Well, after 2 fantastic years, we left the Big Island on June 14, 2013. It was a great place to be, but in the end, not a great place for us to earn a living.
But we haven’t given up on travel and fun, so we departed for Chiang Mai, Thailand, where we stayed from June to December. After a 1-month visit back to the States, we came to Malaga, Spain in January 2014, and we’ll be here until about April.
A hui hou,
Chuck and Kirsten
A lot of people dream of living in Hawaii some day. I know, I was one of them. I dreamed of moving to Hawaii or another tropical island before I’d even been here. Of course that dream became even stronger once I visited on vacation.
The problem is, living in Hawaii is different from vacationing here and VERY different from those images of paradise people have in their heads before they’ve ever been here. Its easy to fantasize about living here with days spent lounging on the beach with mai tais. However, for anyone not independently wealthy, that is not the reality at all.
My list of advice before you even consider a full move here:
1. Visit. It might seem obvious, but many people move here each year that have never set foot on the islands. Its best to visit the island you’re considering moving to before you move. Each island is different so just because you loved Oahu on vacation, does not mean you’ll love living on Kauai. Even different parts of the islands is different – the North Shore of Oahu has a very different vibe than Waikiki and Hilo and Kona are very different even though they’re both on the Big Island.
2. Take a trial run first. This means staying in a condo or house near where you plan to live. Shop at the supermarkets, cook your own food, drive around during rush hour times just like you were living here. Its a different world here than inside the confines of a fabulous resort!
3. Have at least 6 months of money saved for the move. Maybe less if you have a job lined up or are keeping your job on the mainland. Do not expect to find a high paying job right away when you get here.
4. Research the job market extensively if you will be looking for work here. Some areas have very few jobs available and companies aren’t as open to hiring new arrivals since many people leave within their first year. Also, some areas have a much better job market than others and you’ll want to make sure your skills are in demand where you choose to live. You’ll also need to figure out the wages and if it will be enough to cover your living expenses. Hawaii is an expensive place to live and many salaries are not comparably high.
5. Don’t buy a house on day 1. Only buy right away if you have spent considerable time here and know exactly what neighborhoods and areas you want to be in. There are many reasons for this advice: One is the weather. The weather can be very different only 1/2 mile apart. Here in Kona, moving up or down a single street can mean a few degrees temperature difference and having rain daily vs. rain less frequently. Moving further south a few miles means rain many afternoons, whereas moving north a few miles means sunnier skies. In this same vein, vog can be better or worse depending on where you live. Another consideration is to determine other factors such as noise. Some areas higher in elevation have been inflicted by coqui frogs which can be a nuisance if you’re expecting quiet nights. Third, if you have kids, you’ll want to get to know the schools and determine which school you want to attend. Fourth, many people don’t stay longer than a year and in some areas, its hard to sell a house so you don’t want to be stuck with a property you can’t sell if you decide not to stay.
6. Research the schools if you have school aged children. Some schools have a better reputation than others. And some schools have such a bad reputation that you may be forced to send them to private school or homeschool to get an adequate education.
7. Research costs. Food is expensive, gas is sometimes $1/gallon more than the mainland, and electricity rates can be thru the roof. Its best to get a feel for what living here will really cost as some prices are comparable to the mainland and others are not. See our prior post 7 Bucks for Cheerios?! The True Cost of Living in Hawaii
8. Expect things to be different. Things move slower here than they do in many parts of the mainland. This is particularly true when you go to a store and find the shelves empty of organic milk and have to wait a week for them to restock. And finding some items requires you to buy them from the internet as they aren’t sold on the island and then waiting for them to ship here. Also, many things don’t run like a well oiled machine like we were used to. Expect to show up to the wrong ball field at the wrong time because the t-ball schedule changed and no one told the coach. Its different. Its slower and more laid back. And as long as you’re expecting that and go along with it, you’ll find you laugh about it, shrug your shoulders and carry about your day.
Hawaii can be a amazing place to live, but it’s different than what you’re used to. Hopefully the list here can help you evaluate a decision to move and come in more prepared to deal with Hawaii’s unique way of life.
This goes back a bit, but we never covered what we learned during the moving process. We’ve heard from several folks who are planning a transition to Hawaii, so this is for you!
In the final blitz of our move to Hawaii, we had to make a lot of quick decisions about shipping, preparation, and how to go about our first days here. Some of them went well. Others, not so much. . .
