jg(sAloha! Welcome to Pali Hale!
15-889 Paradise Ala Kai
Keaau, Hawaii 96749
Pronounced: “pah-lee hah-leh” – which in Hawaiian means “Cliff House”
Check in Time: 4pm or later
Check out Time: 10am or earlier
Early Check-in/Late Check-out are sometimes available depending on cleaning staff schedule on your arrival/departure date. If desired please inquire several days prior to your arrival/departure date to see if an early check-in or late check-out is available on your dates. Note that due to covid-19 enhanced cleaning protocols and for the safety of our staff, Early Check-in/Late Check-outs are currently difficult to accommodate/schedule, but we will try our best.
House Phone: 808-333-5080
Emergency Contacts:
On Island: Leilani Parker – Caretaker 808-769-3834 (808-769-3827 backup)
Off Island: Mike Swindell – Owner 831-251-1364
Off Island: Bo Dang – Owner 831-251-1590
Fire/Police: 911
Parking:
You may park up to two vehicles on the property and there is no parking permitted on the street. You can park with your car(s) facing the garage or facing the ocean/house. A 3-point turn is required to turnaround in our driveway.
Checking in:
The house should be ready for you when you arrive. If the windows and sliding doors are not open, you may want to open the windows first thing to cool the house and get the air flowing. You should already have a front door checkin / entry code. If you do not, please call or text Mike prior to your arrival to have your entry code re-sent. If you have any questions about the property please reach out via phone or txt. If you see anything that needs attention please reach out via phone or text and we’ll address it ASAP.
Check-out Instructions:
Are located at the end of this document.
Emergencies:
If there is an emergency that requires the fire department or police please call 911 and then call our Caretaker and then call Mike. If there is a problem with something at the house, please call or text the Caretaker or Mike and we will get back to you as soon as possible.
Unlocking/Locking Front Door:
Unlocking: You will be provided a personal code for the front door for use during your stay at Pali Hale. To unlock the door simply enter your code and the deadbolt for the bolt will slide open, THEN pull on the door handle to open the door. If you press the lock button (top) before entering your code it will light up the keypad to make it easier to see.
IMPORTANT: To prevent any issues with the front door lock:
1) When unlocking, DO NOT PULL on the door handle UNTIL after the bolt has opened. Pulling on the door handle while the bolt is trying open can cause the lock to jam.
2) Please do not slam the door, slamming the door jars the electronics in the lock and can cause the lock to fail. Thank you.
Locking: With the door fully shut, press the lock (top) button on the keypad and the deadbolt will lock. After locking the door it’s a good idea to try to open the door to make sure it is fully locked.
First-aid: The first aid-kit is located in the kitchen pantry
Fire Extinguisher: The fire extinguisher is located in the kitchen (on top of refrigerator)
Island questions, advice and recommendations:
If you have general questions about Hawaii or activities on the Island please call or text Mike and Bo @ 831-251-1364. We’re happy to answer questions or provide recommendations and advice for your stay.
Monthly Civil Defense Siren Test
The state of Hawaii conducts a 1 minute Civil Defense Siren Test at approximately 11:45am on the first working Monday of every month. The siren is very loud and lasts about 1 minute. There is no need to do anything, but it’s just good to know in case you are the house during a monthly test.
Internet/Wifi:
Pale Hale has super fast internet and Wifi for your use. You may use either
Wifi SSID: Pali_Hale_Guest or Pali_Hale_Guest-5G
Wifi Password: aloha2017
Comfort and the warm ocean air
For the health and well-being benefits of the ocean front tropical warm/humid salt ocean air and sound of the waves, Pali Hale was designed by a local Hilo architect “island style” to deliver natural ocean air convection cooling 24/7. Like most oceanfront homes in Hawaii, we do not have air conditioning which would require the house to be sealed up to provide processed air. This design provides fantastic enjoyment and health benefits, but does require the windows and vents to remain open in order to keep the house at a comfortable state:
Keeping the house comfortable – convection cooling
To keep things comfortable and not too humid or too warm Pali Hale’s convection design pulls the ocean air from the windows, louvered window vents, and floor vents up thru the house and out the ceiling upstairs. The fans in each room help assist this action. To keep the house comfortable and facilitate the convection air circulation during your stay we recommend to
When at home:
- Window Vents: Leave all louvered vents (up stairs and downstairs) open during your entire stay.
- Sliding Windows: Open all sliding windows on all sides of the house while you’re home unless windy.
- Sliding glass doors: Ok to keep sliding glass doors open (but keep screens shut) unless there is strong wind.
- Ceiling fans: Run ceiling fans in all the rooms while you’re at home, even those you’re not in. This helps facilitate the convection action moving the cool air from under the house up thru the house and out the vents in the cathedral ceiling.
