Lifestyles in Hawaii: tsunamis

November 1, 2012 by · 3 Comments

 

 

Last Saturday evening I was banging my head on my keyboard, trying to pull together a coherent post on financial independence: chasing yield, peer-to-peer lending, and church bonds. (Which probably means that it’s really two or three separate posts.) As I was writing, the Civil Defense warning sirens started wailing. So I decided to take a break from the financial topic to write about Hawaii and tsunamis.

Hawaii has been a tsunami target for centuries. The middle of the Pacific Ocean is one of the world’s most remote geographic locations, and tsunamis can get a running start of thousands of miles before rolling across the islands. Tsunamis are usually spawned by earthquakes but can also occur with volcanic eruptions. Unfortunately written records didn’t begin until the late 18th century, so earlier events are derived from oral history.

Unlike tides or waves, tsunamis have a very long wavelength and a very long period, measured in minutes and occurring for several hours. When the waves approach shallow water they’re very low but moving at hundreds of miles an hour, and then they compress against the bottom topography. This causes the wave to pile up and push its tremendous destructive energy ashore. Not only can they approach the islands from any direction, but the wave energy can refract around the shores and ricochet between islands. The result is that a tsunami can assault the islands for as long as six hours, and smaller reflections can occur as late as the next day– long after we’ve let down our guard.

The most destructive tsunamis in Hawaii’s 20th century happened in 1946 and 1960. The first came from a magnitude 7.1 earthquake in the Aleutians and the second came from an 8.3 earthquake off Chile. The first killed over 150 people and caused tremendous damage in Hilo on Hawaii Island. The second one was almost as bad in Hilo, despite the experience of Hilo residents, because since 1946 there had been several tsunami warnings that didn’t actually impact the islands. Many locals ignored the 1960 alert as “crying wolf”, and some even lined the shore to see if anything would really happen. Over 50 years later, the Pacific Tsunami Museum in Hilo is still helping us remember those lessons.  Today most of Hilo’s waterfront is still zoned as parkland, designed to absorb some of the next tsunami’s energy before it reaches the town.

20th-century radio managed to warn the islands of the 1946 and 1960 earthquakes, but the problem was predicting the tsunami arrival times and their severity. There were dozens of smaller tsunamis and “false alarms” between the two events because oceanographers lacked the ability to gather the data and to analyze it. That led to a number of open-ocean buoys and other research projects, and computer models gradually improved. However governments and populations are reluctant to spend the necessary money for basic research when the disasters seem to occur so infrequently. By 2001 Hawaii had a rudimentary six-buoy network collecting data for oceanographers to compare to their models.

That all changed in 2004. The Indian Ocean magnitude 9.1 earthquake generated a tsunami over 90 feet high and killed over 230,000 people. It happened during the holiday season and with almost no time to warn people between the earthquake and the tsunami’s arrival.  It drove home the need to have a widespread network of many detectors with an automated data-collection and warning system. By 2008 Hawaii’s warning network had 39 DART II buoys sending data (scroll down the linked website for the detailed images & diagrams). The system forms a network near the shores around the Pacific Ocean that automatically detects tsunami-generating events and shifts to continuous data transmission.

So what did all of this technology mean last Saturday night? When the earthquake struck off the coast of western Canada just after 5 PM Hawaii time, it immediately triggered earthquake warnings at the tsunami centers. An information bulletin went out and the centers continued watching. Two hours later the DART buoys captured the pressure pulse of a wave propagating away from the quake and the bulletin elevated to a warning. Arrival was predicted for 10:30 PM. The first warning went out at 7:15 PM and the sirens lit off at 7:45 PM.

My spouse and I were in our Central Oahu home (elevation 450 feet). We have emergency food & water and we were ready for power outages. (HECO’s electric plants are by the shore, almost at sea level.) While I was waiting for more news, I let our daughter and other Mainland family/friends know that we expected to be fine. (Mainland media tends to blow a Hawaii tsunami out of proportion.) Then I started watching Twitter hashtag #tsunami.

The timing was the worst I can remember since the history of the 1946 disaster. Tides were high (well, two feet isn’t much by Mainland standards, but that’s very big here) and tsunami would arrive in the dark. Visitor counts this year are setting new records. Saturday night on a Hallowe’en party weekend meant that Waikiki & Ala Moana were packed with people and vehicles. Partyers were in costume and much less than sober. Waikiki visitors & residents were evacuating “vertically” above the second floors of their buildings. Ala Moana Shopping Center was evacuating, as were the rest of Oahu’s coastal areas. Airports were grounding flights as quickly as possible and canceling the rest of the schedule. (Honolulu’s reef runway is at an elevation of about six feet, even before the two-foot tide.) The Marines evacuated Kaneohe Base (1700+ servicemembers & families), and the rest of Kailua & Kaneohe were right behind them. Everyone on the Ewa Plain headed straight upslope to Makakilo community centers and parks. Kahului (Maui) and Hilo residents were evacuating to higher ground. At least 5000 people were in shelters or camping out. By 10 PM police were ordering drivers in traffic jams to abandon their cars on the road and walk uphill.

The greatest concerns were panic and bad driving. A North Shore road was jammed in both directions– one group of residents evacuating south to higher ground, another group driving north to Haleiwa to see the surge. Ambulances made over a dozen calls in traffic accidents before the wave even arrived.

At 10:30 PM the Makapu’u Point buoy showed a drop of three feet followed by a rise of 1.6 feet, which caused some excitement. But then Kahului came in at 1-2 feet and Hilo harbors saw “only” four feet. The waves were surging every 5-10 minutes instead of 30+ minutes, which indicated that the tsunami had less energy and would probably fizzle out. (The first wave is often the smallest and the worst doesn’t happen for another 2-3 waves.) Even then the tsunami energy ricochets around the islands for as long as 24 hours before dissipating, so by 1 AM everyone was a tad burned out. The Civil Defense staff was reluctant to give the all-clear too soon, but did so less than an hour later. Daylight revealed that there was almost no damage throughout the state. It could have been a natural disaster, but the warnings went very well. The evacuation went as quickly as could be expected and the recovery was smooth.

Many Darwin Award nominees “distinguished” themselves that night. There were the usual idiots rushing out to the ends of the piers or standing in the shorebreak with their cell phone cameras– and they were probably sober. I’m sure a number of people had a bit too much to drink and decided to drive anyway (“Because it’s an emergency!”), and I bet almost every driver was “simultaneously” checking their cell phone for the latest updates. People raced to stores to buy the traditional tsunami supplies of rice, bottled water, batteries, and toilet paper. (Because, you know, nobody stores that stuff at home and we might not ever get any more of it after the tsunami.) Several tweets reported fistfights at gas stations. Boaters spent the night at sea, and I doubt that all of them were ready for a sortie. Harbormasters didn’t re-open the piers until after sunrise so the Coast Guard was busy on Sunday morning. A serious vehicle accident took at least one life and injured several more people.

Social media was timely, broadcast media lagged. Twitter’s #tsunami hashtag worked very well (it trended at #2) and locals were updating their Facebook status. There was frequent on-scene reporting from beach webcams and mobile users, too. Local broadcast media was crowdsourced by the audience over 3G networks while the media staff was stuck in traffic, stopped at roadblocks, or filling dead air in the studio. I got faster/better updates from Twitter than from any other source, although it took a while to filter 100x the volume and read through only 1% signal/noise ratio. I’d see a local tweet on the hashtag, and then a couple of minutes later a news anchor would say “This just in from our on-scene reporter…”

Hawaii is well-known for hurricanes, but ironically it’s been over 20 years since Iniki devastated Kauai. There have been several close calls since then, but nothing causing more than gusty winds and heavy rains. The worst natural disasters this decade have been a local earthquake and not one but two tsunamis. The March 2011 Japan tsunami caused some isolated damage here, and this time we were even luckier.

I hope the East Coast recovers from Hurricane Sandy soon. Despite our initial fears about the tsunami, that hurricane was far worse.

 

Related articles:
The Pacific Disaster Center
Pacific Tsunami Museum
Pacific Tsunami Warning Center
3D Hawaii: Hale Koa Hotel in Waikiki
Lifestyles in military retirement: Living in Hawaii
Good reasons NOT to live in Hawaii

 

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Lifestyles in Hawaii: “Naked on the beach”

September 3, 2012 by · 4 Comments

 

 

(Sorry about that cheesy title. As a writer, I couldn’t resist the double entendre. As a blogger, I couldn’t resist the SEO. I assure you that the spammers will punish me for my transgressions…)

 

Hey, it’s Labor Day, and you’re probably not going to read this post until you’re back at work the next day… or at least until you’re finished with a day full of fun & family.  I’m not even going to attempt to write a 2500-word 15-link pillar post on some aspect of military financial independence.  Instead, let’s give you an idea of how others spend their “Labor Day” around here.

