Moloka'i One

We are back from Moloka'i. Here's the scoop.

Saturday about 9am we flew in almost the smallest airplane I've ever been in. It seated only 9 people plus the pilot. It was very cloudy over West Maui, the channel between the islands and Moloka'i. The ride wasn't too bumpy but the clouds made it difficult to see much of the island. We missed seeing the world's tallest sea cliffs. After landing, we got the rental car and went to a beach (we haven't found the name yet). It was mostly murky and the surf was up a little so we just walked along the beach and explored a tide pool. Justin, this is the beach where we saw the lobster shell I told you about on the phone. The beach had quite a few kiawe branches around and all 4 of us got thorns in our feet at one time or another. The kiawe is a kind of mesquite tree. We ate the sandwiches we brought from Maui.

We decided to spend the rest of the day touring the island. We went to Purdy's Natural Macadamia Nut Farm. The proprietor was very kind to explain about the macadamia nut tree, showed us how to properly crack the nut and let us taste raw macadamias. Yum! He also let us taste some mac nut honey and mac nut honey-mustard. Next, we stopped at the Coffeehouse for a snack. Across the street was the coffee farm.

We drove up to the point where you can look down the sea cliffs and see Kalaupapa, the leper colony. It was still cloudy and rained lightly on us the whole time. Next, we drove down toward Kaunakakai. The whole south side shore of Moloka'i is shallow for quite a ways out. The waves break way out from the shore. This is usual but everything was so stirred up that what should have looked a light turquoise color looked brown and dirty. We passed King Kamehameha's personal coconut grove. There were rows and rows of coconut trees. On past Kaunakakai and the grove, the road takes you along the shore to the east side of the island. You can see West Maui from this part of the island. As we kept driving, the road reminded us of the road to Hana with its twists and turns. At times, it was right next to the ocean. We drove until we saw the waterfall in the Halawa valley and then turned around so we could get back to Hotel Moloka'i in time to listen to Lono while we ate. It was very pleasant eating and listening as the sun set. We were all tired, I almost fell asleep at the table so we headed to the room for the night. We stayed in Kaluakoi which is on the west side of the island.