King Kamehameha's statue in downtown
Honolulu: Come visit, it doesn't have to cost an
arm and a leg.

The total for my Waikiki trip: less than $1,500. And if you don't count airfare or lodging, I spent $334 in seven days on Oahu. Less than $50 a day in Hawaii isn't bad (and that included a week's bike rental).

Here's the final total, and a few hindsight tips:

(To read the complete blog, scroll down to the bottom to "More from this blog" and click on "4." Then scroll down to the entry titled "Penny-pinching in Paradise" and read from the bottom up.)

My rented bike got me places such as the jungle
of the Manoa Valley, on the edge of Honolulu. (I locked
my bike to a signpost at the trailhead for a hike to the falls.)

Going car-free at Waikiki makes good sense -- there's plenty to see and do within walking distance, or by public bus, and hotel parking can easily cost more than $20 a day. Does renting a bike for a week make sense? Yes, but only if you're an avid cyclist accustomed to biking in the city.

That said, don't let me scare you off.

Hurricane Bob brought his
"big gun" surfboard to work so he
could close early and head for the surf.

On the North Shore of Oahu, you don't see Gidget running into the soda shop and
yelling "Surf's up!" these days.

No, when giant surf is headed for Haleiwa or Waimea, around here they talk about a "big swell" coming -- terminology is important. And pinpointing where and when has become a science, using a NOAA ocean buoy, the Surf News Network Web site, beach cams, e-mail and cell phones.

"Hurricane Bob" Brown at the Surf Museum was on the phone when I walked in Sunday, asking a friend to keep an eye on the beach cams for him, because 15-to-18-foot waves were expected before the day was out. The big swell was on its way. He was making plans to close early.

One cool thing about visiting Waikiki -- the "Manhattan of the Pacific" -- is that it is such a crossroads for Pacific Island cultures. The tourist trade draws performers from all over.

One payoff for me came at Saturday's Sunset on the Beach program, a series of free live music and movies (shown on a 30 foot screen erected on Queen's Surf beach at the east end of Waikiki). It happens on a consecutive Saturday and Sunday once a month.

This month's movie program -- part of the Hawaii International Film Festival -- was interesting, but a dance team of rocking teenagers from Samoa who performed beforehand stole the show.

Do I at least get a new job as a food stylist? If all else fails, wow
'em with exotic produce: star fruit and papaya.

I think I've come close.

On a penny-pinching budget, I can't say my Makeshift Mai Tai replicates the sublimity of the Moana Surfrider Hotel's $10.25 cocktail-of-the-fru-fru-gods. But I have at least washed up on the same island.

Stanley Asato of Ska Tropicals brings flowers
from his Kahalu'u farm on Oahu's windward coast.

What's better than fresh produce and flowers from a farmer's market? How about fresh tropical produce and flowers, grown only in Hawaii?

More tips on budget buys on Waikiki, from Rebecca Pang, publicist for the Oahu Visitors Bureau:

In case you had any doubt that Hawaii had royalty, visit 'Iolani Palace
in downtown Honolulu, an easy bus ride from Waikiki.

Fun fact of the day: In the days of the Hawaiian chieftains and kings, you could pay your taxes in bird feathers.

It's true. And the results were flamboyant cloaks and capes, called 'ahu'ula, woven together with tiny feathers of red, yellow and black and worn by nobility. One such cape of Kamehameha the Great is said to have used the feathers of 80,000 birds. (He probably had to raise taxes.)

Some of these garments have survived more than 100 years, and you can see them among the royal treasures at Honolulu's 'Iolani Palace.

But that's not the half of it. If you like the royals in Britain, you'll find a fascinating tale of proud heritage -- and paradise lost -- in Honolulu.

I'm up to $1,400 so I'm going to have to pinch pennies till they squeal in the next few days.

Day 4 was a pretty good penny-pincher day, I'd say. Day 5 I splurged on the guided tour at Iolani Palace and met up with other folks for lunch and dinner, so costs ramped up a bit.

Here's how it adds up so far.

Seen in front of a residence near Koko Head: a mailbox you might
use if you want to send someone some cutting remarks. Or pointed
suggestions?

Michael Nakasone conducts the Royal Hawaiian Band in front of
Honolulu's elegant Iolani Palace.

How many places in the United States have an official municipal band that was founded by a king and plays a weekly concert on the lawn of America's only royal palace?

