Hawaii - Jeff Campbell [183]
Nancy’S Hideaway (325-3132, 866-325-3132; www.nancyshideaway.com; 73-1530 Uanani Pl; studio/cottage incl breakfast $130/150) If you’re looking for peace and quiet, the two unfussy, unpretentious rooms in this pretty residential neighborhood are for you. Both the one-bedroom cottage and the studio have kitchenettes and plenty of room to get comfortable; furnishings are nice but plain. Since there are no lanais or shared spaces, you enjoy full privacy; a continental breakfast is left in the room. Call for directions.
Honu Kai B&B (329-8676; www.honukaibnb.com; 74-1529 Hao Kuni St; d incl breakfast $140-175; ) Another get-away-from-it-all choice is this attractive four-room B&B. New owners have renovated rooms so they’re plush and upscale, with rich fabrics, carved bed frames and Asian and Hawaiian decor; only the bathrooms remind you this is a suburban home. A separate cottage has full kitchen, and the well-tended gardens afford privacy and seclusion, whether lounging on the huge porch or in the Jacuzzi. Your hostess, to her chagrin, is a former Dallas Cowboys cheerleader.
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KEKAHA KAI STATE PARK
The gorgeous beaches of Kekaha Kai (9am-7pm Thu-Tue) are all the more memorable for being tucked on the far side of a vast desert of unforgiving black lava. This nearly undeveloped 1600-acre park has four beaches, only one of which has paved access. The others are best approached with a 4WD or on foot, but if you hike, be prepared with good shoes, food and lots of water. It can be brutally hot, and once you reach the sand, you’ll want to stay till the last drop of sunlight.
Sights & Activities
MAHAI′ULA BEACH
The park’S largest, this rough, salt and pepper–sand beach is not the best for swimming. Kayakers put in here; during winter swells, surfing is popular on the bay’S north side. The beach has shaded picnic tables and pit toilets. However, walk a few minutes north along the coast and you reach a second, less rocky, curved tan beach with soft sand (called Magoon’S) that is perfect for sunning and swimming.
Mahai′ula Beach is at the end of the park’S main entrance – a ragged 1.5-mile dirt road between the 90- and 91-mile markers. A 4WD is recommended; attempting it in a 2WD is just asking for a punctured oil pan (trust us, we know). The end of this road is the junction for Makalawena and Makole′a Beaches.
MAKALAWENA BEACH
Just before the parking lot for Mahai′ula, the road junction offers two choices: go south for Makole′a Beach, or go north for Makalawena Beach. If what you’re after is an almost deserted, postcard-perfect strand of pristine white-sand beach, edged by ivy-covered dunes and cupping brilliant blue-green water, head north.
The service road to Makalawena Beach is cabled off, so you have to park and walk. Either follow the service road or follow the coastline from Mahai′ula Beach (a much nicer route), and aim for the abandoned red houses; north of these, a mile-long trail continues through nasty ′a′a (rough, jagged type of lava) to Makalawena.
After the broiling hike, it’S shocking to emerge at this series of idyllic, scalloped bays with almost-glowing velvety white sand. If it’S midweek, you might be the only one here. Swimming is splendid, though the surf can get rough, and bodyboarding and snorkeling are also attractive; sea turtles seem to prefer the furthest cove. Some like to rinse off in a brackish pond behind the southernmost cove. There is no official camping, though locals sometimes do, and they don’t always appreciate fellow tenters.
MAKOLE′A BEACH
At the road junction, you can drive south to Makole′a Beach, but this section of road is definitely 4WD only; in fact, it’S wise to park the 4WD after 1000yd, where coral marks the path to the ocean. You won’t get lost walking: either follow the road or follow the coastline from Mahai′ula Beach and make for the lone tree.
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KONA COFFEE
From Puna to Ka′u, award-winning coffee is grown all over the Big Island, but it’S unlikely that any region will ever dethrone Kona as the producer of Hawaii’S most-famous