Vacation Rentals by Owner

Honeymooners

Guest: Brad and Rhondel, Seaside OR
Date of Stay: 03/31/12 Review Submitted: 04/10/12

Absolutely beautiful place...vacation of a lifetime. Could not have picked a more perfect spot for our honeymoon! We had a blast! Explored tide pools every morning...Gorgeous sunrises...perfect weather. Money well spent! Thank you for sharing your home, thank you to Jon and Gail for recommending this treasure! We'll be back!

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love your home

Guest: Trevor and Julie, Seattle WA
Date of Stay: 02/15/12 Review Submitted: 05/12/12

it was so hard to pull ourselves away from your wonderful home with its most amazing view to go explore the sights...we love the layout, decor and comforts of the home, the pebble shower floor is wonderful on my feet... We got up to see sunrise everyday, looked for whales a lot.Thank you for your book of recommendations, we tried to do it all! I think the tide pools were the best.

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love Puna the area

Guest: Laura and Pit, Fort Collins, CO
Date of Stay: 02/10/12 Review Submitted: 05/12/12

Thank you for a wonderful stay in Puna. We loved every moment here and especially enjoyed sitting outside on the lanai and watching the moonlight on the water. The night we arrived, the moon was hanging low in the sky - enormous and beautiful. We drove down the red road many times, I think it's the most beautiful stretch of road anywhere! We went to the tide pools and saw an assortment of shimmering fish. We went to the Green Lake, hiked the Green Mtn, had lomi lomi massage at Kalani on the way... What a wonderful visit, I look forward to coming back again soon. Thank you!

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love the ocean sounds and the isolated feeling!

Guest: John and Carol, Atlanta GA
Date of Stay: 01/30/12 Review Submitted: 05/12/12

What a beautiful setting! We loved the house and the view and the sounds! The isolated feeling was great! Restaurants in Pahoa like Kaleo was marvelous, great food & live music!

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Beautiful spot

Guest: Jules (Felton, CA USA)
Date of Stay: 08/27/11 Review Submitted: 09/07/11

Loved every minute. The house is right on the water, you couldn't get any closer! You feel as if you're on a boat, but without the rocking! The house is beautiful. There are matching bedrooms/bathrooms (newly decorated, very nice) on each side which makes it perfect for 2 couples. All essentials are there, along with nice Hawaiian decorations. You are in a home & can feel that. I would stay there again in a heartbeat.

Recommended for:Adventure seekers, age 55+, families with teenagers, families with young children, girls getaway, romantic getaway, sightseeing.

Pahoa Paradise

Guest: Soulmates Forever (Los Angeles, CA)
Date of Stay: 06/28/11 Review Submitted: 08/09/11

My wife and I spent 10 glorious days in this fabulous house and I want 10 years. The view is mesmerizing, the house wide open yet cozy and the location perfect. Just a short walk through the beautiful neighborhood to the clothing-optional black sand beach for a great swim. And a short drive to either Kalapana for breakfast and a stroll on the amazing Lava Trail or the Tide Pools for the best snorkeling we've enjoyed for years. The closest town, Pahoa, supplies all you need with 2 great restaurants, Keleo's and Paolo's and a great coffee house, Puna Java to boot. Best vacation we've had in years and the best house we've ever rented. Five stars!

Recommended for:Romantic getaway

Guest: Gary and Mary, Rochester WA
Date of Stay: 04/19/11 Review Submitted: 05/02/11

Thank you so much for sharing your slice of heaven with us. When I asked you long ago if this was a quiet and "non touristy" get away - you said yes! You were right, exactly what we were looking for - rest, relaxation, rejuvenation, can't ask for more! See you again soon.

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Love This Place!

Guest: Anonymous
Date of Stay: 02/10/11 Review Submitted: 02/22/11

This is our third time staying in this house and it is always quite wonderful. We have stayed many places in the islands and this is our favorite. I won't rehash the other reviews other than to say we agree with them. Highly recommended.

Recommended for:Adventure seekers, age 55+, romantic getaway.