One place. Honolulu.

Recipe for cool.

Biking under tropical sun has a special way of dehydrating you. As in, my aloha shirt was soaked in sweat as if I'd jumped in Ala Wai Canal.

Suddenly I remembered that I wasn't far from Waiola Shave Ice, one of those places people talk about in hushed tones.

Suddenly, life looked better.

My day was a little costlier, thanks to the fancy mai tai and the nickel-and-dime-you snorkeling experience. But I don't think I've lost my skinflint credentials.

Here's what I've spent so far on my visit to Waikiki:

I surveyed the concierge desks at three big Waikiki hotels with this question: "Where might you send guests who are looking for the best happy hour -- discounted drinks and food -- in Waikiki?"

You might want to take notes:

Clancy Ako, a worker at the Lyon Arboretum, says
this is a place where it really knows how to rain. And
the lush gardens and forest respond.

I got out early on my bike Thursday with two goals in mind: guava-filled malasadas for breakfast, and a cool-of-the-morning hike to Manoa Falls, of which I've heard so much from readers.

I scored on both fronts, and I thought the free Manoa Falls hike might be the Deal of the Day.

But after hiking to the falls, I stumbled on a place mentioned by another reader, right at the falls' trailhead: Lyon Arboretum. And it won me over, big time.

One thing you have to love about Waikiki's
venerable International Marketplace: the banyan,
with orchids growing on it.

I see a kid in Waikiki's International Marketplace, that well-aged bazaar of junk jewelry stands and pearl-in-an-oyster come-ons that's been here since people came by ship. A smart-looking, nice-looking kid of maybe 13 or 14, but kind of shy looking.

I had a dead cheap second day. Some food came from my fridge, and all my travel was by bike. Here's what it's cost me so far to visit Waikiki:

Beautiful water -- you might call it Vicks VapoRub blue -- draws visitors
to Hanauma Bay. Too many visitors.

Hanauma Bay, the fabled "best place to snorkel in Hawaii," if you buy the hype, used to have 3 million visitors a year. My wife and I were among them, in the mid-1980s.

"It had 3 million visitors, and it was a disaster, the ecosystem couldn't handle it," a park volunteer told me on my visit this time. In response, the state restricted access to this popular tourist spot 20 minutes from Waikiki. They added a $5 charge per visitor over 12, and required every visitor to watch an educational film. The visitor numbers have been cut in half, and the bay's protectors are understandably happy.

But it's no wonder half the people stopped coming.

Can I match the Moana Mai Tai? We'll see.

I had planned to break my penny-pinching regimen and have a mai tai at -- where else? -- the Mai Tai Bar at the famous "Pink Princess of the Pacific," the Royal Hawaiian Hotel.

Alas, the pink lady is closed until January for a major renovation.

So I settled for the Beach Bar at the lovely old Moana Surfrider, built in 1901, the first hotel on Waikiki, complete with Corinthian columns and class oozing out of the 107-year-old woodwork.

I didn't suffer too much.

Hands wave, hips weave and grins glow under the banyan tree on Waikiki.

There's a free hula show every night but Monday on Waikiki Beach under the spreading banyan tree just kitty corner from the Hyatt Regency hotel at the corner of Kalakaua Avenue and Uluniu Avenue.

When I first heard about it, I presumed it was a kitschy tourist thing with professional dancers doing a tourist-friendly amalgamation of South Seas dance, like they've had at hotel luaus around Hawaii for years.

I was wrong. It's much better than that.

You'd better hurry in to pick up the shirt at left, which shopowner
David Bailey expects will catch the eye of Jimmy Buffett next time he's in.
In his other hand Bailey holds a shirt from the wait staff of a 1940s cruise
ship. Both are priced at $4,000+.

It used to be Hilo Hattie's was the place to go for Aloha shirts -- those colorful casual shirts with patterns of tropical flowers or montages of surfers or just about anything that says "Hawaii."

The 45-year-old island-bred business filed for bankruptcy protection last week, blaming this year's dramatic drop in tourism. Its stores are to remain open, but opening of a planned new Waikiki flagship store has been delayed until at least next summer.

No worries. For us penny-pinchers, there's always David Bailey's place, 517 Kapahulu Ave., which has a thrift-shop vibe, with both new and used shirts, but counts among its repeat customers singer Jimmy Buffett and actor Nicolas Cage, among other celebrities.

