Molokai

Having done the western part of the island yesterday we turned to the east today. A good piece of the island is inaccessible, either because of the land itself or because it is in private ownership. To go east for any distance meant taking the coastal road along the southern edge.

The biggest roads anywhere on the island are two lane blacktops and they are almost all in great condition. In fact almost every major road we were on in all the Islands were in great condition. From reading the local papers we gathered that economic stimulus and infrastructure programs here seem to focus on the roads. Everywhere we went there were small road crews doing something. It wasn't always easy to see what they were doing but at least they were there.

From Kaunakakai we drove along a pleasant shoreline with views of the ocean and a wide variety of house types. Many looked like the owner had a really long to-do list somewhere but had probably misplaced it for the last 20 years or so. Some looked newer and could have been in any North American suburb. The first type vastly outnumbered the second.

None of the houses however were large by NA luxury home standards. We never saw a building on the island over two stories and even the newer ones were modest in their square footage. We were told that these quaint ocean front lots were on the market for a million or more but, in true Molokai fashion, nothing seemed to have sold in a long time and no one appeared to be in any kind of hurry.

Soon the houses on the road became more scattered and the road itself got narrower and narrower and even narrower. Instead of houses and land separating us from the ocean we were on the ocean - about one maybe two feet from the rocks and surf. We had heard the road was narrow but i didn't expect a ten foot wide road with all the curves being blind, cliffs on the land side and frothing seas (or cliffs with frothing seas) on the other plus two way traffic. Cool.

You know those yellow signs that “suggest” a slower speed for a particular corner, the ones that you ignore? Well on this road when they said 5 MPH they meant it. Really.

If you ever find yourself on this road you'll find it is about 30 miles from Kaunakakai to the eastern end of the island. It took me about fifteen minutes to go the first 20 and forty-five to go the next 10.

When you have time to look the scenery is fantastic with the road moving up and down between sea level and riding the cliffs. The mass of Maui looms in the distance, with clouds always crowning the 10,000 ft Haleakala volcano. We looked for humpbacks whales with quick fleeting glances but no luck. Occasionally we'd stop at a small beach or pause to look at another amazing view. When we finally get to the end we decide it is worth the drive.

There is a cove with golden sand and a narrow valley stretching back in between the jungle covered mountains. This had been a preferred site for native settlements for hundreds of years with the area only being abandoned in the 1950's after the last of a couple of tsunamis hit it.

Back down the valley there are two legendary waterfalls hundreds of feet high but we won't see them today. There is some sort of dispute over who has rights to walk on the private lands to get to the falls. There is a “guided” service that will take you in for $75 per person. That's just for the hike. You have to get yourself to the end of the island first. According to some people we talked to it is a rip off with accessible trails in (with the landowners permission) but we didn't want to get in the middle of anything so we took a pass.

Lana and I spent a while in the cove watching some extremely bad surfing (although it was entertaining) and soaking up the sunshine. Then we regretfully headed back.

Our last night on the island we did absolutely nothing except drink island drinks in our little tropical hideaway and talked about how we would be happy to spend another week (or month) on the island. Doing nothing of course.