Okay, today let’s go for big, beautiful, and on the beach! When you’re looking for an Anahola Beach House with enough room for a large family or a private party, it pays to know about this bodacious beauty right on the sand. With seven bedrooms, seven full bathrooms, and 5,000 square feet of opulent accommodations, you can get lost in this wonder of a rental. Plus, did I mention it was only a few hundred feet away from the water?

This comfortable beach house located at 4274 Poha Road has modern furnishings, a private courtyard, free wireless internet access, and an outdoor BBQ area complete with garden showers for rinsing off after some fun in the ocean. It is perfect for a large group of individuals or couples who are traveling together, especially if money is an issue. At $7,000 a week, you can either have a very large house all to yourself or you can invite everyone you know and make a party of it, splitting the cost between the lot of you.

The best part is that this house is on the east side of the island, giving you access to everything eastern Kauai has to offer, from Fern Grotto and the Kauai Museum to Kilohana Plantation and Kipu Falls. In fact, the east side also has Lydgate State Park, by far one of the best family beaches on the island. After renting this house, you can truly have a great time exploring the east side of the island right from your own backyard. What could be better?

Today I had a bit of fun and went snorkeling with some friends off the south shore. I’ll admit to being a north shore kinda girl, but I take a good snorkeling opportunity whenever it presents itself, and this week the opportunity was in Eleele.

Eleele is on Hanapepe Bay, spitting distance from Port Allen Airport. There is a company there called Kauai Sea Tours, and my girlfriends decided to sign up for one of their underwater adventures. And just so you know, contrary to popular opinion, not every resident of Kauai owns their own snorkeling gear. Sure, many of us do, but sometimes it pays to go out with a group.

Anyway, I had a wonderful day of fun in the water. We snorkeled out to this one area where we knew there would be Hawaiian Sea Turtles and pretended to be in the movie Finding Nemo for a while. (You remember the scene, right? All the turtles in surfer accents hanging out in the current?) I love swimming alongside those big turtles, especially since they don’t seem to fear people at all. I even found a smaller turtle away from the rest of the group and named him Squirt. It was a great swim.

When we got back to shore, we all dried off, jumped in the car, and headed back up to the north side of the island for pizza from Kilauea Bakery. (I think I’ve mentioned them before.) They have the best pizza on the whole island, and we polished off several pieces apiece before heading back home.

So today I decided to walk down to the beach. Well, really I drove to the park and then walked down to the beach. Let me explain. On the northern side of Kauai off of Anini Road, there is a park called Kalihikai Park. It is a lovely place and also one of the few places on the island where you can go camping. When I was first learning to write, I would wander down to the campground and “people watch” for hours. It’s amazing how many stories you can come up with if you just have enough interesting people crammed into one place.

Anyway, Kalihikai Park is right on the ocean, so the beach is readily accessible. Whenever I want to “people watch” for a while, I take my notebook and head to the park, walking down to the beach to admire the sapphire waves and the white sands. All sorts of people come to the beach, especially since many different water activities are made available there by Hawaiian businessmen. When searching for a fun activity or two, you can find any number of rental deals from boats and surfing gear to snorkeling and scuba equipment. It’s just that kind of place.

Today was my day to simply relax, however, and leave the water activities to the tourists. I brought a good book, a large beach towel, a small cooler of refreshments, and absorbed the sun for a few hours. It felt good to be out in the sunshine enjoying the humid weather and the scent of the sea breezes. While I enjoyed watching a few tourists learn how to surf, the day wasn’t about “people watching”. The day was about me. I was relaxed, I was enjoying the sights and sounds of the oceanfront, and I was suddenly very sunburned! That teaches me to forget my hat!

Do you need a cozy getaway location for you and your love? There is the nicest condo in Princeville up on the cliffs that I think you should visit. Located at 3811 Edward Road, it is comfortable and romantic with ocean views out almost every window. The master suite has a plush king-sized bed with a private bath, and there is a second full bathroom off the living room for guests.

So what brings this up? Well, I found out this morning that my cousin is coming to visit at the end of the month. The last time my cousin came to visit was after his wedding. Okay, to be honest, it was for his honeymoon, so we didn’t see that much of him. He and his beautiful wife, Julie, stayed in Princeville at this exact same condo, a lovely spot that we visited the third day they were in town.

They told a lot of wonderful stories about this darling condo, especially about the sunrises over the ocean. Julie said they used to sit out on the patio every morning and watch the sea for dolphins, bursts of color appearing over the horizon at dawn. It sounded so romantic. So, if you are reading this blog and you want a beautiful spot for your honeymoon, this is just the place.

I got up early this morning for a long bike ride. I’ve been feeling a bit bigger around the middle, if you catch my meaning, and I figured it was time for me to put down the book and get off my butt. Of course, the bike ride was pleasant and I passed many tourists on the beaches and natives in their shops. It was such a lovely morning excursion that I never wanted it to end. Plus, I was getting so much exercise and feeling thinner by the moment!

I don’t really know how it happened. I truly believe it was fate, but my friends say it was my stomach. Either way, I ended up at Kilauea Bakery on Keneke Street near Kilauea Park. Now, normally I would go straight in and get something delicious, but I held back. I had this whole conversation with myself, arguing back and forth about cravings vs. carbs. Then, after a few minutes, Brianne (only the best barista in the world) called out a hello, and suddenly I had my excuse to go in.

Oh the wonderful aroma of a bakery! Seriously, is there anything better on earth? I only stayed a few minutes, but I left with some freshly baked sin in a bag. I just couldn’t help myself. I figure it this way though – I did ride my bike for at least 20 minutes that morning. Surly that deserved a reward, right?

I am starting this blog for the lovely people at Kauai Vacation Rentals and Oceanfront Realty International, Inc, since Donna really is the most wonderful person in the world.

Oceanfront is a local real estate company with many years of experience on Kauai, which makes a lot of sense considering the fact that they live on Kauai. Donna, the owner and founder of Oceanfront, runs her company with integrity and is well-respected by all her clients, tourists and natives both. I believe this is a firm indication of her real estate capabilities.

Oceanfront Realty has the best rentals on the north shore, including many exceptional properties for sale as well. From large beachfront villas to small getaway condos, tourists of all income levels can find a place to stay here. Plus, their website is a breeze to navigate. Earnest searchers will have no trouble finding a vacation home, booking it, and enjoying it for their entire stay.

As for this blog site, while referring to rental homes from time to time, my job is actually pretty simple: talk about the island. Many tourists come every year, but few know what I know about which restaurants are good, what the most popular haunts are, where on the island to find fun tours and activities for the family, etc. So this blog will be their guide – and yours if you choose to read it.

In order to make your stay the best ever, I am going to share my local knowledge, thoughts, impressions, input, and observations about the island. If you’d like, you can subscribe to my posts, even choosing a particular category you want to hear more about. This way, when it comes time for you to vacation on Kauai, you will know exactly what to do and where to go.