Guest Rooms - The Ohana Cottage

Situated behind the main house is the ohana cottage. The ohana cottage is where the previous owners/builders lived as they built the main house, so it is a couple of years older (it's about twelve years old). While the main house has a very modern look (white Mediterranean-style stucco) the ohana cottage looks more like a typical island home. That's not to say it's small though. The cottage is actually split into our two largest and most private guest rooms, the Alihi lani and Alaula Suites and is ideal for our long-stay guests and for families. While the Alaula is about 400 square feet, the Alihi lani is about 550. 

Alaula feels like a large studio apartment. It is basically one large airy room with a vaulted ceiling, a beautiful four-poster Balinese king bed, and a large kitchenette, a private bathroom, and a small porch off the front. Guests of Alaula consistently say they enjoy the porch. It faces our long south lawn that runs down to the pool and is bordered by a row of magnificent tall tiger palms. From the porch you can hear the wind rustling the tiger palms and all the fantastic bird life that lives in them. The porch is an excellent place for an early morning cup of coffee or a sunset glass of wine. 

The Alihi lani Suite feels like a small island house. We love the feel of this space and even considered living in it ourselves. It has great ventilation, having windows facing both the ocean and the mountain, a beautiful hardwood floor and a soft, shaded light giving it a cool, quiet feel. The koi pond waterfall isn't as audible from the ohana cottage. Instead, you hear the birds, the dried plumeria leaves blowing in the driveway, or the rain pitter-pattering on the back roof. The other big benefit here is that it has a full kitchen, with a full-size refrigerator and an electric stove. For guests who wish to cook, this is a major benefit.  

Although it is the main house guest rooms that have the direct, grand ocean views, the ocean is visible from the Ohana Cottage. You can see the glowing sunset light pouring into these rooms in some of our online photos. 

What are the guest rooms really like? Mahina and Makani

Both the Mahina (moon room) and Makani (wind room) have their private entrances off the sunny pool lanai. They are next to each other and just about identical in size and appearance. They both have beautiful ocean views out across the pool lanai. Both rooms receive the ocean breezes blowing off the water during the day and the mountain breeze blowing down from behind at night. Both rooms are filled with soft natural light and, like the Moana room, have a clean modern minimalist look. While the Moana Room has a slightly vaulted ceiling, Mahina and Makani have beautiful wood ceilings. All three main house guest rooms are about 350 square feet and have good-sized 3/4 bathrooms (sink, toilet, shower) with nice, cool slate floors.  They are unusually large for B&B guest rooms.  It can be difficult to tell from just a few photos, and we're working on getting some new photos up soon.

Guest Room Tour Continued...our Great Room and Lanai

The Great Room is an area just for guests to enjoy (we have our own completely separate space so guests never feel like they're in "our house" or that they have to interact with us if they don't want to). The Great Room is a big, open, airy room where guests can work on the computer (we have a work station just for guests with high-speed Internet access), read, or relax. We prop the front doors open during the day and the wonderful ocean breeze blows through. This is a great place to read. I've even snuck down when no one is here and done yoga in this room. It is very quiet (except for the bird sounds and the breeze in the trees) and is a peaceful space.

On the other side of the Great Room there is a door out onto our big pool lanai. The pool lanai is very large and has plenty of space for guests to relax and sun bathe. We have a lovely round pool, a hot tub, and a covered area with a BBQ. If no one's around I'll sometimes sneak down to the pool for a sunset dip. I like swimming to the edge, resting my arms on the side facing the water and watching the sun set into the ocean. The sun sets quickly here in Hawaii, so make sure to sit still and enjoy it before heading out for dinner. Or, just enjoy a BBQ dinner here on the lanai. You can’t beat the view!

What are the guest rooms really like?

It's very difficult to describe our guest rooms with just a few lines and one or two photographs, so I thought we'd go into detail a little bit more here in our blog.

Luana Inn is a very unique property as far as guest rooms go because, unlike most B&B's, this house was actually built to be a bed and breakfast, rather than being a house that was converted into a B&B. This resulted in guest rooms that were very well designed. Each guest room has a private entrance and private bathroom and is quite large, as far as traditional B&B rooms go. The bathrooms were not added in after the fact, which is also the case in many B&B's. I've stayed in more than one traditional B&B that either had a shared bath or where the guest room had a bathroom but was so tiny is was obviously a converted closet. Our first impression when we saw photos of the guest rooms here before we bought the property was that the rooms looked more like elegant resort rooms rather than crowded B&B guest rooms, which we liked! We are both fans of space, cleanliness, privacy, and minimalism. I'll try to describe each of the five guest rooms one at a time over my next few entries to give you a better feel for each of them.  

First I'll describe Moana, our ocean room. Moana is probably our single most popular room because it has the most dramatic ocean view. It's in the main house and has two doors, one onto the front yard with the wedding arch, and one onto our Great Room. Many of our guests who've stayed in this room have commented that they feel like the front yard is their own private lawn. The front lawn is a manicured grassy stretch bordered by a hedge with bright orange flowers that overlooks the ocean. We're so close to the ocean that you can often hear the waves at night from this room. Many of the Moana guests also leave the door to the Great Room open since few guests actually use that space. The Moana Room is open and airy and has great light. The calming sound of the koi pond waterfall is always in the background.  