Some things we did right:
Some things we did wrong:
Overall, many of the stressful and stupid things came from trying to save a few bucks. We didn’t want to waste rental days on a car or nights in a hotel. At a certain point, you have to preserve sanity and just recognize that you might waste a few dollars here and there. Big deal – just need to build that into the plan.
Top Row: Farewell to our house, Kirsten at 4 am
Second Row: Off the plane in Kona, celebratory mai tais
A mere 366 days ago, we said goodbye to our house and headed off on our Hawaii adventure. It’s time to reflect a bit on how we feel, what’s gone well, and what hasn’t.
On the whole, I think the move has been in line with our high level expectations, although we didn’t have a vision for all the details (which is one of the reasons we love travel – the fun of experiences that weren’t anticipated)
Both Kirsten and I are extremely glad that we made the change and did the move. It took several months to get any sort of consistency, but I’d say that things feel 90% routine/normal at this point. That’s not a bad ratio – it was about 2% new in Virginia and that’s one of the things that bored us.
Looking forward, we aren’t certain if we want to be here permanently, but we’re 100% sure that we’re not ready to go yet! We’ll spend the next 6 months to a year getting a better feel around whether we want to buy a house and if we’re able to work out a situation that supports us economically.
We’re so glad we’ve done this and are grateful that our adventures will continue. What’s next? Who knows!
We’ve received this question via our e-mailbox quite a few times so rather than a traditional blog post, we’ll answer it here for everyone.
Chuck and Kirsten,
I wanted to get some more information about schools in Hawaii.
I know that you have said that your kids attend Holualoa Elementary and that you are happy with it. However, I’m curious if you are able to volunteer at the school so you can get an insider’s perspective of the school?
Also, I read that you have moved out of the school boundary but are still able to continue going there and was wondering you how you are able to do that?
Lastly, I’m concerned about kids being isolated or picked on and if they feel like an “outsider” or have problems with kids of another ethnic background.
Thanks.
We have to apply for a geographic exception to keep the kids at Holualoa Elementary. We won’t actually know that outcome until July, right before school. That said, we’d be at Kahakai Elementary if that doesn’t work out and it sounds like that school is fine as well.
As far as how the school is overall, some teachers have a reputation for focusing their attention on the laggard kids because they get measured by how many pass standards. Others supposedly don’t care anymore and don’t make themselves available to parents easily.
However, both teachers we had this past year were great, so at least our direct experience was good. They allowed each kid to learn at their own pace so kids that were able to read ahead of their peers, were allowed to move ahead levels and keep advancing. Kids that were behind also got to move at their own speed. Kona also has private schools and charter schools (which have a wait list), so there are alternatives if you don’t like your assigned public school.
In answer to the “outsider” question, our whole island is only 30% Hawaiian, and white is the largest racial group, so unless you move to certain rural pockets, you’ll probably have an equal mix of white, Hawaiian, and Asian in class.
We’ve heard that the outsider stuff is mostly applicable to older kids – middle schoolers and high schoolers are bound to fight about something and sometimes race is a dividing line, as it can be in almost any school. But they’re likely to have a blend of all types of backgrounds at their school.
Our kids have made friends of all types. The biggest adjustment has been leaving their old friends and starting something new. I’d recommend getting involved in Scouts and sports as soon as possible – we mistakenly waited about 6 months before doing that stuff.
No guarantees, but it’s all good so far. If you were to choose not to move here, I wouldn’t let schools/kids be the reason.
Plenty of readers email us with their stories and questions and it’s great to hear what people are thinking. We get plenty of practical questions, such as what it costs to ship cars and what we think of the schools.
One of the top questions works out to be some form of “How are the locals?
We’d heard anecdotes about harassment of haoles (In loose terms, it’s Hawaiian for “whitey”) and weren’t 100% sure what we’d find after we moved.
Well, it’s nearly a year in and we’ve had countless positive experiences with residents and not a single negative comment or feeling of being made unwelcome.
I can think of 3 reasons for that:
Even with Hawaiians being a racial minority, the Hawaiian culture and language touches everything. Almost everyone who relocates here does so by choice. New residents want to participate in the culture and that interest and respect produces an amazing experience.
Our kids’ school has a Hawaiian studies teacher who does a session with each class weekly, and the kids usually do songs in Hawaiian for the Christmas and Spring performances. Beckett’s class donned traditional outfits and ti-leaf leis while doing their song, while Mara’s class did a hula that tells the story of trains being introduced to one part of the island.
