For the past ten years or more, we have been going to different locations looking for that perfect place for a beach getaway. Well, we still have not found it, but we bought two 1/2 acre lots in Hawaii a year and a half ago.
We traveled to Mexico – Rocky Point (Puerto Penasco), Cabo San Lucas, Mazatlan, Ensenada, and the Yucatan. We went to Aruba, to the Bahamas twice, Florida, California, Fiji twice, and Australia many times. Everything was just too expensive. We went to Kauai, and every morning at around 9 am, a little rain cloud came in from the ocean and rained for maybe five or ten minutes – a very light rain shower – and then moved off. It wasn’t until we had spent a week there that we figured out why. Prices on Kauai are so high, that not even Mother Nature can afford to stay very long.
We found that land on the Big Island (the island of Hawai’i) was more in line with our budget, so we started looking. We looked around Kona, but it was too dry and too touristy. At the north end around Hawi, prices were similar to on Kauai. Hilo was the best as far as the climate we desired so we looked at property around Hilo. Anything with a view of the ocean was way out of our price range. We found the town of Ocean View. It’s not really a town, more like a huge subdivision divided by the highway, The lots up the hill (Mauka – away from the ocean) are one acre lots and start at an elevation around 2,000 ft. and go up to 5,000 feet in elevation. In the upper sections, they get lots of fog as it is up in the clouds. Below the highway (makai – toward the ocean) the lots are three acres. I found a lot I really liked near the bottom of the subdivision at about 500 feet elevation with fantastic 180 degree views overlooking the ocean. We made an offer that was not accepted – and were contemplating a counter offer, when my wife said, “‘It’s so ugly here!” WHAT? There is too much lava. No vegetation. So we looked at a subdivision over near the Volcano National Park. The only lots where you could see the ocean were those directly on the ocean, If you were 100 feet off the ocean, you had to get 50 feet in the air to see the water. Then we found Mark Twain Estates near Na’alehu and South Point (Ka Lae). The price was right. It was in the jungle. It is at 800 feet elevation and two or three miles from shore. A little tree trimming and we’ll have a great ocean view. . . especially if we build the house 8 feet off the ground. So that’s the plan.
TropicalCastaway 