And because I now have BLUE SKIN OF THE SEA, I can go back time and again. For me, anyway. If I were there I think I would feel too close to my material. I would see all the little things I was getting wrong or missing altogether. Being apart from a place I love makes it all the more enticing.
Writing is one way to stay close, very close.
In my head and heart, daily, I am in the islands. I remember the powerful parts of growing up, the good and the bad. I remember what was important to me as a young person, which is probably not so different from what's important to young people in the islands today. I have no idea why children's books set in Hawaii are so rare. Or adult books, for that matter.