Moloka‘i Fact Sheet
Size: 260 square miles. It is 38 miles long
and 10 miles wide.
Population: 7,000
Major
Industries: Tourism,
cattle, and diversified agriculture.
Average
Temperature: 75–85 degrees
Fahrenheit.
Number
of Swimmable Beaches: 6
Miles
of Shoreline: 106
miles
Number
of Parks: There
are six parks on Moloka‘i: one state park, four
county parks, and one national park (
Highest
Peak: Kamakou
(4,961 feet)
Principal
Resort Areas: In
Number
of Hotels/Resort: 7
Number
of Vacation Rentals: 36
Number
of Vacation Homes/Cottages: 19
Number
of Bed & Breakfast Inns: 3
Number
of Restaurants/Eateries: 14
Number
of Visitors Annually: 80,000
Most
Popular Visitor Attractions: Kalaupapa National Historical Park,
Golf
Courses: Moloka‘i
has two nine-hole courses. One is located “upcountry,” called The Greens at Kauluwai or better known as Ironwoods Golf Course. The
other sprawls along the west shore, called Kaluako‘i
Golf Course.
Airports: The main airport is Ho‘
Moloka‘i Missed the Tourism Wagon – and That’s
Exactly Why to Go
It’s
dusk on the
The two-lane highway is straight as a stick, and you can’t
see a single car all the way down the road. No headlights at all in your
rear-view mirror. No tall buildings or crowded luxury homes separate you from
the lake-like sea, which is shining with the last colors of the sunset. The
emerging stars look close enough to touch, and the sky is full of silence. You
pass a huge plumeria tree loaded with flowers and,
even with the windows rolled up, the sweet perfume
fills the car and becomes a topic of conversation.
Yes, it’s true there’s “nothing” on
Moloka‘i, lots of it – an abundance of the delicious
“nothing” that busy people crave when their jobs and lives crowd them. No red
lights, ever.
On a drive like this, you feel muscles unclench.
“People come here for the vicarious Robinson Crusoe
experience,” say Akiko and Glenn Foster, who offer secluded bed-and-breakfast
accommodations under the name Kamalo Plantation.
“They’re people who like nature and want peace and
quiet. Many of them have seen the other
The Fosters themselves found Moloka‘i
through a very Robinson-Crusoe-like boating mishap. Their sailboat dismasted,
and they had to limp into
“People write about this experience all the time in our
guest book. They say you have time here to regroup. To
rediscover yourself.”
Kamalo
Plantation’s two fully furnished houses -- one tucked in an ancient grove next
to an old Hawaiian temple of healing, and the other set above its own
pocket-sized beach on the island’s remote east end -- make good examples of Moloka‘i’s out-of-the-ordinary guest accommodations.
Here are some others. At the east end, Pu‘u
O Hoku Ranch offers two large hand-crafted cottages,
each with a land-and-sea-scape that goes on for
miles. Exactly opposite Pu‘u O Hoku
Ranch, at the island’s dry west end with its huge beaches, travelers can
rent
large homes that have swimming pools, hot tubs, and views across wild land to a
sandy cove. One of these, Papapa Plantation, is a
beautiful cedar home with four separate bedrooms -- a perfect share situation
for friends or a family group. Next door, Miller Moloka‘i
has a similar layout and rents its rooms separately to travelers who don’t mind
mingling in the spacious common areas.
Along its sheltered south shore the island also offers three
modest mini-resorts. Two of them -- Wavecrest and Moloka‘i Shores -- are condominiums designed for home-style
living. Ocean-view buildings enclose a central lawn, swimming pool, and
barbecues. These are quiet places where guests sit seaside watching the sun set
-- or rise. (This is one of the few places in Hawai‘i
where you can watch both events from the comfort of the same park bench.) The third such option is the likeable Hotel Moloka‘i, a cluster of two-story buildings designed like
the classic South Seas “long-house.” The
hotel includes a very good restaurant and, on many nights, Moloka‘i
musicians playing pool-side.
If you crave big, hot stretches of sand, you’ll find them on
the west-facing shore at Kaluako‘i. Three excellent
condominiums take full advantage of their beach-view locations -- the Paniolo Hale perched on a natural ledge, Ke Nani Kai with pool, barbecue,
and tennis courts, and Kaluako‘i Villas rambling over
29 acres. All three offer golf course privileges at the nine-hole course
nearby.
For both comfort and novelty, nothing on the island can
match the Sheraton Moloka‘i. Based in the small
hilltop town of
Two companies provide information and bookings for the
dozens of Moloka‘i homes, condos, and cottages that
are available for rent. Visitors who are planning a trip can learn a lot at
either of these websites: Moloka‘i Vacation Rentals (www.molokai-vacation-rental.com)
and Moloka‘i Resorts (www.molokairesorts.com).
None of these getaways is taller than three stories, and all
of them provide natural solitude. It’s the same natural solitude you experience
while kayaking along the island’s reef-protected south shore, while finding an
unpopulated beach, while hiking to Moa‘
Some families find this natural solitude to be a perfect
backdrop for a family-bonding vacation. Moloka‘i
simply lacks a dozen different reasons to scatter in all directions. So families share their adventures – mountain-biking together,
riding horses together, learning to windsurf together. They have time to
talk, to push the world aside and revive the most fundamental relationships of
their lives.
For couples – especially couples who love the outdoors or
couples who like the simplicity of quiet conversation – Moloka‘i
is wonderfully renewing, if not downright romantic.