I do most of my surfing at White Plains Beach in Kalaeloa, the former Naval Air Station Barbers Point. The underwater topography is very flat and shallow, with old coral reefs worn down to small humps across the sandy bottom. The outer breaks are several hundred yards wide and 2-4 feet high almost every day, yet the water depth is only 6-8 feet. Closer to shore there’s always a reliable 1-2 feet of surf and the water depth is only 5-6 feet. (It’s a great spot to learn to surf.) During the summer, the southern-hemisphere storms bring the waves thousands of miles across the equator. Several times each summer they can push the surf up to 8-12 feet. Yet because the breaks are so broad and flat, with so little coral to bump into, White Plains Beach is an excellent break for beginners. I’ve surfed there for over a decade, and a few of the old-timers have been there for over 30 years. Our daughter is proud to state that she’s been surfing there for over half her life.

White Plains Beach is frequented by a few other ocean dwellers, too. The shallow, flat, sandy conditions mean that predators have trouble sneaking up on their prey. Sharks stay away from the shore (as far as I can tell) but there’s still limu and an occasional urchin among the old coral heads. Small fish dart among the shallows, and I’ve seen a few pufferfish wandering by the lineup. Twice in the last decade I’ve been privileged to watch a honu cruise through the area, checking the rocks for limu. They’re protected creatures so they get a wide berth.

However White Plains is also frequently visited by another omnivore that’s pretty far up the food chain: Hawaiian monk seals. They were here long before us humans, but in the 19th century they were nearly hunted to extinction. The population estimate is now under 1200 seals and may still be declining. They’re protected creatures too, and one of the reasons that the northwestern Hawaiian Islands (west of Niihau all the way to Kure Atoll) have been declared a marine national monument. However the seals don’t read our maps so they range widely throughout the area and have given birth on many of Hawaii’s populated islands.

I took these photos from at least 30 feet away with a zoom lens. As you can see, these guys are just seething with nervous energy.

Monk seals on White Plains Beach, Kalaeloa, Oahu

Monk seals also don’t play by the Sea World rules. They’re wild animals weighing over 400 pounds, and even on the beach they can lunge faster than humans can backpedal. They look cute & fuzzy but they have teeth. When they’re raising their pups they’re protective and even aggressive around humans. They generally hunt for fish and eels in deeper waters from dusk through dawn, but they haul out on beaches during the day to avoid predators and get their rest.

Of course that can lead to problems on a beach that’s frequented by humans. If surfers out at the break notice a dark shape swimming by the lineup, it can cause the wrong type of excitement. I’ve sat on the beach and watched a monk seal pop its head out of the water just a few feet from shore. Then it cruised along the beach looking for a quiet place to haul out. Unfortunately it was Saturday morning so both the beach and the water were packed. As the seal nonchalantly made its way through the (human) swimmer’s area, some of the people froze in place while others bolted for the beach. The seal serenely ignored them all and eventually hauled out further down the coast.

This side of the beach is the "fence line", and it's a quiet spot away from the crowds.

Napping at dawn.

Surfers and fishermen know to give the seals a wide berth. Casual beach visitors, however, may mistake monk seals for the inhabitants of a petting zoo. I’ve even wandered onto a beach in the early dawn hours, yawning and not really paying attention until I belatedly realized that I was within 10 feet of two sand-covered somnolent seals. Eventually a wildlife volunteer (or the lifeguards) will show up with signs and ropes to cordon off the area.

This particular morning I was relieved to see that both of the seals were adults– no juveniles. When the females give birth (usually in the spring but also later in summer) they stay on the beach for 5-6 weeks nursing their pups. To make sure the pups are successfully weaned, the local National Marine Fisheries Service staff can close the beach (to humans) for the entire time. Sure, there’s usually another perfectly good surf break just a mile or two away, but surfers get very familiar with their favorite breaks (and parking spots, and food wagons) and don’t like to have to start over again somewhere else.

They actually sleep very lightly, but if you stay clear then they relax.

Still napping… all day.

As disruptive as monk seals can be, I still enjoy seeing them around. It’s a constant reminder that we humans are only guests in their waters. If they encroach on “our” areas, it might be an early sign that the population has bottomed out and can start recovering. Honu have made a comeback, and I’m hoping that the seals can do the same.

 

Related articles:
Good reasons NOT to live in Hawaii
Lifestyles in early retirement: Hawaii long-term travel
Lifestyles in military retirement: Living in Hawaii
Lifestyles in military retirement: learning to surf in Hawaii

 

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Good reasons NOT to live in Hawaii

August 27, 2012 by · 4 Comments

 

 

A reader writes:

I’ve read many of your posts and links about military retirement in Hawaii. It’s not something we had considered previously, but it sounds pretty good. Apart from the high cost of real estate, what are the pitfalls? We are a pretty frugal couple, so I don’t think the excise tax would be too bad for us. My spouse is retiring from active duty this year, and we are both “beach people” with a fair amount of experience living and traveling overseas. We’re not surfers – we both scuba dive.

(We found your blog from MrMoneyMustache. Thanks for serving the military community in this way.)

You’re welcome, and thanks for inverting the question! This is the first time I’ve focused on reasons NOT to move to Hawaii.

Will you enjoy learning about local culture, or will you miss the culture you grew up with?

Kamehameha Day lei draping ceremony
Photo courtesy of my daughter

Part of the challenge of answering this question is that people place different priorities on different factors. I grew up in Pittsburgh yet I’ve never waxed nostalgic about experiencing all four seasons (let alone winter) or being able to drive hundreds of miles in a straight line. However those are two very common reasons that servicemembers didn’t enjoy their Hawaii tours.

Whether you’re commuting to work, or self-employed from home, or even if you’ve earned your financial independence, here are some other issues.

Oahu is a 600-square-mile island. Its “small” size can drive many people nuts. Yet in 23 years we haven’t explored even half of it, and we have not yet visited Lanai or Molokai. We enjoy returning to our favorite spots again and again, and occasionally we’ll try something new. I’ve spent most of my decade of surfing at the same break, only tackling other breaks when they’re big.

I think the biggest pitfall of living in Hawaii is proximity to family. If you have Mainland relatives who you’re close to, or aging parents who need your help, then you’re going to get awfully tired of the 2500-mile five-hour flight between Honolulu and the west coast. People on the Mainland claim that they’re going to visit, and they do it once or twice, but the plane fare is discouraging. After the first couple trips you’ll spend years swapping Facebook updates before you get together again.

Local kids are likely to leave Hawaii for a Mainland college, and then they’ll start a Mainland career. They’ll meet someone on the Mainland, you’ll enjoy their Mainland wedding, and someday there’ll be Mainland grandkids to visit. It tends to draw your interests back to the Mainland, and we see it a lot among veterans. One of our local submariners retired from active duty in the 1970s and started a real estate agency. He hired dozens of veterans who were stationed in Hawaii and wanted to stay here. But one by one, during the next decade or two, they all relocated to the Mainland– closer to aging parents and new grandkids.

Excise tax is not much of an issue alongside commissaries, exchanges, and base gas stations. Costco, Wal-Mart, Home Depot, and Target are competitive with military shopping– even including the excise tax. Shipping expenses from the Mainland are still annoyingly high for online purchases, but there are ways to work around that. Eating local cuisine is fairly cheap, while Mainland food can be expensive.

Speaking of four seasons & driving, it’s best to live here for several months. The year’s “worst” weather is August-October (dry & “hot”) and January-February (rain & “cold”). House sit or rent an apartment. Use local transportation or buy a cheap sedan from a military base’s used-car lot. Live as local as you can… and then see if any of those pitfalls matter to you!

 

Related articles:
Lifestyles in military retirement: Living in Hawaii
Lifestyles in military retirement: Hawaii long-term travel
So You Want to Live in Hawaii (a very popular book)
How to Live in Hawaii (a very detailed blog about moving to Hawaii)
Lifestyles in military retirement: Napili Bay, Maui
Lifestyles in military retirement: Haleakala Crater, Maui
Lifestyles in military retirement: Haleakala Crater again
Lifestyles in military retirement: Learning to surf
Waikiki beach camera
HawaiiThreads discussion board (Register and then browse the “Islands Ahoy” forum)
Star-Advertiser newspaper website (Worth paying for a subscription)
Honolulu Civil Beat (another excellent online newspaper)

 

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Lifestyles in early retirement: Hawaii long-term travel

June 14, 2012 by · 6 Comments

 

 

Last week’s post on long-term retirement travel talked about different air & lodging resources for seeing the world. I’ve also added several military websites to the sidebar “Travel links” section. Like blogger Jan suggested a couple of weeks ago, it’s a great area for showing advertising from military lodging & recreation centers. I’d much rather have those advertising dollars for military charities than from payday loan companies.

