On our first day on the Big Island I woke up early so I went to the Cafe Hapuna and got some coffee, yogurt, fruit, juice and snacks. It was so nice to sit out on our private lanai and drink my coffee, eating some breakfast and listening to the ocean. I let Dallas sleep in.
Hapuna Beach Prince, Beach Bar
Club Sandwich
About mid-morning Caroline called me. She, Danny, Cory and Chris were on the Big Island at the same time as us. Dallas, Danny and Chris were all golfing at the Hapuna Beach course that day, so they were on their way driving over. When they arrived we went to the Hapuna Beach Bar for a light lunch before heading out for the day. The guys had Kona Brewing beer. Cory and I had a bloody mary. Caroline and I split a club sandwich. We saved our plastic cups. More on that later.
Hapuna Beach
Hapuna Beach Prince, Looking towards Beach Bar (lower level) and Coast Grille (up above)
Hapuna Beach Prince Pool
While the guys were golfing, Caroline, Cory and I went to Waikoloa to go shopping. We went to both the Queens’ Marketplace and the Kings’ Shops. Kings’ Shops were a little more high-end and by the time we got there I hit a wall where I couldn’t shop any more. I sat outside on a bench trying not to fall asleep like an old lady while Cory and Caroline were inside a store trying on bikinis! Luckily for me, Cory and Caroline realized this was our cue to leave, so we went back to the Hapuna Beach Prince to relax by the pool and beach.
Big Island Chips
Remember when I said we saved our cups? For some reason, Cory and Caroline had like a half bottle of rum that they put into a water bottle for the pool. While we were shopping we picked up some pina colada mix. Then Caroline went to the bar to ask for ice so we could mix some drinks. I never had pina coloda on ice, but it wasn’t bad! Especially with Cory’s generous rum pours! We also snacked on a few Big-Island made chips. Atebara Potato Chips are made in Hilo and are a really good potato chip. Kind of greasy, but good. They reminded me of the Maui made Kitch’n Cook’d potato chips I had a few years ago when visiting Maui. The Maebo’s One-Ton Chips were so good, though. They’re made of fried wonton skins! And they’re made in Hilo.
Gorgeous Hapuna Beach Sunset
Sunset from the hot tub.
Red sky at night….
We hung around the pool and beach for the rest of the afternoon. When Dallas, Danny and Chris were done with golf they joined us for a swim. Nice and relaxing!
So, the day before the wedding. I don’t know what people were expecting of me, but relaxed and calm wasn’t it! I spent the day lounging around the pool, while people asked me a thousand times “Aren’t you getting excited!?” and “Shouldn’t you be doing something!?” Luckily I had everything worked out with Marlene, our planner before we left Chicago and she was taking care of all the work. Pretty much all we had to do was show up. This is why we paid for a wedding planner!
The only 3 things I needed to do were 1) Get my nails done. 2) Bring the wine to the venue. 3) Attend family dinner.
I woke up early in the morning to head to a local nail salon in Kalaheo. I’d considered getting a manicure and pedicure at one of the local resort spas, but when I saw that the combo starts at about $150 and goes up at some of these places, I decideded to get a recommendation from our wedding planner. She suggested Healani’s Nails.
Healani is the woman who runs Healani’s Nails. It was a nice, quaint locals kind of place. Healani, herself, did my nails. She told me she used to work at the Hyatt spa that charges those rediculous prices, so I felt good knowing I was probably getting about the same treatment but for about a third of the price!
After my appointment I stopped in at the Hawaiian Trading Post, at the corner of Koloa Road and Kaumu’alii Hwy. I’d passed by this place a million times and never stopped. They have an amazing selection of Tahitian black pearls and Niihau shell leis. They also have a ton of really affordable jewelry and other unique souvineers. I got at least 3 necklaces and a few pairs of earrings, I think.
After going back to the house and laying by the pool for a while. All the guys got back from golfing and Limey made this moving toast one day early.
Jess B and I got lunch at Kalapaki Joe’s and I was talking about our wedding planner and how she had everything taken care of and how she made this awesome event plan for us. I opened the plan to show it to Jess and realized that there was a task assigned to us for the day that we overlooked: Bringing the wine to the venue. No problem. After lunch Jess and I brought it over there… nice thing about staying less than a mile from the venue!