Moloka‘i
is not for everyone. To be frank, the drive from the airport is rather bleak,
passing through a parched landscape of abandoned pineapple fields. But when you
get inside Moloka‘i,
the riches unfold.
Says B&B owner Steve Sears, “Moloka‘i
attracts independent travelers who don’t want to be isolated in a hotel with
other tourists. They want to see how people live. They like the freedom and
safety here.”
For Moloka‘i visitors, it’s not
enough to trade the stimulation of a Mainland city for the stimulation of hotel
lobbies, commercial lu’au, advertisements,
attractions, and traffic. What about no stimulation at all?
What about the sweet stimulation of bird song on your
morning lanai, surrounded by an island that will never interrupt such an artful
quietness?
Long and narrow, Moloka‘i looks
insignificant next to its neighbors. If someone asked you to compare the
When
in Moloka‘i, Be a Moloka‘ian
The Moloka‘i experience – which,
no matter who you are, is a total escape from life as you know it – begins even
before you board your flight. It begins when you walk away from the main
terminal, with its jet noise and nervous lines, and cross over to the commuter
runways.
In
If you depart from
Your plane has two propellers. It doesn’t scream; it chuggles. And there’s no cattle chute -- you walk across
the tarmac, just like Elvis boarding one of those Pan Am Clippers. The plane’s
full and snug, but there aren’t many passengers. A good number of them are
probably Hawaiians carrying lunch pails. You fly along the tallest sea cliffs
in the world, cloaked with wild greenery and sliced with amazing canyons – one
of the Earth’s natural marvels – and your neighbors are talking about their
kids.
When you come to Moloka‘i, you
become a Moloka‘ian. As one
island native put it: “People try to
tell us, oh you could have this, you should do that.
But no sense try to change us. We want you to change.”
On Moloka‘i, with fewer than 7,000
residents, everyone knows everyone else. They don’t get many outsiders. When
they see one, they’re likely to slow down and wave you through the
intersection. Or they’ll stop and ask if you’re okay. They might stare a little
-- till you break the ice, and then they melt. Conversations are direct and
honest. They don’t have a “tourist industry.” They’re not at all sure they want
one. But they’re happy to have visitors.
Visitors experience Moloka‘i
simplicity from the moment they step into Ho‘olehua
Airport – which is small enough that you can just about fill out your
car-rental form with one hand and pick up your luggage with the other.
If it so happens that your bag is delayed till
the next flight, don’t worry. Someone will bring it. Someone else will lend you
a pair of shorts. The next step is to drive into town for supplies.
“Downtown” Moloka‘i is one block
long, crowded with stores on either side. Built during the ‘30s, the town looks
something like the set for a movie Western that never got made. Your first
reaction might be, “My gosh, there’s nothing
here!” But the opposite is true; you can
find everything in Kaunakakai. This fact is invisible from the street but
obvious the minute you step into any one of the shops, which are crammed with
the essentials of Moloka‘i life.
There are two fully stocked groceries, Misaki’s
and Friendly Market, plus a smaller place called Oviedo’s that specializes in
Filipino food and serves the best roast pork in the state. Take’s Variety
supplies everything from hammers to hose bibs, from Boggle games to bike parts.
Moloka‘i Drugs is a full-service pharmacy where
people take the time to talk with you about your prescription. And there are
several places to buy made-on-Moloka‘i gifts,
including Moloka‘i Fish And
Dive, which is packed to the rafters with fishing and camping gear, hats,
tee-shirts, and curiosities. Moloka‘i Wines ‘N
Spirits is a total surprise – a great place to pick up a top-rated Cabernet, a
ten-year-old Madeira, or a block of Roquefort cheese.
The wise visitor will do the food shopping immediately. The
town is essentially closed on Sundays, and all of Moloka‘i
goes to sleep every day at sundown. Most accommodations assume that you’ll
adopt this rural tempo – that you’ll set up a
temporary home in an isolated location and wrap yourself in the splendid
silence of the island.
But you don’t have to become a recluse when you visit Moloka‘i. You can dine out for every meal and scarcely
repeat yourself in a week.
Kaunakakai’s main street,
At one end of the street, the tiny Sundown Deli offers
made-to-order sandwiches and good soup; at the other end, Outpost Natural Foods
provides organic, vegetarian dishes at its daytime window. Nearby Moloka‘i Drive Inn does fast-food service with
Hawaiian-style “plate lunches.”
The town also has two good-sized restaurants that stay open
through the dinner hours. Moloka‘i Pizza Cafe is a bright, friendly place, no alcohol, with an
extensive menu -- not just excellent pizzas but also chicken and ribs,
sandwiches and pies. The Oceanfront Dining Room at Hotel Moloka‘i offers comfortable seaside dining,
breakfast-lunch-and-dinner every day. On Sunday nights they lay out a paniolo (cowboy) barbecue buffet. On Wednesdays they serve
“theme” buffets (Thai, lu’au, Mexican, Italian…).
Better yet, this is a great place to hear live music. The “Aloha Friday”
gathering (each week from four to
Outside of town, your eating choices get rarer, but they’re
just as diverse.
The east end of the island has defied civilization. It’s a
place for hiking, horse-back riding, and hunting for castaway beaches. Out
here, when your appetite starts to howl, you head for the Neighborhood Store
near mile 16. The service window features burgers and shoyu
chicken, saimin and stir-fry plates, floats and
shakes.
North of town, in the upland area called Kala‘e,
you have two choices. Moloka‘i Coffee Plantation
makes a stop for light lunch or snack – bagels, croissants, and salads along
with hundred-percent Moloka‘i coffee. Next door, the
popular Kamuela’s Cookhouse serves hearty island food for breakfast and lunch
(great homemade pies).