Those things don’t make us capital-H Hawaiians, and that’s ok. We’re here to contribute our own aloha, slow down from mainland speed, and enjoy the ride.
Photo Credit: Sam Howzit
Hawaii has a reputation for being expensive, and we’ve found that be true. We definitely got sticker shock on a few items (electricity in particular), but also had a few pleasant surprises.
House: It’s hard to generalize about housing costs, but the Big Island is more expensive than most of America, but cheaper than most big cities.
You can buy a house as cheap as $200K, but the largest number of single family homes are available in $300K to $600K range. AlohaLiving has the best detail for the MLS listings, while Zillow has the best map view of what’s available.
Most homes with 3 bedrooms run $1,000 to $2,000 per month, but it’s certainly easy to spend more.
Cars & Gas: Cars cost roughly the same as the mainland. It’s about $1,000 to ship one here from the west coast. Kirsten also set up a page about shipping cars to Hawaii
We find that we drive a lot less here because the town is much smaller, so we save on gas, even though it costs about 50 cents to $1.00 more than most places on the mainland
Insurance: Both my renters’ insurance and auto insurance are double what I paid in Virginia. I think Virginia was especially cheap, but our agent here told me that Hawaii has the highest rates in the country. Health insurance seems to be about 30% cheaper.
Utilities: The good news is that unless you live at a high elevation, you don’t spend money on heat. However, the electricity is insanely expensive here. A single family house will run $200-$500 per month. If you run the AC, you can easily double that amount.
Groceries: Walking into a regular grocery store like Safeway will make you feel violated. I’d estimate that normal pricing is 40% higher than the mainland.
In Kona, we also have a Target and a Walmart, which are about 20% higher than what you’re used to. Finally, we have Costco, which besides being cheapest overall, is probably only 10% more than the mainland.
Our shopping strategy is to buy everything we can at Costco, fill in as many grocery items as possible at Target/Walmart, and try to minimize the number of things we need at the grocery store. There’s probably about 5-10% of items that we still have to get there because of their wider variety.
Restaurants: Prices here run 20-30% more than the mainland, because their costs are greater as well. Looking for “Kids eat Free”? Good luck with that.
And whenever you see ad campaigns on TV for sales like “$5 footlongs” at Subway, the tiny type at the bottom of the screen says “at participating locations.” Now you know who doesn’t participate.
Clothing: Finally, an area of savings! We haven’t bought any winter wear and we only buy clothes for the kids when they wear out or outgrow them, as opposed to a shift in seasons. Total savings are about 50% from what we spent in Virginia.
Shopping can be a bit challenging here as the shops do tend to be expensive, with limited selection. Kirsten orders most clothes for herself and the kids online. Amazon offers their free super saver shipping here, but does not offer the Amazon Prime free 2-day shipping. Many other companies have the same shipping policies as they do for other states, but that’s not always the case.
Vacations: We were active travelers and have scaled way back. Partly because it’s expensive to get other places, partly because we are where we want to be. It’s turned out to be a savings of thousands for us, but your mileage may vary.
Active Pursuits: The good news is that most water sports are free once you have equipment. Surfing, stand up paddleboarding, boogie boarding, snorkeling, and SCUBA all have some stuff to buy. One cool thing is that parking is free and easily available virtually everywhere, so once you sink a little money into some toys, you can have a lot of cheap fun.
Entertainment: We have lots of free entertainment at the festivals, parades, and other community events. However, there aren’t a lot of big concerts or other shows here on the Big Island, so you’ll probably save money because there are simply less opportunities.
Kirsten and I had a sailing lesson today and expected to just go through our normal practice for tacking, jibing, man-overboard and other basics.
On the way out to sea, the 3 of us on the boat were discussing that it had been a slow year for whales (they’re generally around Dec-Mar), and that we’d hoped to see some eventually while out on the boat.
About 30 minutes into our trip, Kirsten saw one breach and dive about 100 yards away. He came up a second time, which is when she snapped the picture you see here
We didn’t see him for a while, but then we had something really cool happen.
It was a calm day and the boat was slow and quiet, and it turned out we could hear the whale songs even while sitting on the boat. Our instructor has sailed for years and said she’d never heard them while out of the water. A couple different times, we could hear him “singing”, each time for about 15 seconds.
Finally, we started to head back to the harbor, and heard the whale surface behind us and blow, saying “farewell” and letting us get one final look at him.