We checked into Ho’Onani Estates at 3 p.m., after all of our wedding-related meetings. Dallas and I were the first ones there, which turned out good, because we wanted the first pick of bedrooms. As people arrived they each picked rooms. As people settled in we all headed out to the pool. The pool wasn’t huge and the yard wasn’t huge, but it was big enough. And it was so refreshing after a long day of travel. Limey and Tien made pina coladas and they were so delicious to sip next to our private pool!
Kristin & Limey, already passed out!
Tien makes a pretty tasty pina colada for a guy from New York City
After a while, my parents came by for a visit, to see everyone, and to check out the houses. They were staying a few blocks away from us at the Poipu Kapili condos. They’d been to Kauai one time before but it was 10 years ago. I’m sure they were happy to be back!
From the lower right: Jen, Chad, Matt, Kristin, Brian, Trent, Loden, Ross
Limey’s snake was thirsty for pina colada!
At night Matt grilled some steaks and we ate them with a caesar salad and poke at the front house. Important to note houses because we tried to switch off visiting at the front and back houses so that one house wouldn’t always be up late. If we switched off, at least you could rest every other night!
Getting out of this tequila shot was the best thing I did all night!
Left, Right, Center Game. From Cousin: Cousin, Shannan, Jill, Jen, Trent, Loden, Ross, Limey, Matt, Tien, Kristin, Brian
From the lower left: Jill, Trent, Loden, Ross, Matt, Tien, Kristin
Later on Trent and Loden visited from the Sheraton, less than a 10 minute walk away. And my brother and Amanda, who were staying with my parents at Poipu Kapili, came by. We had a lively game of LRC. There were several people who never played before and the game got pretty intense. Also, not everyone had dollar bills so there were a lot of IOUs floating around. I still have a few “Ross dollars” and I don’t think anyone’s seen the end of them yet!
IOUs
One more thing, we got our first wedding gift of the trip from Cousin that day. Here’s what it was:
Wedding gift from Cousin.
How funny are these coasters? The first two are from my first trip to Kauai, when Dallas and I first met. The three where cousin has a mustache, otherwise known as the Coustache, are from the mustache-growing contest. The last one is… I don’t know! Some kind of sushi-eating binge. We used these coasters in the houses all through the week!
When Dallas and I talked about what kind of a place we wanted to rent for our stay in Kauai, we decided that a house would be best. Usually we get a condo and it is perfectly fine, but this time we figured that we needed some place bigger and that we could use as a gathering place. As people arrived on the island and needed to get things to us, or from us, or even just wanted to visit, we needed a place that could accomodate this. And not just a place with a large common area, but also one that had ample parking for guests.
Oh, and also? Since this was a special trip, for our wedding, we also wanted it to be really nice. And have it’s own pool. And an ocean view. But not be so expensive that no one could afford it. Too much to ask?
We spent a lot of time on VRBO and HomeAway doing research. At one point we even made a spreadsheet to compare pricing and amenities of different properties. Finally, we found what we thought seemed to be the perfect place, Ho’Onani Estates.
Ho’Onani Estates
Ho’Onani Estates Back House (Photo by Dallas)
Ho’Onani Estates (located on Ho’Onani Road in Poipu) was very close to our wedding venue and all that Poipu and Koloa have to offer. The estate was actually two houses, one with 4 bedroom suites and one with 5, and had a private pool. Get this list of amenities:
- ocean view
- central location
- 9 bedroom suites plus two pull-out sofas, a queen air mattress, and 2 twin air mattresses. 6 of these suites have an ocean view. 4 have lanais. 3 have walk in closets.
- 2 state-of-the-art gourmet kitchens each with top-of-the-line Viking ranges and each with 2 dishwashers (4 total!)
- oceanside pool with a little waterfall fountain
- central air
- built-in sound systems
- 3 washers and dryers
- 4 car garage with a huge driveway with ample parking space
- free wireless
- 5 televisions with cable (not that we watched TV much!)
- huge lanais with ample seating and tables
- two grills
- beach chairs and umbrellas
- 4 refrigerators
- outdoor shower
- filtered water
- high-end furnishings and interior design
- very short walk to 3 different beaches
Ho’Onani Estates Back House – Staircase (Photo by Dallas)
Ho’Onani Estates Back House – Looking down from staircase
Not only that, but after talking to the rental agency, they were willing to give us a discounted rate because Dallas was a “local boy” getting married. If we could get enough friends to fill up Ho’Onanai Estates, it would come out to $100 per person per night. Sounds too good to be true, right? We thought so too! We couldn’t find any online reviews and I was feeling a little leary about the whole thing. We actually had Dallas’s Uncle Dee drive over there and take some photos to make sure the estate actually existed. It did. So, we sent an out to the friends we knew were attending within a few hours we had a full house.
