To many visitors, it comes as a surprise that of Hawai'i's eight main islands two are privately owned. One, Ni'ihau — the carefully cloistered home of the last significant group of pure Hawaiians — is owned by the Robinson family. The other is Lana'i, 98 percent of which is owned by the Murdoch family (David Murdoch of Castle and Cooke, not the News Corp.'s Rupert Murdoch); it's the former home of the largest pineapple plantation in the world.

Today the pineapples are gone and Lana'i has been transformed into an exclusive retreat with not one but two Four Seasons resorts, an exotic seaside luxury compound at Manele Bay and a stunning mountaintop hunting lodge at Ko'ele. Both have championship golf courses: the Challenge at Manele Bay designed by Jack Nicklaus, the Experience at Koele designed by Greg Norman. Both provide sublime privacy in an intimate environment, wrapped in a beautiful location of exquisite isolation.

Forget your own private Idaho — we are off to Lana'i, and our own private Hawaiian island.

Lana'i, the third-smallest of the main Hawaiian Islands, is but 18 miles wide at its longest point. Only Ni'ihau and uninhabited Kaho'olawe next door are smaller. Between Maui and Moloka'i, Lana'i maintains an unspoiled charm associated with the outer islands of 50 years ago. With only 3,000 residents it's easy to see why. Coming in to land we see that much of Lana'i is ringed with steep cliffs. A shuttle from the airport takes us through Lana'i City to our first hotel, The Lodge at Koele. On a high bluff above the town at the base of a mountain, the lodge is a magnificent building built in a faux Victorian style, like a landmark hotel in the English countryside. A massive lobby with stunning dual fireplaces and very high ceilings is the centerpiece for two wings spreading out to round-about end points.

Beneath rising hills of pine, eucalyptus, and banyan trees, The Lodge at Koele is a sublime getaway to refined comfort in a setting that is as elegant as it is exotic, a modern hotel with an old-school feel. Our room is a spacious suite overlooking a lake, the golf course, the orchid solarium and a Chinese pagoda.

The grounds are like an English polo field; immaculate lawns stretch endlessly in all directions. We hike around the surrounding forest and go part of the way up to Koloiki Ridge. Along a secluded trail we are startled by a deer, an eight-point buck, which appears on the trail and then trundles wildly into the woods. We have found our unspoiled upcountry paradise.

Dinner our first evening is at one of three restaurants on the property, the elegant, formal "Dining Room," a lovely octagonal room with massive wooden beams.

Lana'i venison, cooked tableside on a hot lava rock with an apple/celery salad on a poached fig in a red wine sauce, is delightful. Seafood bouillabaisse of shrimp, lobster, mussels and clams in a vegetable broth is light, clean, brilliantly simple and delicious. Kobe beef strip loin with truffle mashed potatoes melts in your mouth with tender succulent flavor. The Dining Room, in short, is as exceptional as The Lodge at Koele itself.

DAY 1: RIDING THE RIDGE

Rising at dawn, we stroll the grounds as the sun rises over Koloiki Ridge. A flock of wild turkeys is gathered on the putting green as we stroll down to the riding stables for a trail ride along the ridge. From the top of the trail we can see Moloka'i and Maui in the brilliant sunshine. We go into town and pick up a four-wheel drive rental car. Lana'i has just 30 miles of paved roads and numerous dirt and gravel trails, so a four-wheel drive is essential for exploring the far corners of the island.

Then it's a stroll around Lana'i City, a quaint town that maintains the charms of a bygone era. We have a plate lunch with "two scoop rice" at the Blue Ginger Café and step into the Mike Carroll Gallery, a collection of notable artists' paintings of Hawaiian scenes in impressionistic style. When Dole Pineapple ruled the roost, Lana'i City was a company town and the predominant architecture of simple homes lends a comforting air to a very special community.

We take our four-wheel drive over the mountain and down a winding narrow road to Shipwreck Beach, two miles past the end of the paved road, where a beached freighter sits just off shore in this isolated corner of the island. We come back over the mountain and visit the farm of Alberta de Jetley, who has turned 12 acres near the airport into the agricultural model of Lana'i's future. There she grows bananas, papaya, lettuce, asparagus, avocado and eggplant and a wide variety of herbs for the local markets and hotel restaurants.

When Lana'i phased out pineapple shortly after David Murdoch took over Castle and Cooke, Murdoch made a commitment to expand and sustain the livelihood of the island. He built the two world-class resorts and ran them at a loss for 15 years until Four Seasons Resorts took over their management and the ensuing combination made them highly successful. Murdoch sold numerous units of company housing to their occupants at subsidized prices and helped underwrite their remodeling, turning hundreds of renters into homeowners of significant equity assets. He leased farmland to people such as de Jetley, who has transformed her property into a veritable Garden of Eden.

Dinner that evening is at The Terrace, just off the expansive lobby of Koele Lodge. In a throwback to Waikiki in the 1960s, Kimo Garner is at the piano in the lobby, transforming it into the intimate piano bar that was the mainstay of Waikiki in its heyday. Kimo was a member of Don Ho's early combo. Over the next half hour Kimo transports us to another plane of existence as he performs some of Kui Lee's most memorable songs: "I'll Remember You" (which was covered by Elvis, among others), "Days of my Youth," and "Lahaina Luna."