- Vornado fans: If it’s particularly hot and there is no wind coming off the ocean, you can turn on the Vornado fans in each room to help create air circulation. Vornado’s are not oscillating fans, they circulate the air around the room to help cool the room. If there is a breeze coming off the ocean, it’s not necessary to run the Vornado’s.
When away:
- Downstairs: Close all the sliding windows, and lock downstairs sliding glass doors.
Upstairs: Close upstairs ocean side sliding doors (else if there is a sudden wind you might find things blown over in the house when you return). It’s ok to leave the rest of the non-ocean side windows upstairs open when you leave for the day.
House care and cleaning during your stay:
We love making Pali Hale a special a place that enriches vacations and creates wonderful lasting memories. If this is your first stay in a vacation home or if you’re accustomed to hotels, there are a few differences between caring for a vacation home and caring (or not caring) for a hotel room during your stay.
When you’re staying at Pali Hale, you’re staying at our home so we consider you family friends, and we hope you’ll consider us in the same way. Hotels are professionally cleaned daily, but vacation homes are only professionally cleaned before you arrive and after you checkout. When you check-in at Pali Hale, the house will have been cleaned for you, the beds will be made with fresh clean linens for you, and the household items should be in their proper places. So we just ask that during your stay that you respect our home and treat it with care, as a family friend. We ask that you maintain the house in good order during your stay, ie return items when done using them, run the dishwasher keeping dishes from getting piled up, put waste in trashcans and empty the trash daily etc.
Keeping the house in good order during your stay helps us keep the house beautiful, organized, critter free, and amenities available for everyone to enjoy. Mahalo!
Shoes:
It is customary in Hawaii to remove your shoes when entering a home on the Island. Typically shoes are left outside the front door or inside the front door. If you’re not accustomed to going barefoot or with socks indoors, we think you’ll enjoy the island custom. However if you’re uncomfortable going barefoot and prefer to wear your shoes indoors, we understand and that is also ok.
Trash:
We endeavor to keep Pale Hale super clean and critter free. In order to ensure tropical critters stay outside, please carry out your kitchen garbage to the trash bin in front of the garage daily. This will ensure that bugs/critters aren’t tempted to find their way into the home during your stay. The blue recycling bin is for glass and plastic cans/bottles.
Water:
Please be aware that there is no city water supply in our area. All water at Pali Hale is caught from the rain and stored in our modern 10,000 gallon catchment and purification system. There should be plenty of water for your use during your stay, but given we have always have fixed supply please do not leave water, faucets, hoses, showers, running longer than you require. Being rainwater, the water is already ultra clean however we still put the water thru a two stage filtration plus a UV filter before it reaches the house for you to use or drink. The water is clean and there is no need for add’l filtering but we do provide a Brita filtered pitcher in the refrigerator. Water pressure is maintained between 40 and 60lbs, so if you are used to city/utility supplied water, the water pressure may be a bit lower than you’re used to but it is normal for pump supplied pressure. If you ever lose pressure altogether or water is just dripping from the shower heads or faucets, please call us and we’ll have someone come out and fix the pressure.
Electricity:
All appliances at Pali Hale are electric. You should be able to run multiple appliances at the same time, however if you run too many high amperage appliances simultaneously (ie all four burners on the stove, and the clothes dryer, hair dryer, and the microwave all at the same time) you could trip the main breaker. If you do, the breaker main switch is on the street side of the house on the right, and the main switch is in the upper right. After resetting just reduce the number of high amperage appliances you’re using simultaneously. If you need to reset the breaker and you’re uncomfortable opening up the panel and resetting a breaker, please call Leilani or Mike and we’ll have someone come out and reset it for you. Please be mindful that electricity on the island is not as plentiful as it is on the mainland, we have to make all of our on island power here on the island, so please turn things off when you’re not at home.
Coffee:
We provide two coffee makers: a traditional simple filter/drip maker and a new Keurig 2.0 cup machine with refillable cups. We provide pre-ground coffee for the drip maker or can be used with the Keurig refillable cups, we also provide a sample assortment of pre-filled Keurig cups for your use. Feel free to bring your favorite grounds or Keurig compatible cups from home. Many guests like to buy Kona coffee beans at the various Kona plantations on the Island. We have a grinder so can grind and brew your Kona coffee at Pali Hale. You can use the drip maker, or the refillable Keurig cups with your Kona grounds.
BBQ Grill:
If you wish to use the propane outdoor grill please let us know before your check-in so that we can bring it out for your use and make sure there is plenty of propane. Only use the grill at least 8 feet from the house or the garage. If you run out of propane during your stay, there is a propane refill station just across hwy 130 on Orchidland Drive. There is also one south on 130 next to the Maku’u’ Farmer’s Market.