As icing on the cake, we were walking to our car back at the harbor and saw this 100-lb. shark caught by a fishing boat.
No deep thoughts with this, but it’s amazing how different life is now. Even after 8 months here, I still get blown away by stuff like this a few times a week.
Bonus: A few other sailing pictures below
Our first 6 months here were great in almost every way.
I certainly had fun. We went to the beach regularly. Snorkeling, swimming, festivals, and exploring all parts of the island.
But something was missing.
Between settling into the house, getting cars, exploring our newfound world, finding another house, and moving again, we accumulated a deficiency in a key area.
People
Friends
Community
Before moving here, we’d knew we’d need to meet people and make friends, but once we got here it seemed like we were always busy settling in or getting used to our new life.
There were only a couple of kids in our neighborhood, and we didn’t get involved in any activities where we’d get to know other people.
We had become long-term tourists, not residents.
Mara really missed our neighborhood and friends in Virginia and her attitude went south over time. Kirsten and I started to feel isolated and increasingly restless. And because working from home was new for me as well, it was kind of a double-whammy.
In mid-December, Kirsten and I had a long discussion and concluded that if we were going to stick around here permanently, we’d have to do a better job of involving ourselves socially. We decided to commit ourselves to more activities and becoming part of the community.
It seems like when we set our minds to something lately, it happens in a big way.
Fast-forward two months and I think we might have become too busy with new activities:
By switching from family outings to group sports and activities, everyone is feeling better. The kids have met new kids, including some just a couple blocks away, plus made stronger friendships with the classmates who are also on their team.
Kirsten and I have met people through our activities, plus gotten closer to parents of the other kids for T-ball, hockey, and Girl Scouts. Everyone has been really nice and it’s good to feel like a true part of the community.
It’s feeling more and more like home and less and less like we’d choose to live elsewhere. And that’s a great feeling!
Flash back to January 1, 2011.
I woke to another new year and another year in the books. Another year of the same old same old. As a fellow blogger put it, it was another year having the same adventure over and over instead of a year of having a new adventure.
And so, as most people do, I started to think about what I wanted 2011 to bring. Not resolutions per se, since I’m not a big resolutions kinda gal, but more about what I hoped to accomplish this year. That’s the thing about January 1sts for me – they’re filled with such hope for the year ahead and/or sadness that the past year didn’t really go as I hoped.
As readers of this blog, you know the story: Chuck and I decided that afternoon to move. Late January we flew back to Kona and Maui to see if we really wanted to move to either. We decided sometime in February to move to Kona, sold the house, sold 1/2 our stuff, stored the rest and moved to Kona in June 2011.
And so this January 1st, I woke to a whole new life in a whole new place and a whole new appreciation and love of life.
I can’t even begin to describe the fulfillment I felt starting this year. That we had done what we dreamed of doing. And not only that, but we loved our new life. It was one of the best decisions I/we ever made. And the reality was even better than I ever imagined.
Doing what we did seems easy now even though at the time it seemed like a big undertaking and very scary. It makes me wonder why we didn’t do it sooner or why more people don’t go live their dreams.
One thing that this past year has taught me is I am truly in the driver’s seat for this next year and frankly for the rest of my life. Instead of things happening to me and around me, I can make what I wanted to happen. I have control over more than I realized and I can set the course of my life much easier than I thought.
It sounds strange now, but I realize how passive I was in my life letting things happen to me instead of the other way around.
So this January 1st was a bit different. Instead of wondering what the year would hold and hoping to do this or that, I dreamed up what I wanted to make happen. I was able to think “where do I want to be sitting this time next year?”. Not just literally where, but who did I want to be and what did I want to do this year.
I have a few focuses for the year ahead which maybe I’ll share at a later date. And I have a motto for the year too: “Have fun and grow” which for me means learning, doing and experiencing what the world has to offer. And to get the ball rolling, Chuck & I have already started sailing lessons.
What is your dream for the next year? If you could choose what your life looked liked January 1, 2013, what would it look like and who would you be?
The past couple of months have been pretty crazy, but we’re excited to give you some updates.
When we moved into our first rental in June, we only signed a 6 month lease. That’s pretty standard here and we were told we could go month-to-month after that. Then we found out in September that the owners were moving back at the end of our 6 months and we had to find another place to live.
We found ourselves in late November with 1 month left in our rental and not a single good prospect to move into. And then we fell into luck and the owners of a gorgeous property with a gorgeous view said they’d rent their place to us. It was fully furnished and in the kids’ school district so we were over the moon.
