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Hawaii – miss you, see you soon!! 🤙🏻

by Fishing in KonaHonolulukailua-kona, hawaii

I have been fortunate enough to go to Hawaii several times and lived there for four months at the end of 2022 into 2023. I was at the end of my rope with my job and took my show on the road incognito.

I have visited almost every island except Kauai and Molokai.

Each Island had its vibe for me.  Expensive, touristy, inexpensive, better food, and of course, fishing.  I do not need to go back to Maui or Lanai, as there was not much there for me.  Maui is super expensive, and Lanai is a dot on the map that is extinct since they took the Dole factory and moved it to Oahu near the North Shore.

My choices come down to two: Oahu, as it is the least expensive, and the local transportation, and Kona for the fishing and friends.  These are the two I spent the most time on, including my incongnito work trips.

Let’s start with my favorite, hands down, Kona!  I was lucky enough to meet first mate Sue in my first week there, who introduced me to her fishing crew, and I never looked back.  They were some of the most fun traveling days of my life to date out on that boat catching my dream fish, a 338 Marlin!  The weight changes with each story, as it was such an EPIC day, and the official weight was 334 lbs, and we smoked it at Captain Tom’s.  

It tasted like fishy, spicy jerky, and it was unforgettable, as you can see from my smile while reeling it in that day.

This is an absolute dream crew (makes me dream of going deep-sea fishing again)!

I was also able to find great, inexpensive food and happy hours.  There was the big hotel on Ali Drive where I would crush local IPAs and Kona ahi tuna nachos by the pool overlooking the ocean.  The Kona Brewery, where I could try all of their beers on tap and take a growler home. O’la Seltzer Brewery, where they made the best seltzers, including Lemongrass, which was my favorite drink while eating Ahi tuna.  Willie’s Chicken serves the best chicken tenders (my favorite), and Da Shark Shack is a local dive bar where they’d show Oilers games for me and serve my favorite fish, Ono.  

I would take the free trolley around town, which would drop me off at all my favorites.

Other than fishing and friends, here are just some of my favorites mentioned that keep me coming back to Kona.

No mistakes can be made visiting any of the Hawaiian Islands except saving a few bucks here and there. It all comes down to choice.  I know people who love Maui, too.  The road to Hana is stunning, but it was one and done for me, especially after Lahaina burned down and the politics and conspiracy theories that followed.

The historic town of Lahaina, the former capital of the Kingdom of Hawaii, was damaged beyond recognition in the weeklong series of fires. A community plagued by a housing crisis and power struggles with the tourism industry was among the issues tested in the aftermath of the wildfire.  Oddly enough, Oprah’s and the properties were untouched by the fires while they begged for donations to rebuild the Island. 🙄

Honolulu, Oahu, fits me best for many reasons.  I have an Airbnb that I have stayed at several times for $35 a night or $1000 a month.  I am able to catch the bus to Waikiki or the North Shore for $2 and find all of the GEMs.

My favorite ways to kill a day are to pack my hammock, beach chair, and beers, and take the bus to Waikiki or the North shore.  I would wing it from there, hitting my favorites: Foodland poke from the deli, Yard house happy hour, and stopping in at the ABC store on the way to the beach with my hammock.  

Cost-wise, this plan cannot be beat as a solo traveler, and I plan to keep it in my routine.

I would not be able to keep returning to paradise without cutting a few corners along the way.  

Let me know if you need help saving a buck or two!!

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Fishing in Kona, Hawaii! 🎣

by Fishing in Kona

Meeting my first mate, Sue, and her husband Steve at Planet Fitness during my first week in Kona in the fall of 2022 was such an amazing sequence of events. I was there for two months, and it could not have started any better.  

I found fishing buddies, and they were good at it too!

It would make my fishing dreams come true the following week, catching a 350 lb+ marlin, pictured above, getting weighed at the harbor. I remember it like it happened yesterday, and it was the largest fish caught on Captain Tom’s boat Honu Hua “at the time.  

