It is official!

[cwkline]

You have gotten good advice so far on the location / commute thing. With the bike thing, try to find a place with an enclosed garage. The salt air here will absolutely destroy chrome, unless you are into weekly polishing. My cruiser had immaculate chrome when I moved here 3 years ago, now not so much. And riding in the rain here isn't all that bad. C'mon, it's still Hawaii.
If you look me up when you get here, we can dive. Our group is varied in experience from newly certified to technical and professional divers.
Good luck
Charlie

 

[kanonfodr]

Charlie brings up a good point, covered parking is a nice thing especially for two-wheelers. Neither of my parking spots are covered so I need to look into a cover for my new bike, unless I want it looking like my old one does . Also, beware beachside parking. Everytime I hit the beach in my truck I have a nice film of saltwater air stuff on my windshield, kind of annoying when you just cleaned it.

I still love living here, tho.

Peace,
Greg

 

[MauiScubaSteve]

When I first moved to Kauai's windward side (Kapa'a) I brought a Willie G. Special, and sold it in a month because the rust pitting in the chrome was making me not sleep at night!

 

[Lopaka]

Salt air: No joke in many areas. I have a garage, so not so much an issue with cars, but things that never rusted in SoCal (tools, etc.) suddenly got a nice layer if left exposed. And this is over a mile from the ocean where the wind hits the coast. Some window screens have salt collections on the sill below them on windows facing the trades where condensation has dried and the salt falls to the sill.

I keep cameras as such in a safe with dehumidifier running. Seems to work. Do not leave anything that you care about rusting out in the open where the salt air can collect on it. Tools in the toolchest are fine. Just keep stuff covered so salt air does not descend and collect.

Areas to live again: those that are far downwind of the trades where they hit the coast will be most free of salt, but unfortunately, also the hottest. Ewa in far away, and is a hot desert.

As far as affordability and a nice combo of decent weather and reasonable commute, Mililani might be hard to beat, especially if you get up in elevation a bit, mauka way. Not near the ocean, but it ain't that far away in any direction.

Lotsa tradeoffs here. It is an island, but one with a huge variation in climate stuff.

 

[scuba_drum]

This all makes me scream, ha! I do not mean to make fun but I have never been in a place where I had to worry about salt, or rust. I really cannot wait! It snowed all weekend here in Colorado, I had to go out and shovel....dammit.

I'll keep the garage thing in mind, but the motorcycle is coming. It's been sitting in my garage for WAY too long (2003, has about 5K miles on it.... needs some riding!). All this talk of salt spray, etc I know is a problem, and will be a pain for me too, but it still is a whole new game which I cannot wait to experience.