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Four Seasons Hualalai (part 2)

© Lottie Tagupa

Grouped in several low-rise clusters of four to eight rooms, the guest accommodations are done in natural tones in a contemporary Asian/Pacific style. Slate, stone, and hardwoods are featured in the designs.

Over 600-square feet in size, each guest room includes twice daily housekeeping service, a walk-in closet, concealed color cable television, CD player, video player, terry cloth and cotton robes, personal safe, fax line, refrigerated wet bar, and a large bathroom. Some of the standard ground floor rooms have direct access to a private garden with outdoor lava rock shower.

Complimentary shoe shines and sandal repair are available to guests as a part of their stay. All these amenities are just steps from the secluded half mile stretch of white sand beach.

However, the guest rooms are just the beginning. The resort has been raising Moi (rhymes with boy,) or Pacific threadfin in fishponds since December 1996. In ancient Hawaii, moi was the most desired fish of the ali'i or ancient Hawaiian royalty.

Ancient Hawaiian commoners built fishponds along the shoreline to raise and harvest this fish, but weren't allowed to consume them. All catches were exclusively for the consumption by ali'i. Moi is a moist, mild flavored flesh, white to light gray in color and best prepared steamed, baked, poached, grilled, or smoked. The resort has also been cultivating their own Pacific White Shrimp or Opae (pronounced oh PIE) as it's known to locals, since 1997.

Cultivated in brackish water of the resort ponds, the opae are received from the Oceanic Institute when they are the size of mosquito larvae. Over the course of about four months they flourish into sizes that range from 16 to 18 count per pound before they are harvested for the resorts three restaurants.

Speaking of restaurants, featuring many health conscious selections, dining at the Hualalai is more of an outdoor experience than an indoor one. In addition to indoor seating areas, the resorts three restaurants have lanais or patios where outdoor dining is enjoyed under the bright star lit canopy of the Kona Coast.

The signature restaurant is called the Pahui'a. Seating 140, it serves international and local specialties for breakfast and dinner. At pool side, the Beach Tree Bar and Grill is open for all day dining from 11:00am to 8:00pm. Dinner specials here include a Saturday evening "Surf, Sand and Stars Barbecue, "Italian Night " on Wednesdays, and "Asian Night" on Mondays.

The Hualalai Club Grill, overlooks the 18th green of the resort's championship golf course and has unobstructed views of the Kona Coast's fabulous sunsets. For those who are interested in dining in privacy, in-room dining is always an option for all meals.