In search of the ideal Hawaiian island guide

By Chris Oliver
Advertiser Staff Writer

Travel writers say look for a book that is honest, specific, offers surprises Illustration by Greg Taylor • The Honolulu Advertiser

1. Where can you kayak down an old irrigation ditch?

2. Where can you hike across the crater of the largest dormant volcano in the world?

3. Where is the James Campbell National Wildlife Refuge?

4. Which island claims to be the birthplace of hula and honors it with a predawn festival each year?

5. In which botanical garden will you find the Diana Pool, with a temple folly and a statue of the goddess of the hunt?

6. Where is Paradise Cove?

(Answers below)

If you got fewer than four of these right, it's time to install a good guidebook on your home bookshelf.

But how do you identify a guide that suits you and that you can trust? Hawai'i is home to quite a number of travel writers, and we asked several how they approached the business of writing travel guides about the Islands, and what they look for in a guide book.

The answer, to sum it up: honesty (as evidenced by a willingness to recommend against something), specifics and some surprises.

"Tell the reader the truth!" said Jeanette Foster, author of Frommer's Hawaii 2002 guide (Hungry Minds Inc., $19.99). "Give the reader their money's worth. Treat them like your own relative or friend who is coming to visit."

Foster, a resident of Kailua, Kona, and Honolulu writer Jocelyn Fujii updated Frommer's all-island guide and Frommer's Maui 2002 guide, a process that took nine months. "I take one island a month. I fly there and inspect everything personally," Foster said. This applies to activities, accommodations, dining, tours, everything that is mentioned in the book.

"I go on every helicopter tour, I compare them, I know what works, what doesn't and the plus and minus of each," Foster said. "And we quote real prices, not symbols. Our text is set up for the reader to know exactly what they'll get."

Foster says travelers today want a variety of experiences, which can mean a few days in a big resort followed by a country bed and breakfast. "Our guide is for fit and independent travelers with or without children who are interested in getting the best value," Foster said. "We're not afraid to advise against a bad deal."

In her "Essential Guide to Maui, Lana'i and Moloka'i," (Island Heritage, 13.95), former Advertiser art critic Virginia Wageman said she looked for sights and experiences that are slightly off the beaten track. "Also, I feel it's important that visitors get to experience the unique culture of Hawai'i and I've included a lot information related to that," Wageman said.

Her best experience? "Finding the 'other' road to Hana," she said. "What a wonderful drive."

When Richard Sullivan, author of "Driving & Discovering O'ahu," (Montgomery Ewing Publishers, $16.95), first visited Hawai'i on a photographic assignment for the Los Angeles Times, he was frustrated by the number of magazine ads for Hawai'i showing beautiful places that were not identified.

"I set out on my own to explore and stopped the locals, kids coming home from school, Filipinos tending roosters, tutus, lifeguards, waiters ... anyone and everyone, to ask if they recognized the places in the ads," he said.

It dawned on Sullivan that there was a market for a guide that pictured places in the most beautiful light and offered explicit directions on how to get there whether by car, TheBus or on foot. He struck a deal with Budget Rent A Car, which ordered 30,000 copies of the book, which was still unwritten.

"Most visitors to Hawai'i rented a car even if was just for one day," Sullivan said. "A guidebook should be just that, with no question about how to get there from here."

"When I look for a guide to a new destination, I want photos that are clearly identified," Sullivan said. "I also want good maps and cautions about dangerous areas."

A measure of his own guides is that TV and film companies working in Hawai'i use the book as official movie location guides. The books are also distributed by mayor's office to visiting VIPs. Sullivan is working on "Driving & Discovering Kaua'i."

Rick Riegert, author of "Hidden Hawai'i" (Ulysses Press, $13.95), first came to Hawai'i in the 1970s when relatively few guides existed. "Back then, the best hidden thing was the beaches on Kaua'i's North Shore," Riegert recalled. "Beaches just were not reviewed like restaurants or hotels. Writing about water sports and beach activities really was an original feature of the 'Hidden' series. Our aim is to cover what people need to know for a standard vacation, but also go beyond to places and aspects of a place that only local people would know about."

Truth, opinion, directions and ...

"In the end, travel is about being surprised," said Andrew Nelson, special projects editor for National Geographic Traveler magazine, who last month spent several weeks here researching an upcoming piece. "Allow yourself the 'Ah ha!' moment," he said.

Nelson said he's in favor of opinionated guide books, even if he doesn't agree with them. He also looks for specifics: telephone numbers, Web sites, addresses.

He found plenty of "Ah ha!" during his trip.

"I'd heard nothing but horror stories about Waikiki. but when I got there, I found Kalakaua Avenue had been turned into a fine boulevard, a place of great civility, when it could easily have been kitsch," Nelson said. "My favorite part was the Historic Walking Tour, with the surfboard markers. Someone was thinking creatively about presenting this destination."

Kihei, Maui, on the other hand, reminded Nelson of Southern California. "No one warned me about the pollution and gridlock on Route 31 down to Wailea," he said.

But Nelson did find the best Spam musubi he'd ever eaten at a 7-Eleven on the way. "It was that 'Ah ha' moment," he said. "That made the drive worthwhile."

Think you know Hawai'i?

Here are the answers:

1. Kohala, Hawai'i, (808) 889-6922, flumindaditch.com

2. Haleakala crater, Maui.

3. Kahuku, O'ahu, 637-6330, wildernet.com (click on Hawai'i).

4. Moloka'i, Ka Hula Piko Festival takes place in May at Papohaku beach County Park, at the west end of the island, Moloka 'i Visitors Association (808) 553-3876. (The 2002 festival has been canceled and returns in 2003.)

5. The Allerton Garden, National Tropical Botanical Garden, Kaua'i (808) 742-2623, ntbg.org.

6. Paradise Cove, home of Paradise Cove Lu'au, is at Ko Olina, West O'ahu, 842-5911, paradisecovehawaii.com.