Waianae sunset over Pearl Harbor

But for today’s post, a reader has a different slant on military travel:

My wife and I would like to be able to spend a month or two a year in Hawaii as well, to get a dose of sunshine! We’ll see how it all works out. Any advice for a couple of military retirees on how to live frugally in Hawaii for a couple of months per year? Working or volunteering somewhere in return for cheap housing?

Great question, thanks! My advice comes from these basics: cheap airfare, traveling light, finding long-term lodging, and living like a local.

 

Flights

My first advice on travel to the islands would be Space A. Your flight might land on the reef runway next to Honolulu International Airport, but you’ll end up on Oahu’s Joint Base Pearl Harbor Hickam. It’s possible (but unlikely) that a Navy P-3 might make the flight from the Mainland to land at Marine Corps Base Hawaii near Kaneohe. (Unless you’re a Navy aviator with deep contacts in the maritime surveillance community, I wouldn’t count on this option.) Those are your only military choices for getting to Hawaii, and you’ll have to transfer to a commercial airline (or a boat!) to get to the neighbor islands.

If you’re staying in Hawaii for a few months, and if you’re flexible on your travel dates, then you may be able to take advantage of airline pricing. In general, Hawaii flights are more expensive in the summer months when kids are out of school. June and July are also particularly busy for honeymoon travel. However the most expensive flights to Hawaii are during the winter. The colder it is on the Mainland, the more the airlines charge you to come here. Late November through mid-February is “high season” for travel and lodging, so you’ll find more bargains if you can get here in September-October and leave in March-April.

If you don’t have to arrive on a particular date, and if you’re traveling light (no checked luggage), then be open to the possibility of getting bumped. Flights from Los Angeles and San Francisco are particularly good candidates for this option. You may spend several extra hours (or even overnight) at the airport, but you may be able to negotiate hotel/food vouchers and discounts on your next trip.

 

Houses, condos, cabins, and camping

Last week’s post talked about military lodging, and the “Travel links” sidebar has over a dozen links to military lodging & vacation websites. If you’re planning to live here for longer, though, I’m going to recommend other options. The advantage of these short-term military lodging options is that you have a starting point for checking out neighborhoods and rental ads before you make a longer-term choice.

The cheapest Hawaii choices are house swapping and house sitting. Of course this is challenging if you’re traveling with four kids, but older singles (and couples) are generally regarded as good candidates. My spouse and I have never done a house-sitting gig or swapped houses, so I’m going to defer to Sydney Lagier’s considerable experience and Billy & Akaisha Kaderli’s network with links that I’ve read on their websites. The largest and most popular house sitting and swapping sites are House Carers, Trusted Housesitters, Caretaker Gazette, and Home Exchange. (Of course for Home Exchange you actually have to have a home that someone from Hawaii would like to visit, too.) You’ll want to do your due diligence on these sites to learn the rules and the challenges of getting a Hawaii home. I doubt that you’ll be sitting in Kahala or Waikiki, but you could certainly end up elsewhere on Oahu or in a more rural location on a neighbor island. Make sure you understand your transportation options, too– the homeowner might not mind you sleeping in “their” bed but they could draw the line at driving their car. Bus service is available on Oahu, especially in Honolulu and other major neighbor-island towns, but as you get further away from the urban areas you’re going to want to borrow or rent your transportation.

Hawaii has a large snowbird population, and many of them are condo owners trying to rent out their places during the rest of the year. If you’re able to work around the snowbird months, or if you can find a snowbird who’s not visiting Hawaii that year, then you’ll be able to get a discount rental. We’ve seen the best success with Vacation Rentals by Owner and AirBnB. A third option is the military Automated Housing Referral Network, although this is mostly seeking military tenants for long-term rental properties near military bases. (We’ve used AHRN several times to find tenants for our rental property.) AHRN landlords would probably prefer at least a six-month lease but some of them will go month-to-month for Reservists or temporary duty personnel. Craigslist might also work if you know the neighborhoods and are willing to deal with the occasional eccentric landlord or a scammer.

Another option is lodging at military recreation areas, state campsites, and national parks. (See a few paragraphs further down for working at a national park.) You’ll be in “rustic” cabins or tent camping, and the length of your stay may be limited by high demand or agency policies. You’ll also need to carefully consider your transportation needs– for example the nearest bus stop to the White Plains Beach cabins is over two miles from the beach. Pokai Bay beach cabins are in Waianae, over an hour away from Waikiki. Kilauea Military Camp (on the Big Island) is near the middle of the island and at altitude– winter temperatures can dip down into the 40s. It’s also an hour away from Kailua-Kona and Hilo. Oh, and there’s a live volcano erupting nearby… but it’s been well-behaved for nearly three decades. No worries!

I’m sorry to say that camping in Hawaii may not be a fantasy experience. Camping is viewed as a way to “live at the beach” for quality fishing and surfing and partying, and evening noise can be a problem. Gasoline generators and sound systems can be an issue, and camp security is not always immediately available. Some state campsites and beaches have a persistent homeless population. The best tent camping I’ve experienced has been at White Plains Beach, Bellows Air Force Station, and Haleakala National Park. Camping in Haleakala is for hard-core backpackers only– at altitude, with no transportation or open fires or potable water.

 

Transportation, entertainment, & food

Part of the location equation is also transportation. If you’re in Waikiki then The Bus (or, as it’s more popularly known, “Da Bus”) will take you just about anywhere you want to go. Elsewhere on Oahu the nearest military base will have a car rental franchise (no airport taxes/fees). Car rentals on neighbor islands can be expensive, and unfortunately there are no RentAWreck franchises in the islands. Your maximum flexibility for minimum price in the more remote neighborhoods might be bicycles, scooters, and short-term rentals.

Once you’re here, entertainment is relatively cheap (especially outdoors). You’re living in one of the world’s biggest outdoor recreation areas where you’re only limited by water, sunscreen, and protective clothing. Oahu has an extensive network of bicycle trails (particularly on the North Shore and around Pearl Harbor) and every island has miles of hiking and beaches. If you don’t know how to surf, then this is the place to learn. Every beach rental franchise has someone available for a lesson, and military recreation areas (like White Plains Beach) will offer very cheap lessons from the lifeguards. Kayaks and stand-up paddleboards are also easy to learn, with different muscle groups and different reflexes. If you’re hooked then there’s a lively Craigslist market in used gear, and almost every surfboard shop sells reconditioned used equipment.

Living in Hawaii long-term means eating local. If you’re expecting a daily breakfast of box cereal and cow’s milk, then you will pay dearly for the privilege (especially on neighbor islands). Lunchmeat can be surprisingly expensive, too. Of course you’ll be able to find a wide variety of fish (both fresh & frozen) as well as local beef, pork, & chicken. Vegetables are plentiful & cheap, too, if you eat the local versions of greens & fibers. You can find potatoes but you could substitute yams or, for a color thrill, Okinawan sweet potato. Poi & taro products are an acquired taste but they’re easy to find, and rice is cheap. If you’re expecting to eat raspberries, blueberries, or cranberries then you’ll pay by the ounce. However the islands grow strawberries and a surprising variety of the most exotic fruits you’ve never eaten, far beyond the typical mango & papaya options. Lilikoi, guava, lychee, and rambutan are plentiful at certain times of the year. One of your most entertaining local activities might be an hour browsing the local grocery store for menu ideas.

Restaurant dining can be expensive but there are plenty of kau kau wagons. Military bases, of course, offer commissaries and cheaper food courts. Grocery stores (outside Waikiki) help you handle your own cooking, but you’d be using loyalty cards and shopping for local foods. Hawaii has big-box store chains, too, but your lodging would have to have the storage for you to stock up on larger quantities.

Those Hawaii vacation options give you the greatest range of flexibility and recreation opportunities. But what if you’re willing to trade a little labor for your lodging and transportation?

 

Voluntourism and labor exchanges

The National Park Service has a wide Mainland network of volunteer labor and seasonal employment, and some of that is available here. Both Volcanoes National Park and Haleakala National Park have occasional temporary positions. If you’ve participated in this program on the Mainland then you may be ready to jump right in, but otherwise I’d advise spending a week or two at these locations exploring the programs and the facilities.

Hawaii is a popular destination for voluntourism, and most of them are outdoors working on the land or with wildlife. One of the most thorough summaries of organizations and opportunities is the Let’s Go Hawaii site, which links to other organizations and their programs. Unfortunately most of them are short-term projects, although if you’ve worked with a particular organization in other locations then you may be able to use those contacts to your Hawaii advantage. I haven’t personally worked with these organizations and I can’t vouch for their credibility or their popularity.

