Sun set over the Pacific Ocean.

Today, we’re on our way to the island of Maui where we’ll spend six weeks in a first-floor condo on the beach.  With more space than we’ll have had since July 31st when we lived in Madeira, Portugal in a three-bedroom house. With closer proximity to the sea than in Honolulu, we’re excited to move on.

We’re grateful our flight is today as opposed to Friday or Saturday when Hurricane Ana is on her way to the Hawaii Island expected to reach landfall over the weekend.

Another evening’s sunset over the beach.

Although the news is reporting that the Big Island will be hit first, the other islands including Maui is in her path. Between the lava flowing to the neighborhood of the houses we rented on the Big Island and this hurricane, the adventure has picked up the pace.

Who knows what will transpire over the next several days?  With Hawaiian residents “batten down the hatches” in preparation for the hurricane, our plan is to pick up the rental car at the airport, drop off our luggage at the condo, and head directly to the grocery store.  Will it already be low on food when area residents are preparing for the hurricane?

The dilemma is, do we buy lots of food to see us through or a small amount?  If the power goes out, we’d lose the perishable food. After careful consideration, we’ve decided to be optimistic and purchase enough groceries to last for a few weeks, much of which will be non-perishable which we’ll use in six weeks in any case.

Sunset Waikiki Beach, Oahu, Hawaii.

We don’t eat processed foods. Once we’re situated in a vacation home doing our own cooking we usually don’t have to be concerned about keeping non-perishable foods on hand in case of an emergency. 

We discussed the possibility of a power outage in Maui and came up with the following items for meals which can be prepared without power. When we shop today, we’ll be purchasing these:

1. Canned ham (small sizes) with canned veggies
2. Canned tuna with celery, onions, and mayo (we’ll purchase several small jars of mayo since it won’t keep without refrigeration once opened) and canned veggies
3.  Herring in a jar with canned veggies
4.  Nuts and salmon, beef and turkey jerky
5.  Bottled water

We had all of these sunset photos in Oahu accumulating, deciding to share them on our last day on this island.

We’ll purchase enough of the above to get us through two weeks without power. At this point, we’re not worried. We continue to watch news updates on the progression of Hurricane Ana.

We aren’t thinking beyond two weeks without power. Of course, if the power is out, the WiFi won’t work and we won’t be able to post. 

Cloudy evening sunset Waikiki Beach.

If you don’t see a new post for Saturday, Sunday, or Monday one can assume that we’re unable to post. Please keep checking back. As soon as the power and WiFi are working again, we’ll immediately post an update with our hurricane experiences and photos. 

Our three camera batteries will be fully charged, easily lasting for a week or more. And yes, if the hurricane hits, we’ll be taking many photos. If it doesn’t make landfall,  we’ll still be taking many photos in our new location, the beautiful island of Maui.

The sky looked as if lights were turned on.

Yesterday, we did the laundry and packed, leaving out clothing and toiletries for the morning. At 10:30 am, we’ll grab a taxi to head to the airport. We’ve weighed all of our bags and they comply with the maximum 50-pound weight. We’ll see how that goes.

Of course, this sky was more unreal in person.

As for our final Honolulu expenses, here are the total expenses:

Vacation rental:  $2,137.00
Airfare to Maui:       218.58
Taxi fares:                55.00
Tours:                    165.74
Laundry:                   19.74
Meals & Groceries     598.99 

Total:                $3,195.06

Waikiki Beach on a cloudy evening.

The average cost per day (11 days) was $290.46. When looking at these numbers it’s important to consider the reasons why our cost per day may be less than the average tourist visiting Hawaii:

1.  Low airfare – We’ve only included our cost to fly from Oahu to Maui since we arrived by cruise ship.  Most tourists would be flying in and out from much further away increasing airfare costs considerably.
2.  Low taxi fares – We only dined in restaurants we could reach on foot and explored the general area.
3.  Low sightseeing costs – With the upcoming family reunion in December, we chose to keep our costs to a minimum.
4.  Meals and groceries – Here again, with a goal of eating in restaurants that work for my way of eating. When we found one, particularly, Cheeseburger in Paradise, we stuck with it for over half of our dinners when they have the best Cobb Salad and bacon cheeseburgers on the planet which we each enjoyed. Also, we only eat one meal a day and don’t order appetizers, beverages, or desserts with our meals, keeping the cost as much as 50% less. If a couple were to eat three meals a day, with beverages and an occasional appetizer of desserts, they’d easily spent a minimum of $150 a day, dining in the most economical restaurants.

Although the sun wasn’t visible its impact on the clouds was breathtaking.

We’d estimate that the average couple would spend no less than $7,000 for 11 nights in Honolulu (depending on their selected hotel), including extra airfare, tours, shopping, and dining expenses.  A Hawaiian vacation/holiday is definitely expensive.

Washington Place, the Governor of Hawaii’s residence.  For details, please click here.

In no way did our budget impede the quality of the experience for us. Other than being sick for four days (during which time we continued to go out for dinner each night), we’ve had an excellent time in Oahu, easily anticipating our return in May to be equally pleasurable.

Iolani Palace, the only palace now a part of the United States.  Click here for details.

Look for us tomorrow with Maui photos, the results of our first trip to the grocery store, our new accommodations, and of course, updates on the hurricane.

Aloha.
                                                 Photo from one year ago today, October 16, 2013:

We were inside one of the mud huts in Chief Richard’s Maasai village. It was really hot that day.  We were wearing our BugsAway clothing when the mosquitoes and flies were heavy in the village with the abundance of livestock. For details on the peculiar diet of these healthy people and more information about their lifestyle, please click here.