A Typical Day

Last week Ken and I had a slow day so we went up to town together to run some errands.  After our regular trips to Costco and Lowes, we stopped by the Old Airport Park.  This park lies on the north edge of Kailua, at the end of the Kuakini Highway.  We'd been there before but not with our little son, Conlan.  It was an overcast day but we were glad for this, since the park can be extremely hot and bright.  This long yellow-sand beach stretches along the blue ocean, strikingly beautiful and almost always deserted.  We parked and walked in, looking for a quiet place to relax.  

It was a weekday, midday, and like most parks at this time of the week, was practically empty.  There was one large family preparing a fish BBQ, and a mom and baby sleeping under a tree, but we were otherwise alone.  We found a slightly hidden area with a sandy patch and two large tide pools - perfectly kiddie-size.  The surf was strong and foamy waves crashed up on the rocks but dissipated as they spilled over into the tide pools.  Ken and Conlan played in the sun on the sand and I walked down to a pool and slipped in.  

The water was perfectly warm and soft, like a bath.  As I always do in large tide pools, I start on my belly and walk along on my hands, viewing the baby fish and hermit crabs underneath me.  I then flip over and float on my back, drinking in the sun.  I know you're not supposed to sun-bathe, but I just can't help it at times like this.  I lie there and let the ocean cradle me, the sun warm me.  I feel like I am being held and cared for, embraced by the sun and the water.  My ears are submerged so I can hear the crispy-bacon-frying sound of the little fish nibbling, and the muffled roar of the waves.  I feel I could fall asleep like this.  

After we returned home later that day, I went down to the lanai and had a soak in the hot tub.  There was no one around and the house was perfectly quiet.  The mist that had been sitting up on the hillside all day finally came down and a soft warm rain began to fall.  I sat there in the warmth, drinking a glass of wine, and watched the raindrops gently break the smooth surface of the pool water.  I looked out over the Bay, noting the shifting colors of both the sky and the ocean as the rain came down and the weather shifted.  The sun began to burn a bright orange-pink hole in the gray sky, and I wondered if this evening our neighborhood owl would fly over the lanai.  The world around me was hushed and damp and I had a strange sense that all the green growing things were breathing and sighing as it rained.

As I sat in the hot tub I thought about how perfect this day was, and how typical.  There are so many days like this here, so many moments that are so over-the-top lovely you can't imagine them being any better.  I was reminded what it is like to be a visitor to this magical island, how precious this place is, how healing.  The island gives and gives, and we are always thankful.

Our new Spa Room

We have begun renovations on what will become the Luana Inn's spa room. We'll be offering massages and facials from a couple of our favorite local providers.

When it was originally built, the addition that will become the spa room was a two story aviary. The original owners of the house had a collection of cockatiels, parrots and other assorted exotic birds. Apparently the mess and noise got to be too much and they converted the downstairs portion to a utility room and the upstairs to a greenhouse, where they grew bromeliads. We've always wanted to do "something" with the space, but weren't sure what. 

Recently, we decided a spa would be perfect. Since the room has a huge screened area overlooking our koi pond and waterfall, it has that lovely, relaxing white noise effect that people pay good money for on CD. It has a nice large skylight and has an airy, light feel for most of the day.

A new floor, a fresh coat of paint, and some plumbing and electrical work should all be done by the end of June. 

The attached image of the room is from just after the removal of the old floor and all the old shelving used to house the plants.

Ken

What's the deal with the dolphins?

One of the fantastic things about living here is being able to see native wildlife in its native habitat. During humpback season we can see whales from the house as they relax right off shore. When we swim or snorkel, we see a variety of beautiful reef fish (sometimes the water is so clear you can see the yellow tangs from shore), and often see green sea turtles.  At dusk we are often greeted by the native owl, pu'eo, and in the afternoon we often see the native hawk, io, soaring high above our neighborhood.  It always feels lucky to see these beautiful animals.

The animal that probably receives the most attention is the spinner dolphin.  There is a local pod that moves up and down the South Kona shore, often resting in Honaunau and Kealakekua Bays. The dolphins move out into deep waters to fish at night, and utilize the shallow Bays for rest and as nurseries.  Kealakekua Bay is a nature preserve but also a major tourist attraction, so balancing use of the Bay for recreation whilst maintaining its pristine condition is a serious source of concern and tension on the island.

The effect of growing interaction between the dolphins in the Bay and humans has been and is being studied.  From what we have read here locally and what we have learned from a guest of ours who is a marine biologist and has spent time living at the Bay and studying dolphin behavior, excessive, close contact with humans is proving to be detrimental to the dolphins' well-being.  Their numbers are starting to decline.

If you are swimming or kayaking in the Bay and the dolphins happen to approach you, which they often do because they are inquisitive animals, consider yourself lucky.  It is undeniably magical and wonderful to see such a beautiful creature in its home.  It is best, however, not to pursue them.  Let them come to you.  Keep in mind that the Bay is the dolphins' bedroom and nursery, and that when you are in it, you are a guest in their home.

Spinner dolphins, like Hawaiian monk seals, green sea turtles, and humpback whales are protected by the Endangered Species Act; it is illegal to touch or approach them. You must stay 50 feet away from a sea turtle, 50 yards away from a dolphin, and 150 yards away from a humpback whale.  Not all whale-watching tours or wildlife-encounter tours are respectful of these rules.  Please be mindful of this as you research tours, and don't be afraid to ask questions. It's in the best interest of everyone that Hawaii's precious creatures be treated with respect.