The west end of the island, remote as it seems, is scarcely
more than a dozen miles from Kaunanakai. You have two
dining choices here the small town of
The other restaurant in Maunaloa is
the island’s finest – the Maunaloa Room at the
Sheraton Moloka‘i Lodge. Here you experience high-end
dining at a scale appropriate to this unique island. The chef has designed “Moloka‘i regional” cuisine, and the restaurant’s decor
harmonizes with the Lodge’s beautifully stated theme as a luxury ranch house.
In short, you won’t go hungry on Moloka‘i.
Better yet, no matter where you eat, from the Maunaloa
Room to the Neighborhood Store, you’ll be mingling with the people of the
island. Over half of them are native Hawaiians, and all of them are
unreservedly proud of being Molokaian.
They’re proud of their crime-free community and proud of
their freedom from the noise and ambitions, the buildings and appliances of
modern life. They’re notoriously friendly, but not so much outgoing as they are
simply curious. After all, if you’re on the island, they’re going to make one
assumption about you – for the time being, even if only for a day, you’re a Moloka‘ian, too.
On Moloka‘i,
Hawaiian Culture Is Not Just Preserved – It’s Everything
In terms of native culture, every Hawaiian island is
rightfully proud of its past. The
Consider that Moloka‘i is the only
island in which native Hawaiians constitute the majority of the population. Add
to that the fact that Moloka‘i is almost completely
rural – which means that the islanders still predominately practice traditional
livelihoods such as farming, fishing, and hunting.
As you drive around the island, you see evidence of
subsistence living – ramshackle unpainted houses, boats in the yards, fishnets
hanging from the trees, chickens running loose.... In some parts of the world,
sights like these are taken as images of poverty. Here, though, they are signs
of freedom and continuity – signs that native culture is not
so much “preserved” as it is simply lived. Hawaiian-ness isn’t saved for
special displays; it permeates everyday life.
Take Moloka‘i’s Ka Hula Piko Festival, for example. Visitors are welcome here, but
this is very much an event by and for the Hawaiians. It takes place over a week
of classes and lectures, culminating in a ho‘olaule‘a – a day of celebration – that happens each May.
The day begins before dawn on a wild hilltop where, according to legend, the
art of hula first began. Hula halau, or schools, come
here from all over the state to participate in a solemn sunrise ritual. The
chanting takes place on a pa hula, or traditional stone platform,
that was constructed just two years ago.
(This is one of very
few places where you’ll find “ancient” architecture practiced by contemporary
Hawaiians.) Then the event moves to
What’s remarkable about Ka Hula Piko
is that it’s not a “visitor attraction” or a “hula show.” It’s a free-of-charge
renewal-gathering by Hawaiians, for Hawaiians. The same holds true for the
island’s Aloha Week festivities in October or the traditional Makahiki events each winter. Guests, fine – but that’s not
the point.
For another example, look at Moloka‘i’s
ancient fishponds. The ancestors created twenty-six of these massive stone
aquaculture pens that ornament the entire south shore. Collectively, this is
one of the most amazing archeological sites in the islands. Contemporary Moloka‘ians have undertaken the enormous challenge of
repairing and restoring these old structures – partly out of respect for them,
and partly in hopes of putting them back in service to the island economy. This
effort has begun to inspire similar projects on other islands, where the Moloka‘ians are regarded as
experts and consultants.
There’s a history to Moloka‘i’s
uniquely contemporary Hawaiian-ness. Part of this history reaches back to 1920,
when the territorial government passed the Hawaiian Homestead Act. The bill put
displaced native people back in control of their ancestral lands – primarily
here. Not only that, a lot of this homestead land is coastal.
Moloka‘i will never have its shorelines sealed off by
crowds of luxury developments. The size and location of the native population
has a profound effect on the look of the island and the tenor of the visitor’s
experience.
But this independent history goes back much further than
1920 – back to times of legend. According to one authoritative native history,
“We were a sacred line, here from the beginning of time.” Moloka‘ians think of themselves as maoli – the true natives. When the first great
war chiefs began their bloody campaigns to conquer the islands
(theoretically, five or six hundred years ago), Moloka‘i
resisted.
Here’s the story:
When the invaders came, they found the people of Moloka‘i
standing on the shoreline, waiting for them. “They stood there as a silent
army. No fist was raised. When the warriors began to beach their boats, the
chanting began. It began small and became a mighty roar. The warriors threw
their spears, but they fell short of hitting anyone. Men trying to come onto
the beach were falling back into the surf choking....”
Calling the island Moloka‘i pule o’o – powerful prayer – the
warriors chose to assimilate its wisdom rather than slaughter its people. Moloka‘i was always renowned for its powerful shamans and
wise prophets.
In their wisdom, today’s Moloka‘ians are trying to fend off another invasion –
the force that most of us call modern life. Life on Moloka‘i
is so non-commercial that visitors at first might wonder, “Where’s the Hawaiian
stuff?” The answer is – it’s everywhere.
Impromptu performances at Kaunakakai’s Saturday street
market. A group of men standing out on the reef
hauling a net together. Young girls dancing during the
dinner hour at one of the small hotels. The baggage
handlers playing ‘ukulele in the lull between planes. It’s normal life.
If you want to feel hopeful about the struggles of an
aboriginal people in the face of escalating global change, go to Moloka‘i. If you want to get past the performance barrier,
and feel what it’s like to live and be Hawaiian on the day-to-day, this is the
heartland.
