Hawaii vacation!!! Ideas??

[Cinnamon]

I am so excited, a girlfriend and I are going to Hawaii in January!! We just decided over the weekend for sure and picked out our dates. It will be for 1 week.

So, any and all ideas of which island(s) to visit, where to get fresh produce (or raw restaurants?), just anything anyone knows that would help a raw foodist out!

I visualize lots of beautiful tropical fruit and hopefully lots of veggies and nuts too. Maybe farmer's markets or other grocery stores that I can buy and keep things in my hotel. And what to see and do too!

But then we can't decide which island to go to either?! We've both been to Oahu (Waikiki Beach) about 20 years ago so we are newbies to traveling to the islands. Now my friend isn't a raw foodist (and I can't hardly get her to eat any fresh produce?!) but she knows how I eat and is always game for adventures in food with me.

We are sooo excited, thank you all for any ideas and suggestions.

[cara4art]

Awesome! Audrey(aka ChiLove here)should be piping in if she is reading this, as she is on the Big Island. You will just flip over the abundance of fresh foods! Lots of SAD people go on about how expensive food is in Hawaii, but the very best thing and the most abundant is the fresh foods. Farmers markets and small stands with people selling stuff can be your best bets. I've been on Maui, Moloka'i, and lastly the Big Island(that was in early '06 for three weeks renting a house in the Puna district which is an awesomely jungly, and relatively less expensive area of Hawaii, and lots of good people too) Hawaii is a raw fooder's paradise! On the Big Island, on the east side where we were, the Hilo Farmer's market on Wednesdays and Saturdays is a must. Just outside of the town of Pahoa, there's a wonderful farmers' market/flea market on Sundays. We didn't eat in restaurants that much, so I can't tell you about that. Best things to do on the Big Island include day trips to different areas, and soaking up the natural beauty therein. A trip to the Volcano National Park is in order, if they are letting people come up there. There has been recent activity by the volcano.
On Maui, a must do is the road to Hana, allow a full day for this as you WILL want to stop and eyeball all the beauty at different spots. Along that route, there are some simple smoothie stands - at one, the pineapple-ginger one was out of this world! We stayed in the town of Wailuku which is a non-touristic working class area of Maui and there was a small Filipino produce stand where I would go and buy fresh stuff to have in our room. The people who ran the guesthouse would give us stuff too. No shortage of fresh foods. I could go on and on, but that should give you an idea of what's out there. For me, the true beauty of the islands is not the real plastic touristic stuff but the natural beauty, and the wonderful people there, who can be often wary of outsiders. But if you are a gentle unpretentious soul, they will pick up on that too - the spirit of aloha lives!

[lucky lemons]

How exciting! I just got back from my first trip to Hawaii a few weeks ago (that's me on Maui in my avatar) and it was so beautiful, I would recommend Maui to anyone looking to go the islands. We stayed in K'aanapali, and the snorkeling there is absolutely amazing if you're into that sort of thing. It is also a very easy place to eat raw, I found (although bf and I were still transitioning at that point) because the fruit is so wonderful! If I had to choose to go raw anywhere in the world, it would be Hawaii. We stayed at a hotel (K'aanapali Shores) that had a full kitchen, so we went shopping at Safeway in Lahaina and then made a lot of our food in our room. I have not been to the other Hawaiian islands (yet!) but I would love to go back to Maui. I agree about the Road to Hana, also, and stay over night in Hana if you can before driving back so you can take your time driving it. There are many fruit stands along the way as well.

[maui_butterfly]

hey cinnamon, i live on maui, and i work as a concierge, so i plan people's vacations for a living! of course, i am totally biased when i say maui is the place to be, but if you decide to come here, you can check me out online at www.mauiconcierge.com and/or drop me an email... i'd love to give you all my good tips.

[hawaiigal]

Hey!

I live on Big Island on Kona Side - it is not the place to be right now. The volcano is acting up big time and Kona is in a haze of VOG Volcanic Fog.
Alot of people with respiratory problems etc. Days are cloudy and hazy - we havent seen much in the way of blue sky for weeks now. Hilo is having a better time of it I believe as the winds are blowing the vog straight through Kona.

You should check out Kauai! it is an awesome place to visit. Great raw food population - I think they have a raw food restaurant in Kapaa. Best place for beaches is the south shore around Poipu. I lived there for several years in the 90's and would go back in a heartbeat! Princeville area Hanalei Bay is also awesome - on the wetter side of the island but great for waterfalls and hiking.

Have fun deciding!