Overall this was a great place to stay! We absolutely loved Hale’iwa! It’s literally a 2 minute walk to the private beach where we watched sunset- beautiful! We also watched kids surfing too! We did not use the bikes and we tried to use the snorkel gear but it was too choppy the day we tried to go. We never met the owners as they kept to themselves but I he checked in on us via text several times throughout our stay. There is no fan in the bathroom so we had to keep the door open to prevent it from getting hot and muggy. There is a window ac unit. We were asked to turn it off when not in the room. The tap water runs through a filtered system so we loved not having to buy bottled water. Just make sure you bring a large water bottle or some kind of pitcher because the water isn’t very cold coming out of the faucet and only glasses are in the cabinet. We took some of Kurt’s recommendations for food and ate at Banzai sushi (amazing! They even have traditional seating where you sit on a cushion on the floor), coffee gallery has amazing coffee and of course Giovanni’s shrimp truck. We also went to Hale’iwa joes and did not really like it. One place I HIGHLY recommend is the sunrise shack! Not even a 5 minute drive and they have THE BEST bullet coffee and smoothie/Acai bowls. Also, if you’re looking to do some snorkeling/hiking/SUP/surfing etc you should absolutely book a day with Ryan Hailstone with Mahina Hawaii - he is the owner and grew up on the island. We had the most incredible day- he took us to local only places and we saw over 20 turtles during the day with him.
Overall, we loved the location - SO much better than staying in Waikiki. The room was just what we were looking for. Somewhere to sleep when we were not out adventuring.