Our Favorite Places

I was recently updating our guest activities list and was haunted by two main thoughts.  First, I was thinking again about how important it is to not over-plan a vacation, especially here on the Big Island where the languid pace of life is one of its most seductive qualities.  Second, I realized that I needed to put together a list of our favorite activities/places, since we’re asked all the time anyway.  I’ve compiled a list here, and will attempt to address them one by one in greater detail in later posts.

First off, when planning a trip please keep in mind that there’s nothing wrong with doing nothing.  We’ve had loads of guests enjoy themselves immensely simply spending time down at Manini Beach communing peacefully with the wildlife, picnicking at Pu’uhonua, taking long walks out Painted Church Road, and lounging on the lanai drinking wine and watching the sun set. 

Of all activities available, we would highly recommend spending time in the water here in our neighborhood, considered the most beautiful snorkeling water in Hawaii.  For exploration of the rest of the island, perhaps devote one full day to the Volcano, one day driving east (through Hilo up the Hamakua Coast and back down through Waimea), one day driving north (up the Kohala Coast to the big sand beaches like Kua, Hapuna, Beach 69, and Mauna Kea), and the other days resting and relaxing locally.  Drink some local coffee or enjoy a farm tour, watch the glorious sun sets from the lanai, sunbathe at Keei Beach, BBQ at least one night, and take things slowly…

Here are our favorite places:

From Captain Cook counter clockwise around the island:

Manini Beach

Captain Cook trail

Keei Beach

Pu’uhonua O Honaunau (City of Refuge)

(Specifically the picnic area and 1871 trail)

Two Step

Painted Church Road

(for walking/running)

Hookena Beach

Manuka trail

South Point

Punalu’u Black Sand Beach

Wood Valley Temple

Volcano – Kilauea Iki

Queen Liliuokanlai Park and Coconut Island

(in Hilo, when it’s sunny)

Hawaii Tropical Botanical Gardens

(and the connecting scenic loop)

Kalopa Forest

(nature walk and Ironwood trail)

Honoka’a

Driving along the Hamakua Coast, then down through Waimea is beautiful.

 

From South Kona, north:

Kua Bay

Beach 69

Hawi town

Pololu Valley

A Visit to Honolulu

Last week we spent a few days in Honolulu.  We’d been to the city many times before (Ken’s family is from Honolulu) and it was great to be there again.  Here are the things we love (and sometimes miss) about the big city: food and shopping.  We stuffed our faces at Shirokiya (a Japanese department store in Ala Moana mall) with sushi and ramen and fresh gyoza and other nostalgic Japanese delights you just can’t get here, with dim sum in China Town, and with our favorite Korean BBQ (Kaneohe’s TastyBBQ which has the most amazing vegetable bar we’ve ever seen).  I was able to purchase hula supplies from a little old hole-in-the-wall hula supply store, and we temporarily satiated our consumerism by wandering Ala Moana Mall (a truly beautiful open-air mall).  We spent an afternoon at Kailua Beach, one of the world’s finest beaches (white sand, purple-blue water), and would have stopped by the Valley of the Temples but ran out of time.  We took Conlan to Honolulu Zoo (he enjoyed the meerkats the most) and walked all over Ala Moana Park and through Waikiki.  It’s undeniably fun to be in the city.  Restaurant service is friendly and helpful, the restaurant scene is so competitive that most places have to be good, and stuff is open late (our quiet farming island goes to bed early and rises early). 

But we were also reminded of all the not-so-nice things, too, and were glad to come home.  For example, the most jarring thing was simply the noise.  The day after we got home I was doing maid service in our cottage and paused momentarily, taking in the silence.  I could here absolutely nothing.  The coffee mill wasn’t roasting, the birds weren’t even chirping.  There was no one here, no cars, no people-sounds.  There was only a faint sigh from the trees as the wind blew through.  The city is LOUD: jack hammers, garbage trucks at five am, scooters and motorcycles and huge buses and loads of cars roaring by.  And drivers are impatient!  I know it’s not Boston-impatient but we’ve been spoiled by the laid-back attitude of our kind Big-Island drivers who let you in and don’t tail gate or cut you off or honk a milli-second after the light turns.

We’ll probably return to Honolulu in a few years to once again eat and shop at Shirokiya and share Ken’s city with our babies and get our big-city fix.  But for now we’re loving the quiet life here at home.  For visitors to the islands, I would suggest doing your homework and choosing the place that’s the right fit.  For shoppers, Waikiki offers up Coach and Rolex and Armani and Tiffany’s and all the other big names seen in all America’s cities.  It’s filled with resorts and you can walk easily for miles.  Stuff is open late and there is always something to do.  The Big Island always gets low marks on Trip Advisor for “nightlife”, which makes us laugh.  If you want a hoppin’ nightlife, go to the city!  Like all fabulous cities, there’s plenty of music and food and entertainment.  For guests who seek a respite from city noise and pace, the Big Island will be the better fit.