Another intriguing possibility is WWOOFing. By “intriguing” I mean “Sounds interesting but I’ve never done it; could be a lot of hard work.” “World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms” is the parent organization for linking volunteers to agricultural projects in exchange for room & board. If you’re interested in sustainable living and permaculture then this is a wonderful way to learn the techniques and the lifestyle. In its harshest terms, if you’re able to weed for several hours per day then you have the rest of the day off with food & lodging. I found another review of Hawaii WWOOFing at the BootsnAll indie travel website.

If you’re willing to do your own networking then you can start at Help Exchange, where people and local organizations offer homes or nearby lodging in exchange for project work. Keep in mind that these tend to be private homeowners, businesses, farms, or monasteries looking for labor in exchange for room & board. While it’s extremely affordable, and you’re living in paradise, there will be a certain degree of occupational toil and drudgery. Again I can’t vouch for any of these organizations, and I strongly advise visiting them in person before making any decisions. This might be a good idea for your third or fourth trip to the islands, but I’d hesitate to make a commitment just based on a website and a phone call.

If you have more questions about these opportunities, or if I can make a drive-by visit on Oahu to a particular group or site, then please use the “Contact Me” box or send me an e-mail. I’d like to thank reader Chris for asking these questions. I learned a lot about these programs, and I enjoyed the research!

 

Related articles:
Lifestyles in military retirement: Living in Hawaii
During retirement: where do you want to go next?
U.S. Air Force Air Mobility Command
Armed Forces Recreation Center Resorts
Department of Defense Lodging
Armed Forces Vacation Club
Billy & Akaisha Kaderli’s “Retire Early Lifestyle”
Paul & Vicki Terhorst’s travel site
The “Wandering Wahls” blog

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Lifestyles in early retirement: long-term travel

June 7, 2012 by · 3 Comments

 

 

Veteran blogger Janette from “Ground Level in Kansas” offered her feedback on the “WordAds” post about types of ads that readers want from this site:

I come here not only for me (spouse of retired Army), but for my kids (Marine family and Army family). 20 years in– we knew nothing of MOAA, Military Advantage, PenFed, or any of the retiree travel clubs. How about advertising from the Navy Lodge or Hale Koa? Your sidebar links are so good I sometimes stop by just to pick one up (knowing it would be here….) I wouldn’t mind them looking more like advertisements so I can see what they offer.

Just saying, I think you have a lot to offer and need to head military!

I also have “Contact Me” feedback from a reader:

Just wanted to tell you that I enjoyed the book very much and have left it on my desk at work for others to see and hopefully get curious about. Also wanted to say “thanks” for being a trailblazer. It seems I’m obsessed these days with financial independence and retiring at 42, once my military career is done. It’s incredibly helpful to see and read about people like you who have done the same. My wife and I would like to be able to spend a month or two a year in Hawaii as well, to get a dose of sunshine! We’ll see how it all works out. Any advice for a couple of early retired folks on how to live frugally in Hawaii for a couple of months per year? Working or volunteering somewhere in return for cheap housing?

Thanks, guys, I admit that military travel hasn’t been on the top of my mind lately. (Why would we ever leave these islands?!?) However the military is a wonderful way to see the world (especially when the assignment officer has sent you there)– as well as a great advertising category. Let me start by mentioning the new links I’ve added in the sidebar, and then I’ll talk about one example that I actually know something about: Hawaii.

 

Perpetual travel

Billy & Akaisha Kaderli and Paul & Vicki Terhorst are the world-class pioneers of perpetual travel and long-term stays. They spend most of their years overseas, but Tom Wahl and the Wandering Wahls spent months traveling across the U.S. in a recreational vehicle deciding where they’d like to settle… for now. Those families have lots of advice and details on the basics that I’ll mention here: cheap airfare, traveling light, finding long-term lodging, and living like a local.

 

Space A

I’ve added four big-picture links to the sidebar. (Please let me know your favorites, and I’ll add them too.) First up is the Air Force’s official Space-A website for worldwide travel on military aircraft. My spouse and I have hung out in our fair share of passenger terminals around the world (and slept in some of them) waiting for “the next flight out” to get us closer to our destination. The prices are great and the box lunches… well, that’s part of the adventure. The Internet has largely replaced the last millennium’s grease-pencil status boards, but you should also phone ahead for each base’s policies on releasing flight information.

Space A can be challenging for servicemembers, even with a 30-day leave schedule. Families will need to think ahead about kid-friendly food & lodging contingencies if the aircraft breaks down on a small base in the middle of nowhere. But Space A is a dream come true for military retirees who have all year to travel and who don’t particularly care where they’re going. Even during a drawdown when fuel is tight, the popular routes still need to carry people and supplies to remote bases around the world. If you’re flexible then the Air Mobility Command can get you near your destination, and usually sooner rather than later.

 

Military lodging

Next up are the Armed Forces Recreation Centers (like the Hale Koa Hotel that Jan mentioned). There are actually five hotels worldwide near family-friendly cities offering low rates (based on military rank). They cater to servicemembers and their families but they may also allow civilians (your relatives) to accompany you as well. The centers are very popular and they tend to fill up months in advance, but if you’re in the area then you can frequently take advantage of their last-minute cancellations. Use their websites to research your plans, but also phone their reservations centers to ask about their wait lists. Many times we’ve been told that the Hale Koa was full weeks in advance, joined the wait list, and then been called only a day or two before our stay began.

Military lodging is the next-best accommodation to a recreation center, but there are a lot more of them. The starting point is the DoD Military Lodging website where you can look up Navy Lodges, Inns of the Corps, Air Force Inns,and Army Lodges. Once again they fill up fast, but ask about their wait lists and last-minute cancellations. Their staff also knows the surrounding area: if they don’t have a room then they may be able to recommend a night or two in the military base’s visiting officer’s quarters or a local hotel. There are fantastic beach cottages at Bellows, Kaneohe, Waianae, and Kalaeloa (where the White Plains Beach cabins are on my favorite surf break).

 

Civilian lodging

One last link: the Armed Forces Vacation Club. You have to validate your military status (with your ID card) before you can sign up, but then you’re able to take advantage of consolidated deals at worldwide vacation resorts. You’re generally obligated to stay for a week but prices start about $55/night. AFVC is not sponsored or supported by the military, but they’re a great source of MWR/ITT discounts and other deals. I won’t pretend that these resorts have anything to do with the “real” local culture, but they’re another cheap way to get started on your long-term lodging research.

Admittedly these good deals are available to servicemembers & retirees, but not to all military veterans. (I’m blogging for a very diverse audience, and their benefits don’t always overlap.) However the lodges are in business to fill rooms and make money. If you have a military affiliation or a veteran’s ID, then it’s worth parsing their websites and speaking to their reservations desks. You probably won’t be able to fly Space A but you may be able to get a waiver on the lodging policies.

These are just the military-benefits options. If you can stay longer, or if you’re able to do more research before you go, then there are even cheaper lodging options. The challenge is making your transportation dates match your lodging dates, and these military lodging options can help cover the gaps while you’re arranging the really cheap local lodging deals. Even if you’re financially independent, travel is much more rewarding when you can get away from the resort and settle into the local community.

The Kaderlis, Terhorsts, and Wahls have found dozens of civilian ways to spend months on travel at very low prices without military benefits. I’ll talk a little about their advice in the next post, but please visit their websites (linked below) for a wealth of tips & tricks on living like locals instead of spending like a tourist.

Next week: living long-term and cheap in Hawaii.

 

Related articles & websites:
Lifestyles in military retirement: Living in Hawaii
During retirement: where do you want to go next?
U.S. Air Force Air Mobility Command
Armed Forces Recreation Center Resorts
Department of Defense Lodging
Armed Forces Vacation Club
Billy & Akaisha Kaderli’s “Retire Early Lifestyle”
Paul & Vicki Terhorst’s travel site
The “Wandering Wahls” blog

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Lifestyles in military retirement: Living in Hawaii

October 13, 2011 by · 12 Comments

It must be that time of year again. It’s chilly on the Mainland so people’s thoughts turn to warm tropical breezes, warm beaches, warm surf, and warm sunshine. Yeah, I know, I’m killin’ ya. I won’t talk about how it gets so cold on the North Shore in winter surf that I have to wear a 3mm neoprene shorty rashguard just to be able to stay out there for a couple hours.

But I’m getting a lot of questions about moving to Hawaii and living here on a budget! Let me answer them in one post.