Until the next day when they changed their minds and decided not to rent it out at all.
In early December, we locked in a different property that was the only partly furnished option out there. As it turns out, the owners of the first house wanted to come back sooner, so we decided to move out early, store our stuff in their garage, then go to California for the holidays.
I think we decided all this, signed our lease and booked our tickets about a week before we left. We’re crazy like that.
On December 18th, we turned in our keys and flew to San Francisco. Over the next week, we worked our way down the Pacific Coast Highway, then spent a week in San Diego with Kirsten’s brother before heading back to Kona.
We got off the plane on Dec. 31, drove to our new house and started moving in.
We’re not too far from our old house – just down the hill from our old one.
Apart from the fact that we lost our mac-daddy view, the house has been great for us. It’s not as nice as the first one, but it’s bigger and the kids are way more comfortable. There’s more space to spread out, and that’s been great.
Overall, we’re delighted to be all settled and are already starting a new set of adventures. But that’s a different post.
Below are maps of where we are within the islands, where Kona is on the Big Island, and a few more pictures of the house.
It seemed like a good idea at the time.
We’d just bought a Honda Pilot so we could haul things, and were looking for a kayak.
Kirsten found one at a yard sale a couple weeks ago and $160 later, we were the proud owners of a sea kayak.
This morning, we got a beautiful crystal-clear and breezy day, and decided to take the kayak on its maiden voyage.
About 11, Kirsten and I launched at Keauhou Harbor and headed down the coast a mile or two. Some decent sized ocean swells, but nothing we couldn’t handle.
Houston, we’ve got a problem
By the time we got to where we wanted to jump out and snorkel, I noticed that water was pooling in the seating area. (there’s a hole it should be draining through). This seemed like a problem.
It was then I also figured out that we were sitting low in the water – we were definitely sinking!
Unfortunately, the area we visited was virtually all cliffs with rough rock to deal with, so bringing the kayak into shore wasn’t an option. On a calm day, we might have been able to get out somewhere, but it was too dangerous today.
I tried getting into the water to see if reducing the weight in the kayak would help. Learned a few things once I did that.
We had each brought our snorkel gear, so our basic idea was for Kir to get the kayak as far back towards the harbor as she could, and then we’d just swim the rest. Hopefully we’d get a passing kayaker to get help.
Rescue Me!
After a couple minutes, Kirsten spotted one of the big Zodiac boats that give coastline and dolphin tours. She was able to flag them down and they came by to see what we needed.
We were grateful when they agreed to help out. They got Kirsten and her stuff out of the kayak, and then I climbed onboard out of the ocean. One of the deckhands cinched our kayak to the side of their boat, and held on for added stability. We then took about 15 minutes to cruise slowly back to the harbor.
Luckily it was the tail-end of the tour and we didn’t ruin the sightseeing for them.
Many mahalos (thanks) to the Captain Zodiac crew, who saved us from a really crappy afternoon!
Reflections
It may sound strange, but Kirsten and I both had a blast with the whole ordeal.
It wasn’t the safest situation, but neither of us perceived any mortal danger, and it ended well, so why not enjoy?
I don’t think about either of us as adrenaline junkies, but we do find a lot of fun in this sort of stuff. And it was cool to finally get onto one of the Zodiac boats. I’m sure the passengers of the boat got plenty of great pictures of 2 morons and a sinking boat. I’m sure they were hoping the rescue would be more like Baywatch, but too bad for them.
And now we’ve got a kayak that seems to leak for reasons yet undiscovered. Not sure if it’s worth paying to fix or if we just need to start over and pony up for a proper, seaworthy kayak.
We’ve been thinking of taking sailing lessons soon. Hopefully our reputation doesn’t precede us!
I was a home owner for the last 14 years until we sold our house to move here. Since we aren’t committed to staying past a year, it didn’t make sense to buy a house, so we barely brought any stuff with us and rented a furnished house instead.
Renting a furnished place has been an interesting experience. Mostly I love that we’re renting, but there are a couple of things that drive me crazy too.
So. My list of pros and cons to renting a furnished house:
Pros
And now the Cons
Overall, the renting experience has been a good one though. I wouldn’t trade not having a mile long list of house projects for a comfy sofa. And I love the freedom we feel by not being tethered down with stuff.
Some day it’d be nice to settle into a house again.
But until then, know of any good places to rent?
