Coffee lovers visiting the Big Island in November should definitely check out the Kona Coffee Cultural Festival! Starting November 4th, you will be able to experience and celebrate this year’s coffee harvest as farmers and artisans come together at this award-winning coffee festival famous worldwide. With 40 events across 10 days, you will be able to find a variety of activities for the entire family: from art exhibits and quilt...
Snorkel with the Manta Rays Imagine seeing a large, mysterious creature gliding like an acrobat through crystal clear ocean waters. Hauntingly beautiful and graceful, what is it you saw? You have seen a manta ray, the largest of the rays, reaching wing spans up to twenty feet and weighing as much as 3,000 pounds. On the Big Island of Hawaii, you can snorkel with manta rays at night! Manta rays...
If you drive up to the town of Waimea, stop by the Gallery of Great Things. This unique gallery and shop features numerous beautiful handmade crafts. Situated in an old house with history – it housed nurses during World War Two – the Gallery has many small rooms to explore. Around every corner, you will find some nook with beautiful works of art from Hawaii and around the world. ...
This month, Christopher Trent and his family are staying in one of our homes while he competes in the Ironman World Championships in Kona as a national representative for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. The Ironman World Championship in Kona is a big deal. In this long-distance triathlon, athletes from around the world swim 2.4 miles in open water, cycle for 112 miles, and finally run a marathon (26.2 miles)!...
One evening earlier this month, we went for a shoreline hike at Anaeho’omalu Bay, beside the Waikoloa Beach Resort area. We had heard that sea turtles often hang out on the quiet and less crowded beaches along this trail, and wanted to photograph them in the glow of the evening light. We headed out from the trailhead near the Lava Lava Beach Club about half an hour before sunset, equipped with flashlights for the twilight walk back. As we...
Tucked away on the shoreline behind the Kona Airport, you will find a hidden gem of marine education and conservation. Here, you can learn about ocean conservation and the world’s endangered sea horse species. The Ocean Rider Seahorse Farm is unique – as the world’s first and only sea horse farm, established to breed and raise sea horses for home aquariums and relieve pressure on wild and endangered sea horse populations. If...
One of the best parts of visiting a tropical island is dining with an ocean view! The Kohala Coast has plenty of great restaurants where you can share a romantic dinner with while watching the sun set over the waves or enjoy a delicious lunch without leaving the beach! In the winter, you might even see whales off in the distance while eating lunch. Here are a few of our favorite places for beachside dining on...
Renting a Paradise In Hawaii Luxury Vacation Home vs. Staying in a Hotel on your Hawaii Vacation Our guests range from those who are renting a vacation home for the first time, to those who have rented for years. We love hearing from our first-time vacation home rental guests who are thrilled with the conveniences of beach gear (boogie boards, snorkel sets, bikes, helmets), extra space (and bathrooms!), and the...
Three teams close together in the Queen Lili’uokalani Long Distance Outrigger Canoe RaceEach year on the Labor Day weekend, the Big Island’s Kai ‘Opua Canoe Club hosts the world’s largest long-distance outrigger canoe race. Over the 4-day event, more than 2000 paddlers compete in outrigger canoe and stand-up paddleboard races. We were thrilled that an outrigger canoe team from Japan stayed in one of our vacation homes while they were in town for...
There are many options on the Internet for finding best priced flights when you know the destination airport. We have been flying to the Big Island for years from the mainland and other Islands and wanted to pass along some use tips when searching for the best flight price and times. First if you are staying on the Kohala Coast (Mauna Lani, Waikoloa, Mauna Kea) or in Kailua-Kona then...