Moloka‘i on Two Wheels
“Phenomenal!” shouts Randy Peterson as he wheels back into
the
He should know. He and his wife Jennifer love to travel and
they love mountain biking.
“Our friends thought we might get bored here,” says
Jennifer. “But I’ve never seen Randy so happy.”
They’re staying a week at Sheraton Moloka‘i,
dividing their time between the
“I had no idea how great the trails were going to be,” says
Randy.
Sheraton Moloka‘i’s network of
some sixty trails originates at the
The
Experienced guides are available every day to lead
single-track excursions. For example, the Gravity Bike Ride (daily
For an experience to be found nowhere else on Earth,
intermediate and advance-level bikers should take the Na‘iwa
sea-cliff ride. No, this doesn’t involve riding straight down Moloka‘i’s three-thousand-foot north-shore sea cliffs (the
tallest in the world).
But it’s close – very close. A guide trucks the bikers to
the island’s upper ranchlands, the district called Na‘iwa,
inhabited these days only by goats and egrets, wind and cloud. Bikers conquer
several mountain climbs, then dodge their way through
a single track course in a koa forest. The trees here
stand not much more than a handlebar’s width apart, so the need for acrobatic
maneuvering is extreme. If riders get through the first such maze and still
want more, they can opt for an even tougher course that the guides call “The Grinch.”
The Na‘iwa ride then emerges from
the forest, and bikers find themselves sailing along the brink of those sea
cliffs, looking straight down at distant Kalaupapa
Peninsula. For once, the word “incredible” is no exaggeration – and the trail
goes on for miles. Near the end, true extremists can choose to shoot themselves
into “The Hobbit” – a fifty-foot drop into a gulch that demands a hard right
turn at the bottom (either that or a face-to-face with a rather stout tree
trunk).
In short, Moloka‘i offers mountain
biking for all levels of bravado. Says Jennifer: “This is
For the Petersons, the Sheraton Moloka‘i
experience with its designer bike courses makes a perfectly satisfying one-week
adventure – they don’t even have to rent a car. But cycling opportunities on Moloka‘i extend far beyond the Sheraton itself. In fact,
you can stay anywhere on the island and rely on two wheels, whether for street
cycling on car-free tropical roads or for exploring wilder terrain wherever the
pavement ends.
Moloka‘i
Outdoors, located in the Hotel Moloka‘i lobby, rents
“beach cruisers” as well as all-terrain and mountain bikes by the day or the
week. This company makes it easy to set up a custom schedule of two-wheel
adventures with a single phone call. They’ll lead your excursions, too, if you
like.
Moloka‘i
Bicycle Shop in Kaunakakai provides road and mountain bikes, car racks,
trailers, and child carriers. For small pick-up fees they’ll let you leave the
bikes at various island locations (for example, the airport). Bike shop owner
Phillip Kikukawa himself leads custom cycling
adventures when he’s not busy teaching at the high school. The best way to get
a bike through Phillip is by personal contact (email, mail, or phone). Personal
contact is Moloka‘i style.
Both of these outfitters offer truly sensational trail rides
at Pu‘u O Hoku Ranch. This
small-scale cattle ranch and organic farm covers 14,000 acres of the wild east
end and the hills above beautiful
Cycling author John Alford called his experience at the east
end of Moloka‘i: “Epic -- a must for every adventure
traveler!”
It’s simply true. The
“Plus, there’s something else,” says Randy Peterson. “This
is Moloka‘i. It’s low-stress and easy. Here we are,
doing all this great biking -- and we still feel like we’re having a vacation.”
Ramble
the Moloka‘i Wilderness,
On Two Feet or Four
On Moloka‘i, people don’t spend a
lot of time indoors. You can tell this just by looking out the window of your
commuter plane, flying low over this rather tough-looking volcanic mountain
ridge. Moloka‘i simply doesn’t have very much
“indoors.”
The least developed of Hawai‘i’s
major islands, this one’s still rural and wild. Moloka‘i
has an excellent road system – but it basically consists of just two lanes that
run east to west. Farming, fishing, and hunting are pillars of the economy.
Residents feel a fierce devotion to the land itself, a personal relationship.
As one locally written anthem puts it: “My mother, sweet Moloka‘i
… makes you more of who you are.”
This devotion suggests that the island has a distinct
personality – which it does, full of grandeur and surprise. Moloka‘i
includes a national park, a Nature Conservancy forest preserve, a national
natural landscape, and great places to hike and ride horses. Travelers whose
idea of a vacation is
Although this is a small place – less than forty miles long
and only ten wide – a week will not exhaust its potential for outdoor
exploring. It will, however, provide a solid, thorough introduction to the
whole personality of the island, which is certainly one of Planet Earth’s most
exuberant creations.
In terms of natural wonders, Moloka‘i’s
chief attraction is its north shore. This whole side of the island is sealed
off by a series of gigantic cliffs that plunge – some more than three thousand
feet – straight into the shimmering sea. At intervals this imposing wall is
sliced by blade-thin canyons or draped by some of the tallest waterfalls in Hawai‘i. It looks as
though half the island simply ripped off and fell into the sea.
In fact, geologists believe something of that magnitude did
occur in past eons, sending out a tidal wave that literally rocked the Pacific.
Afterwards, a small volcanic outburst created a flat peninsula, Kalaupapa, which seems to float forlornly at the base of
the tallest sea cliffs on Earth.
These vertical slopes and the flatlands above them support
native forests, including some of the most endangered plant and animal species
in the world.