DAY 2: OFFSHORE DELIGHTS

The following morning we go snorkeling off a Trilogy Cruises catamaran. It is a brilliant day with a blazing blue sky. We leave Manele Harbor and cruise along the coast past cliffs that rise close to 1,000 feet. The ocean is a deep shining blue. We arrive at Shark Fin Cove and moor the catamaran to an anchor bolt 30 feet below the surface. We don fins and masks and enter the crystal clear water. Brightly colored fish are everywhere. A large sea turtle is feeding on the bottom, and we are at one with the ocean.

A crew member finds an octopus and lets it cling to his arm. We dive to the bottom, rising to the surface again and again. The crew begins to set sail again when we are joined by a pair of large bottlenose porpoises. They play off our forward wake and then disappear. In the distance dozens of spotted porpoises are leaping out of the water. Soon we are surrounded by a school of them, breaking the surface, jumping, playing, enthralling us with their antics. We return to Manele Harbor after an amazing morning at sea that we will never forget.

Four Seasons Manele Bay, a sprawling oceanside complex, stands like a royal palace in splendid isolation above a pristine stretch of Hulopo'e Beach. The hotel's multilevel lobby gives way to terraces and a central swimming pool surrounded by cabanas. A path below leads to a wide beach that arcs around Hulopo'e Bay, a protected marine preserve, where small but surging waves pound the shoreline. Gardens, koi ponds, and waterfalls adorn every courtyard of the property. Our large comfortable room overlooks the gorgeous rocky coastline and we sit on the balcony watching the waves smashing against the rocks, leaving sprays of fine mist in the air. It is truly a Pacific island paradise.

Dinner that evening is at Hulopo'e Court, one of three restaurants in the hotel, situated on an open terrace overlooking the ocean. Tuna poke served in a coconut shell is fantastic, as is a shrimp quesadilla with mango and avocado. Pan-sauteed opah served with a spicy onion glaze with a tomato cilantro salsa is delicious. As we gaze down at the tiki torches set along the pathway to the Pacific, the evening swims by in a setting that is splendidly romantic.

In the morning, the rising sun lights the rocky coastline with brilliant hues of red and orange. We walk down past the ancient Hawaiian ruins, the remnants of settlers 500 years ago, to the beautiful expanse of Hulopo'e Beach. The swells are rising and the shore break is 2 to 4 feet. Hulopo'e is a stunning, secluded wide white sand beach. We jump into the crystal clear water and spend the next hour bodysurfing, waves crashing over our heads and washing us up on the beach.

In Lana'i City we turn in our four-wheel drive vehicle and have lunch at Canoe's, next door to the Blue Ginger Café. Canoe's is the epitome of the authentic local Hawaiian lunch spot, and a teriyaki pork sandwich never tasted so good. We catch a shuttle back to Manele Bay from in front of the Hotel Lanai, a quaint historical structure that for many years was the only hotel on the island.

Back at Manele Bay, it's time for a couples massage in an outdoor bungalow in one of the hotel gardens next to a waterfall. Midway, magically, the skies open up and the rain pelts the roof of our bungalow in perfect rhythm.

On our last night on Lana'i we have dinner at Ihilani, the other principle restaurant at Manele Bay. And it's another amazing meal.

DAY 3: A VIEW TO KILL FOR

On our last day on Lana'i we hike to Sweetheart Rock at the end of an isthmus that separates Manele Bay from Hulopo'e Bay, with prominent cliffs and spectacular scenery.

From a series of sand dunes in a forest thick with kiawe trees, we climb across lava rock fields until we reach the precipice and one of the most glorious views I have ever seen. A sheer 500-foot drop looms over a sweeping crescent-shaped cliff arching around to reveal a thundering bay, hidden from view except from this vantage point or from the sea. Sparkling clear water shimmers a deep aqua blue as waves thunder across the cliffside. Just ahead of us lies Sweetheart Rock, a giant outcropping standing alone 500 yards from the cliff, at equal height, sheer walls at all sides, and inexplicably, an ancient heiau built somehow at the very top. It is awe-inspiring and a little scary, standing here on the edge, the warm wind whipping at us, the ocean roaring below.

Legend has it that a beautiful maiden, separated from her lover, died of a broken heart. When he found her he buried her on Sweetheart Rock and leapt to his death, only to be transformed into a shark to guard the waters around her burial spot.

We return to Hulopo'e Beach for one last round of bodysurfing. The cool ocean and clear water is refreshing after our long hike. Later, we meet David Turk from Marjet at the private aviation gate. We take off and watch the island fade from view, Lana'i City stands out in a highlands of emerald green, Manele Bay and Sweetheart Rock looking like gleaming outposts on the edge of a deep blue sea.

Lana'i offers the chance to discover and enjoy your own private Hawaiian island. Who could ask for more?

Joel Berliner is a freelance travel writer and lives in California.