My landlord at The Seashore condo calls Waikiki "the Manhattan of the Pacific."

That's all well and good, but I don't remember asking the concierge for a daily 5 a.m. wake-up call.

From the top of Diamond Head: On a clear day, you can see Steve McGarrett.

Wow, down there -- just this side of the marina. There's the rooftop Jack Lord looked out from in the opening credits of "Hawaii Five-O." You know, just after the really cool drum roll and trumpet fanfare? When he suddenly turns around to face the camera, looking as tough as Vin Diesel and cool as Daniel Craig?

That was just one of the thrills of hiking to the top of Honolulu's famed Diamond Head volcano and looking down on Honolulu.

Who can name that hue?

It's an eternal challenge for a travel writer: How do you describe the color of that incredible tropical seawater -- you know, in near shore where it turns from deep-sea blue to -- well, "aqua" or "turquoise" just don't seem to do it justice.

I've experimented in my time, with descriptors such as "Hall's Menthol Eucalyptus cough-drop blue." I've thought about "Vicks VapoRub blue," too. I can't seem to get away from medicinal.

Any suggestions, readers? How do you describe that blue?

Jacob Birnson of Atlanta, visiting Honolulu on his honeymoon,
takes a picture from the top of Diamond Head.

Let me make a suggestion: Don't go to the top of Diamond Head to watch the sun rise. Unless you want LOTS of company.

Here's what it's cost me to visit Waikiki so far:

Got malasadas? The ladies at Leonard's
can fix you up quick.

It seems that a lot of my cheap peak experiences in Hawaii are going to have to do with food, it occurred to me as I munched a hot malasada while I sat on a breakwater at Queen's Surf beach, at the east end of Waikiki, watching the long snoots of incoming waves playing "Red Rover" with my toes.

Mmmm, mmmm. For 70 cents apiece, sugary malasadas from Leonard's Bakery may be the cheapest good time on the island.

By the way, here's more about the place I'm staying.

It's called the Seashore condo, and it probably used to have a great view of the seashore before they built the giant Hyatt parking garage between it and the beach.

The feast. When you're really hungry, nothing beats food.

Oh. There are few things so blissful as feeding your face with really good food while watching the tropical sun turn the landscape all golden along about 6 p.m., especially when it's really almost 9 by the clock back in Seattle, which is where the day started, and you really should have had dinner hours ago.

Diamond in the rough: the lanai view from my budget
condo behind the Hyatt. Wait till the sun rises over
Diamond Head, I'm told.

WAIKIKI BEACH -- The most predictable thing about air travel anymore is that it's unpredictable. Like the baggage hatch on our Northwest Airlines 757 that refused to latch, delaying my Seattle departure by an hour this morning.

But a 9:15 a.m. takeoff still put me in my Waikiki condo by 1:30 on a muggy, partly-cloudy Honolulu afternoon, just in time to see the Superferry -- an alarmingly large high-speed catamaran -- zip across the strip of azure ocean I can see from my lanai.

From Orange County Register

Hawaii wants you. And you want Hawaii. So don't let hard times hold you back.

Tourism to the land of Aloha from the West Coast has recorded its biggest drop on record with a $457 million plummet in tourist spending for the year so far. So while economic news is glum, if you've squirreled away vacation dollars that need to see some tropical sun, now's the time to go bargain hunting in Honolulu.

That's what I'm doing.

Monday, I'm pulling on my gaudiest batik shirt and heading off for a no-frills week in Waikiki. I've rented a bargain condo just behind the Hyatt. Instead of picking up a car at the airport, I'll depend on a rented bike and the public bus. I plan on plate lunches and mix-it-yourself mai tais.

It's a tough job, but somebody has to do it.

Looks like now is a great time to go. When I bought my air ticket on Northwest Airlines in July, it was $476 with tax and fees. If I booked for the same week a few days ago on Hawaiian Air, I'd have paid as little as $324, a real bargain.

Use my blog to plan your own penny-pinching trip. Or just enjoy reading about me being cheap at the beach so you don't have to.

Meanwhile, if you're an island expert, I NEED YOUR TIPS. Where should I eat? What should I see? What, besides sunshine and sand, is free? Add a comment below.

Then join me Monday on the lanai (with a view of Diamond Head). Aloha!