Obviously, it isn’t easy to explore such a tilted landscape
on foot. But it’s doable by means of three distinct one-day adventures.
For example, the trail to
You can make the four-mile trek by foot or by mule. Both
choices are about equally strenuous, but mule-back provides greater opportunity
to enjoy the shock. Moloka‘i Mule Ride has been
offering this four-footed service since 1973. Why mules? Says head muleskinner Buzzy
Sproat: “Mules are a heck of a lot smarter than
horses. In fact they’re smarter than most people.” Whereas horses can be skittish and easily
startled, mules take a calm, methodical approach to the cliff-side trail.
According to Sproat, whose family has been training
and working these beasts in Hawai‘i for a hundred
years, the mules know the route so well that they place their hoofs in the
exact same spots every time they make the trip.
Whether you make it on two feet or four, the trip always
includes an educational component -- a narrated drive around the peninsula in
the old yellow schoolbus of Damien Tours. Access to
The tour itself is fascinating, sometimes even comic (if
your driver is the opinionated “sheriff of Kalaupapa,”
Richard Marks), and in the end -- especially after a visit to the church
hand-built by Father Damien -- quite inspiring. And there’s something perfect
about the timing of that old schoolbus. By the time
you reach it, you’re eager to sit down. And by the time you’ve finished driving
around those rocky roads, you’re more than happy to get back on a mule.
Even if you don’t plan a day for the trail, you can walk to
an overlook and do some easy hiking in the woods at Pala‘au
State Park.
Another way to approach “backside Moloka‘i”
is through Kamakou Preserve. This patch of rare
undisturbed mountain forest contains over two hundred fifty kinds of native
plants -- ninety percent of them live nowhere else but Hawai‘i.
The Nature Conservancy has built a boardwalk that runs through several miles of
the preserve, including a bog inhabited by closely crowded, dwarf versions of
endemic plants. The boardwalk keeps hiking shoes from sinking into the bog or
treading on the plants. This and other trails run between two overlooks --
top-side views of two valleys that slice steeply down to the sea. These
viewpoints are exhilarating. Cool, sweet-scented wind rushes up from below, and
rainbows hang on long waterfalls.
You need four-wheel-drive to get to Kamakou.
(All the island’s rental companies provide such cars.) And you need to stop ahead of time at the
office of The Nature Conservancy, just outside of Kaunakakai. This nonprofit
environmental group manages the preserve, and they need to keep track of its
visitors. By the way, The Nature Conservancy offers guided hikes once a month
-- usually they’re booked four months in advance -- and sometimes their work
parties will give hikers a lift. They also lead monthly hikes to Mo‘omomi Preserve, a remote beach and dune area.
Lacking four-wheel-drive, you can hike to Kamakou Preserve. This is a vigorous trek, a full day of
silence and solitude. You start at sea level on the south shore and cross the
width of the island, rising the whole way until you stand at the top of the
north shore. There are three trailheads:
one across the road from One Ali‘i Beach Park,
another at the top of a subdivision called Kawela
Plantation I, the third at the top of Kawela
Plantation III. These are unmarked and unsupervised jeep trails. Hikers travel
at their own risk in the spirit of wild independence.
A third and easier way to experience “backside” Moloka‘i is to drive around the east end of the island. The
road stops at beautiful
through
lush forest and past ancient settlement sites to two-hundred-fifty-foot Moa‘
You can reach the top part of the falls, and swim in natural
pools, by riding on the wonderful sorrel horses of Pu‘u
O Hoku Ranch. This 14,000-acre ranch and organic farm
acts as a benevolent steward of the rugged east end. The ranch offers a wide
range of horseback experiences, including a sunrise ride, a romantic sunset
ride with champagne dinner in a wild setting, and a coastal ride past a
humpback whale playground. The coastal ride culminates, if you like, with a
plunge into the sea, horse and all.
The opposite end of Moloka‘i, the
dry west end with its huge beaches, still bears the signs of its ancient life
as a getaway spot for the Hawaiian royal class. Quiet, sunny coastal trails
lead to the remains of an old village, an adze quarry, and a road paved by
pre-discovery natives. Historical Hikes West Moloka‘i
helps people explore this area by means of outings -- ranging in challenge from
easy to advanced – that emphasize stories of Hawai‘i’s
culture and lore.
Also at the west end, Sheraton Moloka‘i
operates a remote
Campers with more modest ambitions and tighter budgets can
pitch tents at a couple of county-run campgrounds. The choicest of these is
west-end Papohaku Beach Park, a grassy campsite with
showers, restrooms, drinking water, and – best of all – the near presence of
the largest beach in Hawai’i. One Ali‘i
Park near Kaunakakai offers similar facilities along the quiet, reef-protected
south shore. Also, the State of Hawai’i permits free
camping at a couple of mountain sites – at Pala‘au
State Park near the Kalaupapa trailhead, and in a
meadow near the Waikolu Lookout at the entrance of Kamakou Preserve.
As the
Moloka‘i By Car
The
If you’re in the mood to do something like that, Moloka‘i’s probably not the island for you.
But if you’re in the mood for tooling around where people
interpret the posted speed limit as a sign of maximum recklessness – in a place
without traffic lights and almost literally without traffic – this is the one.
This is the one because it rewards the slow driver and the
frequent stopper. If you drove like mad,
the place would seem to be just a long hilltop of red dirt and short grass –
not to mention its incredible coastline, with the beautiful islands Maui and Lana‘i in the offing. But the curious traveler, even the
one who explores no farther than the paved roadways, will discover many subtle
surprises on Moloka‘i.
