Kathy Carr is a delightful host and has built a wonderful little "tropical hideaway" here at Captain Cook on the Kona side of the Big Island. Perfect for one or a couple who wants to avoid the touristy feeling of Kailua and get a sense of what living on the Big Island is all about, especially if you can stay for a few days and explore. Charming studio with queen size bed, outdoor shower, kitchen and suitable toys for snorkeling, boogie boarding, etc. Fresh fruit from the property and a nice hot tub. Great location - 20-30 mins from Kailua and about 45 from South Point with plenty in between. If you are a Four Seasons kind of traveller, then move on, but if you like to immerse yourself in a real island experience in a lovely, very comfortable open air vacation rental, then I recommend the Tropical Hideway wholeheartedly.

This is a wonderful little home away from home. It is near some amazing snorkelling and cultural sites. It is quiet and charming. The dipping pool is a real treat and so is the hot tub. We cooked all our meals in the little kitchen and loved our week here. If we ever have the good fortune to return to Hawaii we'd love to come back. Kathleen is generous about sharing her local knowledge and the gift of fresh papayas was a lovely surprise. Our 9 year-old daughter just loved it here too!

My wife and I really enjoyed our time at the charming tropical hideaway. In my opinion it is just not describable with words - you have to experience the place yourself to really understand.
The fact that there are no windows (just fly-screens) is unusual and sounds kind of weird - at least for people like us coming from an area where you have really cold winters. But in Big island Hawaii this is just fine. In January we had temperatures in the mid sixties at night, so we slept really recreative. We were curious whether or not all the animals would disturb our sleep - but it just did not happen. It was wonderful.
The place itself is very clean and beautiful equipped. You have a kitchen with all the utensils you need for cooking and an outdoor BBQ. Speaking about the outdoor stuff: We really enjoyed the outdoor shower and the Hot Tub!
So if I have the choice to stay in a hotel or in this beautiful hideaway I would definitely go for the hideaway!
Thank you Kathy for the wonderful time!

One last info for planning your vacation on Big Island: If you are willing to see much of the island, plan enough time! The island is called Big Island for a reason - it takes a day to drive around it!

When you travel you may just want accommodation to recharge your batteries (both literally and figuratively) but sometimes it’s nice to stay where the accommodation is a destination itself. Tropical Hideaway in Captain Cook on the big island of Hawaii is exactly that. Now with a name like tropical hideaway I know you’d wanna stay there, so what more is there to say?

Well I feel compelled to write about this place because this was my first experience booking a private rental rather than a hotel and I wouldn’t go back. Initially I began searching for a private rental as a cheaper option to an expensive hotel and I quickly found the almost unlimited variety of rentals to be slightly overwhelming. I needed to narrow down my search options. I knew I needed a central location to see all the big island has to offer, within a short drive of Kona because I would be doing multiple days diving from the harbour there.

Captain Cook fit the bill, it is about a 30-40min drive south of Kona and although a lot of the west coast of the big island is dry, deserlet and hot, Captain Cook is within a lush tropical wedge of land that’s managed to escape recent lava flows. It’s also close to the best snorkelling on the island and being south of Kona makes a day trip to the Volcanoes National Park easy.

Finding the tropical hideaway for the first time can be a bit tricky, it really is hidden away, but the owner Kathleen provides very comprehensive directions and a distinctive flag at the entrance to her property to make it easy.

Tropical Hideaway beerTropical Hideaway verandah
Driving up the steep driveway to the hideaway you are completely enveloped in a lush green corridor of tropical foliage that makes this property feel very removed from the nearby road. As the jungle corridor opens up towards the top of the hill, revealed is a landscaped yet informal tropical garden. All kinds of tropical fruits adorn the trees and shrubs. Deliciously ripe mangos, papayas and bananas litter the ground, begging to be eaten.

In fact the tropical garden is so big Kathleen employs a full-time gardener who lives on site to tend to it. KT the gardener was waiting for us as we pulled up in front of the main house. My partner and I were given a warm welcome followed by a tour around the property.