In the Summer of 2024, they broke my record with a 550 lb+ marlin, giving me reason to keep going back.  

Look at the size of that marlin!!

Back to my fish story! Sue picked me up at crack ass so we could leave the docks at 6 AM. I walked up to the boat, and Sue introduced me to Captain Tom, Aunt Tootsie, and Uncle Bobby.

(Uncle/Aunt is a Hawaiian term of respect when introducing someone older than you.) 

The first thing I said was that it was a dream to catch a marlin and watch it jump while reeling it i, and holy shit, did I ever!  The first thing I remember reeling her in is seeing her jump, I said to the crew, Look at that Marlin jump way over there and the unanimous reply was; 

“That’s your fish, dumbass, REEL”.

It took me about 90 minutes to reel her in, and we have some great videos below. I was not handing off the rod and had to crank with two hands at times.  We laughed a lot as the marlin made it to the boat and took off a few times, with me yelling at her the whole time.  

First things first, I caught a Mahi Mahi right off the hop in the first video!  So awesome tasting too! After that, all hell broke loose with my marlin madness!  Enjoy!!

What a fricken’ beauty, Marlin and Captain Tom!  Reach out to fish if you are in Kona!  Tell him NorthAmerican Darrell sent you, as he will share some of our fun time, guaranteed!  

We went to Captain Tom’s and smoked her in an old shack behind his house, making the best-tasting fish jerky!  It was marinated for days and hung on hooks for four hours!!

Here are some videos and pictures from another trip with other awesome peeps! The laughs and cruising are almost as fun as the catch, every single trip. We landed a double marlin, two on hook at the same time, which was total mayhem for about 15 minutes!!  

I was able to reel mine in, but we lost the other one. Rookies, LOL!

I could literally share hundreds of pictures and videos of my fishing trips!

Here are 50ish, and you can find more on my YouTube, LOL!

www.YouTube.com/@NorthAmericanDarrell

If you’re planning on being in Kona and would like to meet Captain Tom and first mate Sue for an amazing and cost-effective fishing experience, send me an email or a WhatsApp message from the homepage, and I can work out the logistics. Hell yeah!! 

I catch myself saying that the marlin was 350lbs, busted!  338 is the official weight, and I have that paper too!

The picture of Captain Tom pointing to the hole in his shirt was my marlin nearly taking him out, so close!  That is his favorite fishing shirt, and he wore it the next two times we went out for a good laugh.

On the right, you will see Tom and his family’s process of smoking the marlin and packaging the marlin.  I cannot remember how many pounds they sell for, but I took a couple of pounds home, which is so amazing!

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Kona, Hawaii – Island life on the cheap!🏝️

by kailua-kona, hawaii

Back in late 2022 and early 2023, I worked remotely from Hawaii for four months, which was absolutely awesome.

It was also mildly stressful, considering there’s a three-hour time difference between Hawaii and Phoenix—and my company had no idea I was in Hawaii.

Early mornings? Brutal.
Sunsets on the beach after work? Worth it.

I just adjusted my calendar, smiled on Zoom, and pretended palm trees were a very convincing virtual background. 🌴😎

Remote work hits different when your biggest daily problem is deciding which beach to “work from” next.

Imagine flying from the West Coast to Hawaii for about $100 USD.
Sounds fake. It’s not. I’ve done it several times.

I even grabbed a Hawaiian Airlines Mastercard that basically said, “Congrats, you’re going to Hawaii again.” Four flights for $5.60 each after one purchase? Don’t mind if I irresponsibly do.

35,000 points.
$5.60 out of pocket.
Seattle to Tokyo. 

I have paid more for an airport coffee many times!

Another example of why people think I’m annoyingly cheap. 🤑

I spent the first two months in Kona staying at a concentration camp Airbnb. 

It can only be described as a maximum-security Airbnb.

Seriously—this place had more rules than a parole agreement. I’ve never experienced anything like it. I was stuck, so I adapted… but wow. The hosts clearly hated each other, and their mood swings directly affected the rulebook. And yes, the rules changed. Daily. Based on vibes.

