Rolling across Moloka'i
By Chris Oliver
Advertiser Travel Writer
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| Moloka'i Ranch guide Jester Candelario leads visitors down one of the many mountain-bike trails on West Moloka'i.
Photos by Chris Oliver • The Honolulu Advertiser |
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| This tree on Moloka'i Ranch has branches covered with bicycle parts. Miles of mountain-bike trails for riders of all ages and levels cross the island. |
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| Near the Kalaupapa Overlook is the Moloka'i Mule Barn, home for the mules who carry visitors down the steep trail to the peninsula. |
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| St. Joseph's Church was built by Father Damien in 1876. A bronze sculpture of the priest watches over the tiny, white roadside church. |
After his job is done, Keanini sits until the sun goes down and quietly talks story with folks waiting for flights. He knows just about everyone passing through the airport's tiny departure lounge.
Much of Moloka'i is the same way, moving to the rhythms of a rural life that begins at dawn and ends as dusk settles over the Friendly Island, said to be the birthplace of hula, and "the most Hawaiian" of the island chain.
Shaped like a reef slipper, 25 miles from O'ahu, Moloka'i's unspoiled terrain attracts a different kind of visitor. On the flight from Honolulu, Shelley Cargill of Iowa says she's here with a view to buying land deep in one of Moloka'i's valleys. She plans to "chopper in" to see if the valley is remote enough for her to live there.
Such is one of Moloka'i's greatest attractions: It's where the action isn't.
Friendly? Yes. No stoplights, no one passes you on the road and every oncoming driver waves.
Quiet? Yes, indeed. If you're looking for entertainment, restaurants and nightlife, don't come here. But if you want to escape, Moloka'i will reconnect you with an older Hawai'i where, despite the demise of the island's sugar and watermelon plantations, life has not altered too much in 100 years.
If you plan a trip to Moloka'i, take walking shoes, a couple of good novels for the evenings and a short history of Moloka'i. Don't forget the binoculars; the night sky is stunning. And as the first sign you'll see as you leave the airport says: "Slow Down, You on Moloka'i Now."
Here are some highlights:
Soak in Halawa Valley sights
Thirty-eight miles long and 10 miles wide, Moloka'i is described as a "motorist's dream and a cyclist's heaven." Coming from O'ahu's choked highways and urban congestion, it's easy to see why. Driving is a pleasure.
The Halawa Valley drive from Kaunakakai to Halawa Bay is a two-hour sojourn past ancient fishponds, white-sand beaches, tiny churches, lush valleys and rocky headlands. Stop and admire the rainbows, pet the horses, smell the eucalyptus.
Father Damien built four churches "topside," meaning above Kalaupapa. Two roadside churches remain: At the 10-mile marker in Kamalo is the tiny, lovingly restored St. Joseph's Church (1876), where a bronze sculpture of Father Damien watches over the church and graveyard. A few miles north, Our Lady of Sorrows (1874) offers a shady spot to stop beneath its magnificent trees. Both churches are open and still used for Roman Catholic services. Inside, documents and photographs give poignant accounts of days and lives gone by.
Across from Our Lady of Sorrows church, the restored Ualapu'e fishpond brings a measure of pride and economic hope for Moloka'i residents. More than 70 fishponds, some dating from the 13th century, fringe the East Moloka'i shoreline.
Drive on and the road climbs from sea level past rocky headlands through acres of ranch lands, eventually to the overlook at Halawa Valley before winding down to Halawa's famous, double-scalloped bay.
From the roadside valley overlook, the beautiful Moa'ula Falls is visible at the back of Halawa
Valley. You can hike to the falls from the nearby trailhead or drive down to the bay, where yet another tiny wooden church on manicured grounds close to a mysterious stone ruin waits for visitors at the road's end. Yet on a weekend afternoon, the bay is completely deserted.
Yes, you can buy a latté
Main Street in Kaunakakai does get a tad busy on Saturday mornings, when the weekly market sets up stalls on Ala Malama, but it won't cause a traffic jam. Fruits and vegetables, fishing nets and slack-key musicians blend in with a church barbecue and a nearby soccer game. Old-timers watch from shady supermarket benches.
Kaunakakai's biggest traffic jam is much later, down a dark alley, around 10 p.m., when the hot-bread line at Kanemitsu's Bakery winds between the Imamura Store and Mango Mart.
The bakery is most famous for two things: 19 kinds of bread and its late-night orders (except Mondays) taken through a doorway. Some orders are for as many as 30 loaves (locals prefer the bread split and slathered with cream cheese). Manager Blossom Poepoe says she closes up when she's sold too much or she gets too tired, usually between 1a.m. and 2:30 a.m.