The tropical hideaway itself, as described on Kathleen’s website, is a Hawaiian style studio apartment. It’s fully self-contained with a full-sized fridge and cooking utensils as well as a selection of condiments. It has a super comfy bed and screaming fast WiFi as well as a smart TV with Netflix – a real treat for Australian’s yet to experience the goodness of free streaming TV shows and movies.

Having said that the TV didn’t get much use. The apartments best feature is not the TV or the WiFi, it’s the connection with nature. The apartment is completely open to the air, there is no glass, just screening on 3 of the 4 walls to keep the bugs (and Geckos!) out. That’s something you wouldn’t get in a hotel.

Tropical Hideaway VerandahTropical Hideaway Kitchen
Privacy is not an issue because the lush gardens create a natural screen around the apartment. Out to the west in front of the apartment is a private garden and a view out to the vast North Pacific Ocean. The sea breezes that come through the screen at night are the perfect temperature and I got some of the best sleep I’ve ever had in that apartment. The only thing to be aware of is that the jungle comes alive at night with the calls of geckos and insects. I found it the perfect harmony to sleep to but some people might need ear plugs.

Outside is a veranda looking into the dense jungle – a BBQ area and a private hot-tub, always set to a toasty 100 degrees Fahrenheit. Also outside is the shower, surrounded by bamboo screening – privacy is not an issue. Hot water on demand and views through the garden to the pacific make for a less-routine than usual showering experience!

Tropical Hideaway ShowerTropical Hideaway SpaTropical Hideaway Shower
Wander the property and there are numerous nooks to explore, each full of new surprises and new fruits to eat. There is also a shared pool higher up on the property which has a great view out over the pacific sunsets. It’s made from a converted water tank so it’s well over 3 meters deep, which makes it a fun place to get away from the hot mid-day sun.

Drive a few minutes down Keala O Keawe Road and you find yourself at Honaunau Bay, site of a historic Hawaiian village over 500 years old and a snorkel spot know locally as ‘two step’ – reputedly the best snorkelling spot on the Hawaiian islands and that reputation is not overstated. We arrived on an overcast grey day – the water lapping against the black lava steps from which this site takes its name did not look particularly inviting. But jumping in, the water was crystal clear, teeming with life. Colourful fish, old large mound and lobe corals filled the bay. Honaunau Bay is rich with marine life, and if you spend long enough in the water your likely to see Green Sea Turtles and Hawaiian Spinner Dolphins which frequent the bay. Swimming with a pod of dolphins just as interested in you as you are in them is an indescribable experience.

Back at the Tropical Hideaway in the breeze-way area under the main house is an industrial washer and dryer for you to refresh your clothes from the days adventures and for the next. Kathleen also has snorkels and masks, fins, wetsuits and body boards available for you to use here too. This is also where the fresh fruit collected from the garden will be waiting each morning for your healthy energy boost.

Tropical Hideaway GeckoTropical Hideaway FruitTropical Hideaway Dolphins
The Tropical Hideaway Hawaii was more than I expected. You get so much more from a private rental than you can from even the high-end hotels. The hospitality and small touches from sharing a property with someone who has obviously worked hard for it and loves their lifestyle providing people with this unique experience cannot be replicated by a resort. If you have ever considered renting a private holiday rental take the leap and do it, I wouldn’t go back.

Although I didn’t have time to take up the offer Kathleen also offers more than just the Tropical Hideaway. She is a professional photographer and offers photo tours and private photography lessons. You can also buy the prints and posters that adorn the walls of the Tropical Hideaway. She has been swimming and photographing the dolphins in the area since 1991 – she knows what she is doing. You can take a guided snorkel or dolphin swim with Kathleen, learning from someone who has extensive experience with the area and these amazing marine mammals. Kathleen is also obviously an environmentalist at heart and her respect for nature shines through in every aspect of the property – helping to preserve the big island of Hawaii as a true tropical paradise.