“Are the schools safe?”
“I’ve heard the schools are terrible.”
“I wouldn’t send my kid to public school in Hawaii.”
We definitely heard a lot of negatives about public schools as we considered our move to the Big Island, and it was a big concern for us. Much of our scouting trip in January was focused on learning about the neighborhoods and schools.
In the Kona area, Holualoa Elementary school had the best reputation amongst the folks we’d talked with and we decided to make that area the focus of our housing search. In the end, we had two houses to pick from, and chose the one closer to Holualoa. (And the mac-daddy view didn’t hurt!)
Fast-forward 3 months and we are extremely happy with the school.
On day one, we could tell that the administrators and teachers were really nice folks who care and want to help. But we still were curious to see how the academic side of things would go.
First Grade
We were most concerned about Mara’s experience because she would have been in second grade if she’d been here previously. (The age cutoff is different from Virginia). We didn’t want her to be way ahead of the class and get bored with everything.
Thus far, the teacher is managing the students’ work individually, so Mara gets challenging work consistently. Daily homework consists of a front and back sheet of paper with word, math, and measurement problems, plus one page in a word puzzle book, plus one book to read to us. It usually takes her about 20-30 minutes to do everything.
She enjoys the schoolwork, teacher, and her friends, so it’s a success so far.
Kindergarten
Beckett’s transition was a concern mostly because the kid doesn’t sit still and we thought he’d be young for his class.
In Hawaii, they run a Junior-K program for kids with fall birthdays, so he’s lumped with kids that have birthdays within a few months of his. At the end of the year, kids either go to regular Kindergarten or go to first grade.
We just had his conference and it sounds like he had a few minor behavioral problems in the beginning, but nothing that we were notified of until just now. It more or less sounded like normal transition stuff.
The teacher seems to be great at focusing on just the right ways to help him along, and it’s paid off. His progress has been amazing in 3 months, especially in reading and handwriting.
The routine of school also seems to be helping his behavior at home somewhat. He’s still a 5 year-old who wants to be independent, so it’s no cakewalk, but things are certainly better than in July.
How the School Compares
We moved from one of the top school districts in the country, and so far we’d say that the kids are getting just as good an experience here as they did back in Virginia. It’s a big relief that things are going well so far, and we’re grateful to have found such a nice place for the kids.
Imagine that when you were 18 years old, you were riding in the back of a pickup truck that got hit by an 18-wheeler. The accident led to both your lower legs being amputated, and you went through years of surgeries. Now you struggle with everyday life. What would you do next?
Scott Rigsby chose Ironman.
If you were diagnosed with Stage 4 colon cancer and undergoing chemotherapy, what would you do?
Teri Griege chose Ironman.
If you were once a model, then found yourself at 295 pounds wondering what the hell happened to you, what would you do?
Tara Costa chose Ironman. (after appearing on The Biggest Loser!)
When you’re 81 years old, and the world expects you to be a in a nursing home, what will you do?
Lew Hollander chose Ironman. Note: he qualified because he won his age division last year! Oh, and he’s competed in Kona 22 times and finished 22 times. Lew is the man!
These stories helped create one of the most amazing and inspiring days of my life this past Saturday.
For those not familiar, Kona hosts the Ironman World Championship each October. 2.4 miles of swimming, then 112 miles on a bike out in the brutal sun. And when you’re done with that, you get to run a marathon!
Kirsten and I had been looking forward to the race since making the decision to move to Kona in January. We figured it would be great to see some of the most fit people in the world tackle an insanely-difficult day of racing.
Off with a Boom
We went down early to see the professionals start at 6:30 am at Kailua pier. Thousands of people down there watching the 100 or so professionals, along with a helicopter overhead filming. There was excitement in the air and a cannon blast signaled the start of a long day.
About 1,700 amateurs, or “age-groupers” as they call them, crowded out into the water for their start at 7 am. Once the cannon sounded, this mass of bodies churning was an incredible sight.
We watched both groups of swimmers come in and transition to the bikes, which were stored at the pier. At times, they came through in such large numbers that the bikes got backed up while entering the street. It was cool to rattle our cowbells and help launch them out onto that long bike ride.
Around 9:00 or so we decided to go home and give the kids a break. This worked out great, as we watched streaming online coverage of the leaders.
8 hours? Wow!
At 2:00 we went back down to see the top professionals come in and there was a nice, enthusiastic crowd to support them. It’s really amazing to see someone do all 3 events in just over 8 hours.
