Joe English wrote:

Never been to hawaii - is all travel between the islands by air?

If you are referring to public transportation between Hawaii's
islands, almost all of it is by either Aloha or Hawaiian Airlines. The
reason is that most people who visit the islands are on vacation and
have limited time. There are probably some limited cruise packages
available to certain islands, but I would guess that most of those are
stops on a longer cruise -- but I don't know much about those.

There is, of course, a huge private boat fleet on the islands. If you
visit Ala Moana Yacht Harbor on Oahu, and Lahaina on Maui, you'll see
hundreds of fancy sailboats and ocean-going cruisers. In fact some
people hitch-hike around the world by crewing on private yachts. But
for most of us, it's the joys of dealing with airport security and a
bankrupt airline that we have to deal with.

Oahu is the air hub, and most flights are into and out of Honolulu
Airport. There are direct flights from the mainland to Hilo on the Big
Island, as well as Maui, however. Savvy travelers will try to arrange
a trip from the mainland into Hilo, but out of Honolulu. With a
stopover on Maui, they get a nice 3-island circuit tour. Unfortunately
flights to Kauai are usually separate out-and-back trips from
Honolulu. But most of would say that it's worth it :-).


Caveat