Real Estate on the Big Island
Author: J. Michael Key
Source: ezinearticles.com
Tourists traveling to the Hawaiian Islands most often flock to popular destinations like Pearl Harbor or Waikiki (on the Island of Oahu) or Kihei or LaHaina (on the Island of Maui). Often, the “Big Island” of Hawaii seems overlooked. In reality, however, Hawaii is the island with the most overall land and the most diversity.
The town of Kailua-Kona area is well known because the Ironman Triathlon begins at the Kailua harbor beach. There is also a town named Kailua on Oahu, so this one is hyphenated. This area is famous for producing coffee.
This infamous Kona coffee is grown on the island and even grows well on the sides of the Hualalai volcano at over 1,000 feet above sea level. The volcanic soil is rich and the warm tropical air of the region rises and then condenses into rain. In addition, the higher elevations cool off at night. Together, this provides ideal growing conditions for the coffee beans.
The Island of Hawaii is bigger than the combination of all the other islands together in terms of land mass. There are five active volcanoes on the Island, with Kilauea currently the most active. You may hear about it on the news since it is active nearly continuously and it produces a near steady flow of lava pouring out into the Pacific Ocean. Many tourists visit the volcano, but it is not near the more populated areas of the island.
The next two most talked-about volcanoes on the island are Mauna Loa, which stands at 13,680 feet above sea level, and Mauna Kea, which stands at 13,796 feet above sea level. Toward the top of the Mauna Kea volcano there is the famed Keck telescope. Both of these volcanoes extend more than 30,000 feet from the base of the ocean and sometimes have snow on the top of them.
Since most people would not think any part of Hawaii would have snow, they would be surprised by that and probably some of the other terrain in Hawaii, as well. While one area may be tropical forest, other areas are very nearly a desert. Still others are high plains, treeless mountain terrain, and forested mountains. In addition, there are farmland and tropical orchards where macadamia nuts, plumeria, and coffee are grown.
Hawaii is much larger than the other islands. In fact, Hawaii is so large that you could drive for the entire day and never retrace your route. As a result, residents of this island don’t suffer “island fever” the way many people on the smaller islands do. In addition, life for residents on this island is more community based and doesn’t seem like as much of a tourist attraction. Residents go to work, church, and soccer practice just like residents in suburbs all over the nation. There is even a huge park with lit playing fields located to the north of the Kailua harbor in the area that used to be the airport.
Housing is affordable on the Island of Hawaii with lots of middle-class residences available for purchase. However, the islands are also home to many very impressive estates. In fact, Hawaii is a very diverse area rich in community with many real estate options to choose from.
Michael Key has written extensively for 30 years on a wide variety of topics. For more information on Big Island real estate visit the O’oma Plantation website at http://www.oomaplantation.com/.