My first caution would be that if you haven’t lived in a foreign country yet, then Hawaii’s multicultural environment will be a big change.  We think it’s great from our years of overseas duty, but not everyone wants to leap into a strange culture to try to make a new life (even if the military sends you there on orders). So if you’ve never even visited here before, then spend a few weeks before making up your mind to live here. And if you want to live here, then rent for a few months in a non-visitor part of Oahu or on a neighbor island. Try to live like a local.

My second caution would be that no matter which island you live on, they’re all a lot smaller than the Mainland. It’s never been an issue for me, but I made a career out of living in tiny enclosed spaces. You may not enjoy it.

Finally, don’t depend on this blog as your sole source of Hawaii advice. I’d strongly encourage you to register at HawaiiThreads.com and start reading their malahini threads. If this post doesn’t answer your questions, then they will.

In no particular order, here are a few observations about Hawaii life:

- You’ll either love the islands or hate them. You won’t be ambivalent. I’m a steely-eyed killer of the deep who has only cried a handful of times, and one of them was when I had to contemplate yet another military move from the islands. (We didn’t move.)

- If you have Mainland relatives then visits will always be complicated. They won’t want to visit because it’s so expensive. Some island residents chafe at not “being there” for Mainland parents.  Other island residents miss out on a lot of grandkid moments because their kids “escape” to exotic Mainland colleges and tend to build their careers (and families) on the Mainland until they’re in their 30s. One of the major reasons for island residents (especially military) leaving the islands is Mainland family. Of course if your family is born & raised here, or if your parents aren’t in your life, then it’s not a problem.

- Our monthly electricity consumption is about 350 KWHrs, which is considered low yet costs about 25 cents/KWHr. (Depends on the price of oil.) Your home may have a solar water heater, which will provide more hot water than you can ever use. Air conditioning is not essential here, and a heating system is only necessary at much higher altitudes. Hawaii homes are not always designed or insulated for air conditioning, so using it can give you a $400 electric bill.

- Those who enjoy “transportation lifestyles” will chafe here. You can’t just get in a car and drive in a straight line for hours. You stay off the roads around rush hours. Most highway speed limits are 55 MPH.  Bumper stickers read “Drive with aloha” and “Slow down.  This ain’t the Mainland.”  A plane flight to the Mainland is five hours (or more) and a neighbor island is over $100. Bicycle lanes are sparse. Buses are not as frequent as they could be. However walking and hiking are year-round activities. Water sports rule, especially paddling and surfing.

- Driving in Hawaii can be very different, and motorcycling even scary. People are so polite here that they violate the rules of the road to let others go first. We’ll brake in panic at the first drop of rain, we’ll slam on our brakes when anyone within three lanes slams on theirs, and we’ll randomly change lanes a mile in advance because we don’t get a lot of lane-changing practice. We will not (will NOT!) use our horns. But an occasional “howzit honk” is fine if you’re doing a shaka out of your car window.

- Your clothing budget will be very low. Especially “winter wear” (whatever that is) and shoes.

- We use less gasoline in Hawaii than we did in San Diego, Texas, the Bay Area, or Washington DC. I used a lot less gas when I was working because I could commute by bicycle all year long. Gas costs more per gallon here but the total cost is lower here because you drive fewer miles.

- Hawaii has some of the nation’s highest personal income tax rates. However property taxes are low. Excise tax (a regressive sales tax) is relatively low but cumulative, so a consumption lifestyle will quickly drive up your spending.

- Hawaii is one of the nation’s most tax-friendly states for retirees, usually ranking in the top five.

- “Mainland” food is a luxury item here. I’m referring to raspberries, blueberries, cranberries, grapes, potatoes, many kinds of bread, cow’s milk, and most cereal brands. However I chuckle when I see people actually pay money to eat a mango. It’s also easy to grow papaya, pineapple, bananas, tangerines, oranges, avocados, lemon, tomatoes, and many Asian/Indian fruits high in vitamin C whose names you’ve never heard of. If you want to live in Hawaii on a budget then you must eat local cuisine. A fruit tree wouldn’t hurt, and a veggie garden is a bonus. Fish is plentiful and relatively cheap, as is beef and chicken. Pork is not.

- Mainland franchise restaurants are expensive. Local restaurants are generally cheaper. The good news is that there are over 20 cuisines to choose from, although Hawaii is may be lacking in Tex-Mex and Indian. That’s not a complaint–I think the Mainland is lacking in Korean BBQ, kimchi, and curry powder. Hawaii’s lunch wagons and takeout are the world’s best.

- Hawaii’s public school reputation is undeservedly poor. All large multicultural school districts with multilingual populations struggle with the same issues. Private schools offer more individual attention, smaller classes, and better tech. However the “lifestyle cost” of most private schools is also very high: long commutes to downtown locations during rush hours, living too far away from the school for frequent visits outside of school hours, not being able to easily participate in sports. Private school logistics can all be worked out, but families end up sacrificing a lot for it. Nearby public schools (and parental attention) are almost always better than remote private schools.

- In my opinion the most important criteria for any high school is: distance. Our family benefited tremendously from being only a mile away from a public high school, close enough for our daughter to ride her bike at all hours. We parents also benefited by being able to attend any school event with minimal advance planning… especially if that plan had to come from a teen.

- Cell phone connectivity on Oahu is not that good, especially compared to the Mainland, although 3G service is widespread.  Same for Internet bandwidth. Limiting factors include terrain (ridges & valleys) and undersea cables. However it’s relatively straightforward to make a good living here from the Internet… unless the surf is up.

- Sure, Hawaii has four weather seasons. Summer is a few degrees hotter and drier with higher surf on the south shore, winter is a few degrees cooler and rainier with bigger surf on the North Shore, and spring/fall are in between. During winter it also snows on Haleakala and Mauna Kea.

- I don’t know whether NASCAR is available on TV here. If this is important to you then you should investigate cable TV choices, but I don’t hear much about the sport here.

- If you were not born here (or raised here for at least 10 years) then please don’t try to speak pidgin. You can let Hawaiian words into your vocabulary if you don’t put verbal quotes around them. Japanese is welcome here, as are over 200 other Pacific and Asian languages.

- Pidgin won’t tell you anything about the person’s education level, literacy, or intellect. They could be testing you, your assumptions will be wrong, and they won’t tolerate your attitude. Exhibit A for this syndrome is a former Mainland elementary school teacher and holder of a bachelor’s degree in English. Whenever she heard pidgin she began to speak slowly and loudly, using simpler words. During five years here she never figured out why she had trouble getting help in banks and stores…

- Nobody in Hawaii cares about your Mainland stuff-- where you’re from, who you were, what you did, who you knew, what you drove, what you owned. Seriously. No, honestly, we just don’t care. We’re not hostile or envious– we genuinely don’t see how it has any relevance here or why you would still care either. We may seem polite but… we just don’t care, and pretty soon you’ll be standing in the corner talking to yourself. Get over your Mainland culture. Give yourself a fresh start and learn local culture.  We’re eager to share.  Japanese culture is fine. Korean, Chinese, and Filipino culture are good too.

- If you want hostility, then try saying “Well, back in … we used to do it this way!” Do not suggest that island life could be improved by “doing it like we did it back in on the States Mainland.” You can actually see the body language turn against you when you say “Well, back in Michigan, we did it this way… ” Delete such words from your conversation. If you must insist on improving Hawaii by making it like it is in Cleveland, then do it by going back to Cleveland. (Thanks to Early-Retirement.org poster Ko’olau for making this point!)

- Respect hula. It’s a serious part of Hawaii culture, and you do not make hula jokes unless you’re also a hula student. Some families have been kumu hula for generations, well back into the 19th century. Some halau have been living hula for decades, and they may practice 10 hours per week. You wouldn’t tease Chuck Norris about his karate skills, and it’s the same way with hula. If you’re going to make culture jokes then start with your hometown sports team. Oh, that’s not funny either? Now you understand a little better how locals feel about hula.

- If you’re going to insist on talking about Mainland sports then you better know the name of every Pacific Islander on your chosen team. You should know the names of their local families, too. The best advice, however, is to start following University of Hawaii sports… and high school football.

- All your Mainland family, relatives, & friends think that you have plenty of spare bedrooms and that you live in the middle of Waikiki. Well, maybe they don’t really think that, but they’re shocked to learn that you don’t spend all your liberty in Waikiki and that your favorite surf spot is 90 minutes away from there.

So is Hawaii really that bad?!?  Well, no, there’s a reason it’s called Paradise!  But it is a huge cultural shift, and many many residents have spent unhappy months finding that out the hard way.  If you’re willing to learn a completely different lifestyle than you’ve ever seen on the Mainland, then living here is wonderful.  The first year is full of changes, but after a few years you’ll wonder why anyone would want to live with freezing weather or air pollution… or without surf.

