I LOVE ANINI BEACH...
 

and want to stay there on my next visit to Kauai. There are tons of rentals there, but which ones are the best? Where have you stayed at Anini Beach? My short list so far is Wahi Mana, Mango Cottage and Punana Aloha. If anyone has stayed at these places, I'd love to hear what you thought of them. Feedback on other Anini Beach rentals would be helpful too!
mahalo!

I have stayed several times at the Wades, which is almost at the end of the road. It is a large place, able to accommodate 3 or 4 couples with a private bathroom for each. Older and possibly more run down than others, but price should be commensurate.

I can give you info regarding the location of these 3 properties, which might help you choose which one would suit your needs the best.

Wahi Mana is on the main road, and next to the county park -- and across from the polo field, so it gets lots of traffic on weekends and in the summer.

Mango Cottage is actually in the area known as Aliomanu -- slight hike to the beach, but very quiet.

Punana Aloha is a house -- set well back from the main road, but with unobstructed views of Anini, and the the beach is just steps from your front door.

We're at Anini Beach regularly -- one of our favorite spots to "just hang"! :-)

Hello Cueball,

I too love Anini Beach. Just thought I drop a note to let you know that if you enjoy that clear, quiet, calm lagoon environment, you may want to consider some of the islands of the South Pacific (southern hemisphere). Places like Moorea, Bora Bora (both in French Polynesia), and Rarotonga or Aitutaki (in the Cook Islands) have a whole lot of shoreline with that great lagoon setting. Pretty much paradise in my opinion. French Polynesia is rather expensive, but the Cooks are pretty reasonable. We rented a house directly on the lagoon along Rarotonga's beautiful south shore for less than $100 USD/night.

The Cooks are often described as "the way Hawaii was 50 years ago" (ie before the big building boom).

Anyway, just something to consider for a vacation in the future. I can say with great confidence, that if you love Anini, you will LOVE the places I mention.

Ken

Aloha Ken,

Have you posted a trip report of your Cook Islands trip... would love to hear more details... I have been looking into FP & am dismayed by the overall cost of traveling there... I'd rather spend my $$$ on 2 trips to HI... would love to hear more about the Cook Is.

Here's where we stayed in Sept 02 (gosh has it been that long???):

http://planet-hawaii.com/daystar/anini.html

Can't recommend this house highly enough - it was brand new, well appointed: jacuzzi in the master bath was awesome, and the master BR had double sliders facing front and another set in the back - against a wall of flowers - what a scented breeze!) and a perfect location on Anini...be wary of staying too close to "the end of the road" - we found the water murkier at that end due to the river that empties into the bay there. People camp overnight in Anini park, and I've read unsavory stories on this board about that part of Anini. That's why we liked the daystar home...far enough from the park to make a difference, but not in the murkier water. I remember seeing (we had seriously considered this one too) Punana Aloha, and thinking "our" place had a better view - stilt home, so higher up, and placed closer to the road/beach. If you can afford the $$ difference, go for the above home!

Go to http://messages.cruisecritic.com/2/O...mp;f=887097554 and read some of the comments or reviews coming from the Tahitian Princess which sails the Cook Islands. Or check the "roll calls" for Tahitian Princess at http://messages.cruisecritic.com/2/O...p;f=4763056957 That seems to be the one cruise where no one can find anything bad to say. Michener called Bora Bora and it's lagoon the most beautiful place on earth.

Hi Makai,

Yeah, I've got tons of stuff posted on the Cooks (Tahiti, Hawaii, and a few other places too).

Trip reports can be found here:

http://www.epinions.com/user-lordbal..._~1/pa_~1#list

Trip photos (including photos of the 2 different houses we rented) can be found here:

http://community.webshots.com/user/lordbalfor

Don't be dismayed by the high prices in French Polynesia. There are cheaper (and almost as beautiful locations down there).

Ken

PS: We stayed for 3 weeks in the Cooks for the cost of 1 week in a FP resort.

