Molokai

Molokai is a small island and it really doesn't take long to get anywhere on it as long as that area is reachable by car. There are a number of large valleys on the island but only one of those is reachable by road. The others only from the sea..

Today we went west or, as someone here might say, toward the ranch. The western part of the island is owned almost completely by the Molokai Ranch. I know nothing of the Ranch myself but as soon as we arrived we started to see signs saying things like “Save La'au” or “Protect La'au” or just “La'au”. From the people we talked to the Ranch, which is owned by a firm out of Singapore, had planned on taking a remote peninsula and putting in 200 luxury vacation homes. The residents, apparently en mass, had said no. In response the Ranch had shut down all their operations and almost the whole of the west side of the island as well.

Our first stop was the Kalaupapa outlook. The outlook is on the cliffs 1500 feet above the former leper colony. The view is amazing and there are a series of signs that talk about life there when it started and today. From the small parking lot a second trail leads to a sacred site of the original inhabitants. There we ran into a nice guy who was doing a photo shoot for the New York Times. He lives on the big island (that would be Hawaii for those of you who aren't paying attention) but came over for the day to shoot a few of the attractions.

This is a picture of a really impressive phallic rock with him in the background. He took our pictures as we took pictures of the rock. Lana felt that I didn't get the “right” angle on our pictures of this rock but it may have impressed her more than me. I can see why this was a sacred site. Certainly any guy who needs his ego deflated should spend a little time here pondering “things”.

You know I have always loved reading the New York Times and have considered it one of the world;s great papers. To actually have a chance to be in it would be great. To get in it while taking a picture of a sacred site like this one was probably not what I had in mind.

Next we stopped at a place called Coffees of Hawaii. It is a self contained coffee plantation and processing plant with really tasty coffees. Any place that lets you taste them for free before you buy is to be appreciated.

A word on coffee in the islands. If you like coffee, I mean like real strong put hair on your chest type coffee, then make sure you only have Hawaiian coffee while here. Skip all the chains with their latte's and special flavoured Christmas blends etc. The coffee here is amazing. Of course it does have a tendency to coat your tongue and make you have 10 or so cups more then you might otherwise have (each day) but its worth it.

By the way if you like coffee but don't like caffeine then you are mostly out of luck. Many places don't have it at all, some other to look around out back somewhere to see if they can find some and others just look at you with that 'God save us from tourists' look. Bring a small jar of Sanka or something instead.

Our next major stop on the far west of the island was Papohaku Beach. There are not a lot of people near the beach although we did pass one small resort and it was virtually empty. It is the beach that everyone dreams of when they think of Hawaii. Three mile long, with pure white sand, it defies description. After all our time here (this being our fourth island) we really enjoyed the chance to take of our clothes, umm, never mind. It was a nice beach.

On the drive there we saw again mongooses crossing the roads and big signs warning against deer. Both are introduced species. The deer were a present to one of the Kings and the mongooses were brought in to hunt the rats in the sugar cane fields. You also have to watch out for the wild turkeys (maybe they were brought to hunt the mongooses – not sure) and all the damn chickens. For some reason we found, and heard, chickens everywhere on the Islands. On Molokai they start about 3 am and serenade you until dawn.

The last town for the day was Maunaloa. The former pineapple plantation that turned into a ranch that wanted to be a resort developer was headquartered here. There is still a General Store and a post office but the cinema and other services are closed. It is easy to see which buildings are the company housing as opposed to the few luxury homes that were built. Despite the ranch shutdown, the consensus being that it was for spite – who knows) the people there seem determined. As one guy told me “what part of No don't they understand”.

The day we were there some folks were having a Christmas lunch on the veranda of the General Store singing a combination of Christmas carols and religious hymns.

When the sun went down we were sitting in a coconut grove thinking of our friends in Vernon BC (temp -20C), those in Toronto (20 cm of snow) and our daughter in Ottawa (-15C and a transit strike). Oh well.

That night we splurged and actually went to a restaurant. The Cookhouse is an old frame house with picnic tables outside and folding chairs inside. Its bring your own wine and the sign above the kitchen says “we can do anything that you want”. Of course when travelling you always get the specials.

Lana had the crab stuffed shrimp wrapped in bacon and I had the Mahi-Mahi in a wine and butter sauce. They were both better then great. To top it off they brought, without asking or charging for it, a piece of chocolate macadamia pie. It was so good I offered to marry the guy on the spot. Lana told them that if they let us take their picture we would make them famous through our travel blog. So here they are. Next time you are in the neighbourhood stop in.