What's New: An Online Update for Frommer's Hawaii

"Hawaii" is the magic word around the globe. It means sunny, clear skies, warm, tropical waters, whispering palm trees, breathtakingly beautiful beaches and a vacation that will linger in your memory forever. Hawaii of 2004 is all that and more. It's a place that constantly changes, with new ways to get there, new restaurants, old hotels and resorts being totally renovated, new activities, and new things to do.

Here's a roundup of the changes that have occurred in Hawaii since the last edition of Frommer's Hawaii.

Planning Your Trip

Hawaii is getting closer to the U.S. mainland with new direct flights. The latest direct flights are on Aloha Airlines (tel. 800/367-5250; www.alohaairlines.com), which will begin in September with daily non-stops between Las Vegas and Honolulu and between Sacramento and Maui. Plus Aloha now has online check-in via computer from anywhere. Aloha passengers on inter-island and Mainland flights can print out their boarding pass up to 24 hours in advance from a home or office computer or at the airport kiosks.

Hawaiian Airlines will no longer fly to Molokai and Lanai, but will be partnering with Island Air (tel. 800/323-3345; www.islandair.com) to sell flights to those islands. Island Air has seven daily flights from Honolulu to Lanai and eight flights from Honolulu to Molokai. Island Air, which was owned by Aloha Airlines until 2004, also has a code-share partnership with Aloha.

Will the "real" best beach please stand up: Everyone knows that Hawaii has fabulous beaches. Now experts are dueling over which beach is the "real" best beach. Dr. Stephan Leatherman, known as Dr. Beach, and one of the country's foremost experts in the scientific study of beaches and coastal processes, choose Hanauma Bay on Oahu as the number one best beach in the list of 2004 Top Ten Beaches. Not so! Cries the Travel Channel, whose annual rating of beaches named Poipu Beach on Kauai as the Best Beach in America. You'll just have to come to Hawaii and decide which beach is best yourself.

Oahu

Although there are no new hotels to open on Oahu, quite a few have recently gone through major renovations:

The Outrigger Waikiki on the Beach (www.outriggerwaikiki.com) in Waikiki has finished a two-year, $20 million refurbishing which includes a new 600-square-foot self-serve business center, with computers, printers, internet access 24 hours a day, as well as a renovation of all 525 guest rooms and a new sit down check-in desk designed for travel-weary guests.

Another Outrigger property, Ohana Reef Lanai (www.ohanahotels.com), in Waikiki, has gone entirely smoke-free and occupancy has increased substantially. For those arriving at the 100% smoke-free property who are unaware of the no-smoking policy, the Outrigger/Ohana management will find another accommodation at the 11 different Ohana hotels in Waikiki, at the same rate they booked at the Ohana Reef, plus a complimentary breakfast to compensate for the inconvenience.

Hyatt Regency Waikiki Resort & Spa is in the mist of a two-year, $14 million complete renovation of all the hotel's rooms, completion set for the first quarter of 2005.

The Royal Hawaiian is expanding its spa, Abhasa Waikiki Spa, by 3,000 square feet, doubling the number of outdoor treatment cabanas and adding a lounge and dining area. The Royal also just completed a $10 million renovation of 166 guestrooms in the Tower Wing.

The former Waikiki Terrace Hotel is now in the process of being converted to upscale condominiums to be managed by Outrigger Hotels & Resorts, and will be rebranded as the Outrigger Luana Waikiki (www.outrigger.com) when finished.

High speed internet connection in every room, plus new 27-inch televisions with wireless keyboards for Web TV are now being installed in the Hilton Hawaiian Village. Also during this refurbishment are all-new soft goods for the rooms (carpets, draperies, bedding and upholstery).

New restaurants for Oahu include Hula Grill Waikiki (tel. 808/923-HULA), in the newly renovated Outrigger Waikiki on the Beach. The 6,400 square foot restaurant will combine nostalgic Hawaiian décor, with island-style cuisine, in an open-air atmosphere, with great views of Waikiki Beach, for a bistro by the beach dining experience. Located in the site of the former Sunset Terrance, the restaurant is open daily from 5-10 pm.

Just after opening their award winning Vino restaurant on Maui (named the only "Hot Table" in Hawaii by Conde Nast Traveler magazine), D.K. Kodama (chef of the popular Sansei Seafood Restaurants on Maui and Oahu) and Chuck Furuya (Hawaii's only Master Sommelier) have opened Little Vino (tel. 808/536-6286) in Restaurant Row on Oahu. Located adjacent to Sansei Seafood Restaurant in Restaurant Row, Little Vino is open Wednesday-Thursday 4:30-9:30pm; Friday 4:30pm-closing; and Saturday 7pm-closing. The menu includes tapas-style plates of palette-pleasing Italian dishes and a large range of wines by the glass.