By day, the restaurant menu includes Hawaiian food, hamburgers and hot dogs, and the glass counter displays a score of assorted lavosh, purple taro rolls, coconut-cream delights, and a dizzying assortment of cookies.
If you want a latté, however, better head for the Moloka'i Coffee Plantation, a 500-acre estate at Kualapu'u a few miles northwest of Kaunakakai. Moloka'i has the oldest coffee plantation in Hawai'i and roasts its own beans on site.
Dorothy Quintua takes visitors on 45-minute tours of the mechanized plantation where, at peak production, 70,000 pounds of beans are harvested daily.
"We ship to the Mainland, the Philippines, Taiwan and the United Kingdom," Quintua said, proudly. "Visitors are amazed at the work involved to make the the beans into a finished product."
After the tour, visit the plantation's Coffees of Hawai'i espresso bar and store, where you can buy coffee products and confectionary including their chocolate-covered Malulani coffee beans, the best we'd ever tasted.
Nearby the R.W. Meyer Sugar Mill, Hawai'i's only surviving 19th-century sugar mill restored to operating condition, documents with photographs the lives and times of Moloka'i's plantation workers.
Keep driving north and you'll arrive at the Kalaupapa Overlook. But first you'll pass the Moloka'i Mule Ride barn, where dozens of large but friendly animals will crowd to the roadside fence if you stop your car. The mules carry visitors daily down the switchback trail to Kalaupapa for tours of the remote colony where Hansen's disease patients were sent. Visitors can make reservations for the trail ride at the barn.
In less than a mile, the road ends at the Kalaupapa Lookout, with the view across the peninsula. Cool winds blow up from the ocean and Kalaupapa Light gleams in the distance. Save for the wind, the overlook is silent — a perfect place to contemplate the inhumanities and acts of courage that took place far below.
Back at the ranch ...
West Moloka'i, much of which belongs to Moloka'i Ranch, is dry and windy. One of Hawai'i's largest white-sand beaches, Papohaku stretches three miles along Moloka'i's western coast.
At the Big Wind Kite Factory and Plantation Gallery in Maunaloa, Daphne and Jonathan Socher, kite designers and Bali-philes, are open for business, as they are most days. In the workshop are kites and wind socks of every color and design in various stages of construction. Birds, hula dancers, Spanish galleons, twirly things, massive insects, flat-shaped and box kites crowd the work surfaces.
The Sochers moved to Maunaloa in 1976 because they liked Moloka'i's simple lifestyle. Their kite factory/import shop dominates the commercial landscape of Moloka'i's only other town.
"You don't choose to live on Moloka'i, Moloka'i chooses you," said Daphne Socher. "You either love it or you can't leave fast enough."
The natural windiness here makes the area ideal for kite-flying classes, which the Sochers offer free when conditions are right. The Plantation Gallery features local handicrafts such as milo-wood bowls, locally made T-shirts, Hawai'i-themed sandblasted glassware, baskets of lauhala and other fibers, and Hawaiian-music CDs. There are also many Balinese handicrafts, from jewelry to clothing and fabrics.
Daphne Socher loves Maunaloa.
"It's been wonderful to raise children in a place where no one locks their door," she said. "Moloka'i is for people who know themselves. If you must be entertained, then Moloka'i is not for you. But if you hunt or fish, if you like to read or just watch clouds go by, then this island is made for you."
Across the road at Moloka'i Ranch Activities Center, bike guide Jester Candelario was checking visitors' mountain bikes for comfort and safety. Biking on Moloka'i can be as easy or as terrifying as bikers choose (remember "motorist's dream, cyclist's heaven?") and the best way to see west Moloka'i is by bike.
There are hundreds of miles of color-coded bike paths: green for beginners, blue for intermediates, orange for experts and red for crazy people. If you opt for beginner status, you can cycle from Maunaloa downhill to Kaupoa Beach, a distance of seven miles, in just over two hours. If you fall into the crazy-people category, it may take 45 minutes or less.
West Moloka'i's red dirt is hard with short, stubby shrub vegetation. There are ditches and gulleys, and not much shade. From Maunaloa to Kaupoa Beach is a hot, dusty, exhilarating ride ... one place on Moloka'i you don't need to slow down.
Axis deer roam freely over Moloka'i Ranch land, and there's that curious feeling you might see a giraffe or wildebeest or even a rhinoceros go by (the ranch no longer keeps safari animals but, still ... it looks a lot like Africa).
Then there is that unique "bike tree" with branches that sprout lost bicycle parts.
Candelario, ever the thoughtful guide, stopped frequently, explaining the history of the area, pointing out the wildlife. Growing up on Moloka'i, he said, had been the perfect life for him.
