Been to Maui and Kauai, last island was the Big Island, stayed in Kona and the island is totally different than the first two I mentioned.
I can see me living there in 10-12-15 years. Thinking about buying now while the realestate market is low.
big island offers LOTS of variety of jungle, desert, watersports, and what I noticed last time is the general population seem to be less asian more caucasians than the other island, and "non-locals" suddenly fit right in if you're not acting like a Gawdy Tourist.
Best book in the world to read:
Amazon.com: Hawaii The Big Island Revealed: The Ultimate Guidebook (9780981461007): Andrew Doughty: Books
283 Five Star reviews say something about this book, I own one for each of the islands we visited.
another good way to get a feel of costs, is just surf to Craigslist of the Big Island to get a feel of rent and cost of goods.
Yes Gas is about .50-70 cents more a gallon, but so what?, milk and eggs are expensive, but fresh fresh fish and seafood is cheap. Electricity is about triple the costs of here in Seattle, we pay around 9 cents / KW hour, I think it's 22 or 25 cents in Hawaii.
So just do your research and go into it with your eyes open. Condos and homes are Cheap over there now. Surf craigslist to see.
See you there soon!
go for it..........