# Retiring to Hawaii (from a career of zombie fighting) **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 12, 2014, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retiring-to-hawaii-from-a-career-of-zombie-fighting/688288 "2014-05-12T17:10:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![rainy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c2a13f/32.png) [@rainy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rainy)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2014, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retiring-to-hawaii-from-a-career-of-zombie-fighting/688288/1 "2014-05-12T17:10:59Z")
The eldest little raindrop loves to think and discuss all things zombie. The other day he asked where the best place to go in the event of a zombie apocalypse…and by where he elaborated to mean where on the planet. We discussed this for a bit and decided that Hawaii would be great, but conceded that if you weren’t there when the outbreak occurred, you probably wouldn’t be seeing those pristine beaches any time soon. So what do you think? Would a layman be able to make it from the continental U.S. to Hawaii by any means after the dead rise again? Are there any luxury yachts with that kind of range that might be in port in Los Angeles? And if they were, any chance an average Joe could pilot one the 2,500 miles to Hawaii without the whole endeavor being merely a way to die at sea rather than be eaten by zombies? -rainy ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2014, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retiring-to-hawaii-from-a-career-of-zombie-fighting/688288/2 "2014-05-12T17:15:44Z")
I disagree; Hawaii is in no way a self-sufficient economy. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2014, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retiring-to-hawaii-from-a-career-of-zombie-fighting/688288/3 "2014-05-12T18:40:29Z")
If the walkers don’t get you, the termites will. ---
**Author:** ![Folacin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folacin/32/3195_2.png) [@Folacin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folacin)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2014, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retiring-to-hawaii-from-a-career-of-zombie-fighting/688288/4 "2014-05-12T20:06:47Z")
> [@PastTense](#): > > I disagree; Hawaii is in no way a self-sufficient economy. Not a self-sufficient modern economy (but where is in this globalized world?), but the native Hawaiian’s were doing fine prior to the Europeans showing up. I imagine there’d be a societal collapse, but if you survived that you’d probably be OK. ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2014, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retiring-to-hawaii-from-a-career-of-zombie-fighting/688288/5 "2014-05-12T20:38:38Z")
Your assumption is that the islands wouldn’t become infected, which IMHO, is a faulty assumption based upon the number of daily inbound flights to Hawaii. Even if you survive the boat trip there, which I would think is realistic, you would then have to fight off the hoards that are there when you arrive. So head to one of the less populated islands first. ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2014, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retiring-to-hawaii-from-a-career-of-zombie-fighting/688288/6 "2014-05-12T20:51:21Z")
If you’re on Hawaii, you’ll be catapulted into the Stone Age pretty quickly. Unless there happens to be a nuclear vessel willing to string a few cables across the harbor, you’ve got no electrical power. If New Zealand were zombie free, it might a viable place to live (decent agriculture, lots of trees, hydro electric power, at least some natural gas reserves, hobbits etc.) ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2014, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retiring-to-hawaii-from-a-career-of-zombie-fighting/688288/7 "2014-05-12T21:03:06Z")
Sorry to bring this up, but according to "Land of the Dead, " islands aren’t the sure haven they were once thought to be. The zombies just walked across the bottom of the river to get to the island (actually, I think that’s a peninsula.) You’re best bet seems to be getting up some place high and indestructible and then pulling the steps up after you. ---
**Author:** ![rainy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c2a13f/32.png) [@rainy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rainy)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2014, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retiring-to-hawaii-from-a-career-of-zombie-fighting/688288/8 "2014-05-12T23:18:35Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > Sorry to bring this up, but according to "Land of the Dead, " islands aren’t the sure haven they were once thought to be. The zombies just walked across the bottom of the river to get to the island (actually, I think that’s a peninsula.) You’re best bet seems to be getting up some place high and indestructible and then pulling the steps up after you. The discussion took us past the immediate dangers of the aftermath of the outbreak. We were assuming that the island was probably infected, but at least herds of zombies couldn’t continue to wander into the zones you cleared (provided a whole island was a zone). But after you staked out a safe zone, what better place to live a stone age life? Nice climate year round, fish from the sea, plenty of tropical fruits already growing. If you’ve got to restart society, might as well have a beach. The sea is an enormous resource for food stuffs, that is what got me thinking beaches. The speculation I really wanted folks to way in on: could a layman pilot a yacht there? Are there any yachts with that kind of range, or to go that far would you need something like a tanker? Could one person even get a tankership underway? ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2014, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retiring-to-hawaii-from-a-career-of-zombie-fighting/688288/9 "2014-05-12T23:38:22Z")
> [@rainy](#): > > The discussion took us past the immediate dangers of the aftermath of the outbreak. We were assuming that the island was probably infected, but at least herds of zombies couldn’t continue to wander into the zones you cleared (provided a whole island was a zone). But after you staked out a safe zone, what better place to live a stone age life? Nice climate year round, fish from the sea, plenty of tropical fruits already growing. If you’ve got to restart society, might as well have a beach. The sea is an enormous resource for food stuffs, that is what got me thinking beaches. > > The speculation I really wanted folks to way in on: could a layman pilot a yacht there? Are there any yachts with that kind of range, or to go that far would you need something like a tanker? Could one person even get a tankership underway? Sorry if I hijacked the thread. On the show (I think) “Man vs Wild,” he has himself marooned on a tropical island for a week and he was living fat and happy; he basically came right out and said if you’re going to be in a survivalist situation, that was the place to do it. Anecdotally, you always “hear” **When I retire, we’re gonna sail around the world**. That’s all the help I can offer, which is really NO help. I’ll just be over here, if you need me. :o ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2014, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retiring-to-hawaii-from-a-career-of-zombie-fighting/688288/10 "2014-05-13T01:17:53Z")
I think Hawai’i would be a pretty safe place if the military could get things in order earlier on and set up a proper supply network (ala **Word War Z** ), but in that case there’s not way your getting there after the outbreak starts unless you’re invited by the government. > [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](#): > > …If New Zealand were zombie free, it might a viable place to live (decent agriculture, lots of trees, hydro electric power, at least some natural gas reserves, hobbits etc.) And it’d probably be a lot easier to secure than Australia; which has a lot more coastline to secure and Northern Australia is awfully close to Indonesia & Papua New Guinea for comfort. On the other hand how effective is the Royal New Zealand Navy going to be at fighting off desperate refugees, many of home are likely to be mutineers from other navies. > [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > Sorry to bring this up, but according to "Land of the Dead, " islands aren’t the sure haven they were once thought to be. The zombies just walked across the bottom of the river to get to the island (actually, I think that’s a peninsula.) You’re best bet seems to be getting up some place high and indestructible and then pulling the steps up after you. It’s set in Pittsburgh, and the Pacific ocean is a lot bigger & deeper than the Monongahela & Allegheny rivers put together. ---
**Author:** ![rainy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c2a13f/32.png) [@rainy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rainy)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2014, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retiring-to-hawaii-from-a-career-of-zombie-fighting/688288/11 "2014-05-13T01:28:23Z")
Okay crusing some yacht pages (hehe) it seems there are some smallish\* boats with that kind of range. Whether the controls are easy enough to figure out (best case scenario the owner’s manual is in the glovebox) I have no idea. - If being large enough to have a helipad can be described as “smallish.” ---
**Author:** ![rainy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c2a13f/32.png) [@rainy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rainy)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2014, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retiring-to-hawaii-from-a-career-of-zombie-fighting/688288/12 "2014-05-13T01:29:48Z")
Would a GPS based autopilot still work? Could you look up the long/lat of Hawaii and program it in? ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2014, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retiring-to-hawaii-from-a-career-of-zombie-fighting/688288/13 "2014-05-13T01:30:07Z")
Personally, I’d recommend Iceland. They’re a lot more self-sufficient than Hawaii is, including having geothermal power generators and hydroponic greenhouses. Your best goal probably depends on where you’re starting from. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2014, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retiring-to-hawaii-from-a-career-of-zombie-fighting/688288/14 "2014-05-13T01:35:03Z")
> [@rainy](#): > > Would a GPS based autopilot still work? Could you look up the long/lat of Hawaii and program it in? It depends on how quickly you act. The satellites need to have their orbits adjusted on a continuous basis to maintain their positions. Without this updating, the accuracy would begin decreasing within a couple of days and the entire system would be dead within two months. ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2014, 9:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retiring-to-hawaii-from-a-career-of-zombie-fighting/688288/15 "2014-05-13T09:15:18Z")
If you just want a boat with a giant range, [they certainly exist](http://www.boatinternational.com/yacht-features/explorer-yachts-for-sale-rugged-and-ready-to-go/), but they’re not common. Or cheap. > [@](#): > > her range is 6,000 nautical miles and she is fully equipped to take her 16 guests well off the beaten track with a vast array of equipment, including RIB tenders, a five person Perry submarine, two waverunners, a dive compressor and helipad. ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2014, 11:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retiring-to-hawaii-from-a-career-of-zombie-fighting/688288/16 "2014-05-13T11:06:03Z")
> [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](#): > > If you just want a boat with a giant range, [they certainly exist](http://www.boatinternational.com/yacht-features/explorer-yachts-for-sale-rugged-and-ready-to-go/), but they’re not common. Or cheap. I’m pretty sure in the post apocalyptic world, he wasn’t planning on ordering one or even going to a showroom to buy one…probably just commandeering one sitting in a harbor.