A little culture lesson that I had explained to me years ago by someone who'd spent the bulk of their life here and told me I needed to be careful on words I choose... Kamaaina, meaning native born, or possibly just as often, "familiar", as in once you're here long enough you're "familiar", it can apply to residents of all races. Haole, often refers to white people. Ha in Hawaiian, among other things means "spirit" or "breath", ole means "without" or "not". Apparently the indiginous population was surprised at their first sight of walking corpses or gods, they weren't quite sure which, and that's where the word came from. I was told not to use the word haole around "locals" as it has a pretty derrogative meaning amongst some, often referring to a person as lacking spirit based on their race. I"m probably treading on some taboos saying it, but I'm careful when I use the word now.
By the way, there's some great shorediving here and you're coming into the season where weather conditions become pretty reliable. You'll have a blast.