At one point, there were 28+ rules, which I had to shrink to a microscopic font just to fit on one page. Think less “vacation rental” and more “choose your behavior wisely.”

I made the best of it by treating the place like a charging station:
Work. Sleep. Leave immediately.

If I wasn’t working or unconscious, I was gone.

The second two months were spent in Honolulu on Oahu, which felt like parole had finally been granted. I wrote a separate blog about that stay, which you can read HERE.

Lesson learned:
Not all Airbnbs are created equal.
Some are destinations.
Some are endurance tests.

Despite the Airbnb being one mood swing away from solitary confinement, it worked out great—I met some amazing people who completely saved the experience.

The second two months were spent in amazing Honolulu, Oahu, in a spectacular place that felt like a complete reset. I wrote a separate blog about that chapter, which you can read HERE.

It still worked out great, because along the way I met some incredible people who turned it into a genuinely local experience.

We went deep-sea fishing and caught my dream fish—a marlin over 350 pounds. The captain later invited us to his home to smoke the marlin, which was unreal. The best way I can describe it is fish jerky with the texture of beef jerky, finished with a lightly spicy marinade. Absolutely next-level.

We fished three times during my first two-month stay and returned twice more on later trips. I also wrote a separate post focused entirely on those fishing adventures, which you can read by clicking HERE.

I was working four days a week, which left me with three full days off. Most mornings, I’d walk to the gym, shower there, and then spend the rest of the day bouncing around town using the downtown Kona trolley, which is completely free. That routine introduced me to Kona in a way that felt natural, not touristy.

I’ve now been to Kona four times:

Once at what I now lovingly refer to as Auschwitz Airbnb (details below),

Once at another Airbnb where an earthquake woke me up, and

Twice at the Kona Beach Hostel, run by a Ukrainian woman who somehow always upgraded me for free.

That hostel is now my go-to whenever I’m back to fish.
If you want an introduction, let me know. Thanks, Victoria!

I spent most days riding the bus around the island, visiting Hilo and a bunch of smaller towns—mostly because I was rarely home and had nowhere better to be. The local Kona trolley deserves special recognition though. It’s one of the best free features on the island, running end to end through Kona and stopping at all of my soon-to-be favorite spots.

Including Kona Brewing Company—which we’ve all tried back home, but hits a little different when you’re drinking it where it’s actually made. Fresh, local, and dangerously easy to justify as “cultural research.”

Kona Brewery – we all have tasted it, but I was getting it right from the tit!

O’la Seltzer Brewery – they used all of the island flavors to create seltzer magic that went awesome with poke!!

Willie’s Hot Chicken – the absolute best chicken fingers and live music on the island.

Two-Step diving – Just like the name, there are two steps into the water, and you’re in snorkeling paradise.

Foodland Poke Bar – I would get the absolute best poke lunch and dinner for under $10.

Quinn’s almost by the sea – This was where I found the absolute best one, the absolute best tasting fish. 

Harbor House restaurant – this is where in the marina where we would often go after fishing, as it was in the marina.

The whole time I was in Kona, there was an active volcano.  You could see it across the island, and we even visited to get a closer look a couple of times. 

During my two months there, the active volcano lit up the night sky like something out of a sci-fi movie. The photos above were as close as we could safely get—and of course it was cloudy that day—but the drive home at night was unreal, with an orange glow stretching across the horizon.

I also visited Hawaii Volcanoes National Park before the eruption to see it up close. You could clearly see how the earthquakes had torn up sections of the road, a reminder that the island does whatever it wants, whenever it wants.

Even crazier—you could see the glow from across the island at night, right from my Airbnb. Hawaii doesn’t ease you into moments like that. It just casually drops them into your evening and says, “Yeah… this happens.”

Hawaii doesn’t ask for your attention—it just reminds you who’s in charge, then goes back to erupting like it’s no big deal.

I’d watch the Edmonton Oilers play hockey while an active volcano lit up the sky outside.

Hard to beat that for an intermission show.