 

Tsunami

On Saturday morning I awoke to the phone ringing at 5 am.  It was our guests, worried about what they’d seen on the news about a possible tsunami coming to Hawaii following the massive earthquake in Chile.  At six o’clock the tsunami siren sounded.  I got out of bed quietly and crept out into our living room.  The room was still shrouded in darkness and I could hear the surf pounding.  A siren by nature is a harrowing sound and it filled me with fear.  The sirens are tested once a month, but we’ve never actually heard one used for-real.  Both Ken and I did some quick research online and found that indeed Hawaii was under tsunami warning status, and that a tsunami was expected to hit the islands at around eleven a.m. 

We already knew that, were a tsunami to hit our shore, we would not need to evacuate, being that we are perched on a hill at 300 feet above sea level.  The best plan of action, seconded by the civil defense, is for people above shoreline areas to stay put.  Their concern is people panicking, leaving their homes unnecessarily, clogging up roads and not allowing the folks who really do need to leave, to leave in a timely fashion.  We planned to stay put, watch the news, and keep our eyes on the water. 

As the morning unfolded, the sun came out, the siren continued to sound hourly, and we checked in with the local news.  I served breakfast to our guests, we did maid service, answered the phone, and proceeded with our normal work.  Eleven am came and went, as did twelve, as did one and two and three.  We have a massive view of the coastline stretched out before us and watched the ocean constantly throughout the day.  There was no discernable shift (on our side) in current, color, level, or wave pattern.  The Kona winds picked up and the afternoon was sunny and clear.  In Honolulu, people panicked and flooded grocery stores and gas stations, but here, it was an extraordinarily quiet Saturday afternoon.

By evening the warning status had been lifted and there was an almost palpable feeling of relief in the air.  We could hear a stream of traffic heading down the road as the folks who live along the water returned home.  I heard people out on their lanais laughing and playing music loudly.  The sirens stopped, the threat was gone, and the islands endured no damage – thankfully.

More Hula

Last night we had an errand to run at the Keauhou Shopping Center (about ten miles/twenty minutes from our house). I’d known for some time that they had regular entertainment there but had never found myself there at the right time to see it. After we ran our errand we sat down for an early dinner outside of Habanero’s, and I noticed a flyer taped to the window that noted hula performances each Friday evening from six to seven. Each week a different local halau is featured.

As luck would have it, we were just in time. We strolled over to the main courtyard (over near KTA supermarket and Kenichi Sushi) and were happily surprised to see a large group of visitors had amassed to watch the performance. We sat on the ground while our son danced happily in front of us. There was some nice slack-key guitar first, followed by traditional hula performed by young girls.

The dancers on this night utilized traditional instruments as well, which was wonderful to see. So if you happen to be in Keauhou on a Friday night, waiting to catch a movie or perhaps grab dinner, please stop by the courtyard and see what’s going on. It was fantastic to see some traditional hula, which can be hard to come by.

Fruit Thieves

Recently our neighbors watched a very interesting scene unfold in front of their house. They were sitting on their lanai drinking coffee when they saw a rental jeep pull over and a man hop out. The jeep was left running with the other passenger inside. The man hopped the rock wall into their orchard, and started climbing a papaya tree to get at the ripe orange fruit at the top.

It’s necessary to clarify some things about papaya trees at this point in the story. Papayas grow like weeds all over the island. The trees can grow very tall, very quickly, and produce fruit within a year. The trees have tall stalk-like trunks, with a clump of leaves at the very top and a cluster of fruit just beneath the leaves. They’re classified as herbs rather than trees, and, most importantly, their trunks are hollow and weak.

So, as the man started to climb, the trunk cracked and both he and the tree toppled onto the wall. He cried out, jumped up, scuttled back to the jeep and tore away as quickly as possible. Our neighbors, who’d witnessed this scene unfold in its entirety from their obscured lanai found this quick karmic-return very humorous. The moral of the story is simply to not steal fruit from people’s property; it’s not right, and it can be dangerous!

Humpback Whales

It is humpback season and we’ve been watching them from the house. The humpback whales migrate down to the Hawaiian Islands from Alaska each winter to give birth and mate. They can be spotted along the west coast of this island, some years clustering up the Kohala way, and some years hanging out down here in the South Kona area.

We’ve seen them at South Point, and this year, we’ve had guests see them up off Waipio Valley. We often see whales from our house in the mornings just off Keei Beach or in Kealakekua Bay. Just the other morning during breakfast we saw a mother and calf tail-slapping right in close to shore.

Their season is November through May, with sightings seeming to peek in February, which is Humpback Awareness Month. Like all wildlife here in the islands, there’s no guarantee you’ll see one while here. But if you do, you will undoubtedly feel moved.

We’ve watched them at all hours from the house and from shore, we’ve known swimmers who’ve encountered them in the water and/or heard their calls. No matter how many times you see one of their huge, shining black backs emerge out of the ocean, it always feels lucky.

