Aloha From The Friendly Folks At Buzzhawaii!
We"re back with the latest edition of BuzzWords!
This time around, we take a moment to note the passing of yet another unfortunate victim of the economic malaise affecting our beautiful island state and offer a nice little addendum to last quarter"s environmentally themed issue: hybrid rental cars here in Hawaii!
No KanDoo!
Hawaii"s newest water-themed attraction, KanDoo! Island, has gone under after only two weeks in operation. The $8 million venture came to an abrupt halt mid-August when the fledgling company, unable to keep up with operating costs, discontinued paying its insurance premiums and employees whose paychecks began to bounce a few short days before the company began laying off of all but a dozen of its 253 workers.
The enormous, 98-ton, 148-foot-long steel catamaran, once moored 3 miles off the Waikiki shoreline, now sits idle in Honolulu Harbor. Equipped with a water slide, swimming pool, sundeck, and 4 full-service bars, KanDoo! Island offered a variety of water sport activities including snorkeling, scuba diving, jet skiing, and parasailing.
KanDoo! Oahu CEO Robert Maynard plans to have the island up and running again in the future, hopefully avoiding the fate of the now-defunct Hawaii Superferry which ceased operations earlier this year.
Hybrid Car Rentals In Hawaii (Finally!)
It"ll be a little easier to go green on your next Hawaiian vacation courtesy of Enterprise Rent-A-Car, the first nationwide rental car chain to offer hybrid rentals to customers here in the islands.
For now, there are 4 locations where renters may choose from Enterprise"s fleet of hybrid cars: Waikiki, Honolulu, and Kailua on Oahu and Kahului on the island of Maui.
The 2009 Civic Hybrid and 2009 Toyota Prius are the two most popular and widely available models. Fuel efficiency-wise, the Civic Hybrid gets 40 MPG when driving in stop-and-go city traffic and 45 MPG on the highway, while the same year"s Prius does a bit better, coming in at 48 and 45 MPG, respectively.
As of this writing, Enterprise Rent-A-Car"s daily base rate for a standard hybrid like the Prius was $42.74, the same as a comparable, non-hybrid vehicle like the Chevy Malibu, making the Prius the top choice for those looking to go green while also saving a little bit of green. A larger, full-sized hybrid - Toyota Camry - could be rented for $56.99 per day, about $10 more per day than a similar model like the Nissan Altima. For $75.99 a day, about $5 less than the cost of a standard SUV, a renter could drive off in a hybrid SUV like the Ford Escape Hybrid.
And that about wraps it up for our fall edition of BuzzWords"
Until next time,
The Friendly Folks At BuzzHawaii.com Wish You Well
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