By contrast to the other
The slow driver would start by noticing that the western
coastline, the one facing O‘ahu, forms a bowl-shaped
arc that holds Hawai‘i’s biggest beaches – not to
mention, some of its least populated. Naturally, this is the place for Moloka‘i’s one modest resort area, Kaluako‘i,
and the excellent nine-hole course of the Kaluako‘i
Golf Club. The coast includes a few beautifully designed condominiums and
custom homes, and it’s the site of the annual Ka Hula Piko
Festival. Once each May,
This is also the coast that launches the greatest
long-distance outrigger canoe races in the world. Each September and October, Hawai‘i’s canoe-regatta season climaxes here in the
ultimate challenge – hundreds of hardened athletes paddling from here to
On a hilltop overlooking this coast sits Maunaloa,
a town so small you’d have to call it a hamlet – the headquarters and community
housing for Moloka‘i Ranch. The ranch recently
renovated the entire community, retaining its original tin-roof spirit, and
added the elegant Sheraton Moloka‘i Lodge. Along Maunaloa’s small retail strip you can get essentials such
as gas, groceries, or a mountain bike – which is essential if you want to ride
on the Sheraton Moloka‘i’s world-class singletrack trails. Another Maunaloa
staple: designer kites from the Big Wind
Kite Factory. Sail them in the park next door. If you can’t remember how they
work, the kite-makers will be glad to show you.
By Moloka‘i standards, Maunaloa is a contemporary kind of place. It has the
island’s posh restaurant – the Maunaloa Room at the
Lodge. And it has the island’s movie theater (a tri-plex!),
located next to a lively little plate-lunch restaurant called the Paniolo Café. (By the way, travelers who arrive on the last
flights of the day should head here for their first-day dinner; the island’s
grocery stores close by sundown.) On
this island, even a hint of mall culture seems the height of decadence.
Nevertheless, Maunaloa is still the kind of hamlet
where, if you happen to be the only person out driving after
The drive to central Moloka‘i is
all rough pastureland, hill country. Gradually the long shore to the right
reveals itself, swathed in an immense shallow reef that stands nearly a mile
off shore – the largest reef system in the
Midway between the airport and Kaunakakai – the island’s
major town – there’s an intersection on the left. This is Highway 470, the only
major side-route on the main east-west highway. (None of Moloka‘i’s
roads, by the way, has any more lanes than the perfectly adequate two. One for each driver.)
Drivers who make this left turn find themselves heading
uphill through the orchards of Moloka‘i Coffee
Plantation. You can stop here and tour the farm by foot, learning everything
about coffee production from seed to cup. Tours go out every day at
Further up-slope, in the cool mountain district called Kala‘e, the prominent rough-wood building set in a pasture
is the R. W. Meyer Sugar Mill, fully restored to operating condition. Built in
1878 by a German engineer and his sons, it demonstrates the ingenuity that went
into sugar processing in those un-motorized days. Next door, the Moloka‘i Museum and
The road then passes the surprise of the Ironwood Hills golf
course, nine holes, unpublicized, and informally run – no facilities; put your
inexpensive greens fee in the honor-system paybox.
The road ends at Pala‘au State
Park, a pleasantly cool forest. Even if you’re not a “frequent stopper,” you
must get out of your car here and walk two very short trails. One leads to the Kalaupapa Lookout – suddenly you’re standing at the brink
of the tallest sea cliffs on Earth. The
trade winds are pushing you back from the edge, the wall of cliffs goes on for
miles, and the tragic
The other trail leads to Moloka‘i’s curious Phallic Stones, towering rocks
shaped just like.... Let’s just say that women have traditionally slept up here
to stimulate their fertility.
Back down the hill and left on the main road, past Kamehameha V’s seaside coconut grove – a forest of
shaggy-headed columns – quickly you’re in Kaunakakai. Downtown.
It’s a block long, and everybody knows everybody except you, the visitor. They
didn’t know you were coming; otherwise they would have dressed up. Nobody knows
quite how to act, but that’s fine. Everyone’s honest.
It’s a primitive-looking town where you can acquire the
primitive essentials – for example, an inexpensive Cabernet (rated 95 by Wine
Spectator) at Moloka‘i Wines ‘n Spirits. Or a loaf of the revered Moloka‘i Sweet
Bread from Kanemitsu Bakery. Or a cast-iron camping griddle from Moloka‘i
Fish and Dive. If you’re extremely lucky, a Hawaiian family will be
selling homemade lunches, foil-wrapped and pounds-heavy, off the tailgate of an
old pickup. In other words, Kaunakakai has what you need – and that includes
bike rentals, a pizza cafe, a natural food store, a pharmacy, and a gallery
featuring the work of island artists and artisans. All you have to do is park
the car on
Kaunakakai is where Moloka‘ians
stage their athletic events (in a lighted county ballpark) and where they celebrate
their heritage during Aloha Week and the winter Makahiki
Festival. They’re the last people on earth who would ever make you feel
excluded from their own events – after all, you’re a visitor
Past Kaunakakai now, you cross into the rainier east end of
the island. The line is nowhere drawn, but with each mile the sense of being
“east end” increases. The road starts winding, its bends full of trees. This is
where Moloka‘ians
concentrated their population in the old days. Along this lake-like shoreline,
they built huge stone fishponds, ancient feats of aquaculture engineering.