Once we’d had our fill of the pros, we walked over to watch some of the older folks transition from the bike to the run. They had to start the marathon by 5:30 pm or they’d be swept from the course. Many of them were plugging along slowly and several were walking. It was wonderful to see the determination to start this, even after 10 hours of racing.
Kirsten then hung out until 6:30 while I took the kids home. She caught many of the age-groupers about 1/3 into the marathon and was impressed by their looks of determination.
An Amazing Night
I came back down at 8 and that’s when the magic began.
First off, each finisher gets a special treatment. There’s a long victory lane, flanked by cheering folks. The announcer will call the name of the athlete, often tell a little bit about them, and then proclaim “You are an Ironman!” to much applause.
Over the course of the evening, the crowd swelled in size to several thousand people. Several thousand loud, encouraging people.
The event hosts did a great job keeping everyone fired up and the energy increased throughout the evening. Because the race cutoff is midnight, the later hours bring more physically-challenged people as well as the urgency to beat the clock.
By 10 pm it was a frenzy. A pure, wholehearted, encouraging frenzy. I’ve been to big events like the Stanley Cup Finals and those were insane, but it didn’t have the soul that this night did. There’s no opponent to beat down. Every finisher was a big winner. And all the noise that the crowd poured out served to boost the racers and bring them in. I’m sure the noise could be heard by every runner still out on the course, letting them know we were there for them.
Those last 2 hours, everybody coming in was a rock star. Besides the AMAZING folks I detailed above, there was one person who’d tried the lottery for 19 years and finally got a spot. One who entered and didn’t finish 16 years ago, but came back this year to do it. For a little icing on the cake, one guy who pulled out a “Will you marry me?” sign to propose to his girlfriend as he entered the finish corridor.
While I’m generally a good soul, this evening still purged so much cynicism and brought in so much love. I cheered with as much passion, volume, and aloha as I possibly could and everyone else there doing the same made it special. Women’s pro winner Chrissy Wellington spent the last 3 hours putting leis on many of the finishers, and many of the earlier finishers joined the crowed to cheer in the final few racers.
When Teri Griege came in, she was sobbing, stopping at one point to hug a few team members, then going through the finish and joining additional family and team.
When Scott Rigsby came by, pride was in his eyes, and he struck a powerful pose at the finish stripe. If you haven’t watched the video embedded at the top, go back up and do it now.
Tara had a look of near disbelief in her eyes – that she was really going to make it. And her mom was there at the finish to greet her.
Lew Hollander had a great smile and attitude. While he’s 81, he’s no stranger to these races and seemed to feed off the crowd and enjoy the moment.
And finally, there are Gayla Chambers and Gary Hermansen, who finished with just over 1 minute left. The crowd coaxed each of them all the way into the finish, and after 16 hours and 59 minutes of racing, they can each call themselves an Ironman.
A Change Inside
It’s amazing what both ordinary and uniquely-challenged folks can accomplish.
And what of myself? I still struggle to wrap my head around what I’ve experienced.
After a night of seeing these people do so much, I can never look at my own challenges the same way again.
I’m not a big believer in phrases like “you can do anything”, as it’s not exactly true. But what is certain is that each of us can accomplish FAR MORE than what we perceive as our own boundaries .
I will push my limits. I will dream more. I will do more.
One of the things we looked forward to with the move was the chance to live differently. Besides evolving our home living, we have also been really involved in the culture here.
No, I don’t mean hula, luaus, and playing the ukelele. While those things are all part of Hawaiian culture, it’s more of a special occasion sort of a thing, not daily life.
There are a few themes to daily life in Kona that tie together many of the activities here
2. Asian Influence
Because of our proximity to Asia, we have many residents and visitors from there, especially Japan. Besides having no shortage of Asian cuisine, we’ve found many ceremonies and events that tie into Asian culture
3. Festivals up the Wazoo! You name it, we’ve had a festival for it
Most of these festivals are on the small side – 100 to 400 people attending at any given time. There are usually a few vendor booths which relate to the particular festival. Then there will be many booths that have nothing at all to do with the festival theme. Usually it’s local folks selling coffee, juices, soaps, all sorts of other crafts. There’s usually some sort of local entertainment going on, as well. Bands, dancers, drummers, that sort of thing.
We’ve had a great time going out and seeing all these different things. The kids have been fairly compliant, even if they do sometimes get a little hot and bored. Most of these festivals have several kid activities, so there’s usually something in it for them.
