My Fiancé and I stayed here for the first 3 nights of our Honeymoon before heading to Kauai. If you enjoy nature and the outdoors, you will love this “glamping” experience in the lotus. As a host, Dan was generous in his suggestions for things to try and his wisdom about the island. He was also genuine in wanting to hear about our adventures so he could share them with other guests. The lotus itself is cozy, private, and offers the opportunity to experience the island in a way you won’t get if you stay in a resort or condo. The gravity shower is cool and refreshing after a hot day of exploring too!
As for the area, Ocean View is one of the more quiet and remote parts of the island, but still offers some awesome adventures. We highly recommend renting a Jeep Wrangler with 4WD for at least a couple of days during your visit. With it, you can drive 30min down to South Point to be at the southern most point in the United States. A short but exciting 4WD from there is the Green Sand beach, which Dan explained is actually sand made of some kind of green crystal that has been worn down. Amazing! There’s a bunch of other stuff to check out in the area- too much to list. Dan keeps a little blue travel guidebook on the big island in the lotus and honestly it’s one of the best travel guides I’ve ever read. We used that to discover many more hidden gems that were not originally on our agenda.
The only downside to staying here is the distance to Kona (1hr) and Hilo (1.5hr), and any activities in those areas. For us, we enjoyed the road tripping around the island, but if you intend on exploring the whole island, I might recommend splitting your time between Dan’s place and perhaps camping somewhere north of Hilo (Laupahoehoe or Pololū look awesome) to spread things out a little more. If you are from a more metropolitan area, you should also keep in mind that things close earlier (anywhere from 5-8pm depending) than they do in other parts of the world. This goes for the whole island though, not just Ocean View.
Overall, we definitely recommend!