My spouse and I were born & raised thousands of miles away from here, and even after 22 years we’re sometimes regarded as “the new guys”.  But the main reason that we chose to live in Hawaii is because we’ve lived just about everywhere else in the world, and none of it even comes close!

 

Related articles:
Recommended book: “So You Want To Live In Hawaii” (Thanks again, Ko’olau!)
Recommended blog (Thanks, ClifP!):  “How to Live in Hawaii”

 

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Lifestyles in military retirement: surfing photos

August 29, 2011 by · 2 Comments

Sometimes putting up three posts a week is a problem. However my blogging problem isn’t deciding what subject to write about. My blogging problem is deciding which subject to write about first!

Since I’m still incubating a half-dozen unfinished posts, I’ll take the easy Monday-morning approach and talk about my favorite subject: surfing. The day after this post goes up, the Oahu south shore forecast predicts at least six feet– and even bigger over the rest of the week. You can find me a hundred yards to seaward of the fenceline at the eastern edge of White Plains Beach on Kalealoa (formerly Naval Air Station Barbers Point). Once again when Friday rolls around I’ll have spaghetti arms, sore quads & hamstrings, a handful of ibuprofen, and a big smile.

This month our daughter was home from college for 18 days, and we managed to go surfing for eight of them. She’s been working out for an entire year with her NROTC unit’s Marine gunny sergeant, so she’s in excellent surfing shape. I was doing fine for the first six or seven sessions, too, but it turns out that my muscles no longer recover as quickly at age 50 as they did at age 18. Two words of advice for you more experienced surfers: afternoon naps.

By the end of the first week I knew I was in an endurance contest against my own muscles. To quell my incipient attitude of “Oh, gosh, surfing again?!?” I decided to give myself a new goal. For the last five years my daughter and I have tried to get good pictures of each other on the waves, but it’s not easy to sit out there in the waves and take care of you, the board, and the camera all at once. So after years of reader requests (and growing skepticism), I finally went and did it: professional surfing pictures. “Professional” refers to the photographer, not the surfer. More about the photographer in a few paragraphs, but first let’s look at the pictures.

Here we go:

Flea Virostko free fall during 2004 Eddie Aikau big-wave competition

Oops, sorry, that’s not me. That’s world-class big-wave rider Flea Virostko winning “Best Wipeout” at the 2004 Eddie Aikau competition in Waimea Bay. (Flea’s a trained professional surrounded by rescue crews on jet skis. Kids, don’t try this at home.) Yes, that’s at least a 30-foot face. Don’t worry, he made a full recovery. Eventually.

Here’s our photos:

No, wait, that’s Ringo the stand-up pup wearing his Doggles and his Outward Hound personal flotation device. He regularly brings his owner down to White Plains Beach, too, and he’s a chick magnet (Ringo, not his owner) with his cool surf-dog gear. (Kids, check with your parents before trying this on your pets!) I’m jealous that Ringo can hang 20 anytime he wants. You can see more Ringo photos here.

Let me try this again:

White Plains 2-4 near the shore

Left the bottom turn a little late...

Father-daughter surfing!

High-five...

Lost the wave!

These were shot from the beach by professional surf photographer Terry Reis of SurfShooterHawaii.com.  Terry works from the beach or from the water, but these were taken from shore through a lens that looks like a bazooka. He was kind enough to come out for dawn patrol at very short notice (like 7 PM the evening before) and he spent a couple of hours catching everyone on the break. You can see his other work at White Plains here  and the rest of his beaches here.

Speaking as a parent, the key to this photo session was that my daughter was totally back in her Hawaii surfer-grrrl groove and completely comfortable with the waves. We were too far out for Terry to get crisp shots of our bottom turns off those 4-6 footers, but we did just fine playing with the 2-4 near the shore. Normally I’d never get my beat-up 9’0″ fiberglass within two lengths of my daughter’s 7’9″ epoxy custom high-school graduation present, but by this time we were both in control and having fun.

Terry’s website offers a variety of sizes and prints, but we went with traditional 5″x7″s. We made a significant bulk purchase (heck, it took us nine years to get around to this photo session) so Terry threw in the free JPEGs. Of course now I have to get around to framing a few shots on my “I Love Me” wall and adding the rest to our photo albums. Send me an e-mail (or use the “Contact me” box) if you want more information on Terry’s rates, or contact him directly to set up your own personal shooting session. You won’t find anyone else on Oahu with this combination of skill, experience, and price.

I’m going to keep an eye out for Terry whenever I’m on the waves, and I think I’ll buy more shots every few years. It’ll be interesting to see how my style improves over the rest of the 21st century, and to see how long I can keep this up:

Geezer longboard air

Besides, now that my daughter’s back in college, someone has to keep her board from drying out in the garage rack. (Sorry you can’t be there, honey, but I’ll take care of it for you.)

Back to work on the rest of these posts. (Tomorrow is going to be one busy surfing day.) I’m buffing up topics like Medicare & Tricare For Life insurance, DIY home renovations, more financial management issues for aging elders, the difference between “frugal useful” and “functional hoarding”, the personality types of retirees, and the retirement surprises that come with the first pension check. And of course starting on 12 September I’ll be blogging about “What I Did at the USAA Military Blogger Conference”.

Related articles:
Lifestyles in military retirement: surfing
Lifestyles in military retirement: learning to surf in Hawaii

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Lifestyles in military retirement: Haleakala Crater redux

May 30, 2011 by · 4 Comments

Last week we hiked Maui’s Haleakala Crater again.  This post stands on its own, but you’ll appreciate the background if you first read the post about our introduction to this beautiful yet harsh environment.

Wide view of crater from summit looking east

Four days, three nights, 20 miles of lava-rock trails at altitude.

(Here’s a two-page Haleakala Crater map showing elevations, trails, and cabin locations.)

Thank goodness for better gear and for spending the last eight months working out. Unlike last year’s endurance trial, this year we were able to enjoy the scenery and take more photos. We arrived at each cabin with enough energy to explore the surroundings and stay awake past sundown.  Of course I still picked up three blisters on the first day from not tying my hiking shoes tight enough. (Hey, some of us Hawaii residents only tie shoelaces maybe three times a year.)  My military-worn knees are sore but the lighter/tighter gear made a huge difference.  The weather even cooperated a bit more, too.

Sunset rainbow

Worst part of the trip: Day 3′s cold, steady rain with ankle-deep puddles on the rocky trail of the six-mile hike from the Paliku cabin to Holua. At least this time it was “only” 30 minutes instead of “all afternoon”.  Best part: That same day, Maui friends who hiked 3.9 miles each way to the Holua cabin from the crater’s Halemau’u trail head (elevation 6900-8000 feet) to surprise us with chocolate chip cookies. Best cookies ever.  (Thanks, Chris & Guy!)  This rainbow over Kapalaoa cabin was pretty nice, too.

Thank goodness for trekking poles.

This year one of our party said “Money has no value in the crater, but spending it on the right gear will save your life.” We survived last year’s trip on very short notice with borrowed gear. Back then we made it mainly through perseverance and our high tolerance for pain. This year we started over. Our new backpacks are great (especially for spouse’s smaller frame) and we easily handled 30+ pounds. Our 27-ounce 55-degree sleeping bags are light yet still within the colder limit of the crater’s temperatures. Hiking shoes offered stability & control far better than last year’s sneakers, and this year we had the time to break them in. Unfortunately we needed our pack covers and rain ponchos, but they worked fine. Trekking poles  are also lifesavers– in the REI store spouse thought $99/pair was pretty pricey, but by the end of the trip she was ready to send them another thousand bucks.

Hiking out of Paliku cabin in the rain... again.

Haleakala Crater is not the average hike along a dirt track. The well-worn trails are ankle-deep sand, unstable gravel, and razor-sharp lava. (After just 20 miles my new hiking shoes show substantial wear.) We were always slipping and sliding. Most of the trails are eroded over a foot deep and stumbling can easily twist an ankle on the side wall. Even grabbing a lava outcrop risks slicing open a finger. Lava isn’t the only footing hazard– the trails are also used by pack horses. 30-knot winds, mist, and even driving rain were common. Our progress was 1.5-2 miles/hour, gasping for breath at elevations from 6500-10,000 feet.  By the third day we were beginning to adapt to the altitude.

-

Home sweet home for the night.

This year our hosts reserved all three cabins– very difficult since reservations fill up within minutes for 90 days in advance. Crater stays are limited to three nights  so most groups reserve one cabin per night (it’s almost impossible to get two nights at the same cabin). The 1930s 20′x30′ wood cabins sleep 12 on four three-stack bunks around two wooden tables. One side of each cabin includes a large wood stove, a small propane range with one or two rings, a small kitchen sink/counter area that can handle two people, and a wood-storage room. Water comes from catchment tanks so it has to be filtered or boiled. Wood & kitchen gear are provided. Extra food & supplies are abandoned by overpacked hikers. Tent camping is permitted near two of the cabins but no open fires are allowed so campers have to pack in cooking gear/fuel. Pit toilets. No electricity. Lighting from candles & lanterns. All trash has to be packed out but toilet paper is (usually) available.