Guest: Nancy and Dick, Hutchingson MN
Date of Stay: 01/12/11 Review Submitted: 05/02/11

We enjoyed this lovely home for a month! We so appreciate all your details and how well the house is supplied!! This is our 2nd visit to this area and your house is the best! Saw whales three times and breached! Cruise ships in the night once a week. Delicious big papaya for breakfast everyday 6 for $2 at farmer's market...

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A LOVELY Month !!

Guest: Dick & Nancie Waage (Hutchinson, Minnesota)
Date of Stay: 01/12/11 Review Submitted: 02/15/11

We have just returned from a lovely month at your Kehena Makai home!! You have thought of every detail to make living there easy and comfortable. We loved the awesome showers, neat-well stocked kitchen, nice flat screen TV, quality towels and bed linens, great bathcounters and sinks, well. . . .we just liked it ALL !! Now. . . the totally unbelieveable ocean view is even hard to describe!! It is a picture postcard every day !! We saw whales 3 times and even 1 breach!! And, yes, you really can feel the ocean spray on the front lanai!! Thank you for such quality furnishings, attention to detail and a spotlessly clean home!! It was a joy to open the door for the first time and see the wondeful home. We highly recommend that anyone take the opportunity to stay at Kehena Makai!! P.S. We love the Big Island. There is so much to see and do !!! This is our 2nd winter trip there.

Recommended for:Adventure seekers, age 55+, girls getaway, romantic getaway, sightseeing.

Guest: Tara and Raef, Chicago IL
Date of Stay: 12/27/10 Review Submitted: 05/02/11

We couldn't have asked for a better way to cap off our 10 day Hawaii honeymoon! It was nice to get away from Kona and escape to this beautiful little oasis. It was incredible to wake up to the sunrises each morning. We would definitely recommend this place to our friends!

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Guest: Scott, Blaine WA
Date of Stay: 12/01/10 Review Submitted: 05/02/11

I loved your home. The sound of the waives is so nice w/ morning sunrises. Had such a great time, what a great place, I loved your remodel, classy and comfortable.

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Perfect Hawaii

Guest: dominik (Dana Point, CA)
Date of Stay: 10/17/10 Review Submitted: 11/16/10

My wife and I stayed for 4 nights and we loved it. The basics first: It's clean, well maintained, fully equipped, the owners are very friendly/helpful and it's as close to the Pacific as you can get. We especially enjoyed cold drinks on the huge lanai with 180+ degree ocean view every night. The owners have several little things on the property you will find useful during your stay like flash lights for hiking to the close by lava flows at night, binoculars for whale watching, etc... Also it's right next to a black sand beach and several other beaches within short driving distance in case you are the beach type person. We used this as a base to see the lava flows, Volcano NP, Hilo and other stunning places. There is cable TV and internet in case you need it - but better go outside and enjoy the breathtaking scenery. We did not have the time to see everything but we definitely plan to come back.

Recommended for:Adventure seekers, age 55+, families with teenagers, girls getaway, romantic getaway, sightseeing.

Guest: Bano and Tamar, MN
Date of Stay: 05/18/10 Review Submitted: 05/02/11

Your home was perfect for our first visit to Hawaii. The home is so interesting from the history of the world to the little crabs down on the lava shelf. It was the most relaxing two weeks we have had in a very long time. Thank you again we can't wait to come back.

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Guest: Cindy and Curt, RSM CA
Date of Stay: 05/15/10 Review Submitted: 05/02/11

Thank you again for sharing your home. This is our second time as we were here in May 2009 and loved it so much we came back.

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Guest: Allen, Livermore CA
Date of Stay: 04/05/10 Review Submitted: 05/02/11

Our son booked this beautiful place from Oahu so we had no idea what to expect, the docor, the beach, the geckos - more than one can ever hope for, such an amazing place - thank you.

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Ocean FRONT!

