Three years ago when we were still new to Beat of Hawaii, I was eating a bowl of local Rambutans while psyching up to watch the Super Bowl. An idea for a post sprang to mind when I read a news report suggesting that sports fans’ stress can be a heart hazard. Why not suggest [...]

The Big island’s esteemed $30 million Kona coffee industry is in jeopardy. The problem is a coffee borer beetle that’s quickly infesting Hawaii farms and has destroyed a majority of the coffee at some locations. Beauveria bassiana to the rescue State Ag has given approval to test this fungus-based insecticide to control the infestation. Already [...]

Tonight’s total lunar eclipse will be the first one visible here in Hawaii for several years. We did have a partial eclipse back on June 25. That’s assuming that the weather cooperates of course. It’s been pretty wild here the past two days. The stormy weather brought two power outages at the Ala Moana shopping [...]

If it comes as a surprise to you that there are bats in Hawaii, you aren’t alone. I’ve lived here for a long time and had never seen one until recently. Then one evening while walking along Kauai’s Hanalei Bay, I noticed what I thought were birds flying at sunset over the shoreline. Upon closer [...]

Updated 11/10.  KITV is reporting that the swim has been stopped.  While I’ve seen nothing from her official team, Penny apparently encountered man-o-wars again, just as she had earlier in the year. Updated 11/9. The swim began today as scheduled. Her arrival on Kauai is now anticipated to be later than first thought, perhaps Thursday [...]

When we hiked to Kalaupapa in October, I never mentioned we were packed with fresh fruits from Kauai. We originally planned to bring them down in a large ice chest. One look at the steep and muddy trail changed our mind. I could just imagine sliding in the mud and making an impromptu fruit smoothie. [...]

The land route to Kalaupapa remains closed on Molokai. This means that hikers and mule riders no longer have access to where Saint Damien lived and worked. Heavy rains in April created a mudslide and damaged a foot bridge. Repair work is expected to begin in October and will take 4-5 weeks to complete. If [...]

There’s no place equal to farmers markets when it comes to trying the best and most unusual of Hawaii’s tropical produce and flowers.  And at the top of my list in Hawaii is the Hilo Farmers Market. U.S.D.A. has proclaimed August 1-7, 2010 as National Farmers Market Week. To celebrate, I headed to Hilo yesterday [...]

Did anyone feel the series of earthquakes this past weekend in and around the Hawaiian Islands? It served as a good reminder of just how seismically active the region remains. On Sunday, Oahu was struck with an unusual magnitude 3.5 tremor which occurred 15 miles south of Honolulu. A series of 14 other moderate earthquakes have [...]

December 20, 2010 total lunar eclipse update. Tonight will be the first time in two years that we’ll see a lunar eclipse here in Hawaii. From 11:30pm to 3:00am, Hawaii will have an unparalleled view of the eclipse over its dark waters. Fifty-four percent of the moon’s surface will be occluded and the entire event [...]