Although there are some pretty pricy resorts in the Cooks, there are also plenty of reasonably priced ones (almost all of them directly on the water) as well as plenty of rental cottages and bungalows (again, many directly on the lagoon).

On the downside, the Cooks (like most of the islands of the South Pacific) are pretty short on nightlife (for those that are counting on a lot of that). Also, airfare to get there tends to be rather high (travel agencies tend to give you a better airfare price than the airlines themselves - go figure!)

Ken

Aloha Ken,

Just briefly read your Cooks reports and had to reply... great report!
Photos are phenominal. This has given me a new destination for future travel.

Aloha Cueball,

So sorry I hijacked your thread... Ken had hit on something that I've been thinking about for awhile.

Happy planning for Kauai... aloha!

makai1: No problem...no harm done. I love it when people share unexpected information.

joan: interested about the location of the rental you mentioned. Is it before or after the park and polo field?

Mahalo to all!

auntiemaria: thanks for the info! What is your favorite part of Anini? Any particular areas that you favor over others for snorkeling? Joan mentioned that the water near the creek towards the end can be murky. Has that been your experience too?

cueball, it is after the park and field...about 3/4 of the way to the end of Anini Beach, which is maybe two miles long...

Makai1 - Thanks. Glad I could be of help

Cueball - Enjoy Anini. As you already know, it's a great area on a terrific island.

Ken

The house Joan mentioned is a good choice, too -- unobstructed ocean view, with the beach just across the road from your front door. Bliss!

Because we snorkle and paddle kayak, we always head for the far end of `Anini -- near the river, but not too close. We just park the truck under a tree and spend a few hours on/in the water.

As for "murky water", that's the case near any of our rivers. And especially true when we've had recent rains. No problem, really -- sooooo much beach available _away_ from the streams/rivers.

My wife, one year old daughter and myself loved our experiences at Anini this past summer. We stayed at http://www.yourbeach.com/ Its on the opposite side of Anini beach from where the river is. Its about the 10th house in as your turn down Anini road off the main road. Its a fair ways from the campsite and seems to be in a pleasant area of Anini versus some of the other rentals we saw while we were there. Not a oceanfront view as its on the other side of the road but its only a 90 second walk to the beach. Well appointed with everything you can think of. Has a large lot with fruit trees (although none were in bloom when we were there). Owner goes out of her way to make you feel welcome (and the web site gives a lot more info versus the other Anini beach rentals, IMO). Hope this helps.

I found your post via a search engine on the web when I was sitting here at work thinking how much I miss Anini and want to go back (and my wife's sentiments are along the same lines as mine).

I love Anini, too! Three years ago I stayed in the guest cottage to this rental http://aninialoha.com/keawaihihale.htm

The web page only mentions renting the cottage with the main house, but when I called the agent I found it could be rented separately. The cottage is right on the beach and has a great view of the lagoon. It was very clean and everything was new. In the mornings the tide was so low you could walk out (with reef shoes on!) to the end of the coral where the waves break. If you have never kayaked before, this is the place to do it with the calm water. I believe at that time it was $1,000 for the week. The only draw back was it didn't have a washer/dryer which I like to have when staying at the beach.

Lordbalfor,
You have peeked my curiosity about the Cook Islands. How long was the plane ride from Washington as compared to hawaii and FP? Is there a Guidebook that you would recommend for more information?

Hi Ashley,

It's quite a bit longer plane ride to the Cooks than to Hawaii (and quite a bit more expensive too - though that was the ONLY thing more expensive about the Cooks).

When we went (March 2002) only Air New Zealand flew there (from LA on the way to New Zealand). It was about a 10 hour flight and left LAX around 9 PM (arriving on Raro at around 6 AM). Good airline. Decent food and very pleasant flight (especially considering the length).

