Yes, everything on Hawaii is very expensive. I have been there several times on business and pleasure and I do love it there...I even considered moving there. But even things that are grown on the island are expensive. Kona Coffee is about $35 a pound !! and you though Starbucks was expensive...:bwahaha: Kona coffee is very good but what you buy in the mainland is mostly blended with other beans and rarely ever 100% pure Kona coffee. Starbucks stores on the Big Island don't even sell Kona coffee, but every other coffee shop on the island serves 100% Kona coffee at about the same prices as Starbucks coffee??
The corporation I work for owns several companies over there. Hawaiian Cement is based on Oahu very near Pearl Harbor. We also own West Hawaii Concrete based at Kona, Hawaii, on the Big Island.
I was there this past August. I rented a condo at the Wiakoloa Village about 25 miles north of Kona and rented a Pontiac G6 GT. I enjoy the small town atmosphere of Kona far better than Honolulu. Went to the volucano, walked through a lava tube, visisted an orchid farm, a Kona coffee farm, a cattle ranch, and a macadameia nut factory as well as visited numerous water falls. I also went to about 4 differnet beaches including a black-sand beach. The Big Island has one of only about 2 green-sand beaches in the world but it is very difficult to get to
I also went to the birthplace of Kammama the Great and Poululu Valley on the northern tip of the Big Island
I did a little Island hopping and took a flight to Oahu for the day, I rented one of those Chevy HHR's and drove around the island. I did the usual touris stuff like visit the Arizona memorial and the USS Missouri battleship. Went to Waikiki beach, and drove to the northshore to the Polynesian Cultural Center.
...Rich
