Our stay was lovely. The apartment is small but was perfectly suited to our needs. The view from this apartment is BEAUTIFUL, there's good access to convenience stores and the bus, and it is pretty well appointed with basic necessities (knives, coffee grinder, etc.). It's about a twenty minute walk to the beach. The building is a bit odd (is it a hotel? an apartment building? both?), and there are precious few outlets in the space. It was hard for me to find a comfortable way to plug in and use my laptop. But that's not the host's fault--the apartment just doesn't have many options for power. In the end, although I may have missed some work emails, this issue actually forced me to relax more and be present. Colby is a prompt and attentive communicator, which is much appreciated. I only got in one brief pool swim the morning of our departure, but it was lovely. Recommendations nearby(ish) include: (1) Hanauma Bay!
You have to aggressively stalk the website at exactly 7am two days before you want to go in order to make your reservation. Well worth it. This was one of the most amazing things I've ever done. If you can, get a Hawaiian reef fish book before you snorkel so that you can geek out about the astounding fishes you have spotted. (2) Shangri-La (Doris Duke's home in HNL). A home built on an incredible spot on the coast, completely conceived around works of "Islamic art" that Duke collected during her long, extremely wealthy life. It's unreal and totally affordable -- $25/ticket. Similarly to Hanauma Bay--it seems like tickets sell out well in advance! I made our reservation via the Honolulu Museum of Art website while in the plane on our way to Honolulu and managed two grab the last two tickets available for the entire week we were in town (made this reservation on a Friday morning and the only two tickets available were for the following Thursday). This place is absurdly gorgeous. It feels like I imagined the entire experience. (3) Hike up Diamond Head. Recommend to do this very early in the AM and/or on a slightly overcast day when it's not too hot. Heads up that there are biting no-see-ums at the summit, so if you're sensitive, you may want to put on some bug spray before hiking up. (4) Moku Kitchen at Salt in Koko'ako for dinner. We ended up here once on a whim, and then went back to enjoy another meal. Everything was delicious. We also ate at Hau Tree (steep prices, but lovely; the ahi sandwich is delicious), rented a car and went on a few waterfall hikes, checked out the North Shore, enjoyed shave ice at Matsumoto's (also the best spot for some souvenir treats, I think--everything from t-shirts to magnets, postcards to tote bags, stickers and other fun things that are pretty unique, playful, and not too cheesy). We had a great time. Thanks, Colby!