2 Reviews of Property 386825 in Honaunau, Hawaii

First, this house is NOT in Captain Cook: the VRBO ad "Location: Captain Cook" is badly deceptive. It's 30 minutes or so South of town, in an odd strip of homes south of Kapilo Bay. There is no sandy beach within 15 minutes drive, there is no coffee shop or restaurant or store of any sort, or any of what one would want to be in Captain Cook to enjoy, anywhere nearby. The listing photo of a nice white-sand beach is also deceptive.

We stayed the three nights we'd booked as we had little choice. Beyond the not-so-good location (definitely not "FABULOUS" as the headline says), the house is a mixed bag.

The climb. There is absolutely no way a front-wheel drive vehicle can go up the driveway. They warn you about this, but It's about 50 steep vertical feet from the street to the front door.

The water: Water is brought in to each house by tanker truck. On our second morning there was no water. No taps, no toilets. The manager, Sharon, is very sweet and knows how to re-prime the pump, is located over an hour away. It turns out that the pump was just having a bad day, and it turned itself back on after about 90 minutes, so we got our showers.

The water from the tank doesn't taste very good. There's a filters by the sink and fridge didn't work. Also, Sharon left us a note on our arrival that the TV had gotten de-programmed they'd fix it soon. We're not TV people so it didn't matter to us, but I could imagine that bothering some people.

The master bedroom is very nice, but the only closet is locked. There is nowhere to hang anything up.

There are lots of high-end features. The cabinets are beautiful, as are the upstairs wood floors. The Lanai off the Master is very nice. The place is very spacious. The granite in the bathrooms is nice. There's a great washer & dryer. There are tons of ocean views. The beds and couches are comfy.

But our main disappointment (other than location!) in the house is hard to be specific about: despite having nice features, the home didn't have a nice feeling to it -- it just didn't feel homey. It's as if they put in place the furniture and features, but left out any hint of love. The house has an un-lived-in feeling to it. Kitchen cabinets have an odd assortment of junk in them. I'd go on but I'm out of space :-). It's not a place we'd stay again, though for a large family with good climbing legs who aren't looking for town or beach nearby and don't drink water, it could be a good choice.