DISTANCE: N/A – air or boat travel required
TIME: A day trip, or 1–2 days
START: Kahalui Airport (Molokai or Lanai), Lahaina’s Pioneer Inn (Lanai only)
END: Lanai City, Lanai; Kaunakakai, Molokai
POINTS TO NOTE: Lanai is best for a single day trip via ferry from Lahaina or flight from any of the island’s airports, and Molokai is best seen over two or three days. On both, expect quiet roads, empty beaches and small towns.
Lanai
Thought by ancient Polynesians to be ghost stomping grounds and thus best avoided, Lanai’s red volcanic earth later proved fertile for pineapples, the economic backbone of this island, now mostly owned by Oracle-founder Larry Ellison. Two luxury hotels dominate the tourist market on Lanai: Manele Bay Resort 1 [map] with a Mediterranean- Hawai‘ian ambiance, and The Lodge at Koele 2 [map], with fireplaces and an Old World character.
Travel
Accessible by plane and boats from Maui, including one-day snorkeling trips, Lanai is the perfect place if you truly wish to do nothing but lie on the beach or by the pool, or play golf. The spinner dolphins come into Manele Bay and delight in playing with the snorkelers almost every morning, and dining at the resort of your choice is best. In addition to short but pricey flights, the ferry leaves Lahaina for Lanai at 6.45am, 9.15am, 12.45pm, 3.15pm and 5.45pm, and comes back to Maui at 8am, 10.30am, 2pm, 4.30pm and 6.45pm. Tickets can be purchased in advance (www.go-lanai.com).
Garden of the Gods trail on Lanai
Steven Greaves/Apa Publications
If you’re considering sight-seeing beyond the hotels on Lanai, you’ll need to rent an off-road vehicle. From centrally located Lanai City, Kaiolohia Beach 3 [map], home to an offshore shipwreck eerily sitting on the reef, is a 30-minute drive. Take Highway 44 to the very end, then turn left and follow the dirt/sand road to the parking area, then hike along the beach towards the shipwreck. Once there, look for the old lighthouse foundation on the beach (a patch of concrete), then follow a trail south from there. White paint marks the trail. Just a few hundred feet into the trail, petroglyphs will be visible on the right – look, but please don’t touch the ancient art.
Shipwreck off Kaiolohia Beach
Steven Greaves/Apa Publications
Molokai
Larger and geographically more diverse, Molokai is a good island for exploration. It has wide open grasslands, moody rain forests, wild deer, and on the north shore, the world’s tallest ocean cliffs.
Accomodations and fare
The best accommodations are at Paniolo Hale in Kaluakoi 4 [map], on the gorgeous and empty long white beaches of west Molokai. Look for rentals from private owners online. Papohaku Beach 5 [map], just south of the west Molokai condos, is more than 2 miles (3km) long and nearly always empty. This is beachcombing at its best – shells are untouched and waiting to be plucked from the sand. The once bustling Molokai Ranch has shut down, and the Kaluakoi Hotel & Golf Club has gone fallow, providing only a shell of a resort and a ghost town feel.
Plumeria trees on Molokai
Steven Greaves/Apa Publications
There are very few restaurants on Molokai, but head into Kaunakakai 6 [map], the island’s largest town (about four blocks long), for the Li Hing Mui Margarita and Saimin (Japanese-style noodle soup) at Paddler’s Inn, see 1, or pizza at the Molokai Pizza Café, see 2.
Storefronts in Kaunakakai
Steven Greaves/Apa Publications
East Molokai and Halawa Valley
From Kaunakakai, travel along the coast dotted with ancient Hawai‘ian Fishponds all the way to the eastern tip at Halawa Valley 7 [map]. Visit the beach, but skip the waterfall trail – the family at the far end of the beach runs a years-long scam, hostily demanding money for your presence on “their” land.
Kaluapapa mule trek
Steven Greaves/Apa Publications
Kalaupapa
Tour operators infest Hawai‘i, but there is a tour worth visiting Molokai alone for, as it humbles you with modern Hawai‘i’s saddest but most graceful episode: Kalaupapa 8 [map], the former leprosy colony on Makanalua Peninsula, isolated from the rest of Molokai by 2,000ft (610-meter) -high cliffs and dangerous ocean waters. Starting in the early 1800s, Oahu health authorities shipped over 10,000 people − anybody with leprosy, now called Hansen’s disease, and often those with nothing more than a bad skin rash, to Kalaupapa for a life sentence of exile. The 1873 arrival of Joseph De Veuster from Belgium, better known as Father Damien, brought civility and dignity to Kalaupapa. He later contracted and died of Hansen’s disease. Protected by the National Park Service, the community has fewer than 10 remaining patients, all of whom could leave, but choose to stay.
You can either be invited to visit Kalaupapa 9 [map], or you can join the Molokai Mule Ride (www.muleride.com). If you fly in or hike in, you’ll still need an escort once you reach Kalaupapa. Permission can be obtained through the state department of health in Honolulu or Molokai. Children under 16 are not allowed on the peninsula. To simply see the site from above, follow the road back through Kaunakakai, taking Route 470 north to the end of the road. The overlook provides a stunning view to the peninsula below. Before leaving, follow the signs from the parking lot to Phallic Rock ) [map]. As you might guess, it makes for an unforgettable photo opportunity.
Food and Drink
1 Paddler’s Inn
10 Mohala Street; tel: 808-553 3300; www.molokaipaddlersinn.com; 11am−late; $–$$
Paddler’s Inn isn’t exactly the only restaurant in town, but it’s the best – not only for the food and drink, but for truly reflecting the small town feel and aloha of Molokai. Images of paddling teams and fish caught line the bamboo-veneered walls, and live music plays in the evenings.
2 Molokai Pizza Café
15 Kaunakakai Place, Kaunakakai; tel: 808-553 3288; L, D daily; $$
In addition to serving pizza (as the name suggests), this restaurant offers a mean prime rib and surprisingly good Mexican food. The atmosphere is casual and fun; at times, even on sparsely populated Molokai, it can actually feel lively.