Following in the footsteps of the popular Kona Restaurant, the Kona Brewing Company (tel. 808/394-5662; www.konabrewingco.com) has opened a restaurant in the Koko Marina Center in Hawaii Kai. The 7,000 square foot restaurant is bordered by water on three sides and overlooks the marina. Just like the Big Island restaurant of the same name, the menu features pupu (appetizers), salads, gourmet pizza, sandwiches and desserts, plus Kona Brewing Company's dozen of ales, lagers and other drinks (the locally brewed ginger-ale is outstanding).

The latest new activities on Oahu is Skydive Hawaii (tel. 808/637-9700; www.hawaiiskydiving.com), where you can get the feeling of skydiving without having to jump out of an airplane. After a brief training session, you don flight suit, helmet and goggles and enter the flight chamber of the X-Treme Air Machine, a $500,000 vertical wind tunnel that looks like an enclosed trampoline with safety net around the outside. A blast of air sends you up about 20 feet, then it's turned off and you get to experience the free fall of a skydiver. Located at Dillingham Air Field, 68-760 Farrington Hwy in Waialua, the cost for the three-minute "fall" is $60.

The Big Island

The old Kona Surf Resort, located on Keauhou Bay, is re-opening this fall, after a two-year $70-million renovation, as the Sheraton Keauhou Bay Resort & Spa (tel. 888/488-3535; www.starwood.com/Hawaii). Perched on an ancient lava flow, the 22-acre resort will have 522 rooms and suites and feature Sheraton's "Sweet Sleeper" beds and new amenity line like in-room coffee maker (with 100 percent Kona coffee), wireless internet access, bathrobes, irons, hair dryer, TV, in-room safe and mini-refrigerators. Activities for the guests include an extensive hands-on program on culture, history, and arts of old Hawaii, plus hiking and bicycling. The resort will have two dining rooms: the casual Manta Ray Bar & Grill and the Restaurant Kai, open for breakfast and dinner.

Free tours of one of the major observatories atop the 13,796-foot Mauna Kea volcano will begin this October. The regularly scheduled tours, Monday-Friday, at 10:30 am, 11:30 am and 1:30 pm, will be at the Subaru Telescope (tel. 808/934-5056; www.subarutelescope.org). Subaru is one of 13 observatories on the mountain, and is operated by the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan and the University of Hawaii. The 30-minute tour begins at the base of the 120-foot tall observatory. Inside visitors ride up 80 feet to a view of the telescope. Visitors must sign up in advance and due to the altitude, the tours are closed to pregnant women, children under 16 and anyone with health concerns that would make them susceptible to altitude sickness.

Ueshima Coffee Company (tel. 808/328-5662) has recently begun roasting tours that include a hands-on roasting experience and personalized bag of Kona coffee at their processing plant in Kealakekua Bay. The hour-long daily roasting tours, 9:30 am and 3 pm, feature a tour of the plant, participants roasting their own coffee and a 1/2 pound bag of your roasted coffee. Reservations are suggested; the tours are $30.

Maui

If you want to contact the Maui Visitors Bureau (tel. 808/244-3530), you will have to use their street address: 1727 Wili Pa Loop, Wailuku, HI 96793. They have closed their post office box.

Maui's newest tour not only takes in the history and sites in Lahaina, but also literally drives into the ocean. Lahaina Honu Amphibious Tours (tel. 808/662-4668; www.lahainahonu.com) is a state-of-the-art amphibious bus that turns into a sea-going vessel. Named after "honu" (Hawaiian for sea turtle), the bus (some 13 feet high, 39-feet long and 8.5 feet wide) can zip down the highway at 70-mph, then venture into the ocean and power along at 8 knots. Certainly a tour you will not forget, the daily adventures are $30 for adults and $15 for children under 16.

Also new in Lahaina, is the Lahaina Heritage Museum (tel. 808/661-1959; www.visitlahaina.com/wahtsnewe.html). Located on the second floor of the historic Old Courthouse, the Museum, open daily 9am-5 pm, is free and features interactive displays and exhibits ranging from Maui's whaling period to live during the sugar plantation days.

The Maui Ocean Center, Hawaii's largest aquarium, has joined with the Pacific Whale Foundation to create the Ocean Science Discovery Center (tel. 800/942-5311; www.osdcmaui.org), in the Harbor Shops of Maui, to promote more awareness of the ocean. The center offers activities like interactive displays and hands-on science educational programs for kids. There's also a visitors interpretation center on whales, dolphins, sea turtles, coral reefs and fish, plus two science laboratories.