Present-day Moloka‘ians are
restoring them. You can visit two churches hand-built by Father Damien. He
deliberately placed them near the sites of old Hawaiian temples such as ‘
Near the extreme eastern tip of the island, the Honouliwai Taro Patch Farm offers a charming opportunity to
stop, stretch, and learn something about traditional Hawaiian lifestyles. In a
valley watered all year round by a fresh spring, Lee and Jim Callahan have
revived a plot of ancient ponds in which they grow taro, the staple food of old
Hawai‘i. Lee is happy to give a demonstration tour of
the farm, including samples of the food she grows and an introduction to the
farm assistant, an Asian water buffalo named Bigfoot. Call ahead for an
appointment.
After miles of winding past isolated beach-coves, the road
rises through the green pastures of Pu‘u O Hoku Ranch. Here you can ride horses in the open
countryside, down by the sea where humpback whales gather and raise their
families, or up in the mountains where there are waterfalls and pools.
The road ends by dropping dramatically into
At this point, a determined driver will go rent a Jeep or
other type of four-wheel-drive vehicle. Off-road Moloka‘i
beckons.
Two wild areas retain some unspoiled remnants of Hawai‘i’s threatened native ecosystems. One is Kamakou Preserve. This dirt-road excursion leads to the
highest part of the island, where you can look down from above at one of the
most precipitous valleys in the island chain. The sight of
Another such excursion leads to a shoreline nature preserve
at Mo‘omomi. Here the coastal dunes provide habitat
for many rare native plants and animals. In the old days, the Hawaiians came
here to gather sea salt, to fish, and to quarry materials for their stone tools.
Both of these preserves are managed by The Nature
Conservancy of Hawai‘i, and any four-wheel voyage
into these at-risk natural areas should begin with a visit to the Nature
Conservancy’s headquarters near Kaunakakai. At the headquarters you can let them
know your plans, pick up maps, and get guidance on how to behave for the cause
of wilderness conservation.
Another good four-wheel-drive journey is the one-hour trip
down from the town of
This is the limit of Moloka‘i by
car. All you can do now is turn around and drive slower.
First-time drivers here need to be warned. On Moloka‘i, people wave. When
they see that you’ve got a rental car, they’re likely to slow down and make
sure you get through the intersection okay. Experiences like these are liable
to change the way you feel about civilized driving.
It’s just after dawn on the beach at the Hotel Moloka‘i, and the light is brilliant. The wind and the sea
are perfectly matched – both are barely moving and slightly cool.
You pull your bright yellow kayak slushing
across the beach, sleekly into the water, and jump in. Right away you know what
to do – start paddling. It’s instinctive. It’s what people have been doing here
for thousands of years.
If you’re a novice paddler, it
takes a few minutes to get the grip and rhythm. Meanwhile, during the first
awkwardness, you also happen to be shooting straight out into the open sea. So
you’re grateful that there are no waves breaking over your hull or pushing you
sideways. In fact, there are no waves at all. The ocean is amazingly calm.
The sea floor is just a few feet below you, and no matter
how far you travel away from shore, it stays right there. “If you fall out,”
says your guide, “just stand up.”
Suddenly you begin to grasp the amazing nature of Moloka‘i’s south coast. Now you can see that, in fact,
there are waves – dead ahead. But they’re about a mile away! Out there, taking the blows of the sea, is the front edge of the reef – a natural wall that
wraps more than thirty miles of this coastline. You’re paddling the shallow,
lake-like surface of the most extensive fringing reef in the
Needless to say, this is a great place to kayak. In the
morning, before the tradewinds pick up velocity, you
can paddle this coast with relative ease, investigating the ancient fishponds
that line the coast. These fishponds -- sea-enclosures built of artfully
stacked stone – give silent testimony to the skill and ingenuity of the bygone
residents of this island.
Two companies provide these guided kayak excursions. Moloka‘i Outdoors departs from its headquarters in the
lobby of Hotel Moloka‘i. Moloka‘i
Fish and Dive, a sporting goods store on Kaunakakai’s main strip, departs from
the small-craft slip at Kaunakakai Wharf.
This latter kayak trip goes west along the coast to explore Pala‘au Fishpond, the largest of them all and the only one
containing brackish water – a mix of sea water and fresh streamwater
that rolls off the land into the stone enclosure. This circumstance gives the Pala‘au trip an extra kick:
paddling through a dense jungle. The shoreline at Pala‘au
is choked with an impenetrable forest of mangroves. (The mangrove is the only
tree capable of growing in seawater. Once established, it forms a
forty-foot-high thicket full of darkness, stillness, and the creaking of
branches.) The guides of Moloka‘i Fish and Dive have discovered that the fresh water
streaming out of Pala‘au Fishpond creates a narrow
channel through this jungle, a kind of kayak “trail.” They take their guests on this eerie trail,
which in places gets so close you have to drop your paddle and pull yourself
along by grabbing roots and branches. Typically, guests will exclaim: “This is
just like
A kayak excursion is just one way to experience Moloka‘i by sea. The people of the island have always lived
and thrived on contact with the ocean, and they like sharing this tradition
with their guests.
Moloka‘i
Charters, for example, operates a forty-two-foot sloop called Satan’s Doll, which recently returned
from a four-year trip around the world. Owners Richard and Doris Reed will take
you sailing on a two-hour sunset cruise, a half-day whale-watch, or a full-day
trek to snorkel isolated anchorages on the coast of Lana‘i.
Sportfishing boats -- the thirty-one-foot,
twin-diesel Alyce C., for example, or the
twenty-seven-foot Ahi of Fun Hogs Hawai‘i
– offer the excitement of hooking up to a big marlin, a mahi
mahi, or an ono. (They go
whale-watching, too.) Ahi captain Mike Holmes is one of the only fishing-boat
skippers in Hawai‘i who believes his guests should
keep whatever they catch.
