expand arrow-rightsvg-balloonsvg-carsvg-dogsvg-fireplacesvg-flat-screensvg-heatersvg-laundry-washing-machinesvg-snowflakesvg-hot-tubsvg-swimming-poolsvg-wheelchairsvg-wifiarrow-right
List Your Property
HomeAway birdhouse
Let's Stay
Together

VRBO is part of the HomeAway family, the world leader in vacation rentals. We offer the largest selection of properties for any travel occasion and every budget. We’re committed to helping families and friends find a perfect vacation rental to create unforgettable travel experiences together.

    Kepharts' Hawaiian Ocean-view Hale

    Kohala Estates, Island of Hawai'i, HI, USA
    • House2300 sq. ft.
    • Bedrooms5
    • Sleeps16
    • Bathrooms3
    • Half Baths0
    • Minimum Stay3 nights

    5BR Oceanview Vacation Rental Kamuela, Hawaii USA

    This five-bedroom/three-bath home sits on five acres of land in the Kohala Estates. We specifically designed the house as a family vacation gathering spot, and we built it ourselves in 1989. Its high ceilings and 760 square feet of windows make it particularly light and airy. Tradewinds and 13 ceiling fans will help to keep you cool. The kitchen and the master bedroom have 180-degree ocean views. You can also see the Kohala Mountains, Mauna Kea, Hualalai, Maua Loa, and nearly the entire Kohala Coast. With luck and timing, you can spot Hawaiian spinner dolphins, humpback whales, or the occasional green flash. We can't guarantee blue skies and no mosquitoes; but your odds are better here than anywhere else in the central Pacific. The house sits in the rain shadow of the Kohala Mountains, and annual rainfall totals are typically in the low single digits! We have tried hard to make our house a comfortable 'home away from home' for our guests. The library boasts plenty of books and movies.

    Extras: You'll find enough kitchenware and linens to choke a flea market! Kids will enjoy several cubic feet of Legos, building blocks, and other toys.. Puzzles and board games abound. Binoculars, beach towels, coolers, beach chairs, boogie boards and hammocks are left out for your use. You won't need to bring much besides your clothes and your camera.

    Many of our guests consider this 'their' second home; and accordingly, our most popular times can be booked over a year in advance. Fall and late spring usually have the best availability.

    You will also enjoy a VCR in every bedroom, a satellite TV with Hi-Def in the living room, a phone for making local calls, and WiFi Internet access.

    Location, Location, Location: Most of our guests appreciate where the house is located. It is in a semi-rural neighborhood, which has no street lights and a myriad of stars at night. Weather is usually warm and dry. Within easy driving distance to the Big Island's premiere beaches and golf courses, it is also conveniently located between Kailua-Kona and Hilo. Good restaurants are only three miles away. Neighboring houses are quite a distance away, and the neighborhood is quiet and safe.

    The ocean view is spectacular, and in the winter months you can watch the humpback whales right from the lanai. Sunsets are beautiful, and some times you will even catch a green flash.

    Home away from home: The house is very comfortable. Many of our guests say that they feel right at home as soon as they walk in the door. The living room walls are lined with books. Each room has a television (four of which are flat screens) and a VCR/DVD player. You may bring your own DVDs or videos or watch some of the 600 videos available in the house. The living room has satellite TV. The floor plan allows for privacy as well as communal activities.

    Owner

    Kerrill or Don

    Member Since 2002
    Premier Partner
    This VRBO partner has demonstrated and is committed to fast response times, the best rates, and a great guest experience.
    Response rate:
    100%
    Response time:
    within a few hours
    Speaks:
    English
    Calendar last updated:
    May 23, 2018
    About Kerrill or Don

