My Kauai Home                          Virtual Tour

In 2003, we purchased our home set on the north shore of Kauai just outside of Kilauea overlooking Kalihiwai Bay.  The house has been lovingly "restored".  Our neighbors and the family that built the home in the 50's say it is more of an Hawaiiana styled home than the original version. 

The oceanfront view is spectacular and the home has a calm "relaxing vibe", according to one of our vacation rental guests.  There are four bedrooms and two baths.  The family room is surrounded by glass.  You can cook in the brand new kitchen with granite counter tops and watch the sunset as only this cliff perspective can provide. 

There are views of the beach below.  From the vantage point of my wife's "happy spot", which is out on the point at the rear of the property, you can hear the laughter of the children playing on Kalihiwai beach.  There are unbelievable sunsets over the mountains in the winter and open ocean in the summer.  The mountains are constantly changing as Kauai's many rain showers move quickly through.  While the north shore receives a generous amount of rain to keep everything lush and green, most of it is in the mountains in the distance.  A special treat is a morning shower that usually lasts only a few seconds.  When the rains come through in the morning, the suns shines behind them and it creates rainbows.  Sometimes we are lucky enough to see double rainbows.  There are rainy times, but they have a charm too.

Whales and dolphins have been seen in the bay.  I saw a spectacular show at the light house in March one year where the whales seemed to have a contest of which one could jump higher.  The whales can be there as early as October, but my experience has been to see them more after Christmas.  It is a surprise to see the big cruise ships that occasionally pass by the north shore.

The beach is a quick walk or drive just below.  You will walk it once and drive the rest of the time.  There is a secluded path down to the beach known as Secret Beach.  The path is impressively maintained next to Ben Stiller's house at the end of the point- the last house on the right side of Kalihiwai Road before the cliffs start.  (Ben actually has one on both sides of his property, but the one to the west is very steep. It leads to a nice lava bridge and a cool view of his guest house hanging off the side of a cliff.  He does a splendid job of maintaining these, so please respect his property or we may lose the paths.)  It leads to a stream to cross and a water fall before plunging into the ocean next to lava rocks.  It is fun to walk on the rocks and find tidal pools the size of regular swimming pools full of fish . 

Please, always be careful near the ocean.  If a rock is wet it means the ocean can reach you and sweep you off your feet.  A common saying in Hawaii is "never turn your back on the ocean."   Secret Beach is fun.  It is a long walk, but it is very dramatic with the lighthouse featured in the Disney movie "Lilo and Stitch" at the eastern end.  The current is strong and in the winter, the waves pound resoundingly on the beach.  This is a very pleasant sound to the bedrooms in the front of our home.  There are natural springs that come out of rock ledges where one can shower after a swim.  Every time I visit Secret Beach, the beach is different.  You can not reach the main beach area from the path during the winter.  Instead, there is a dirt road closer to the highway that takes you to another path which is more direct to the beach itself.

Anini Beach starts on the west side of our bay.  This is the longest reef in the Hawaiian islands.  Even in the winter, the beach is always calm.  The Kalihiwai beach side water can be a little cooler because of the mountain stream that leads to the bay.  It has great shade and the sand is much softer than other beaches.  Snorkeling Kalihiwai can be done when it is lake like.  The area to snorkel is along the extreme east side. 

Just around the corner of some small lava cliffs, which you can see in our pictures, the Anini side starts.  The water is clearer there and a little warmer.  Anini is a fantastic snorkeling place, especially for young swimmers.  There are a lot of "private" coves that don't require a three mile walk.  This is a popular kite boarding place and they are fun to watch for the less adventurous.  You drive there by going over the bridge spanning the Kalihiwai stream turning at the second Kalihiwai Road.  This road at one point in time was the main road.   There was a small bridge over the stream that was washed away by a tsunami in the late 50's.  You can still see remnants of the old bridge.

The north shore is unbelievably peaceful. 

 It is rare to have air conditioning in Hawaii except in hotels.  The home has paddle fans in all of the bedrooms and floor fans in the family room.  There are frequent mini rain showers to cool things off.  The rain also sounds really nice on the metal roof.  Trade winds blow from the front of the house through to the back.  Take a light jacket as it can be cool at night.

The state bird might as well be the chicken.  Kauai has a lot of them and they give a whole new meaning to free range poultry.  They will help you not miss any of the beautiful days there by letting you know the sun is up.  Usually around 5:00 pm, a flock of nene geese (the real Hawaiian state bird) makes it's way from Princeville to the bird sanctuary at the Kilauea lighthouse.  They fly so low over the house you think you could grab one.  I have a gas grill out on our party deck.  I am usually grilling when I see them fly over.

We have a variety of plants on the property.  There are several varieties of bananas.  I hope a bunch is ripe when you are there.  They taste great.  They are firmer than the ones on the mainland, but taste great.  There are papayas, but it is hard to harvest them at the right time.  We have macadamia nuts, but if you try to open one you will find out why they are so expensive.  Coconuts are everywhere.  I use power tools to open them, but if you can get one open (the browner the better) the meat is sweet.  We have a grater in the kitchen.  We have taken home grated coconut, but the unaltered kind is not allowed through the airport.  In season there are star fruit, limes, oranges and lemons.  The Lychee tree bears fruit that is odd.  The red pimply berries are split in half to reveal a skinned grape like center.  They are an acquired taste.

