The Native Iowan

I’m hanging in dem them “Hapi Isles”…

the “Hapi Isles” was the tourism marketing tag-line from days past.

For me, it’s been 25 years since the Hapi Isles made complete sense. Though still a great place, having lived through the civil war of 2000, I have not been completely in agreement with the “claim” for quite some time.

I am a good example of “a man in the past”, an individual with too much history, experience and knowledge to see these modern times as being better, happier, more positive than days gone by…

When I arrived here, January 11 1981, the population was a quarter of what it is today.

Any place that grows in population at an exponential rate shall suffer failing in control and management of the topics that matter… Topics like education, healthcare, infrastructure, urban planning, and more…

So here we are in 2025, where it can take 2 hours to drive 20ks… The unkept condition of some (not all) roads means the drive from Pt Cruz to Henderson airport can be a long, long journey. Many vehicles here receive as much maintenance as the roads, and thus are running metal on metal, moving slow, delicately over and through the pot-holes and craters and washboards. Traffic is hard to get use to. Consumes a lot of time.

The cost-of-doing-business is high. Any on-road transfers are costly due to time involved and wear-n-tear of vehicles.

For all it’s downfalls, De Islands still hold magic…