We arrived at Kaupoa Beach, ready for a dip in the warm ocean, to stretch and rest before catching transport back to the ranch.
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Experiencing Kalaupapa, Moloka'i
The Kalaupapa Peninsula is a memorial to sufferers of Hansen's disease, who were banished there beginning in 1865 in the terror brought on by the epidemic. By 1946, drugs made the disease treatable. But many survivors choose to remain in the close-knit community on the isolated peninsula. A few still live there.
Visitors who wish to tour the settlement may do so through Damien Tours, the only Kalaupapa tour service operated by residents and licensed to admit the public. Reservations for the four-hour historic tour are through Richard Marks, (808) 567-6171.
Options for getting there:
- By air: Moloka'i Air Shuttle, 567-6847; Pacific Wings, 873-0877; and Paragon Air, (808) 244-3356 or (800) 428-1231.
- By mule: Moloka'i Mule Ride, www.muleride.com (808) 567-6088. The famously reliable mule train carries visitors down a 3 1/2-mile trail to meet the tour and then returns.
- By foot: Hike the rugged trail (there are 26 switchbacks) from the Pala'au State Park trailhead. Leave by 8 a.m. in time to meet the tour bus below.
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If you go ...
Getting there: Hawaiian Airlines (838-1555) and Island Air, (484-2222) fly to Moloka'i Airport from Honolulu and the Neighbor Islands daily. A round trip costs $130 to $160. Pacific Wings (888) 575-4546 and Moloka'i-Lana'i Air Shuttle (808) 567-6847 offer commuter flights from Honolulu and Lihu'e.
The Moloka'i Princess, an inter-island ferry, operates daily between Lahaina and Kaunakakai Harbor. Contact: (808) 667-6165, www.molokaiferry.com. One-way fare costs $40.
Lodging:
Hotel Moloka'i: Friendly and low-key, Hotel Molokai on the Kamehameha V Highway, 1 1/2 miles from Kaunakakai, has Polynesian decor, tiki torches and Hawaiian entertainment. A beachside restaurant and bar next to a small swimming pool is where Moloka'i folks and hotel guests congregate most evenings. Rates start at $85 per room. (808) 553-5347, www.hotelmolokai.com
The Sheraton Molokai Lodge & Beach Village, Maunaloa: A destination vacation spot on the west side. Accommodations include the Kaupoa Beach Camp and the Lodge in Maunaloa. Ranch activities include horseback riding, mountain biking, hiking, kayaking, ocean rafting and snorkeling. Or, you can doze in a hammock, lulled by ocean breezes at Kaupoa Beach. Lodge rates begin at $360 per night. Kaupoa Beach rates begin at $275 per night. (808) 552-2741, www.molokai-ranch.com.
Wavecrest Resort: One and two-bedroom condominiums on the east end of Moloka'i, with ocean views, swimming pool, tennis courts, and barbecues, in beautiful landscaping. Units are rented through Moloka'i real estate agents.
Private rentals: Waialua Beach House is an oceanfront home in East Moloka'i, reminiscent of Hawai'i in the '50s and '60s. It sleeps up to six people, has a large yard surrounded by palm trees, a barbecue grill, washer and dryer, lawn furniture and views of Maui and Lana'i; $165 per night. 599-3838, www.hawaiibeachhouse.org.
Pu'u O Hoku Ranch Country Cottages in Kaunakakai has one two-bedroom, two-bath cottage and one four-bedroom, three-bath cottage. Each cottage is $125 per night for two guests. ($20 per additional guest), (808) 558-8109, www.puuohoku.com.
Dining: Hotel Moloka'i offers seaside dining for breakfast, lunch and dinner with nightly entertainment (808) 553-5347; Kanemitsu Bakery, Ala Malama, Kaunakakai offers Hawaiian food, pastries and fabulous bread (808) 553-5855; Moloka'i Pizza Cafe, on the wharf road, pizza, sandwiches, pasta and seafood (808) 553-3288.
Activities: Moloka'i Ranch Outfitters, (808) 552-2741; Nature Conservancy of Hawai'i, (808) 553-5236; Moloka'i Outdoors Activities, (877) 553-4477 (in the lobby at Hotel Moloka'i); Moloka'i Bicycle, (808) 553-3931; Moloka'i Mule Rides, (808) 567-6088; Moloka'i Coffee Plantation, Kualapu'u, (808) 567-9023; Big Wind Kite Factory & Plantation Gallery, Maunaloa (808) 552-2364.
Information: Molokai Visitors Association, (800) 800-6367, www.molokai-hawaii.com.
Correction: The Sheraton Molokai Lodge & Beach Village is in West Moloka'i. A previous version of this story gave an incorrect name for the resort.
