At the end of our vacation last week, we traveled towards the airport. While I looked at the sea to memorialize the experience at the Retreat, suddenly, a whale jumped out of the waters of Kohala and plunged back creating a spectacular splash--an unforgettable parting gift of the island. We had been here for a whole week over Christmas and we highly recommend this intimate Retreat. I refrain from calling it a hotel because to do so is to defame it as a corporate entity, which it is not. We found the Retreat after reviewing many hotels on the Island of Hawaii. We rejected hotels in Hilo because of rain and rejected hotels in Kona because its similarity to suburbs of Las Vegas.
The Retreat crowns the northern most portion of the Kohala Wilds on a cliff, which plunges into the sea while its crag remnants create a dramatic finish. The surf strikes these crags at night creates a soothing sound lulling us easily to sleep. The Retreat on the outside seems to have been designed by a committee as it looks more like a large home that is weathering from the elements. Inside, however, the room is very large in the vernacular of Hawaii's plantation style with tropical hardwood floor, large area rug, large brass bed painted white with white linen, a day bed, a round table with fresh flowers under which are two wood chairs with leather seats, a large closet, and a tropical fan. Multiple windows are dressed with sheer curtains and black-out curtains in a tropical flower motif. The bathroom is in a modern mainland vernacular with stone work, separate shower and generous tub facing a large window. One night when the moon was nearly full, it illuminated the Retreat in a silvery light. We were able to see through a light forest of pine shielding the Retreat from the gust of evening wind coming from the sea.
The Retreat is on 50 acres inclusive of the mentioned cliff and an adjacent valley that pours into the sea. Finding the valley was a delight especially on a sunny day because it is hidden among tall grasses and fallen trees revealing as if it were an elvish sanctuary. The locals are protective of this place and if you ask them how to get to it, they would direct you somewhere else.
This retreat is not for you if you dislike crickets, butterflies, tropical birds (they come in one if it is a wild turkey, two if they have chartreuse plumage, come in three if they are greyish with white "W" marking on their back, and a random grouping if each of them comes with a reddish head and a black cowlick), praying mantis, spiders, mongoose, goats, chicken, livestock, green geckos, and so on.
The food prepared at meals is taken from the land on which the Retreat is located. The flavor of each morsel of food is deep. But in a way, this is not surprising because the soil from which the food is grown is the rich lava spilled from deep inside mother earth on this youngest of all the Hawaiian islands (700,000 years old). Dinner was prepared by a Moroccan chef and all of it was delicious although he occasionally over-salted the vegetables. As we do not eat grains, the chef deftly adjust his preparation after noting at the first dinner that we did not eat any bread or pasta. (Although the chef comically triangulated this mystery by suggesting rice, quinoa, and other grains to come to the correct conclusion that we abstain from grains.) This careful attention to the diet of guests is personal and wonderful as we would not have received such care and attention at a corporate hotel.
We returned to the mainland and I visited our dry-cleaner and they noticed that the clothing has a fragrance to them. I told them it is the flagrance of a Lang Lang tree and a night Jasmine from a courtyard of a Retreat on the Island of Hawaii.
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