Trail food.

Including spouse & me, our party was eight adults. One is 30 years old but the rest are age 49-64. Three grew up on Maui and two of them have hiked the crater for over 50 years. One is an outdoors expert, another backpacks & hikes several months a year, and a third is an Army Vietnam vet who hikes & skis. Spouse and I hiked & camped as kids but we have the least experience. Our group rotated breakfast & dinner duties among pairs of cooks & dishwashers. We generally started each hike around midmorning and finished in the early afternoons. We’d snack on the trail (protein bars and dried fruit) and make our own late lunches at the cabins.

The first cabin, Kapalaoa, is “only” 5.9 miles down from the summit– but the altitude changes from nearly 10,000 feet to 7000 feet through 15 switchbacks. (Yes, this time I counted all of them.) Sliding Sands trail is aptly named. Last year we lunched briefly at Kapalaoa before pressing on another 3.3 miles to Paliku cabin, and that was a nightmare marathon. This year we “took it easy”. We ate a late breakfast in Kula, arrived at the park ranger’s briefing after the morning rush, and didn’t hike in until after 9:30 AM– yet we still arrived at Kapalaoa four hours later.

"Watch your step"...

Our training paid off. About halfway down the crater’s rim a rock broke out from under my foot and I lost my balance. Thanks to my taekwondo skills I managed to twist and roll the impact. I still landed on my right humerus, gouged out a square inch of tissue, and had a walnut-sized swelling on the point of my elbow for the next three days. I couldn’t control the bleeding with gauze & band aids, so we finally had to stop for 20 minutes to clean up the wound’s ragged edges and apply a compression bandage of toilet paper & duct tape. Next morning I realized I’d also slammed my right hip on a rock for a 6″-diameter rainbow bruise. Thankfully I didn’t sprain ankles or knees– crater rescues use pack horses and take at least a day, sometimes two.  The crater’s altitude and weather are not friendly to helicopters.

Silverswords in bloom

The silverswords are still beautiful and seemed more plentiful than last year. But Kapalaoa has the crater’s clearest weather and this year the stars were awesome– thousands of them instead of just the usual few dozen. Hawaii has very bad light pollution so it was a real treat to see five planets, a dozen constellations, and the Milky Way. (The summit of Haleakala Crater houses some of the world’s best telescopes.)  Of course we had star maps for both the Greek/Roman constellations and the ancient Hawaiian ones. Sorting out all the patterns took nearly an hour, during which we saw several shooting stars. The full moon rose over the crater rim an hour later and wiped out most of the view, but by then we were freezing anyway.

The first glimpse of Paliku cabin through the rain... again.

Next morning it took nearly three hours to hike “only” 3.3 miles to the next cabin. The Paliku cabin (at the eastern edge of the crater) is surrounded by tropical rainforest but the trail drops 600 feet of elevation down winding, treacherous, knee-wracking stairsteps over slick ledges and crumbling lava flows. Trekking poles usually just get in my way but I should’ve had a pair here to help with my footing & stability. Last year people lost toenails because we pushed to Paliku on the first day, but this year it was only minor blisters & bruises. However the winds were still gusting to 30 knots and the clouds enveloped us in a cold mist that turned into an overnight rainshower. The weather was too nasty for more hiking around the cabin, which is a shame. Paliku is surrounded by lush vegetation and nearby cinder cones with awesome views of Maui’s Kaupo Gap and the Big Island.

A mated pair of nene consider Paliku their home, especially the thicket of raspberry bushes behind the cabin. They’re too comfortable around humans and hikers have probably been feeding them. The nene didn’t have any chicks this year but the area was still filled with minefields of nene droppings. I flushed a bright red i’iwi  that was way too fast on the wing for my camera. Otherwise we holed up for the rest of the day drying our gear, napping, playing cribbage, reading, and talking story.

Pele's Paint Pot

The third morning dawned cold, windy, & rainy. (Just like last year.) We hunkered down until 11 AM when it finally began to ease, but by then the first mile of the trail was under water. We sloshed through and finally broke out above the clouds at 7000 feet to hike a total of 6.2 miles to Holua cabin. This trail winds through several different sandy & rocky lava fields– including a spectacular cinder cone of reds, yellows, oranges, and purples known as “Pele’s Paint Pot”. Last year it stormed constantly on this part of the trail and visibility was under 100 feet, but this year it was sunny with great views. The last mile of the hike changes from lava fields to alpine meadows. Pheasants were very shy but chukar partridges were practically underfoot.

The cabin woodstove with (instant) coffeepots

Holua cabin was dryer than Paliku but a lot colder than the first two nights. Our late start from Paliku meant that we missed our friends waiting for us at Holua, but their cookies were yummy! Stargazing was good again that night but three days of hiking were beginning to exact their toll on our alertness. We filled the woodstove at bedtime but its door latch didn’t catch, so around 11 PM a burning log nudged the door open and started to fill the cabin with smoke. The smoke alarm blasted us awake, and it took us a while to clean up the coals and air out the cabin. Between the smoke and the chilly air nobody slept very well that night.

Switchbacks up the trail out of the crater

The Halemau’u trail from Holua ends at a lower edge of the crater rim at “just” 8000 feet of elevation. That trailhead is still six miles away from the summit but most hikers leave a car here instead of slogging back up Sliding Sands. The first mile of the Halemau’u trail slopes down from Holua to the crater’s inner edge, so the subsequent 29 switchbacks up to the rim actually rise 1700 feet. Last year the views were spectacular but this year the mist closed in as soon as we hit the switchbacks. The humidity was unbelievable and we were soaked within minutes. At one point visibility was less than 50 feet and the temperature dropped into the low 60s. By the time we finally broke out of the clouds we were dripping & chilling.

Crossing the finish line felt great!  We lunched in the parking lot while drying off and getting the cars, and then drove to Kula for showers & a change of clothes. We enjoyed dinner at Milagro’s  in Paia (no wood stoves, cooking, or cleanup!) and then headed back to Kula Lodge.  We zonked out by 7:30 PM and I actually slept for 11 hours. I haven’t done that in nearly two decades.

On the drive back to Kula we saw a short-eared brown owl hovering over one of the meadows. It looked like it had a six-foot wingspan. Beautiful. I’ve lived in Hawaii for over 20 years but I’ve only seen three of our owls.

The military lifestyle might make us suckers for an irresistible challenge, even long after we’ve retired. Last year we hiked Haleakala Crater because we didn’t want to spend the rest of our lives wondering “What if?” and because it’s very hard to get reservations.  (Thanks, Peter & Tracey!)  This year we made the hike because we wanted to improve our performance, and we certainly achieved that goal. We also really enjoy the company and the crater’s beauty.

Next year? Well, first we’ll spend the next nine months wondering why we would want to hike the crater again. Maybe someday we’ll see Paliku without windy rain, but I’d hate to have to make the trip 10 more times before I enjoy that spectacle. Maybe we’ll turn this into an annual “off the grid” retreat, but I don’t know if that’s worth the effort and the very real risks. (Early retirement means that you don’t need retreats to get away from it all!) Maybe our daughter will want to go with us next year (another sucker for an irresistible challenge) but maybe she could just enjoy our pictures without having to grow her own blisters. Maybe next year I’ll actually win a game of cribbage?

We’ll have to think about it. North Shore winter surf is certainly enough challenge for the rest of my life.

I’ve skipped over the details of how the park is set up, where we stayed before & after, and other Maui amenities.  If you want more Haleakala Crater or Maui information, please e-mail me or fill out the “Contact me” form!

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Lifestyles in military retirement: Haleakala Crater

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Lifestyles in military retirement: Haleakala Crater

May 16, 2011 by · 3 Comments

My friend Jay asked me to post this before we go to Maui.  He either wants to check our morale or get our final thoughts on record…

A year ago we got a call from a good friend. He grew up on Maui and had hiked Haleakala Crater for over 50 years. He and his spouse had formed a 12-person group for their next trip but two had just dropped out. Could we fill in? Sure, we thought. A four-day hike with sleeping cabins? No problem!

