This review was submitted before 2018 and has not been verified.
10/10 Excellent
Alicia H., Del Mar
15 Sept 2010
Wailua Retreat, August 2010
We spent 11 days / 12 nights at the Wailua Retreat August 11 through 22. Overall, the property was very well maintained, very clean and had almost everything one would want for a beach-based vacation. The location has its pros and cons. For pros, you are right on the beach, which was never busy, in fact deserted on occasion, and the views are just beautiful; you get both sunrise and sunset, each of which is idyllic. You are very close to Haleiwa, Wailua and, essentially deserted beaches, such as Mokuleia some 4 miles to the West. Waimea and Sunset are just up the road toward Turtle Bay, so, overall 5/5 for proximity. For cons, the beach is OK, the sand is a little harder to walk on than, say, Kailua / Lanikai, and you can't really swim directly out front without water shoes as the coral is right underfoot about 5-10 feet from the edge. If you wander 100 yards in either direction, there is a bit more swim-able beach. The view from the Lanai is great, although the hedges in front of the house takes some of the view of the beach away, which would have been nice to keep an eye on our son. The house itself is beautiful and very peaceful; the A/C worked very well at night in the bedrooms and the breeze from the prevailing winds blew through the main areas as well as the lanai. The hot tub downstairs was great, we used it 1-2 times per day, depending on where we were. We mostly ate at the house, using the trucks for dinner (best shrimp = Mackey's; best Thai = Opal) or BBQ-ing on the lanai. It was nice to have a kayak, although it did take on water (the stoppers seemed to be missing), so we didn't use it much after the first few days. Everything else was in working order; we did have the gas go empty on the driers, but that was fixed promptly by Jamie who manages the property (thanks Jamie!!), no other issues. Plenty of kitchen utensils, spices, etc, although maybe a little too much stuff left by others. Although this will seem very trivial, we would recommend that the windows be cleaned since they are so dominant in the house and the view is so striking. Lastly, the house did smell musty when we first got there, but that dissipated quickly after all the windows were opened. We saw many turtles (if you want to see more go North to Papailoa Beach [aka LOST beach], not Turtle Beach which is crowded). Overall, we had a beautiful, peaceful stay at the house and would most certainly recommend to others
