Sunset Hale sits in one of the Big Island's most enviable spots: just steps from Keauhou Bay, where kayaks and outrigger canoes launch you straight into ocean adventure. Two beautiful beaches are minutes away: Kahaluʻu Beach Park, with calm snorkeling, gentle tide pools, and honu (sea turtles) basking on the sand; and Magic Sands, where boogie boarders chase the surf on white sand that famously vanishes into the sea each winter and returns with the calm.
As dusk falls, something magical happens: manta rays glide into Keauhou Bay to feed on plankton. Watch from the shoreline, sip a drink at the OUTRIGGER Kona Resort's oceanfront "Rays on the Bay," or join a night snorkel and float among them. Down the coast, Kealakekua Bay (Captain Cook Monument), Two Step, and Puʻuhonua o Hōnaunau reward you with some of Hawaiʻi's finest snorkeling and living cultural history, and pods of spinner and bottlenose dolphins often greet early risers at sunrise.
In winter (December–April, peaking January–March), humpback whales gather just offshore. Catch their spouts and breaches right from your lanai, coffee in hand. The green fairways below are the Kona Country Club, open to the public, so you can play the very view you wake up to. Everyday comforts are close, too: Keauhou Shopping Center and two to three weekly farmers' markets (papayas year-round!) are only five minutes away.
And there's always more to discover: tour a Kona coffee or chocolate farm in the cool upcountry hills, wander historic Kailua-Kona town, or set off for Mauna Kea, Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park, cascading waterfalls, and beaches of white, black, and even green sand. On the right day you can stand atop snowy Mauna Kea in the morning and snorkel warm turquoise water by afternoon, then come home to sunsets that set the sky ablaze. The possibilities, like the views, are endless.