What are the pros and cons of living on each hawaiian island?

Question

what are the good and points of living on each of the hawaiian islands?

Im looking for a quiet place to live, but not totally secluded.

Answer 1

All of the Hawaiian Islands share a few main characteristics. I'm not sure where you live presently, but if you haven't been to a tropical locale before, the first thing you may notice ( I did, when I first visited Maui, HI ) is that all the colors of the daytime landscape and atmosphere are especially vivid as compared to the mainland U.S.

For example: the soil has a reddish " terracotta" hue to it, I believe- due to a high iron content, being as it is mostly pummeled lava. The beach sands are of a golden color, although black and red colored  beaches exist within the islands too. The combination of the turquioise (although not as crystal- clear looking as the Carribean) blue of the Pacific and the aforementioned golden sand offset each other in a visually pleasing way.

In any tropical climate zone, vegitation abounds, and flourishes, so the spectrum of greens is a large bandwidth. As well,the flowers produced are of every shade of the color spectrum, and stand out prominently against the greens, which compliment the red soil they grow in. And, what ties it all together is the clean air (due to tradewinds) makes the sky so,so blue and the clouds- the whitest white, even when wispy.

Another cool thing that all of the islands share ( excepting Niihau, the undeveloped Island populated by only pureblooded Native Hawaiians ) is the infusion of different cultures all combining their own traditions, foods, and trade skills for the common good of all who live or visit there, embracing the "Aloha Spirit". The term "Locals" applies to the Native Hawaiians,  (not many of them left these days) but also many Portuguese, Chinese, Japanese, and Pilipinos, the decendants of immigrants brought to Hawaii for work purposes in the 1900's by the sugar plantations. The overall attitude of all the Islands is of a relaxing nature no matter where you go.

I have lived on and off in Hawaii for the past twenty years. Although I love it there, I cannot abandon my roots in the Bay Area ( San Francisco, CA) of which I am a native.The two places are just so different, it would take me a month of writing to fully cover the comparison/contrasts between the two.

I made the Island of Maui my home, so most of my time in Hawaii was spent there. I have visited Oahu, Kauai, Molokai,and Lanai so I do feel qualified to answer your question- regarding only these places.

A breakdown:

OAHU: Has a real, bona-fide big city ( Honolulu ) which brings tall highrises, big-city nitelife, retail shopping, international airport and Shipping traffic, pollution, interstate freeways, yet it's on the beach!  If you can appreiciate metropolitan living, in the middle of The Pacific Ocean then its for you. Definetly not the quietest place to live. If you cannot stand the tourist element, stay away from Oahu. If you like to surf, there is no better place to be, since out of all of the Islands, it has the most consistent amount of big wave action. Haliewa is a very cute, little surf village/town on the North Shore that is really down-to-earth and far away enough from Honolulu ( yet you can take a city bus there ) to have a rural feeling. There are a lot of spots that are like this all over Oahu too, you just don't hear about them as much.

MAUI:

" Maui No Ka Oi" means "Maui is the best" in Hawaiian, and I believe this to be true. It is my favorite of them all for many reasons, the basics of which I will cover.

