Rugged Moloka'i not your typical island vacation spot

By Jan TenBruggencate
Advertiser Staff Writer

It may be simple to get around Moloka'i, but it can be difficult to follow all the place names. A handy reference map is available. Jan TenBruggencate • The Honolulu Advertiser

Tourism feels like an afterthought on this stretch of red dirt and forest, reef and cliff lying between O'ahu and Maui.

It isn't a place to lie by the pool and sip umbrella drinks, although it's possible to find a place to do that.

This is an island for exploring, whether it's through hiking, biking, fishing, hunting, riding horses or mules, swimming and diving — all kinds of active stuff.

You can find guides to help you manage it all or do it on your own, and the prices are often quite reasonable. Arranging details can be challenging, often because many of the businesses are family operations, and people may not be immediately available. Often it's because the people running the businesses you're interested in also have other jobs.

They have to. It's hard to make a good living in tourism on this island. Moloka'i gets only a few thousand tourists a month. Its biggest hotel is closed. And its only 18-hole golf course is closed.

As simple as it is to get around the island, it can be difficult to follow all the place names so you can tell where you are. The Moloka'i-Lana'i issue of "Reference Maps of the Island of Hawai'i" by James Bier is a good resource.

If you have an older version of the map, it may show up to three golf courses. Ignore that. There's just one: Ironwood Hills, whose venerable nine holes lie at Kala'e, and won't break the bank. The cost for Hawai'i residents is $7 for nine holes and $9 for 18 holes. A cart runs $8 for nine holes and $9 for 18.

Wednesdays and weekend mornings can be busy. The rest of the time, just show up; no tee time necessary.

A lot of the island's activities are like that. If you want to take a horseback ride with Junior Rawlins' Mapulehu Mango Patch operation, the Moloka'i Horse and Wagon Ride, you can make a reservation, but call when you get to the island. If he's not out on a ride, he's elsewhere on the property, building boats.

For $50 a person, small groups can ride on a beach, through a massive mango orchard and visit the vast 'Ili'ili 'opae Heiau, one of the most sacred places of old Hawai'i.

Another riding operation, Moloka'i Mule Ride, can provide you with a pricey but unforgettable all-day activity with mules hauling you down a switchback trail to Kalaupapa, where you take a four-hour visit to the Hansen's disease colony led by Damien Tours.

People with good fitness can walk the trail, making arrangements in advance with Damien Tours, or if you're not interested in hoofing it, fly in from O'ahu with Pacific Wings or down from the Moloka'i Airport with the Moloka'i Shuttle.

While we're on the subject of horses, you can ride the west end of the island with Moloka'i Ranch via its Outfitters Center at Maunaloa. On the east end, there's Pu'u O Hoku Horse Adventures at the island's other major cattle operation, Pu'u O Hoku Ranch.

Moloka'i Ranch is more of a dusty cowboy operation, while Pu'u O Hoku has more of a waterfall-beach feeling to it.

Mountain biking is available at both ranches as well, through the Outfitters Center at Maunaloa, and through Moloka'i Bicycle.

Besides sightseeing at museums, via walking tours and botanical hikes, what is perhaps the ultimate Moloka'i experience has more to do with your stomach than any other part of your body. It involves lining up after 10:30 p.m. (any night but Monday) in the alley next to Kanemitsu's bakery in Kaunakakai and negotiating with the baker for a loaf of bread, hot out of the oven.

You can order it with various ingredients, and he'll cut the loaf in half and slather on, for example, butter, jelly, cream cheese and cinnamon sugar (that's the recipe for "The Works," $4.)

Then you drive down to the Kaunakakai Pier, sit over the water, and eat, ripping the hot loaf apart with bare hands. One bread afficionado said hot Moloka'i bread is best eaten with hot chocolate.

When you try to arrange a place to stay on the island, be prepared for the diversity. As hotels go, there are just the reasonable 45-room Hotel Moloka'i and the expensive 22-room Moloka'i Ranch lodge at Maunaloa. Beyond that, most accommodations are condominium apartments, B&Bs, house and cottage rentals, and Moloka'i Ranch's luxury tent camps.

Pu'u O Hoku Ranch has two houses for rent, one sleeping four (six with spare beds) and the other 10 to 12. One perk: Staying at the ranch gives you access to hiking trails all over the 14,000-acre property.

Moloka'i is different. It can take a little more effort to visit here. It's a little rugged, a little laid-back, a little rough-edged.

Details, details...

• If you're a first-timer, call ahead and get the Moloka'i Visitors Association to send you its 16-page directory pamphlet and the nicely done Moloka'i Hawaiian by Nature brochure. Call (800) 800-6367 or (808) 553-3876, or visit their Web site at www.molokai-hawaii.com. Every place listed in this story can be found there.
• Damien Tours, (808) 567-6171: A tour of Kalaupapa. If you're hiking the path, give yourself one to two hours to do the trail, depending on your walking speed, and bring your own lunch. If you fly into Kalaupapa from O'ahu or down from the Moloka'i Airport with the Moloka'i Shuttle, Damien Tours will pick you up at the airport. Tour costs $30.
• Mountain biking: Outfitters Center at Maunaloa (888-729-0059); or Moloka'i Bicycle (808- 553-5740) for Pu'u O Hoku Ranch.
• Historical Hikes West Moloka'i: Historical consultant Lawrence Aki provides guided hikes of two to six hours. Walkers are regaled with legends of the area as they wander ancient trails along historic sites. You can get information at the Moloka'i Ranch Outfitters Center in Maunaloa, or www.molokai-aloha.com/hikes/
• For a more botanical experience, the Nature Conservancy of Hawai'i offers guided and self-guided hikes through its nature preserves at Kamakou on the island's summit, and in the coastal Mo'omomi dunes. Call (808) 553-5236 for details.
• Walter Naki runs an amazing array of outdoor adventure activities through his Moloka'i Action Adventure, or Ma'a Hawai'i. He'll take visitors bow or rifle hunting for pigs, goats or deer, will take them snorkeling, deep sea fishing, kayaking or cruising the rugged north shore by boat. He'll also give fishpond or heiau tours. Call (808) 558-8184.
• For less-strenuous activities, visit the restored 1878 Meyer Sugar Mill at the Moloka'i Museum and Cultural Center in Kala'e. It was the smallest mill in the Islands and hasn't processed sugar — a failed crop on water-short Moloka'i — in 112 years. The volunteer-run operation is open from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., and tours are $2.50 ($1 keiki).
• I enjoyed a classic country activity, visiting the laid-back homestead farm behind Moloka'i High School called the Purdy Natural Macadamia Nut Farm. It's an 80-year-old mac nut grove where the tour is free, there's lots of information and innovative but low-tech nutcracking devices.