Guest: BlueCollar Traveler (Ocoee, FL, USA)
Date of Stay: 02/26/10 Review Submitted: 03/27/10

When they say oceanfront here, they mean it! The crashing surf is literally an easy stone's toss from the back door. However, you cannot swim here due to the rough surf and jagged rocks. We were in constant contact with the owners via email during the entire reservation process. They were always responsive and happy to answer questions. Kehena Makai is neatly decorated in an island theme. My wife loved it. And the house has a personal, home-y feel to it, unlike most other vacation rentals we have rented in Hawaii. It exudes a real warm and comfy feeling, which is very inviting. The kitchen was well stocked with all dishes, utensils, and such as well as all appliances you could need. Bathrooms were nicely cleaned and had plenty of towels. They had plenty more of the stuff you could imagine needing while on vacation. There were boogie boards, snorkeling gear, beach chairs & mats, and more for a day at the beach, which there is a nice little black sand beach just down the street. But what you will enjoy most is the view. Sitting on the lanai, watching the coconut palms sway in the breeze with the crashing surf on the black rocks just beyond, was quite refreshing. It screams TROPICAL VACATION at you. :) Like all quirky things our home brings us, there were a few things at Kehena Makai, too. Between the satellite TV not receiving signal, the DSL connection was not steady, and the hot water requiring a trick to get it flowing, we had a few laughs and realized that those things happen. But for these, my rating here would have been higher. However, the most unique aspect of our stay here was getting chased out by a tsunami. On the morning of Feb 27, 2010 (our first morning), there was frantic knock at the door. It was 4am and I was a little startled. As it turned out, it was the neighbor. She asked if we had been watching the news and I told her no. That's when she informed me of the tsunami warning and that we had to evacuate. She said she knew we were vacation renters and just wanted to make sure we knew what was going on. We still had several hours, so we started packing all our stuff up and putting it in the car. Even the owners called. They just wanted to make sure we were evacuating. We drove up to Volcano National Park and spent the day there. As it turned out, the tsunami was dud and we went on with our vacation. Despite all the quirks, we loved this place and shall seek to rent here again on our next trip to this island.

Owner response:Hi there, thanks so much for spending time and thought to write on our site. We sure appreciate all the compliments you made on our house, feels like all efforts are paid off. We really would like to share the house with many folks so people from everywhere could feel and touch the "Hawiiana" we loved. Glad you liked it, we tried on making this home into a nice and comfortable vacation rental home. Volcano is still erupting, lava is still running, the original Hawaiian is still there, satellite signal still gets interrupted sometimes by the ocean, tsunami might be on its way again - whatever, the house and Pacific are calling all time - time to go again!

Recommended for:Adventure seekers, age 55+, romantic getaway, sightseeing.

Guest: Peter and Christine, Omaha NE
Date of Stay: 02/13/10 Review Submitted: 05/02/11

your lovely home is beautifully decorated and so well equipped. We never tired of watching the sea breaking onto the lava below, and we saw numerous whales passing by out at sea, and also heard them at night.

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Guest: The Schillingers, Littleton CO
Date of Stay: 02/02/10 Review Submitted: 05/02/11

Had a great time! What a view! Looking forward to our next visit.

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Guest: Tom and Tracy, Germantown WI
Date of Stay: 08/23/09 Review Submitted: 05/02/11

It is with much gratitude we must say how we enjoyed your postcard perfect home. We enjoyed the getaway that was much needed and cannot think of a more relaxing and beautiful setting if we tried. The week in our home away from home we spent is our 18th anniversary. We will always remember the beautiful ocean and it's sounds...

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Guest: Tricia and Steve, Seattle WA
Date of Stay: 06/27/09 Review Submitted: 05/02/11

We absolutely love your hale...a slice of heaven for sure. Your website pictures really represent the house well...of course being here is amazing. Your home is immaculate and welcoming. The highlight here is Kehena Black Bach (on Sunday afternoon - great people watching), the Maku'u farmer's market was great. Our trek to Ha'ena Beach (Shipman) was incredible. We saw only four people and had the beach to ourselves for 21/2 hours. Beautiful spot! Our time here is to celebrate our 25th anniversary and we can't think of a better place to have celebrated. We ope to return. We will miss the ocean waves crashing below our bedroom windows! P.S. your notebook of info was so helpful and welldone.

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Guest: Carly and Justin, Portland OR
Date of Stay: 06/17/09 Review Submitted: 05/02/11

this place is perfect for two couples! My husband and I had a fantastic time with my parents (who stayed here before). We enjoyed the sights and sounds of the island from the lanai...

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