Maui is an unusual place, because packed into this small land mass are many micro-climates, some staggering in their differences, yet 5-6 miles away from each other. This is partially due to its evolution, and how it was formed. It is essentially comprised of two volcanos erupting near each other enough that the flows ran into each other making two different landmasses joined by an Isthmus in the middle. The bigger of the two has Mt. Haleakela ( 15, 000 feet ) which is considered a dormant volcano. Slightly imperfect, one side of the Mountain gently slopes down to the Ocean below , each level having its own microclimate and even species of plants that only will grow there well because of the climate. The  large crater @ the top resembles what the Moon looks like,deserty with random rocks with little or no plants.At the summit, it is really super cold there all year around because of its elevation. A popular thing ( and rightly so ) is to go to the crater for sunrise, for it is truly spectacular.Haleakela translates to " House of The Gods" , and @ sunrise, thats what it is.So, as you make your way down the mountain, the weather gets a little bit warmer as you go down. KULA is the first town down, or the last going up. It is cool and cloudy most of the day, the climate similar to San Francisco, California. KULA is known for it's agricultural contributions, namely Protea flowers, the renowned KULA sweet MAUI onion and even has a winery or two. Apparently wine grapes grow very well in KULA and that was seeming to be the new trend in the local ag biz there. Coffee too, I hear . KULA is pretty rural, I refer to it as a town but village would be more like it. MAKAWAO is the next "village" of down the Halaekela Highway. It is a town proper, still small, but known for its rodeo and ranching tradtions. A lot of cattle, horses and other livestock are raised for recreation and food. Around MAKAWAO are a few unincorporated areas which have names but no town proper, mabye just one or two roadside stores that distinguish it from any place else near there. The land is beautiful there, if you enjoy rural living and like to ride horses, this is the place for you. PAIA would be next... it is a small, funky lil' town on the beach that is known for it's approximation to HOOKIPA BEACH PARK, world-famous for its windsurfing. But, before windsurfing became a sport, Hippies that defected from the summer of love in San Francisco to the Endless Summer of Love in Hawaii  discovered its charm and still own and operate businesses there. I also may mention that the area I have just described to you is also a stronghold of prominent, upscale New-Age Movement types. There are many retreats , holistic medicine practicioners, psychics, reiki healers, and vegan swingers around the area.

Okay, I want to finish this for now so I will continue my dissertation on Maui for you later on, for I;m tired of computing. If you have any specific questions that you feel I may be able to answer for you, please e-mail me with them and I'll be happy to do that if I can.    

    

  

Answer 2

As been said by others answering this question, Oahu is the most populated.  Honolulu is a the metro city for the state.  There are 3 Interstate type freeways there (H1, H2, & H3) and with that there is a lot of traffic and daily rush hours (morning & evening).

Since Waikiki is the main destination for the majority of tourists going to Hawaii, you will find more "deals" with the competition there.

With the population there, costs and availability of goods and services are a bit cheaper there.  But, you get a more commercial version of Hawaii.

Comparing the islands can be hard.  Unless you have experienced at least the main islands (Kauai, Oahu, Maui, Lanai, Molokai and the Big Island), its hard to make a informed call.

The only really negative issues I have had occurred on Maui.

Maui is the most expensive of all the islands.  This is due to the more "upscale" tourist that goes there.  I have visited there  a few times and was subjected to more rudeness by the locals than any other island.  This was something I had never experienced before because my wife is from Hawaii and I was used to the "Aloha spirit" of the islands.  When we went there last year with here family for a wedding, those who came from the other islands noted how expensive everything was.  One comment that got me laughing was that there were too many "High Nose's" on Maui.

Having been on most of the main islands my pick is for the Big Island of Hawaii. They call it the Big Island for a reason.  You can fit all of the other islands inside it and still have a half an island!

You can find everything there is on the other islands on the Big Island, except for the crowds (employment is hard there though).

One of the things that it has that the others don't is an active volcano.

Something that everyone should see for themselves, reading about it or watching it on TV or a movie will not be enough.

There is every type of environment there from snow capped mountain, high grass covered hills , tropical rain forests, to deserts.

My advice is to go visit yourself, but do your research.

Good Luck!!

Answer 3

I am going to compare Oahu to the neighbor islands.  I cannot compare them to each other, as I have never lived on any of them.   A lot of it will depend on what things are important to you.  If you are a retiree vs. someone with a young family, your needs will be quite different.

Oahu will have the most opportunities for jobs, higher education, and access to medical care.  Costs of things like gasoline & food will be slightly less.  Fine arts are more accessible, things like museums, community theater, symphony,  On the other hand, Oahu is more urban, and crowded, especially noticeable when commuting.

The neighbor islands will be less crowded & more beautiful, but will probably be harder to find work, except in the hospitality industry.