Being a regular visitor to Hawaii, last year I decided to take a plunge and buy 1 acre (~44,000 sq.ft.) plot for $35,000. One year has passed, and plot is worth between $120-140,000. Property prices went absolutely through the roof on all the Hawaiian islands.
Next, house building project is in order while $$$ is fairly weak against £. Oh, and some nice tropical landscaping will be done this December. Native Ohia trees, wild orchids, palms, fruit etc are all present. Can't wait.
I want to see the Kilauea volcano erupting, which in on the Big Island. Got any advice on where to stay? ideally I`d like to be able to see the volcano from my hotel, but I don`t mind if that is impossible, just as long as I can go on a tour/visit to see it.
Is Hilo any good for that?
******************************** John Smith: So what am I then? Nothing. I`m just a story.
Doctor: You`re an echo. That`s all. A TimeLord is so much more. A sum of knowledge; a code. A shared history. A shared suffering. Only it`s gone now, all of it. Gone forever.
Hi ,I know this is going off topic but I visited Big Island last year . It is well worth the long flights.The best way to see the eruption is to get a helicopter flight,Its not spewing tons of lava (at the moment but things can change , its been fairly quiet for the last year or so), but where it enters the ocean you can see Orange lava, its quite a hike (2 Miles over solidified Lava )on foot to see the lava .During daylight it just looks black so most people go at dusk or dawn to see the glow ,we tried but gave up .Its quite a dangerous persuit which the park actually try to discourage. Hilo is the closest town to the volcano but has a reputation as one of the wettest cities in the world! Thankfully it wasnt bad when we were there.There is also a hotel which overlooks Kilauea Crater but this is not where the eruptions are at present ,believe me you wouldnt want to be that close if it was erupting! We stayed in volcano village which is closest to the park,in a lovely house with a hot tub in the garden.I would advise staying in this area for two or three days before heading to the sunny West Coast to Kona or Kohala for the better weather and then going to one of the other islands . Most go to Oahu and honolulu but this area is much more commercialised than the other islands.
Originally posted by surfdude: I see. My rather lenghty reply featuring useful information and link to view images of my plot, got deleted by the 'powers to be'.
Enough said! Outta here...
You can usually get around posting webpages by leaving spaces intead of putting full stops. Or other such devices.
******************************** John Smith: So what am I then? Nothing. I`m just a story.
Doctor: You`re an echo. That`s all. A TimeLord is so much more. A sum of knowledge; a code. A shared history. A shared suffering. Only it`s gone now, all of it. Gone forever.
Hilo looked the closest, although I was more concerned about the amount of Tsunamis that hit it. Hilo has already been destroyed twice by Tsunamis. The locals rebuilt after the first big one, but have levelled off and grassed over the part of twon nearest the ocean that was wiped off the Island after the second Tsunami in the 50s/60s.
I hadn`t realised that Kilauea had gone quiet. I thought it was still pouring lava out.
Should I ask for a room in the Volcano Village, or is that the nick name of a group of hotels near the scene?
******************************** John Smith: So what am I then? Nothing. I`m just a story.
Doctor: You`re an echo. That`s all. A TimeLord is so much more. A sum of knowledge; a code. A shared history. A shared suffering. Only it`s gone now, all of it. Gone forever.
Hello again There is an actual village called volcano .There is a website called http://www.volcanogallery.com/ which has a choice of lodgings and other info about the area .We stayed at Hale Mahinui which provided us with a memorable couple of days.The village is way up in the hills so it is Tsunami proof ! 9I think they have a pretty good warning system there now though.
Hilo waterfront hotels are designed with tsunamis in mind. Hilo Hawaiian hotel has whole basement floor open, so any potential water surge can pass right through. Remember that Hawaii island are ringed by one of the most sophisticated tsunami monitoring and alert system.
Kilauea is still very much active. Current measurements show it is actually inflating at the summit. Even now there are few points where lava is entering the ocean.
Mauna Loa (the big one) has also been inflating for past few years, and is due for some action.
Volcanoes national park is a must. It costs $10 for a permit to drive your car there and is valid for number of days (can't remember how many - last time I used residents permit ).
Property prices went through the roof on all of the islands in short space of time. I have a virgin plot, with native Ohia trees, fruit and wild orchids. I have number of photos on http://www.bigislandworld.com/gallery/ which I took while there. Photos of the plot are also included.
I am in a planning stage for the house building project. My favourite at the moment are houses by Deltec homes (search in Google), as they can be built to a watertight stage within 4-5 days.
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