Staying at Ho’Onani Estates were
- Rachelle & Dallas (of course!)
- Jordan & Liz (visiting from Seattle)
- Jen & Chad (from Chicago)
- Tien & Shannan (from New York)
- Jill & Brian (Chicago)
- Rob & Colleen (from an island off of Maine)
- Kristin (Chicago)
- Cousin (Chicago)
- Limey (Chicago)
- Matt (Boston)
- Ross (Boston)
With the exception of one person, everyone who was with us on the Kauai trip where Dallas and I met was staying with us on our wedding trip. I thought that was pretty cool.
Ho’Onani Estates Pool
Jordan in the Ho’Onani Estates Pool
So, anyway.. Long story short, Ho’Onanai Estates lived up to and even exceeded the expectations we had for it. The houses were so beautiful with all top-of-the-line features. I don’t think there could have been a more ideal set up for our needs. Everyone had a private bedroom and assigned bathroom. One of the “suites” even included a private living room and kitchenette! There were many large common areas to accomodate guests and even quieter sitting areas. Our bedroom was a bit removed, on the quiet second floor of the back house, with a private lanai and a huge bathroom.. a giant tub (for my leg soaks), walk in closet, double sinks, private toilet. Sitting in the tub or standing in the shower, we had sweeping views of the ocean! And it was the first thing I saw when I opened my eyes in the morning. It couldn’t have been more perfect.
Ho’Onani Estates Front House
Ho’Onani Estates Front House
The living room in the front house had so much seating. On the last day we were all hanging out, eating and drinking up the rest of or supplies, and watching the Oscars. We probably had 20+ people comfortably seated in there with bar stools in the kitchen and a full dining area. On the lanais, too. Huge. Tons of seating around tables and on outdoor couches. We could sit outside our houses and whale watch without ever leaving the property. Ho’Onanai Estates is across the street from the ocean, but nothing stands between except for a quiet road that has more walking and running traffic than car traffic. Across from the estate is a pull off for the scenic overlook. This is THE PLACE to watch the sun set and at night it would get a bit crowded with people watching the sun set. But not in a distracting way. Everyone was respectful. But it was funny that our friends would come down here to watch the sun set when we could just sit comfortably on our lanai and have the same view.
Quiet road in the front of the house. (Photo by Rob)
Deck on the front house. (Photo by Rob)
Looking from back house to front house. Outdoor shower is right through those trees. (Photo by Dallas)
Dallas, Josh & Tweeny barbecuing at the front house.
Another plus to Ho’Onani Estates was that Poipu Kapili and the Sheraton Kauai Resort were both within very short walking distance. We had guests staying at both of these properties and it was so convenient that they could just walk up the street to visit us. We didn’t have to worry about driving in the dark (it gets so dark at night) or after having drinks.
Ho’Onani Front House Lanai (Photo by Jen)
Finally, the rental company, Garden Island Rentals, was very easy to work with. Very prompt in communications, always speedily sending along the receipts and documents we needed. And our deposit was returned way before we expected. Great to work with.
Our Bedroom
View from our tub. Same view from the shower (sort of behind, to the right of camera).
More of our bathroom – double sinks, vanity. On the end is a huge walk-in closet. To the left is a seperate toilet room.
The view from our private bedroom lanai.
Front of the house looking out to the ocean. (Photo by Rob)
I could not reccomend Ho’Onanai Estates more if you have a large number of people staying on the south shore of Kauai.
On Friday, our 6th day of vacation, Dallas went golfing with his classmates BJ and Keoni in Waikele. I made a great discovery that day. You might not be able to drink on Oahu beaches, but you can drink by the pools!
For lunch I went to Duke’s. I think I’m realizing that Duke’s has been a fond Hawaiian memory for me, but the food is actually not that great. My drink was tasty,
as were the crab and macnut wontons,
but this was not a great fish taco.
There was a time a few years ago where if you google image searched for “fish taco” you’d see a photo of Cousin on my website. Maybe that is why I keep ordering the fish tacos at Duke’s even though they’re so sad. Or maybe the quality has just gone down since the last time I was there. In the photos I have from previous trips to Duke’s they look different. See 2004, 2007.
Those sad tacos are nothing that a little shopping and tropical drinks couldn’t fix.
