Safety Tips in Hawaii (Big Island)

Yes, you want a souvenir of your vacation but do not remove any lava rocks. As superstition goes; removal of the rocks angers the volcano goddess Pele and brings bad luck to the person. So just go buy a souvenir from ABC...

"Take only pictures; leave only footprints." "Take only gifts you are given (like flower lei’s); and leave only with Aloha."

It's always important to be aware of the sun. Relaxing on a beautiful beach with a breeze can make you easily forget to check you skin for signs of a sunburn. We always slather on the sunblock; usually SPF 100 and make sure to re-apply requently. Liz and I both brings hats to ensure our faces do not fry in the sun.

The best thing to do is avoid peak burn times that are from 11am-3pm. We usaully get ourselves some lunch, drinks and shopping during this time to avoid getting crispy.

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The cloudy, humid Steam looks harmless but...
The steam contain hydrogen sulfide and sulfur dioxide in which prolonged exposure especially inhaling too much of it can be very dangerous which results breathing problems(Dyspnoe)and when longer exposure with lower dosage will damage the lung function and cause lung disease. Hydrogen sulfide is odorless and paralyzes the sense of smell. So even a low concentration causes lung damages already but high dosage is poisonous..

Location: north side of Crater Rim Drive and crater on the Kilauea Iki Trail.

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See this barefooten Lady?

It is my niece! She walked with Sandals all around. And then removed her sandals showing to the world that the Lava stones and rocks are harmless. Please don´t follow or imitate this. It is your own risk if you do the same she did. Lava rocks can be scharp or even hot and it will hurt you´ll never know.

Luckily, I read this warning before my trip and was glad to know about it in advance. The police are out to get speeders! There are long stretches of highway from one city to the next and not many crossroads or lights to slow you down. So, it's easy to forget about how fast you are going. There are many, and I'm mean many, maximum speed zones that range from 25 miles an hour to 55 miles an hour. Nothing over 55! There are also signs that post a minimum speed, too!

The police on the Big Island drive various vehicles that are unmarked (not black and white or striped). They are using small SUV's like Toyota 4Runners and Ford Mustangs that may be black, blue and/or silver. You can tell it's a police car because they have a singular round blue light on top (not a bar of lights across the top). With the dark color of the car, the light is not that visible.

Speeding tickets are hefty! I think I saw a sign posted for US$250.00 for a speeding. So, take caution because you don't want a ticket to ruin your vacation.

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In the afternoon, after exploring the Onomea Trail, the Botanical Gardens and the Akaka Falls a time for lunch has arrived. Driving north we were checking the map looking for the next biggest town that would DEFINITELY have some choices of restaurants. Yeah, right!!!!
Honokaa was marked on the map as a large town, what we totally forgot is that “large” is a very relative term on the Island with a total population of 200,000 residents, while it feels like there’s only 2,000 and the rest are tourists.
At 3 pm Honokaa looked like a ghost town with one main street that was totally empty. There was one Indonesian restaurant which we decided to have lunch at, but were told that they only open at 5pm. Then there was another choice, a hole-in-the-wall kind of place but not the one we’d really want to experience. The biggest building in town is the theatre that was built in 1930 and the biggest shock is the gas station that charges 10% above the regular prices.
There are several shops along the main street but most of them are either grocery stores or the very second hand items that are called “antiques” in Honokaa.
Bottom line, it’s another experience but not the type that would bring me back to this place, at least not on an empty stomach.

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Nene is the name of the Hawaiian goose and the official bird of the state of Hawaii. This goose can only be found on the Islands and it is endangered. In fact, it is known as the world’s rarest goose. Driving around the island you’ll notice many road signs warning you about the crossing geese. You’ll spot them along the road and they seem to be fearless and used to humans.
Right now there are more Nene living in captivity that in the nature, since it almost completely disappeared and humans did everything possible to increase the population of this special bird.
Avoid feeding, chasing, or harming Nene, they are cute creatures that deserve to be treated nicely and be protected. If you spot Nene warning sign, please slow down and keep away from them, remember they can’t fly away like a pigeon or other bird, all they can do is run for they lives, and not so fast either.
Harming or harassing Nene will result in $100,000 fine and 1 year in jail!!!

Do not go here durring hurricane season. This is such a dissapointmen discovering that the beaches and most roads are being closed due to a hurricane coming. Stuff will more then likely be cancelled if you have activities planned and then you have to reschedule. We were there when hurricane flossie was supposed to hit and the first day we got in late and the second and third day almost everything was closed so we had to cram 7 days worth of stuff into 4 days so we did not have enough time to do all our activities, and had to reschedule everything. Basically there was less relaxing time and more stressing out time. None the less we made the best out of it but when all you want is the first site to be beautiful waters and weather and the first thing you see if overcast it tugs at your heart like on no not me. Thankfully it never hit but that made me more upset because instead of 3 days looking at shops I could of been exploring.

Hurricane season is from June 1st to the end of November. If you go at these times expect the worse. We just happend to have really bad luck. We went to Japan a year later and hurricane 2 of the season was going to hit. So basically I am a bad omen, hum maybe you should not be reading this or it might rub off. Still the weather year around is warm.