I hope you had a great weekend. There’s so much news to catch up on, so let’s dive in.
- Fodor’s has an article on airline fees that you should know. There have been several changes in recent months, so if you haven’t flown in a while, it might be a good idea to review that article to avoid or minimize fees.
- The Polynesian Cultural Center held the Samoan Fireknife dancing competition this weekend. You can read their blog for complete coverage of the event. There’s some neat photos and videos.
- The vog (volcano produced smog) has been quite heavy in recent days, but luckily the trade winds are back at the moment. Bobbie has developed an excellent collection of vog resources.
- Check out this amazing underwater video of lava flowing into the ocean just off the Big Island. Scuba divers captured the film. (They are way more brave than I am!)
- The Outrigger Reef on the Beach in Waikiki on Oahu completed a $120 million renovation.
- Keahou Beach Resort on the Kona Coast of the Big Island finished a $6 million remodeling project.
- Another Big Island resort, the Hilton Waikoloa Village, just finished a $100 million renovation.
- Orbitz listed Honolulu as the fifth most popular summer destination based on bookings.
- If you are going to the Big Island you might want to consider one of these new photography tours that combines a scenic guided tour along with a professional photographer. That’s a brilliant idea.
Sheila Beal
5 comments
The fireknife competition was very exciting this year. The 3 finalists’ scores were just a point or two apart from one another. The top 9 semi-finalists were also great. A woman from Switzerland came in 2nd place in the women’s division. Dropping the knife too many times can wreck your score no matter how good a fireknife dancer is.
Hi Chris – I bet it was super exciting! I hope to make it one year. Will the Polynesian Cultural Center be sponsoring it annually?
Yes, this was the 16th year it has been held. It seems to get better every year. I attended the first preliminary competition 16 years ago when there were only 9 people in the audience. I think in the 8th year, 10,000 people showed up on the final day of the competition at PCC which almost pushed the park’s operational capacity to its limit since PCC normally receives between 2,000-4,000 visitors a day.
Hi Sheila –
Thank you for linking to my vog resource and information page. I will continue to add to it whenever I come across reliable material. We had a good breeze again for the past couple of days and the vog diminshed over most of the island. Fingers crossed…
Hi Bobbie – You’ve really put an EXCELLENT and authoritative collection of vog resources together in one spot.
I heard that the Kona winds are back at the moment. Sorry to hear that. Here’s to hoping for nice trades on the way!