Also at the Maui Ocean Center (tel. 808/270-7000; www.mauioceancenter.com), a new exhibit just opened: "Life on the Ledge," featuring three tanks of shells (found in Hawaii waters, like the harp, tun, miter and triton's trumpet), along with cone snails, thorny oysters and cowries. The exhibit (created to celebrate the Center's sixth anniversary) explains how snails and bivalves create their protective shells, where the animals might be found in the ocean and how these animals and the shells they leave behind were important to the Hawaiians.

A new, free guide to artists and art galleries on Maui is now available. Art Guide Maui is filled with biographies of Maui artists (some well known, some not-so-well known) and information on Maui's numerous art galleries (with maps on how to get there and websites). To get your free copy, write to: KM Publishing, 3620 Baldwin Ave., Suite 202, Makawao, HI 96768 or tel.808/572-3917; www.artguidemaui.com.

The Hyatt Regency Maui Resort & Spa (tel. 808/667-4430; www.maui-hyatt.com) has added a chapel to its list of sites for weddings. The new Lokahi ("union") Chapel is a 1,748-square foot building that can accommodate up to 40 guests or be rearranged with the use of flower arrangements and lighting for a more intimate setting for just the bride and groom. The Resort also has four additional wedding sites on the grounds in Kaanapali: the Oriental Gardens (overlooking the lagoon at the Swan Court), a gazebo in the tropical gardens, the Statue Gardens (with a view of the Kaanapali coastline) and the Napili Lawn (on the beach).

Nanea a'o Kula, also known as the Maui Kula Lavender Farm, has changed its name to Ali'i Kula Lavender (tel. 808/878-8090; www.aliikulalavender.com), after Ali'i Ching, "lavender engineer" and partner in the farm. The farm, located on Waipoli Road in Kula, features not only 30 varieties of lavender, but also a number of culinary products (including lavender sugar, lavender mango sorbet and lavender-scented coffee). The Farm also hosts tours, has high teas and creates various lavender products.

A new kayak adventure, Maui Eco Tours (tel. 866-891-2223; www.mauiecotours.com) is dedicated to showing visitors Hawaii's turtles. Called "Totally Turtles," the 3-hour adventure is along the Makena coastline and is ideal for families with children and people new to kayaking. They provide the kayaks, life vests, reef shoes, snorkel gear, dry bags and wetsuits and snacks (fresh fruit, granola bars and cold drinks). Tours, Monday-Saturday, depart at 7:30 am from Makena Landing.

Akina Aloha Tours has halted its Holo Ka'a bus service and Roberts Hawaii (tel. 808/871-4838; www.co.maui.hi.us/bus) has taken over Maui's only bus system. Roberts will continue with the three different routes: Route A from Maalaea Harbor Village to the Shops in Wailea with stops in Kihei; Route B from Wal-Mart in Kahului to the Lahaina Wharf Cinema Center, with a stop at the Maalaea Harbor Village; and Route C, from the Queen Kaahumanu Center in Kahului to the Shops at Wailea, with stops at Wal-Mart and Piilani Shopping Center in Kihei. One-way fares range from $1-$3.

In Kaanapali, there's a new yoga class, called Kaanapali Yoga, at the Kaanaplai Ali'i (tel. 800/642-6284; www.kaanapali-alii.com), where visitors can stretch next to the beach with yoga instructor Carmen Karady. Classes ($10 a session) are every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, 8-9 am.

Kauai

There's also a new type of yoga on Kauai, called Yogalign, which emphasizes deep breathing, Hawaiian lomilomi self-massage and exercises that build strength and flexibility. Developed by Michaelle Edwards, the classes are held Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday mornings in her North Shore studio. If you can't make the classes (where you might see some of her students like actress Mariel Hemingway, producer John Wells, Olympic gold-medalist swimmer Dick Roth, and world-class surfers Andy Irons and Laird Hamilton), you can pick up her one-hour DVD on this unique type of yoga, set against the lush North Shore scenery with Hawaii slack key guitar music. For her DVD, contact: Yogalign, c/o Michaelle Edwards, P.O. Box 681, Hanalei, HI 96741, tel.808/826-9230; www.manayoga.com.

Also on the North Shore, the Hanalei Day Spa (tel. 808/826-6621; www.hanaleidayspa.com) has just opened up at the Hanalei Colony Resort. Offering a range of spa services, therapeutic massage, healing modalities and yoga classes. Located adjacent to the Hanalei Colony parking lot, the new spa offers get various types of massages, body scrubs, body wraps, facials and specialty services like polarity, Ayurveda, zen shiatsu and other treatments.