The condo has a really nice sized lanai with a wonderful view of the bay, you can watch surfers while you sip your coffee. Chad’s place also had everything we would need to make a great meal, including sharp knives! Which for anyone who Airbnb’s often knows is a rarity and much appreciated. There were a couple of boogie boards in the closet, plenty of sand toys for little kids, four beach chairs and coolers available for use in the guest room closet, we were provided with four beach towels but there were five of us in the party, it was ok since I had brought a diving towel that I prefer to use at the beach for quick drying off.
The bathrooms were very clean and nicely sized and had hair dryers, flat irons and curling irons in both.
Half of our party liked the beds the other half said they left something to desire but were by no means causing anyone pain at night. The pool was very nice and the grounds were very well maintained by the local staff, it was a nice way to end the day with a swim in the pool or soak in the hot tub. The apartment enjoys a really nice evening breeze off the ocean which helps to cool the house at night and the fans in all rooms kept us comfortable at night.
The beach park across the road was not as nice as many beach parks on Maui but it had showers and the bathrooms were cleaned regularly. The sand is a bit rough with it being course grain black sand and broken coral, I would recommend reef shoes/surf booties for this beach park/ getting in and out of the water here.
Upon arrival we found a fruit basket which was a nice touch and also was delicious, we snacked on it while exploring the many beaches of the big island.
Something we didn’t really take into account when booking the house was that the main part of Kona is not walkable from the apartment but the 15 min drive is nice and hugs the coast. There is a grocery store only a couple minutes drive up the hill, it would be a difficult walk up there for elderly, children or those not in great shape because the island hills are quite steep. You could rent bicycles right around the corner (to the left at the bottom of the hill), very reasonably priced with drop off stations in town but bring bike lights if you intend to do this after sunset. Magic sands was very close and could be walked to but there are no sidewalks on the main beach road so do be careful with small children. Unfortunately while we were staying there was no sand at magic sands beach.
The condo is about 35-45min+ drive from any of the various white sand beaches on the big island but I would totally recommend driving north to see them and swim, boogie board and enjoy the various terrain along the way.
The snorkeling at the beach park across the road is awesome, if you like to snorkel you really can’t beat the location, we did a morning snorkel every day early before heading up north for sandy beach days and it was a great way to start/end a day, lots of turtles and several varieties of fish as well as octopus, eels and urchins are on view. The Coral here is definitely in a recovery period with much of it being bleached out but great brain corals are visible further out. There is a reef volunteer program that set up at the beach park daily and was very good about answering questions and also provided reef safe sunscreen for free.
The bay has a natural rock outer bank that keeps it calm and so is nice for snorkeling throughout the day.
I would also recommend going up the mountain, coffee tasting is just about 10 min south, there is also some roadside Hulu Hulu chicken and ribs up there on hey 11 on Thursday’s and Friday’s, get there early he does sell out!
We can’t wait to return and explore the island more, this island will take several visits to unfold all of its treasures!