For Island visitors who will be here next week, please note that the City of Refuge National Park – Pu’uhonua O Honaunau – will be hosting a talk by Justin Viezbicke, Coordinator for Hawaiian Island Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary, on Wednesday February 17 at 6.

I went to this talk a couple of years ago and enjoyed it immensely. This is a chance to learn all kinds of things about the humpbacks you may not know. For example, did you realize that the whales – even the birthing, nursing mothers – don’t eat while in Hawaii? They give birth, mate, and make the journey home to Alaska, all without a thing to eat.

Also, did you know it is only the male humpbacks that sing? The songs have been studied and it has been noted that each year the song is added on to, the rest remaining the same. Pu’uhonua O Honaunau is a beautiful park, a fantastic place to whale watch from shore, and provides a wonderful setting for such an informative talk-story session. We encourage attendance.

Flattering Photos

Recently I was talking on the phone to a prospective guest. I was describing our guest rooms to her while she looked at the photos on the website. She was excited about booking with us and breathlessly stopped me part way and asked, “Are these photos for real?” I was a little taken aback, but assured her that yes, we took them ourselves, and that yes, the property and everything she sees there is exactly as pictured.

Her question seemed strange at first, but as I thought about it, I realized that it was fair. In fact, it wasn’t the first time I’d heard it, or something similar like: Do you serve breakfast? Do you have to pay for parking/internet? Do you really have an ocean view? Are your breakfasts really the way you describe them? Is there parking? etc. We’ve tried to provide loads of helpful information on our website, and are always ready and able to answer questions via email and phone, so we’re always slightly surprised by these questions. But what we’ve eventually come to realize isn’t that we aren’t being clear in our communications or marketing, but that there’s lots of misleading info out there in general that tourists and visitors have to wade through (oh, and the standard of accommodations on the island is unfortunately surprisingly low in some cases).

We realize our photos aren’t that great. In fact, we took them ourselves. Don’t get me wrong, we would LOVE to pay a professional photographer for new photos that really capture our place. Our photos really don’t do justice to the place, especially to the size of the guest rooms. But on the other hand, we always wanted to paint a REALISTIC picture of what’s here. Our guests arrive and either say, “it’s exactly as it looks online”, or, “it’s even better than we thought it would be!”, which is EXACTLY the reaction we want. We would never want a guest to arrive after all the expense and effort of travel and planning and be disappointed.

We have, however, heard plenty of stories of guests who have been mislead, and we have also been misled. For example, a common pet-peeve of ours is when B&B’s or vacation rentals advertise panoramic ocean views and sport great ocean-view shots on their websites, but have either used photos that were taken with a telephoto lens from miles away OR have had their once fine view obscured by foliage (which can happen in a place where there’s no end to the growing season). This gives a false impression of proximity to the ocean and/or of the view from the property. We once stayed at a place that had a photo taken – obviously once you’ve been here and seen it – from Alii Drive, but was actually located at least five miles up mauka.

Oh, and the view from the property, while probably great thirty years ago, was totally overgrown with trees and vines. You could only see sky (which is fine, but not what we were expecting). Everyone says “ocean view” here, because we’re all near the ocean and probably sitting on a hill, but not all views are equal. Another pet-peeve is guest-room shots that make the rooms look much larger than they actually are (fish-eye view). We’re always grousing about our lame efforts and how our photos only show a portion of each room. We’ve shot from all angles, at all times of day, sitting down, standing up, crouching, etc., but again, we’d rather delight than disappoint. It seems that it’s common practice to go the other way. We had some guests recently who stayed at a place where it turned out that the guest rooms—although they looked large and roomy on the website—were all in a converted basement and had very low ceilings. They felt so claustrophobic they left. We stayed at a place a while back that looked to be a massive cottage online, but in reality was a teensy-tiny little studio.

Another unpleasant surprise relating to size has to do with guest room bathrooms. Because traditional B&B’s are usually converted homes (and often guest rooms are old kid’s rooms), it is not uncommon to either have to share a bathroom with other guests, or to have a small bathroom in the room that’s been converted from a closet or other small space. There’s nothing necessarily wrong with this, you just have to know what you’re getting. We had a guest stay at a place that did have private bathrooms—which was nice—but the shower was so tiny she bumped into the sides when she had to bend over to get soap. She laughed about it, but it had been uncomfortable and claustrophobic.

It is such hard work to plan a trip and find the perfect place to stay, and our thought as innkeepers is that, after all the effort, guests should find something that makes them happy. If, when we’re speaking with a prospective guest we get the sense that they may not be happy at our place, we will say something and make a recommendation that we think we’ll be a better fit for them. The last thing we want is for someone to be unhappy here. As a visitor, it’s important to do your due diligence and find a place that works for you. Your vacation-time is precious, and you should be able to relax and enjoy it.