Now I think that flight stops in Papette (pronounced "PAP AY AY TAY") Tahiti (about an 8-9 hours flight I think). If you have the money and time, you may be able to work in a brief stay there (and take the ferry across the "Sea of the Moon" (is that a romantic sounding name or what?) to beautiful Moorea (correctly pronounced "MO OH RAY AH" not "MORE RAY AH") - often consider to be the most beautiful island in the entire South Pacific. If you can't afford a stay there, the layover is just a couple of hours before the flight continues on to Avarua on Rarotonga (a couple of hours maybe).

Also, Aloha airlines now flies from Honolulu to Raro. It's about a 5-6 hour flight. For a while they were offering flights from the west coast to Raro (via Honolulu) for under $600 USD/pp (a real bargain), but I think that promotion is over now.

If you do decide to go, check around on prices, because the airfare can really vary (and the airlines often do NOT offer the best fares).

Two guidebooks come to mind, both of the pretty recent so they should have very current information. The first is David Stanley's "Tahiti" handbook (5th edition) - though its' focus is much more on French Polynesia than the Cooks. It is however brand new so you know everything as absolutely current. David and I e-mail back and forth sometimes and he was generous enough to send me an advanced copy in December, but it looks like it's now available to the general public. As usual, it's full of great information and well written. You can find it here (at the Moon Handbooks website): http://southpacific.org/tahiti.html
or at Amazon.com or walk-in book stores.

The otehr obvious choice is the 5th edition of Lonely Planets' "Rarotonga and the Cook Islands" which though smaller, focus' more on the Cooks themselves. I have not read this edition, but the previous one proved to be very useful on our trip down there. A great choice.

On a side note - the devaluations of US dolar this last year (and expecially in the last 6 months) have hurt the exchange rate for Americans, so things are a bit more expensive than they were when we went. Still a good value though. Although the very high-end places can cost quite a bit, there are plenty of mid-range places to stay that are very reasonable and lots of rental houses/beach bungalows directly on the water for around $100/night USD. Here's a link to some rental houses so you can see what I mean: http://www.jetsave.co.ck/houseren.htm
(I'm not necessarily pushing Jetsave - there are other rental websites as well)

All prices are in NZD which are worth about 68 cents US (at the moment).
If you have any specific questions, feel free to write me at [email protected].

Ken

PS: If you do decide to go, there are a couple of things you should consider:

1) On Raro, the north shore of the island is very rocky and pretty much unswimable (except for a small section across the road from the airport). Anywhere from Muri Beach (at the SE corner) however, down along the entire south shore and up the west side is a fine choice. The entire area is one long lagoon (similar to Anini, but of course much bigger). Muri is the prettiest area, but we actually prefer the water conditions along the south shore (calm and clear with tons of fish). The movie (out on video) "The Other Side of Heaven" was filmed there in 2000 (good family film by the way).

2) Try to get over to Aitutaki. Often compared to Bora Bora (as Raro is to Moorea), the lagoon there is to die for. It's something like 6x8 miles across with an average depth of 15 feet. Deepest part is 30 feet and vast areas are shallow enough to wade in. In some areas, you can be half a mile or more from the nearest land and be standing water waist-deep. Take the lagoon tours to get to the best locations. An episode of a British "Survivor" type show was filmed on one of the beautiful motus (islets) along the reef there.

Ken

Ken,
Thanks for all that great information! I am definately interested in going to the Cook Islands. I will look into those guidebooks as well as read your trip reports. I already looked at your photo album and it looks wonderful!
Thanks!
Ashley

You're welcome Ashley,

If you are a Costco member, be sure and check out their packages to the Cooks. They are pretty reasonably priced and a 7-night stay at the Rarotongan Resort (a decent if unspectacular place) can cost you less than the cost of the airfare alone (directly from the airline). I would avoid the Edgewater Resort however, as it seems to get rather negative reviews.
The only problem with Costco is that the do not offer stays at very many different resorts, otherwise they're a good deal.

Also, remember that the seasons are reversed down there and that their winter is in July/August (when I've heard it can sometimes be a bit cool).

Ken