If you like Hawaii Trivia, you may enjoy our Hawaii Trivia Challenge. 95 Hawaii trivia questions to test your Hawaii knowledge and discover some interesting facts about the islands. We’ve been told the questions are pretty difficult, but you should have some fun going through them.

What is a wolphin? Take the trivia challenge to find out (image courtesy of Mark Interrante)

For more Hawaii trivia pick up the book Hawaii Trivia by Ed Cassidy, which contains at least 1000 Hawaii trivia questions.

We’re very pleased to announce that HawaiiGaga.com has partnered with Hawaiian Images Photography and Video to bring you aerial photos of Hawaii’s beaches, attractions, and condo resorts.

As you may know, HawaiiGaga.com displays panoramic photos of Hawaii’s 150 most popular beaches and tourist attractions. Panoramic photos give one an excellent idea of what a beach looks like. Now we’ve supplemented those photos with aerial images. The added perspective reveals many details about a beach. You’ll notice that many Hawaii beaches enjoy beautiful surroundings. As an example, take a look at spectacular Tunnels Beach on Kauai.

Brian Powers of Hawaiian Images Photography and Video decided to photograph the Big Island’s coastline in 2004. The project proved so popular he continued in 2007 and photographed the rest of Hawaii. Over 10,000 photographs later, and he now has nearly every inch of Hawaii’s coastline photographed. The photos are taken at about 500ft. Brian can somehow fly an airplane and take sharp photos at the same time!

Nothing maintains the spirits like a daily dose of Hawaii. That’s why we’ve created a Google gadget to complement our Hawaii Google themes, called My Daily Hawaii.

What is a Google gadget? It’s simply an add-on that you attach to your Google home page. Instead of the boring and plain Google home page, you can add all sorts of gadgets to customize your Google page with extra information and tools.

What does My Daily Hawaii do?

• Shows a new scenic picture of Hawaii every day. Can you guess the location?
• Hawaii travel tips. There’s a lot to learn as you prepare for your next holiday.
• Daily Hawaii trivia. Answer correctly to win super cute puppy picture prizes ™.
• A weather forecast for the four main islands.
• Flight alerts. Find out what others are paying for airfare from your airport to Hawaii.
• Cool diggs. Recommendations on some very neat places to stay.

My Daily Hawaii - The HawaiiGaga Google Gadget with Super Cute Puppy Picture Prizes

To add My Daily Hawaii to your Google home page, just click on the below button:

We’ve just concluded a year long study of vacation rental occupancy rates. Below is an excerpt from the press release:

“Occupancy rates for Maui, Oahu, Kauai and the Big Island were 62%, 61%, 57% and 50% respectively.

State wide, September had the lowest occupancy rate at 40% while February was the busiest time of year for rentals with an 81% occupancy rate. From a regional perspective, Waikiki had the highest occupancy in the state at 66%, followed closely by Poipu, Kihei and East Oahu (Waimanalo and Kailua) at 65%. The two poorest performing regions were Kapalua with a rate of 46% and the Big Island’s Kohala coast and Puna regions, both averaging 49%.”

Why is the Big Island suffering with such low occupancy rates? As seen in our Hawaii weather page, The Kohala Coast has the best weather in Hawaii. It also has an excellent selection of vacation rentals, and plenty of good beaches. Yet the occupancy rate in region was 49% for the past year!

Makaiwa Bay, one of the Big Island’s nice beaches

Two new search options have been added to HawaiiGaga’s rental searches. You can now search for rentals that are oceanfront or beachfront, and also confine results to rentals that have an ocean view.

Another feature that has been added is the ability to bookmark search results pages. Over time the results may change, as rentals come and go, but the search parameters will still be valid.

Here’s an example search: Oahu’s beachfront vacation rentals

Congratulations to John and Jan Saunders of Wenatchee, the winners of our April review contest. Remember to say to “yes” to having your review included in the contest when you submit a review.

Hawaii doesn’t have a very pronounced spring or fall. May through October is typically considered summer. This is the best time to travel to the islands because it’s less wet and a little warmer. Overall, ocean conditions are quieter during the summer but the south shores of each island are subject to large waves that originate from storms in the southern hemisphere. The longest summer day is 13.5 hours (the shortest winter day is still 11 hours). See our Hawaii weather guide for more information.

A Stand Up Paddler Fades into a Summer Sunset

HawaiiGaga.com, the search engine for Hawaii vacation rentals, today released vacation rental statistics based on data from the 5600 vacation rentals the search engine indexes. Statistics include occupancy rates, visitor demographic data, and average rental prices.

Demographic data shows that the vacation rental industry has not penetrated the Japanese market, with Japanese tourists accounting for less than 1% of rental vacationers. Conversely, Canadians show a strong preference for rentals, accounting for 9% of rental visitors and spending an average of $2600 on accommodations. 43% of rental visitors come from the west coast states - California, Washington and Oregon.

The average occupancy rate for Hawaii’s vacation rentals was 59% for the period from August 24, 2008 to Mar 28, 2009. Maui had the best occupancy rate at 64% while the Big Island had the worst at 51%. Demand for rentals was highest during February, with an overall occupancy rate of 80%.

For more details see our Hawaii vacation rental statistics page.

Announcing the HawaiiGaga.com rental review contest!

Every month we’re giving away beautiful prints by Hawaiian artists Lynne Boyer and Patrick Ching. If you’ve spent time in one of the thousands of hawaii vacation rentals indexed by HawaiiGaga.com, please submit a review. To qualify, you must have stayed at the rental after January 1st, 2008.

Visit our contest page for more information.

Examples of Patrick Ching (left) and Lynne Boyer’s (right) Art

We’ve updated our Hawaii weather guides to include monthly temperature and rainfall data for several towns on each island. This allows one to make assessments about the best time of year to travel, although it’s apparent that Hawaii is plenty nice year round.

Kekaha - one of the hottest areas of Hawaii

The above sample shows Kekaha’s historic average monthly high temperatures. Kekaha must be one of the hottest and most arid regions in Hawaii, which confirms why nearby barking sands beach is said to make barking sounds when you walk on the beach - from the heat of the sand compressing under your feet. We’ve never heard the sand bark but we’ve burnt our feet on the extremely hot sand.