

Maui Fun Charters specialize in Maui Bottom Fishing as well as Maui sport fishing.  Give them a call at (808) 572-2345. We suggest calling because they have their phone on them on the boat even when out fishing.  Emails, on the other hand, are not recommended.  These guys live and die fishing.  They don’t spend too much time in front of the computer.

We recently caught up with Tamera, head wedding coordinator for Akia Weddings & Events.  She told us about the great weddings she’s enjoyed putting together lately and shared some photos with us.  All of the photos on this page are from one of her latest Maui beach weddings.

“Most brides choose to get married in the summer on Maui.  The weather is usually best during this time on the South and West side of the island.  One thing many couples don’t realize is that the weather is pretty consistent throughout the year in these areas.

Sometimes choosing a wedding off-season can save you and your guests a lot of money.  These are some of the things we like to discuss with you to help keep you in budget without losing out on all the wonderful details you want at your wedding”

There are a million things to do when you get married, and we know that you’ve come to Maui because it’s has gorgeous locations and you want to cut down on some of the stress.  This is where we see Akia Weddings help brides the most.  Having a Maui wedding planner makes everything easier.  And that’s what your wedding should be: easy, enjoyable, and unforgettable!

Maui Beach Wedding Tips

• Make sure you know what time the sun sets before you plan the timing of your wedding.  Consult your wedding photographer for the best time to shoot post-wedding photos.
• Hawaii is Windy!  Make sure you’ve got enough product in your hair to keep things from going awry.
• If you’re wearing a strapless dress, or any type of wedding dress that could possibly show tan lines, make certain that you use sunblock before your wedding.  Better yet, buy a strapless bikini to be safe.  This tip pertains to both large and small Maui weddings, and we mention it because it is all too often a problem.
• Make sure you have parking and transportation arranged for your different locations.  Nothing is worse than having a group of guest late to the wedding because of insufficient parking.  Your wedding planner can help you with this.
• Make sure the beach you choose allows you to have a wedding there.  Some beaches (ex. Kaanapali Beach) do not allow any commercial wedding activity on the sand.
• Understand that if you’re getting married on a public beach, there may be other weddings in progress.  Some beaches are more popular than others for weddings.  you may want to reserve a private estate on the sand.  This way there’s no guess work.
• When your Groom is deciding on his Maui wedding attire, keep in mind that Hawaii is hot!  If you’re in the sun with a 3 piece suit, it might be a very short wedding.

We hope a few of these tips were helpful.  If you have more questions about your upcoming wedding, speak to the Maui Wedding Planners at Akia Weddings.  They’ll start you off on the right foot and make sense of your destination wedding in Hawaii.

Call Tamera at (808) 870-5525 to start planning today!

Thank you Natalie Brown for allowing us to post your beautiful wedding photos.  Cheers!

We’ve traveled on Island Air many times, which is our fault.  They often have the lower prices, and that’s what sucks us in.  Never again will any of us fly between any Hawaiian Islands with Island Air.

HISTORY

In the past, we’ve flown with Island Air and incurred long delays lasting up to 6 hours!  If you’re deciding between another carrier and Island Air, you will probably get there faster with a stop over and 1 hour layover than with a direct flight on Island Air.

RECENT EXPERIENCE

Our flight to Kauai was delayed by 2 hours without notice.  I mean, no one told us anything and instead had us sit and wait with no idea of what was going on.  Then, on our flight back to Maui, we arrived at the ticket check in counter to find a sign saying our flight was cancelled and that no one could check us in for an hour and 20 minutes.  We sat and waited and couldn’t go into the airport till we had a boarding pass.  Finally, we got checked in and got to our gate with no one there.  25 minutes after our flight was supposed to leave, a message over the intercom explained that our flight was delayed by over 4 HOURS!  Meanwhile, other flights with Island Air to Maui continued to board in front of us throughout the day.

We spoke with a supervisor (a major ordeal to obtain an audience with, but we had the time.)  The only solution he came up with was to buy a ticket with a rival airline!  Yes, it’s true!  The supervisor of Island Air told us if we really need to get to Maui in a timely manner, we should consider buying a ticket with another airline.

We also overheard a TSA employee mention that most locals know to use Hawaiian Airlines because of their punctuality.  He said, “It’s worth the extra few bucks to make sure you get there.”  So our day concluded with over 6 hours of delays and cancellations.

THE FUTURE

It pains us to watch Hawaii businesses go out of business in these harsh economic times, but if Island Air dies, (with a smile) I’ll chalk it up as Economic Darwinism.