HILO, Hawaii _ If you arrive here on a moonless night, you can hear the water before you can see it rushing to seek its lowest point, as water always does. At first, it sounds like a hose that's been left on, but as you try to track down the source, it begins to sound like a horrendous water main break.
Suddenly it appears seemingly out of nowhere: Kulaniapia Falls, not a public works disaster but an aquatic masterpiece that tumbles over itself on its 120-foot drop to the pool below, spilling 50 bathtubs' worth of water in a minute if it's not raining, about 10 times that much if it is, which it often is on the Hilo side of Hawaii Island.
For years, vegetation hid these falls. Once that greenery was cut away, the cascade became the centerpiece of and the soundtrack for the Inn at Kulaniapia Falls.
This is a different kind of resort, not the marble-bathed, Frette-linened, chilled-air kind of lodging you frequently find in the islands. Want pampering? No problem, but here it is nurture by nature. It's the gardens filled with bamboo and orchids, the early morning sun glinting off Hilo Bay below, the feeling of being free from artifice as you stroll down a country lane lined with macadamia nut trees.
And always there is the water, a kind of liquid worry bead. For one occasional group of guests, that is part of the allure of this place, which is more than just a resort. For some of them, it is a last resort.