TV:
You have access to 300+ HD channels plus on-demand movies (Epix). The TV and Soundbar instructions are in front of the TV. On demand HD Movies are on the Epix Channels. TV Instructions are also located toward the end of this guide.
House Phone:
The house phones are for your use. You may call any of the Hawaiian Islands or the Mainland USA for free. To receive calls on the house phone, the number for the house is 808-333-5080
Flashlights:
We provide flashlights in each of the bedrooms for your use in the event of a power outage or feel free to use them around the property at night. Please return them to the nightstands and kitchen counter when you’re done using them. If their batteries die there are replacement batteries in the kitchen pantry.
Binoculars:
Tasco binoculars are provided for whale watching and turtle spotting. They are located next to the phone in the kitchen. Please treat them with care and return them to the kitchen when you’re done with them. Please don’t remove them from the property.
Printer:
The printer is located in the downstairs Garden Bedroom. You may use our printer to print out itineraries, maps, boarding passes etc. The printer has a USB connection and is also available wirelessly by connecting to “DIRECT-6E-HP OfficeJet Pro 8710” on your mobile device, tablet, or laptop either from the wireless printer selection in your device/app or connecting the “DIRECT-6E-HP OfficeJet Pro 8710” SSID via WIFI Hotspot. Please conserve paper and ink so that it’s available for the next guest.
Doors:
During your stay feel free to leave the sliding doors open, but please keep the screen doors shut when possible, especially at night and overnight in order to keep geckos/bugs out of the house. When leaving the property please always lock the downstairs sliding doors and the front door. At night please keep the screens shut to keep the bugs out. If you forget to shut the screen and you end up with flying critters in the house, feel free to use the bug catcher which is stored in the corner of the dining room.
Windows:
During your stay feel free to leave the windows open and breeze flowing thru the house. Feel free to leave the upstairs windows open when you leave the house. And you may also safely leave the louvered downstairs windows and casement windows open even when you leave the house.
Tip: Refreshing the Ocean Views:
After a couple of days salt may begin to build up on the ocean facing windows from the crashing waves and dull the views a bit. To refresh to view thru the windows, just rinse the ocean facing windows with water from the hose on the upper lanai, or the downstairs windows with the hose on the side of the house. Important, please be sure to fully turn the faucets off after using either hose.
Critters:
Being a tropical island we do have a few types of critters, so please keep the windows and sliders open but the screens closed to keep them out.
- Geckos: You are likely to see Gecko’s (green lizards) outside, but occasionally they sneak inside. If they do, they are harmless and it’s ok to just ignore them. They’ll find their way out the same way they got in.
- Asian Beetles: At night there are small flying beetles that are attracted to light and come out to the lanais at night. They look a bit like pincher bugs and typically congregate on the outdoor patio ceilings if lights are on. They are completely harmless, they do not bite, but they can be annoying to look at if they get inside the house. Flying bug spray is very effective on them. To keep them out of the house just keep the screen doors closed. If screen doors are left open at night, you might see a few of them in the house the next day. The bug catcher works well at catching flying critters if they get in the house.
- Ants: The house should always be free of ants, however if you leave food out, crumbs, or sugar, it can attract ants. If you get ants you can use ant spray or traps, but the best remedy is to wipe them away and clean the area well.
- Coqui Tree Frogs: The delightful chirping or whistling “Tropical” sound you hear at night are the Coqui Tree frogs. They are small green tree frogs and they are everywhere. Most people love the sound and find it relaxing, but if the sound bothers you then we recommend picking up ear plugs from CVS or Walmart.
- Mosquitos: There are mosquitos in Hawaii, not many but they are around. There are not many around Pali Hale, but if you are prone to mosquito bites then we still recommend using repellent, else the few that are around will probably find you. If you are not prone to Mosquito bites, then you are not likely to get bitten.
Nenes:
Nene’s (aka Hawaiian Geese) are the Hawaiian State Bird and are rare and endangered. Their numbers dropped to only 32 in existence by 1952. Through captive breeding and conservation, their numbers are now about 2500. Many birders come to Hawaii to catch a rare glimpse of a Nene, and most visitors who come to the Hawaiian Islands and never get to see one. But we are fortunate to have a Nene pair (George and Gracie) that adopted our yard for daily feeding visits a number of years ago. They return daily if it’s not raining. And now in 2019, a new family group of five nene’s have adopted us and also show up daily. The two Nene families do not get along and will stay separate. They’re all very friendly and photogenic and it’s ok to feed them cooked rice, or bread, but please don’t feed them uncooked rice. You can hear them “honking” when they fly in to Pali Hale.
