Reply to gigib, I recall seeing a huge spider in a web like you describe off the road to Hana at Wainapanapa State Park, however [-o< thankfully I have not seen garden spiders of this size back on the mainland.

We've seen zillions of these! On a hike down the trail to the Captain Cook monument, where my husband got the one on his pack, as we walked downhill we went through what we called the Cane Spider Zone, almost all the way down to sea level in the kiawe forest. Uphill was the millipede zone, thousands of red ones crawling across the trail, about 2 inches long. We knew these weren't the scary centipedes, haven't seen one of those yet!

I dunno, I don't think Hawaii is very buggy compared to a lot of tropical places. No sand flies! Hardly any regular flies! Did get the roaches in a rental car once, ugh.

Never encountered a spider in Hawaii - just one of the centipedes - late at night in the bathroom of a B&B we stayed at on B.I. The B&Bs resident gecko took care of it. I love geckos!

I can't believe I read this whole thread just before I'm going to bed. Now I'll be freaking out.
I did encounter the centipede too but on a different trip. I was on Oahu for a Lomi Lomi training out in Kaneohe. We were working outside and my kumu said, "ok, we're gonna move our chairs over here..." and she takes my friend's chair and moves it away from a huge centipede.
It was very funny because about ten minutes before a bird had pooped on her. She didn't need to get a centipede bite too.

Melissa, you must be a townie. Growing up in Hilo, all the above are pretty routine. We called the small spiders with the great web systems crab spiders.
I live in Salt Lake and had a small (4 inch) centipede crawl into my 4th floor condo.
I know the east coast tourists really freak out on the roaches!

Now, I'm conused. We can;t be talkin' bout that buggah with the brite yellow smiley face, can we? Must be talkin' bout somtin else here!

http://evolution.berkeley.edu/evolib...0/happyface_01

I'd have a heart attack if I saw a spider that big. When we were kids, our parents took us on vacation to Washington and Oregon. There were 3 huge tarantulas in the room. My father went to get the manager and he walked in the room with a folded up newspaper. He was shaking as he tried to smack the spiders off the curtains. Even after they were disposed of, I was a nervous wreck and didn't sleep all night. To this day, I'm still afraid of spiders, even small garden varieties. In Maui, there was one of those hugs water bugs or whatever they're called in the bathroom one night, but that was about it. I was so thrilled to hear that they can fly!!!!!!

"...you must be a townie."

GUILTY!
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Cane spiders remind me of tarantulas except they have smaller bodies in porportion to their long legs. They are hairy, fuzzy things.

tarantulas on pilates