Great comments, many thanks! Kal, your comment about Winnemucca could have come from my husband - he scares me sometimes...
I was thinking the other day, we could travel to Hawaii at least twice a year, and rent a house or condo for a month or two, a different island each trip! Then perhaps we could keep that "vacation" feeling, you know, where chores and laundry don't exist...

G,
I scare myself sometimes. >)

We have some friends that do a 8/4 split on Kauai. 8 months back East and 4 on Kauai just to keep that "vacation feeling".

That's our goal too. We do like the freedom to change our minds and maybe go elsewhere a few times. When we see those times is hard to say. ;)

Retirees must consider the availability of good medical care; Kauai is not the place I'd want to be during a health crisis.

Neither is Maui! Anything major is transported to Oahu.

I lived in that hell hole for 8 years. I was happy to move back to the mainland.

So was the state of Hawaii, honey.

this book:
So You Want to Live in Hawaii
by Toni Polancy, G. Brad Lewis, Matt Thayer
which is filled with great information about this topic.
This book is a joke! Don't base your decision on this book. You need to actually try living here for a year to try it out. Things are so different out here.

I read So You Want To Live In Hawaii while sitting in Borders on Kauai about a year after we moved there. Very dumb, outdated book.

Another book is "Living and Retiring in Hawaii, The 50th State in The 21st Century" by Smith & Smith, ISBN 0-595-23977-3 . Published 2002, don't know if it's been updated but doubt much has changed except property values). I think the idea of a (minimum) six month rental makes sense whether going to HI or anywhere else unfamiliar.

Hi gigi, my husbad and I just bought a residence on the Big Island. We also had dreams, but didnt really think we could do it. But on a vacation 2 years ago an opportunity came up and we went for it. My husband just retired but I still have to work, so it wont be full time just yet. A big plus was availability of health care. We have Kaiser which is also in Hawaii.
A GREAT website is Konaweb.com they have a moving to hawaii chat board thats very helpful.
good luck