By the way, the scales in the bathroom are not for making you feel bad on your vacation.  They are for weighing your luggage before you leave for the airport.  We load up on presents and need to balance our luggage.  They do enforce the weight limit at the airport.  Weigh yourself and then yourself holding your luggage.  If you can't hold your luggage, don't bother weighing it.  By the way, my favorite car company is Dollar. 

Make sure you pick up customer discount cards at the grocery stores.  They heavily discount certain items with these cards.  There are not many fast food places on the north shore.  There is a Subway at the Shell station in Kilauea.  Other than that, it is almost 30 minutes to the fast food restaurants in Kapaa.  We are 45 minutes to an hour from the airport.  Food, gas and about everything else is expensive.  Tip generously, the locals buy groceries and gas the same place you do.

We love Kauai.  It would be a shame to not share our home and allow other people to experience Kauai this way.  Many of the locals have no idea that the kind of view we have exists on the island.  When we received deliveries, invariably the delivery people would almost ignore what you were saying and just walk in a trance to the back of the house and stare at the view for a while.  The view seems much bigger in person, but we have provided a number of pictures to give you an idea of what to expect.  There is an internet camera running in real time, you will want to give the address to your friends to make them very jealous.  www.kauai.stardotcams.com:81/

Clearly I like our home, but I am confident you will too.  One of our vacation rental guests commented that they had been to Kauai ten times, but had never had an experience to compare with staying in our home.  Please remember that this is a family's home.  We have gone to a lot of trouble to avoid the vacation rental rattan furniture.  I personally picked out each piece of furniture and every item in the home.  We have real Koa wood frames, personally selected artwork and other items because this is what we would want.  Please make yourself at home, but help them stay nice for all of the families to enjoy.  The red clay will destroy anything it touches.  There is a big porch to leave shoes and things outside.  No one will bother your stuff. 

Our neighbors are very special to us, so please be kind and you will receive it back 1,000%.  There is a great reward to being around real Hawaiians.  I have traveled a lot and seen many beautiful beaches, but there are no people in the world as gracious and generous as Hawaiians.  This is one of the benefits of our home.  The "tourists" are at the resorts.

Whether you stay at our home or one of the other places on Kauai, I know you will remember your visit for a lifetime.  Hawaii is the real deal.  Hollywood could not embellish it any more than it already is.  If you need something while you are at the house, Bob and Joani Lendahl,  (808) 652-2760, will do everything he can to take care of you.  He helped me build the house and I think loves it almost as much as I do.  They are dear friends to us and a friend for you to meet.  He is a Realtor on Kauai and can help you with any need you have there as well.  That is not a commercial, just trying to help you avoid a bad experience in that department - if you are interested.

 Hopefully you feel that we have captured some of the charm of Hawaii in the1950's with all of the conveniences of today.  By the way, we have commercial speed cable internet (wireless and cabled) for my camera and your use..  Just launch your web browser.

We hope this open letter is helpful and that you have a great time.

Aloha,

Dwight and Cindy Holloway

   We want to provide some pictures so that you know what to expect when visiting us.

                                 This is a picture from the living room looking towards the dining area and the kitchen.

                                   The living room offers a great spot to read or have a conversation away from the kids watching a movie on the DVD player.  When you walk up to the front of the house and stand on the front porch, you can look right through the 200 square foot foyer and see the mountains and beach through the living room glass doors.  The desk area is to the right of the living room.  We have a lot of hula girls.  You have to have a tacky hula girl lamp as shown in the dining room and the car dash hula girls on the shelf above the dining room entrance.

 

 

The master bedroom is in the back of the home.  In Spring 2008, we added a king size bed.  It is a pleasure to go to sleep listening to the surf on Kalihiwai beach outside your door

.      There are three additional bedrooms.  The house has a split plan with the master in the back on the left side and a bedroom with twin beds in the front of the house on the left side.  There is a hall bathroom between them with a bead board wainscot.

On the opposite side of the house are two additional bedrooms.  There is a hall between the dining and the kitchen to these bedrooms and the bamboo bathroom.  The bedroom in the middle of the house has two double beds.  The right corner bedroom has a queen size bed.  We also have a single bed cot and a portable crib.

Both of these bedrooms, as well as the master, have walk in closets.

Contact Information:

Dwight Holloway 2499 Via Tuscany  Winter Park, Fl 32789

 407-509-1935   or  hollowaycustom@aol.com            or                www.vrbo.com/99993    For rates and available dates.

All of the pictures shown are the property of Dwight Holloway and are copyrighted and may only be reproduced by written permission.

"Speak softly and wear a loud shirt"

Click here for links to a 360 degree view of :

Kalihiwai Beach.  This is cool!  It was shot while standing on our beach.

Kilauea Light House

We are located on the North Shore between Princeville and Kilauea, on east side of Kalihiwai Bay

Copyright © Dwight Holloway

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