    Don grew up in California, earned his B.S. and M.S. from Stanford University, and his PhD in biology from the University of Chicago. Kerrill moved to California from Michigan. She earned a B.A. from Eastern Michigan University and an M.A. in English literature from California State University in Long Beach. We both finished our teaching careers at Long Beach Polytechnic High School, where we were able to teach the subjects we loved to students who made us laugh and think every day we spent with them. We built Hale Kephart in 1989 during nine weeks of our summer vacation with the help of family and friends. We enjoyed staying in the house during spring, winter, and summer breaks for 14 years. Then we retired and built our current residence on the same five acres as the vacation rental and thus began another chapter in our lives. Hawaii is our home now, and we cannot imagine wanting to live anywhere else. We love the climate, the dark and quiet nights, the fresh air, the ever-changing views of ocean, mountains, and sky. We have embraced the aloha spirit and the whole concept of ohana. We also love the people. We have made friends from many walks of life; each one of them has enriched in our lives in some meaningful way. Some of them have been guests at our vacation rental who kept coming back until our relationship metamorphosed into a deep friendship. Others we met while writing articles for the local newspaper or playing tennis at Mauna Kea's Seaside Tennis Club. Most we met through other friends. Our lives have developed a rhythm to them that is both interesting and comfortable. Every year we take at least one trip to the mainland to touch bases with friends and family. Almost every other year we take a longer trip. We have enjoyed sojourns in Alaska, Australia, New England, Washington D.C, New Zealand, Micronesia, and the Pacific Northwest. We have seen spectacular places and had breathtaking experiences, but we are always glad to come home.

    Kerrill or Don purchased this House in 1989

    Why Kerrill or Don chose Kohala Estates

    Our son taught high-school mathematics for a year in Kona. We came out during spring break to see him and to see the Big Island--the only major Hawaiian island we had not visited. We fell in love with the spaciousness and the diversity of the island and kept finding ourselves drawn to Hapuna Beach, which is six miles south of us. A few years later we came back and stayed at Puako. We began looking for property. Kerrill kept coming back to a windswept, almost barren piece of land on a hillside in the Kohala Estates. Don finally said, "If you can find anything green on that lot, I'll consider buying it with you." We are not sure that we ever did find anything green--only sere buffle grass and dead kiawe trees. But we kept coming back because the view was better than anywhere else we had looked. And, finally, the land spoke to Don, too, and we put in an offer. Our offer was refused because someone else offered more money--in cash. It turned out he didn't really have the cash, so he agreed to sell us five of the nine acres if we would float him a second mortgage so that he could come up with the money on the day escrow closed. We both knew the owner would come to realize that his asking price was below market and we might not be able to afford what it was really worth. So we loaned him the money, and right after escrow closed for him, he sold us the bottom five acres. We've never regretted it. We enjoyed the vacation rental for 14 years and then built our retirement home behind it on the same lot. When we are not traveling or maintaining the property, we enjoy reading and writing--we have a library of close to 12,000 books. Don does woodworking, builds model wooden ships, makes and shoots off rockets, hunts feral goats and pigs, makes knives, and enjoys photography. Kerrill enjoys tennis and gardening. We both like to take out our Boston Whaler, especially when the humpbacks are here.

    What makes this House unique

    The unique benefits are self-explanatory to anyone who has visited our property. It enjoys an ideal location and an especially beautiful view. It is in a quiet neighborhood, one that so far has been so safe that most of our neighbors don't bother to lock their homes and cars. Besides, where else can you watch whales breaching against the backdrop of a full-sky sunset from your own front porch? When we return to the mainland--as much as we enjoy seeing family and friends and taking in some of what it has to offer (theater, museums, specialty stores, national parks, restaurants, swap meets, etc.)--we soon become a little homesick. We especially appreciate the lower population density here. A traffic jam here would be considered a mild slowdown in most parts of Southern California. When we are away we find ourselves missing the raucous calls of the gray francolins in the mornings, the trade winds blowing (sometimes gusting) through our palm trees and making their clattering fronds sound like falling rain, the panoramic and ever-changing vista that our eyes drink in as we look in any direction. We miss the fragrance of plumerias and gardenias, the bright and gaudy colors of the hibiscus and plumbagos and poincianas. We miss the fresh and soft air. We even miss the physical labor that it takes to keep up two houses and five acres of land. We like to think that we have been here long enough now to consider ourselves kama'aina even though we weren't born here.

    $284avg/night
    35 Reviews
    Wonderful 4.9/5
    Premier Partner
    Enter dates for accurate pricing
    For booking assistance, call 888-640-7927

    Property # 209187ha

    Special Offers

    x