It is been a week since we left Karen & Ron's Bali cottage. This place was truly paradise, thanks to wonderful hosts. We used Google Maps to find the direction to cottage. Advice for future visitors: buy some grocery in advance as closest store is 15 minutes drive. The Bali Cottage had everything - wonderful Hawaiian music CD player, snorkeling gear, a lot of reading material, very good books about Hawaii ( "Big Island Revealed" should be your main guide), various pot & pans for our daily cooking, spices, oils, etc. Karen also put a book together about near by attractions and places to eat. We were buying fresh fish and our grocery at choice smart supermarket, but alcohol we suggest to buy either from Costco or ABC store, much cheaper! We cooked most of the time at Bali Cottage. Ron would stop by daily to collect our garbage and give the best tips where to go or what to see.
Th Bali cottage interior was very unique and interesting, we though we were living in museum- from interesting indonesian wall masks, local craft to beautiful door panels with a lot of wood details. The personalized welcome message is just one of these small things make a big difference from big resorts or other hotels. Bali Cottage had wifi that was very convenient for us to share pictures at Instagram and Facebook. My AT&T phone signal was not that good so I could not make calls from Bali however Verizon phone worked just fine. The best experience was for us was swimming with the wild dolphins in the Captain Cook Bay. One day we rented a kayak at the bay early morning (if you are planning to see dolphins, go early) and we just went to cliff area where we saw 30-40 dolphins swimming around. We could not believe how these dolphins were spinning and jumping in their natural habitual. We also loved our mornings: you listen how all nature become alive around you: from rooster and various Hawaiian birds signing to neighbor's donkey.We also had some guests visiting us during our stay: black cat was coming daily to lay down in our reading room, beautiful green geicos were fun to watch at night when they try to catch flies by our lights, we saw mangos couple time running through the room when we left door open and some big spiders that look like letter X. Our tip: don't leave any food outside, unless you want someone to have a feast. All these creatures are harmless, there are no sneaks, scorpions or other poison animals on Hawaii. We tried some fruits at the community beach: Jack fruit has interesting taste, but oranges were the best, very sweet and juicy. All people we met at the beach were very nice and friendly. Thanks to Karen & Ron for wonderful experience, we hope one day we just follow your steps by moving to a wonderful place like yours, one day!