My wife and I spent eight wonderful nights in this little slice of paradise. We were concerned about spending so many nights, afraid that we would grow weary of one place. Instead of growing tired of it we found ourselves absorbed into the home’s rhythm of relaxing waves, sun, rain, sunrises, moonrises, turtles, and delightful trade winds.
Having rented many vacation rentals in many different places, we have become accustomed to both pleasant and unpleasant surprises. For places like Casa Tortuga that have such beautiful photos in their listing, the concern is “it can’t really be that beautiful.” The moment you enter the driveway you’re pretty sure it is spectacular. Then we opened the front door and just both softly said “wow.”
Each day we would wake up and sort of laugh at where we were. The beauty and relaxation are real but all of the practical things like laundry, kitchen, and bath are also excellent. The shower halfway in and halfway out is superb. The sunken wooden jacuzzi tub outside the shower is perfect.
We enjoyed the easy (45-minute drive) access to the national park (the Kilauea Iki Trail is not to be missed). We took a few other hikes to beaches, but this side of the island is not a great place for easy and lazy beaches. We hiked to Shipman Beach, a 2.5-3 mile hike each way with its trailhead about a mile from the house. I think we hit it on a bad day as the hike was extremely rough, muddy, and rocky and the beach was limited by the tide.
Mostly though we found