Posts Tagged ‘Kona Vacation Rental Special’

Offering this high end condo at 31% off the regular season rates for September, 2010. For just $89 per night in September & $99 per night for most of the fall season, (discounted long term rates also available),  you can stay at this beautiful ocean front ground floor 2 bedroom 2 bathroom 1200 square foot condo, which  sleeps 7 people. Ocean on one side and an 36 hole golf course on the other. This condo is located about 5 miles south of the town of Kailua-Kona on the Kona coast of the big island of Hawaii in the lush tropical gardens of the gated Keauhou Kona Surf and Racquet Club. More than just a vacation rental, you can also enjoy access to all the amenities and tropical gardens in the secure and quiet Surf and Racquet Club. Walking distance to shopping, restaurants and the best snorkeling beach in the Kailua-Kona area. Please go to the following web site for rates, availability, descriptions, pictures & video presentations and to book your vacation rental: Keauhou Kona Surf And Racquet Club Condo 5-103.
For more info call Kim at 916-728-6000 9am to 8pm PST

• Eating out and discovering great spots is one of the special pleasures of being on vacation. I don’t know about you, but Bonnie and I savor our restaurant experiences and hate to be disappointed. When at our condo we do often eat out and have many favorite places and opinions on food, service and the overall dining experience. A hidden gem is the Holualoa Café (76-5901 Mamalahoa Hwy, Holualoa (808) 322-2233). The drive along Mamaloha Hwy to Holualoa is itself like going back in time to older Hawaii. We go for either breakfast or dinner but mainly breakfast (see below for other breakfast recommendations). Good food and a lovely tropical patio. Traffic noise from the nearby Mamalohoa Hwy detracts a bit. We have also experienced very slow service on occasion. So take it easy, relax, and enjoy the location and moderate prices.
• A favorite place of ours, for at least one dinner visit while at the condo, is Jackie Rey’s Ohana Grill (75-5995 Kuakini Hwy,. Kailua-Kona, 808.327.0209). I would characterize it as a small family style place in a tiny strip mall. No tropical setting, no ocean view. It is best seen at night when it’s open wooden window shutters gives a kind of Hawaii Back Country feel. The food is good and the prices are reasonable..I like their attitude. They are plugged into the local community and care about it. Sign up for their news letter and when you are back home you will be an occasional memory aid of your visit when the newsletters arrive in the mail.
• For a really fine dining experience, Bonnie and I always pick the Pahu i’a. This restaurant is located in the Four Seasons Resort (72-100 Ka`upulehu Drive Kailua-Kona (808) 325-8000). The restaurant is very upscale and with prices to match as you would expect from Four Seasons. We have had breakfast and dinners there and have always felt that the whole experience was worth the price. Actually the experience begins at the entrance to the Four Seasons Resort property. The drive to the front lobby through the idyllic golf course (greens set in lava fields) sets you up for a walk through the lobby building. Splurge and leave your car with the valet. The lobby building, for me, epitomizes the tropical architecture style (perhaps Polynesian more than Hawaiian with it grand open-to-nature feel. Then walk to the Pahu i’a where you can take a table at the ‘rail’ and be nearly at the water’s edge. This is luxury setting with creative fusion cuisine. Impeccable service too. No question that the Four Seasons beats the Kona Coast for style and nearly everything else (as it should for the price). But when I look at those room units (at about $400/night), I think, you know they don’t even compare to the quality and value and livability of our condo. After a lovely special meal it is great to get back to our condo and the comforts of home.

Kona Coast Resort Condo # 7-106
Bonnie and Fred’s Condo

I don’t know about you, but Bonnie and I enjoy eating out. And by that I mean ‘Al Fresco’.
Outside in the lovely Hawaii air. The condo kitchen is great for sure but we also eat out
every chance we have. Breakfast is just one such opportunity for pleasure during a day but I will focus on breakfast in this message. There are at least three places we always make an effort to enyoy during our ever so brief time at the condo. Each as a different character to savor and they have different distances from the condo.

If you don’t have a car, our first recommendation is a
short walk to the south along Ali’i Drive. Kona Golf and Country Club ‘Vists’ restaurant.

http://www.konagolf.com/konagolf/restaurant.cfm

78-7000 Ali’i Dr and about 10-15 min walk from the condo. Inexpensive traditional food in a
building with large open windows looking onto Keahou Bay. Nearly like being Al Fresco!

To reach the second place, you could take the bus to get downtown in Kailua but a car is nice
to travel the 4 miles. One of the most delightful locations to eat is Java on the Rock.

http://www.javaontherock.com/

This is essentially an espresso coffee cart that serves a minimal breakfast (like eggs and
bagel). The food and coffee are expensive and the food comes on paper plates. Plus they
have an ‘attitude’ (No sitting down until you have paid. No cell phone calling. etc.). What you
get is your toes in sand a few feet from the waves and an umbrella over your head to protect
from the sun. It can be a sublime experience. However, be sure to go early as they close at
10:30, start to clean up and put the coffee cart away. You must be out the door by 11:00.

The third resturant is a drive. It’s south on Highway 11, one mile south of the Captain Cook Post Office, between mile markers 108 and 109 for the Coffee Shack.

http://www.coffeeshack.com/

This is about 10 miles from the condo. As the ‘Blue Book’ says (see the blog below) it is a
great place to stop on the way to Volcano. But if you go from the condo as a round trip
there are some intersting shops along the way and you can make a morning of it. The Coffee
Shack has decent food and reasonable prices but oh oh the view. You sit on a covered lanai
at the 1500 ft elevation level and look out at Kealakekua Bay. This is the famous place where
Captain Cook lost his life in a fight with the native Hawaiians.

So folks, even if you are at the condo for only a week, take time to enjoy one of these three
spots.

Kona Coast Resort Unit # 7-106 Bonnie and Fred’s condo

The condo has a large number of pocket books in its ‘lending library’. Guests can feel free to leave a book or take one of these pocket books if they are not finished reading one at the end of the stay.
But a most important book in the condo is the guide book “Hawaii The Big Island Revealed”. Bonnie and I refer to it as the ‘blue book’. It has a blue cover. Whenever guests ask how they should prepare for their trip to the Big Island, I suggest that they pick up a copy of that guide book and begin reading before they arrive. However, don’t worry if you don’t have a copy as there is one in the condo. In fact this is so popular that we have had to replace it a couple of times when the condo copy gets too ‘dog-eared’. A nice thing about this book, in addition to ranking beaches, restaurants etc., is that sights are organized by mile marker along the major road around the island. So you can take it with you on a road trip, watch the mile
markers and stop wherever there is something interesting. Enjoy and use this book but also please leave the copy for the next guest.
Kona Coast Resort Unit 7-106