One thing that’s been neat is hearing the kids recall certain elements or just incorporate parts of these activities into their play. Just the other day, Beckett wanted to play “Dragon and Ninja” based on one of the shows that we saw at the Kona-Hiroshima peace festival a few weeks ago.
There are still plenty of festivals, races, and fun ahead (such as a stand-up paddleboard event on the 24th), and we’re looking forward to doing more great stuff.
We’ve been here for 8 weeks now. In some ways I can’t believe its been that long, but in other ways, it seems about right. We’re now settled and getting into a groove and getting used to our new life.
And that new life is amazing. I am 100% happy with our decision to move here. I can’t even imagine still being back in Virginia right now. I feel so fortunate that we’ve been able to make this happen and I don’t regret a single thing.
The reality is definitely different than expected in some ways. I guess when you come here on vacation, its still this fantasy vacation world. Last summer when we spent a month in Hawaii, we spent our days doing activity after activity, eating out and living the life. Despite having kids, having to do laundry, cook and clean, and Chuck working, it still wasn’t exactly “real life”.
And I knew that coming here wouldn’t be fantasy vacation life but “real life” with real bills to pay, jobs to do, laundry and all that.
The thing is, I don’t think many other people realize that living in Hawaii is still real life just with better weather.
I get the impression that people think we’re living this dream life with maids, nannies, cooks, a fairy godmother and a money tree. Since I live in Hawaii, my days must be filled with nothing but snorkeling and sun and amazing dinners at the beach.
While the reality is I’m still running to Target and Costco, cleaning my house and eating my home-cooked dinners at home just like everyone else.
Even for me, it’s been an adjustment from what I thought life would look like and the reality. I thought we’d get up, eat, then go snorkeling or diving, eat lunch at the beach, maybe come home in the afternoon and spend our evenings strolling along the main street in town or throwing a frisbee at the beach. The reality? We haven’t scuba dived once yet and we’ve only done real snorkeling one time which was yesterday. We have yet to surf, or go on a boat.
Thing is, I’m ok with that. I’m ok with not staying so busy that we’ve seen and done it all already. I’m ok with the aspects of real life that are thrown in because the other parts have been replaced with amazing substitutes. It’s fine to spend my morning cleaning and cooking because I know the afternoon can be spent in our pool or at the beach or sipping Kona coffee at a park.
I can tell I’m starting to change already. I’m learning to appreciate things even more than ever before. From the tiny simple things like watching the mama bird with her adorable babies follow behind her and the itty bitty snails outside to the rudimentary things like cooking because I’m using fresh organic ingredients bought that day and getting to try new foods, textures and flavors.
I’m grateful for this opportunity. I’m beyond glad we took the risk and made the leap. And I’m grateful that life is full of so many opportunities right now. And I’m realizing my day is mine to make it anyway I want, and for that alone, I’m fortunate.span>
It’s great to finally have a “real life” here. In just 7 weeks, we’ve already seen plenty of changes from the lifestyle we knew in Virginia and wanted to make note of them while they’re fresh and I can still remember the “newness” of them.
We have nowhere to be
This is especially pronounced because we moved here in the summer. Apart from my work schedule, we have no commitments. The kids weren’t in school or enrolled in any sports, we don’t have any friends to make plans with, and we don’t feel like we have go do something whenever we get a nice day, because the next one will be nice, too.
It feels like it should get boring, but after years of rushing around, it is incredibly nice to “just be”. We’ve even had tentative plans to do stuff and bailed just to sit around outside and be lazy. Yesterday we went into town in the afternoon and found out the surf was up, so went to watch the surfers ride for an hour.
We’re eating differently
Our meal habits have changed a fair amount since moving here. Part of it comes from having several farmers markets around. They have all sorts of fruit I’ve never seen on the mainland, plus fresh produce that looks a lot more tempting than that from a grocery store.
We also grill out a lot more now because of the nice weather and have gotten creative about what we can cook on there. Turns out bread, cherries, bok choy, pineapple, and peaches all grill up great!
Lots more outdoor time
We figured the nice weather would lead to us being outdoors more often, and that’s turned out to be quite true. We eat virtually every meal outside on our lanai and sunset time is now an event instead of simply a time of day.
It’s not the stereotype of spending every day at the beach, though we’ve been there several times. There are also nice parks to play at, walks to take, events to attend – virtually everything is oriented towards being outside.