Whale House is a perfect place to stay if you want to do the volcanoes. Jim is great and his little orientation during our arrival was quite valuable we were on the island for about 3.5 days so decided to miss Kona. We visited Volcanoes and Black Sand Beaches suggested in Jims Binder. We didn't get to use bikes and kayaks but having that option is plus. If we were there longer we would have definitely used the bikes to explore the area.
House is big and we loved it's openness and the fact that it was so well lit naturally. It can get hot however we managed with the fans and get it got better during the night.