Spouse and I hadn’t been hiking for a while, but we know what to expect at altitude. We no longer had hiking shoes or gear but we’re both in good shape, and we are extraordinarily stubborn persistent. We’ve endured plenty of environmental misery during our Navy years and we were confident that we could do this. We knew that the National Park Service severely restricts access to Haleakala’s fragile environment, and joining such an experienced group is the chance of a lifetime. The challenge was that we had just five days to prepare. Above all, we didn’t want to miss out and spend years wondering “What if?” So we scrambled to the military base to rent backpacks & sleeping bags, stocked up on food & ibuprofen, and found our most comfy sneakers. No chance to buy, let alone break in, proper hiking shoes.

We survived, but it wasn’t pretty. I haven’t been so physically challenged since my taekwondo black belt test. Four days of Haleakala felt like three weeks of Army Airborne parachute training or Navy diver school, although I’m a bit older since those days.  Spouse felt hammered down into pain levels somewhere between “plebe summer” and “giving birth”. Our critical asset was obstinacy perseverance, and it’s not hard to find when the alternative is dying of exposure. If you sprain an ankle in the crater it may literally take a day to get you out. There’s no cell-phone service, no cabin phones or electricity, and no standby rescue helicopter. If the weather closes in then the rangers use pack horses.

Summit view

Haleakala’s altitude is from 6500-10,000 feet.  It’s mostly desert and lava fields with some alpine meadows. The night before we hiked in, a cold front passed through with gusts over 75 mph. Summit winds are 20-30 mph and temperatures are 40-70 degrees even without the wind chill. The sun is intense and the altitude inhibits conversation, let alone exertion. The trails are unpredictably treacherous– ankle-deep sand, slippery rocks, sharp lava, narrow deep-cut trails, and crumbly switchbacks.  The Apollo astronauts used the crater for lunar environmental training.

Field of silverswords

NPS is fighting a conservation battle. They’ve closed off nearly 40% of the terrain for research but the land is so dry and the vegetation so fragile that it can take decades to recover. Ancient Hawaiians have left clear trails from the 1700s and traffic has risen steadily since the 1930s. Silverswords put out surface roots that can be killed by walking too close. Invasive species (rats, mongoose, goats, pigs) have cut back the bird population while reducing plant seeding & pollination. Some of the trails are worn 18″ deep and have to be re-routed when it rains. The silverswords are much reduced even in the last 50 years– we saw groups but none of them were as big as the 19th-century photos. Even 40 people staying overnight (plus hundreds of day hikers) can overwhelm the area.

In the crater's lava fields

The first day we hiked nearly 10 miles east from the Visitor’s Center to Paliku, the crater’s “best” cabin. The first five miles slogged off the summit through Sliding Sands trail, raising clouds of lava dust with every step. Our sneakers filled with cinders. Our rental gear chafed, our sleeping bags flopped around, and spouse’s pack was too big for her torso. We started with 30 mph winds (gusting to 50) and 50 degrees but the wind soon died and the sun began to bake. The terrain descended over 3000 feet in a few miles through switchbacks into sun-blasted & eroded landscape punctured by occasional thousand-foot cinder cones and sporadic groups of silverswords. We saw no critters above 7000 feet– they’re not stupid.

Paliku Cabin, established 1930

The cabins are 20′x40′, built by the CCC. The main room flows into a two-person kitchen next to a small firewood closet that doubles as a changing room. 12 bunks are stacked three high around a large table with benches. Water flows from the catchment tank and the pit toilet is behind the cabin. NPS provides firewood, toilet paper, kitchen gear, and bedpads. No open fires, we boiled our drinking water, and we had to burn or pack out our trash (including food waste). Evenings were spent boiling water for the next day’s drinking. Hygiene was solar shower bags or baby wipes.

Proud nene parents

The Paliku cabin was favored by a nene family putting in regular photo appearances. We also saw partridges & pheasants and heard lots of smaller birds. Clouds & mist rose up from below us at sundown but cleared by 9 PM to an absolutely stunning starscape– the first time I’ve seen the Milky Way in Hawaii. We were all exhausted that night, so most of us saw it only during a midwatch trip to the lua.

The second day we rested at Paliku with local hikes and worked on our gear. Morning was misty and rainy but by afternoon the clouds had cleared away for a ridge hike, just enough to work out the kinks. The eastern edge of the crater is eroded away to offer stunning views down to Kipahulu & Hana, lots of coastline/ocean and the Big Island’s peaks of Mauna Kea & Mauna Loa.

Even the experienced hikers rated our third day the worst ever. The windy rain started at 2 AM and continued steadily until dinner. We hiked 6.3 miles uphill/northwest to the Holua cabin, wearing rain ponchos that merely divided the soaking between rainfall & sweat. The first mile of the trail was ankle-deep in rainwater and the entire day exercised our survival skills. Of course the rain stopped as soon as the last hiker made the cabin. Holua cabin is by a quarter-mile lava tube, and a cave in the surrounding hills was the first Haleakala shelter for the ancient Hawaiians. But we spent most of that evening drying our gear and warming up, not necessarily in that order.

The path back out of the crater

The final day we hiked out a 3.9-mile trail cut into the side of the crater. I lost count of the switchbacks and the ridgelines. We gained 1600 feet of altitude at two hiking speeds– “slow” and “stop”– and everyone’s legs/feet were sore. The trail ended at a parking lot where we’d stashed a car to ferry us the final 2000 feet back up to the summit. We showered at one of the local hiker’s homes, lunched in Makawao, and shopped or hung out for a few hours before the group split up. Spouse and I bookended our stay with nights at the rustic Kula Lodge.

Out of the crater at a local hiker's house

We’re glad that we tested our limits in this crucible, but the decision was irrevocable. A change of heart didn’t mean “quit and go home”– it meant “hang on and don’t die of exposure”.

Everyone kept asking spouse “Will you go again next year?”  Her answer: “Ask me again in six months.”

Well, we got the phone call again– and we’re goin’ back in.

We may be slow learners, but this time we’re ready. We’ve been working out. During a Mainland trip we spent a couple of hours in an REI store.  Our new packs are sized to our frames and we have featherweight compact warm-weather sleeping bags. We’ve broken in our hiking shoes and spouse has trekking poles. We’ve even replaced our water bottles with CamelBaks.

It still won’t be easy, but it’ll be a lot more fun. I think we’ll be smiling more in the pictures, too.

The blog posts will continue on schedule while we’re hiking, but if you haven’t made a comment before then yours will be held in a moderation queue until I’m back. If your timing is bad then it could be as long as six days. This post shows you how to make a comment now so that I can approve it within 24 hours and you won’t have to wait for moderation anymore.

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How to comment on “The Military Guide” blog

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Military-related tax links

March 30, 2011 by · 2 Comments

I’ve been doing our tax returns this week, so naturally when I take a break I’ve been… reading about doing taxes.

This Military.com tax article summarizes 2010 changes for servicemembers and veterans. Federal tax returns not due until 18 April?!? I can live with that.

For those military who’ve spent the last few years overseas, the federal first-time Homebuyer Credit is extended up through 30 April 2011 (as long as the purchase closes by 30 June). If you returned from overseas duty and became a first-time homebuyer in 2010 (or if you’re working on it in 2011) then you probably made the deadline. Specific details are in this IRS summary.

For those who are still starting out on their own tax returns, here’s a good Military.com summary of the various ways that servicemembers can save on their taxes.  For those of you with a little more experience (or who like reading the source documents), the nitty-gritty details for military tax-related issues are in IRS Publication 3, the Armed Forces’ Tax Guide.

When my spouse joined the Reserves, she also joined the Navy Reserve Association (established 1954). It’s since changed its name to the Association of the U.S. Navy and widened its focus to include all active duty and Reserve Navy. One of my perennial favorites of their monthly magazine has been the annual tax tips for the military.

The AUSN 2010 Federal Tax Return Tips article applies to all members of all the services, including retirees.  It’s five pages long with detailed line-by-line discussions of how to treat military income & deductions, as well as other considerations that you may not have encountered before. I use tax software but I still end up reading every line of this article to make sure that I haven’t overlooked a good deal. Add it to your bookmarks and put a reminder in your tax file to look up the next edition in 2012.

In another unpleasant tax-related event, Hawaii’s governor has proposed balancing the state budget by taxing military pensions.  (As a long-time Congressional Representative in Washington DC, Neil Abercrombie served on the House Armed Services Committee.)  Hawaii has a very strong military culture, especially in the National Guard and Reserve, and many local military retirees are not pleased with this initiative.  The draft bill is aimed at “rich” retirees (couples with adjusted gross income over $75,000), but the threshold is not indexed to inflation.  Hawaii has long enjoyed a reputation as on of the nation’s most tax-friendly states for retirees, but this “tax creep” could surprise many future retirees who receive COLA pensions and Social Security.

So are you reading this post because you’re finished with your tax return, or because you’re “taking a break”?


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Will Congress change military retirement?
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