Aloha! We’re glad you found us. We hope the story of how we came to love Hawaii and ultimately live here will give you some confidence in us and the accommodations we feature at Hawaii Holiday Vacation Rentals.

A Love For Hawaii

The story of our life together is the story of our love for Hawaii. Each of us fell in love with Hawaii on our first visits almost 20 years ago. We started making one or two trips a year, traveling extensively throughout the islands. With some planning and some luck, we both developed business interests in Hawaii, which brought us to the islands even more often. Within a few years we had traveled just about every public road in Hawaii—and a few not-so-public ones!

Each time we returned we learned a bit more about the land and people of Hawaii, and our love for Hawaii deepened. We started listening to Hawaiian music and attending performances regularly, both in Hawaii and on the Mainland. We learned a little of the Hawaiian language. We developed a strong interest in Hawaiian culture, music, and history, and a great admiration for the Hawaiian people.

A Wedding and an Eclipse

Each of us had started visiting Hawaii before we met, and our mutual love for Hawaii played a major part in our own relationship. When we decided to get married, we knew it had to be in Hawaii, and the solar eclipse of 1991 seemed like the perfect opportunity. The eclipse was to be one of the best of the century, with the path of totality passing directly over the Big Island.

Knowing how many people the eclipse would bring to Hawaii, we had made plans two years before to stay at the home of friends in Kona. When we suggested having our wedding there the day before the eclipse, they happily obliged, and we were married on their beautiful lanai overlooking the Pacific. The eclipse the following day disappointed many people, because much of the normally sunny Kona coast turned cloudy, but the skies over the house cleared after an early morning rain and the eclipse was perfect. We took it as a good sign!

Sharing Our Home

Like many visitors, we dreamed of owning a home in Hawaii and eventually living in the Islands. But for us, one of the best parts of having a home is the ability to share it with others. We have always loved welcoming guests. When Sharene lived in San Francisco before we were married, she opened her home to bed and breakfast guests from around the world, and we met many guests who remain friends to this day. From our earliest visits, we looked forward to doing the same in Hawaii.

During our first trips to Hawaii, we stayed in a variety of accommodations including large and small hotels, condominiums, bed and breakfasts, and private homes (including this llama ranch on the Big Island). We discovered that we loved the freedom and flexibility of a condo or house. We liked having the kitchen available for those times we wanted to eat in or invite friends over, and we liked having a separate bedroom so one of us could be up and about without waking the other. It was the closest we could come to having our own home in Hawaii! Hotels or bed and breakfasts are fine for a couple of days, but for a longer stay, you can’t beat something that feels like your own place.

Finding Makai Vista and Makai Surf

After many years of planning (and saving), we were ready to purchase our first property. It was tough to choose a location, because we love all of Hawaii and each island offers something unique. We finally settled on Kihei, Maui, because it has a great combination of attractions for a visitor. Kihei’s location in South Maui, on the leeward side of Mt. Haleakala, gives it the sunniest weather on the island. The area near Kihei offers a string of the best beaches on Maui. South Kihei’s location next to the luxury hotels and resorts of Wailea makes it upscale but affordable.

It took several visits to find the right property, but we found it at the Kihei Akahi complex. From the instant we saw the spectacular view, we knew it had the “Wow! Factor” we wanted. We completely redecorated the unit, incorporating everything we learned from our years of being both travelers and hosts. Makai means “toward the sea” in Hawaiian, so we named our unit Makai Vista because of its sweeping ocean and island panorama.

Not long after we finished decorating Makai Vista, we saw a unit at the oceanfront Kihei Surfside complex that seemed a perfect complement to Makai Vista. Surfside’s beautifully landscaped complex is just steps away from Keawakapu, Wailea’s first beach, and the view of ocean and palm trees gave the unit its own Wow! Factor. We named it Makai Surf to reflect its oceanfront location, and we did another complete redecoration to make it a place we could be proud to send guests.

We soon had steady guests going to Makai Vista and Makai Surf. We still had our professional lives in the San Francisco area, but we got to Hawaii regularly and experienced our two homes vicariously through our guests.

Now It’s Our Turn

By this time Hawaii felt like home, but we still treated each visit as a new adventure. We kept exploring each island and discovering new things to do and new places to stay. Then just as we started to look for a 3rd vacation rental condo, we discovered our dream house in Puna on the Big Island. We had expected the search for our own Hawaiian hale (house) to take years, but this property was so perfect we had to act fast. The house and grounds were so extraordinary that the Hawaiian word kakahi—unique, outstanding—seemed the only fitting name, so the house became Hale Kakahi.

It took us awhile, but in Spring 2001 we left our California jobs, packed our possessions, and moved to Hale Kakahi full time—proving that sometimes dreams really can come true. We wake each day thankful that we live in such a beautiful place, and we try never to take it for granted.

Hawaiians at Heart

We hope you have enjoyed getting to know us and learning a bit more about Makai Surf, Makai Vista, and our home at Hale Kakahi. When you stay at one of our rentals, you are staying at the Hawaii homes of two real Hawaiians at Heart. We are not some big real estate firm or Internet company, and the pictures you see are not just examples of fancy units you won’t really get to stay in. What you see is exactly what you get.

We know that where you stay is important, and we know the only surprises you want are pleasant ones. We made Makai Surf and Makai Vista places we would like to stay ourselves, and we think you will too. We hope you will be our guest very soon!

E malama i ka ‘aina (take good care of the land),
Sharene & Harrison