Fans:
Please use the ceiling fans to keep the air moving in the house, but please turn them off when you leave the property and turn them back on when you return.
Candles:
If you wish to burn candles, only burn candles in glass jars or ceramic candle holders, and never leave candles burning unattended overnight. Never burn candles directly on a table.
Beach Chairs and Camp Chairs:
The beach and camp chairs are available for your use at Pali Hale, but you may also take them to the beaches, tidepools, etc. The chairs are located in the downstairs entry hall closet near the front door.
Snorkeling Equipment:
We have four sets of snorkeling gear for your use. 2 Adult sets and 2 child sets. Sets include mask, snorkel, and fins. Since the equipment is shared, some guests prefer to bring their own snorkels or equipment. Please rinse the equipment outside and return the snorkel sets to the plastic tub after you use them. If you have used the snorkeling equipment during your stay please leave tub with the snorkel gear on the front porch upon checkout so that they may be sterilized for the next guests. Snorkeling equipment may not be used in the ocean in front of the house. Only use snorkeling equipment in appropriate areas safe for snorkeling such as the black sand beach, and the Hilo Beaches (Carlsmith or Richardson).
Fishing:
You may fish from the cliffs in front of the house. Because the cliff edge can be dangerous we must advise to fish from the cliffs at your own risk. It is actually a very popular place to fish. We do not yet have rods/reels on site, but Walmart and Target both carry inexpensive rods/reels and tackle. If you wish to fish from the cliffs do so with common sense, caution and care (and water shoes!).
The Cliffs:
Pali Hale sits in a tropical rainforest right on the epic Puna lava cliffs in an area created by lava flows 400 years ago. The views are amazing and the waves are mesmerizing, you can spot green turtles in the surf, and whales during season. It is truly a wonderful place to be everyday. But appropriate care must always be taken when venturing near the cliff edges. The cliffs are about 20ft high, with rocks below. The cliff edges can become slippery with the waves and spray, therefore always use common sense, caution and care when enjoying the Pali (cliff) and never leave children unattended near the cliffs. Also if it’s not obvious do not try to dive or swim in the ocean in front of the house. There are plenty of great places to swim, dive, and snorkel nearby. Have fun, enjoy, be safe.
Watching TVs:
Turning on TV:
- Turn on TV – on Time Warner Remote, push {TV} at top fo remote, then {Power}
- From TV Menu on screen, select Cable Box (then select/ok)
- Push {CBL} button at top of Spectrum Remote
- If Cable Box is not already on (top blue light on cable box) then turn on Cable by pushing {Power} at top of Spectrum Remote
Control Volume
VOL on Time Warner Rtv hemote
Channels:
FAV Button will cycle thru popular channels
GUIDE Button will display the full channel guide
Movies:
FREE On Demand Movies – Epix Channel 648 – Select Genre and then movie
Also movies free on 1649 thru 1651
Please do not order any pay per view movies. Thank you.
Turning Off TV:
1) Push {TV} button on (top) Spectrum Remote then
2) Push {Power}
Listen to Hawaiian Music:
1) When you turn on the Cable Box, we have it set to automatically tune to the Hawaiian music channel (ch. 800)
2) If you’re already watching another channel, just change it to channel 800 to listen to Hawaiian music
Check-out Instructions
We hope you had a wonderful stay at Pali Hale. Check out time is 10am. Please call or text us when you are checking out. The house will be cleaned after you checkout.
1) Dishes / Dishwasher
– Please load the dishwasher and start it before you leave. There are dishwashing soap pods under the kitchen sink.
2) Refrigerator / Freezer
– Please take any and all perishable food with you or place in outside trash bin.
3) Trash
– place kitchen trash and recycling in outside garbage container, next to garage.
4) Linens
– leave sheets on beds, please leave beds unmade
– leave any used bathroom and beach towels on floor in each bathroom.
5) Household items
– Please put back household items, board games, flashlights etc
6) Snorkeling Equip
– If the snorkeling equipment was used during your stay, leave in the plastic tub and pull the plastic tub out in front of the hall closet.
7) Lights& Fans / Doors, locks & Windows
– turn off lights, fans, TV, and any appliances (except dishwasher)
– lock the downstairs two ocean facing sliding glass doors when you leave.
– please close the ocean facing windows and sliding glass doors when you check-out.
– please lock the front door when you check-out
8) Guestbook and Reviews 🙂
– If you have time, please sign our guestbook at the house. We love hearing about your stay at Pali Hale. We would very much appreciate your review on AirBnB/VRBO, Mahalo! Mike & Bo