Fun Hogs will also take you outside the reef to find the
best waves on the island, hand you a boogie board and some advice, then let you
play. Or Mike will cross over to
Scuba diving on Moloka‘i?
You bet. Moloka‘i Fish and Dive, the kayak provider,
offers many kinds of activities but scuba is a particular specialty. For dive
trips, they use Mike Holmes’s Ahi and some skillful guides – young men who are not only
PADI certified but also born-and-raised island boys who know the waters as well
as anyone alive. They know all the “blue holes,” the underwater caves, and
places for swimming with hammerhead sharks.
All of these sea-going excursions begin and end at the
The trip leaves from Halawa
Valley, at the extreme road’s-end of east Moloka‘i.
Walter’s little boat bounces and dances over the swells as he races past the
cliffs, a big grin on his face. He’s home. He points out the sights –
Moloka‘i
Action Adventures (that is, Walter Naki) also offers
customized experiences of deep-sea fishing, hunting, spear fishing, reef
trolling, and even fly-fishing. Just say what you want, and we will provide –
that’s the Moloka‘i spirit. In the world of “package”
travel, this island is always personal.
The largest seagoing vessel that you are likely to see
docked at Moloka‘i is the ferry. It crosses the Pailolo Channel every day between Kaunakakai and Lahaina,
Conversely, visitors to
Actually there are two vessels in the ferry fleet. The Maui
Princess is 118 feet long, a high-speed touring yacht that carries as many as
150 people. The Moloka‘i Princess is a similar craft
and almost as large. Both vessels have been fitted with gyroscopic stabilizers
that help take some of the chop out of rough channel crossings. Activity
providers such as Moloka‘i Outdoors offer programs
that greet guests at the ferry landing and get them back in time for the return
trip. This means that
Aside from the seagoing activities mentioned here, you’ll
see little else in the way of traffic on Moloka‘i’s
pristine and brilliant blue seas. There’s no yacht harbor choked with masts, no
giant glass-bottom dinner-dance cruise boats, no submarine rides, no parasails. Moloka‘i is not for
everybody – and that’s precisely the reason to go.
The Adventure of Kalaupapa National Historical Park
Like a
In fact, you scarcely have to exert yourself at all – just
walk a short distance from your car at Pala‘au State
Park – to get an airplane-level view of the terrain. Suddenly you’re standing
at the top of the highest sea cliffs in the world. The sheer green walls,
sliced with waterfalls, go on beyond seeing. So does the ocean, blue as a dark
gem. White waves crash against the rocks two thousand feet below.
That’s where Kalaupapa is. Down there, all alone. It’s a wedge-shaped piece of runaway
land that seems to have slipped out from the base of the cliff and gotten
stuck. You see a few confetti-sized rooftops and a one-lane airstrip that looks
as though someone rubbed with an eraser on the grassy lava.
Kalaupapa
gives the word “remote” new meaning.
Scarcely more than forty people live there, all of them
white-haired. The cargo barge arrives once a year -- an annual Kalaupapa holiday, when everyone gets to look at each
other’s new stuff and make jokes about it.
Once a day, right through town comes the Damien Tours bus,
yellow as a dusty banana, a vintage all-metal school bus with green plastic
seats and stainless-steel hang-on poles. When the bus comes through, the
residents make sure they’re busy somewhere else. They prefer not to be put on
display.
You’d probably hide out, too, no matter where you lived. But
Kalaupapa is a special place. The residents are all
survivors of a well-known tragedy – now very much a thing of the past – and
they’ve been given the privilege of living out their days in peace and privacy.
Starting in 1866, Hawai‘i citizens
who contracted Hansen’s Disease – the dreaded “separating sickness” or
“leprosy” that figures so prominently in Bible stories – were sent here,
virtually cast away. This was the final mission of Father Damien, now a
candidate for sainthood, and other “Martyrs of Moloka‘i”
whose sacrifices inspired a global effort to cure the disease.
In keeping with its hard-won spirit of privacy, Kalaupapa offers no lodging, no shopping, and no lunch
counter. Visits are restricted to a single day.
Actually, there’s an exception to this rule. The national
park has a volunteer work program with three-day-minimum stays. In fact, for
people who like to be outdoors and doing something purposeful, the park’s
volunteer program offers a startlingly original way to visit Hawai‘i – preserving rare native habitat for endangered
plants and animals, and working around one of the most valuable archeological
preserves in the state.
No matter how you visit, you have to be at least sixteen
years old and you have to be a guest of one of the residents.
It’s easy to become a guest – call for a reservation with
Damien Tours and get on that clattering school bus. On many of the trips, the
driver is the “sheriff of Kalaupapa” himself, Richard
Marks. Marks likes to stop the bus every so often to set out
food for the peninsula’s wild life – cats, axis deer, and pigs. As he
steers the bouncing bus along the rough-graded road from town to the site of
Father Damien’s church, he tells the story of the settlement. His stories are
scathingly funny and infuriating. He makes you feel what it was like to be cast
away here, a victim of the by-gone fear about Hansen’s
Disease. The sheriff’s stories are sarcastic, but the lingering emotion
of the tour is something more like awe – especially after you’ve sat in the
church that Damien built by hand and heard of saintly people who sacrificed
their lives here. In the end, the experience of visiting Kalaupapa
is as uplifting as the wall of cliffs beside it.
But when you’re standing up at the top, at the lookout,
staring down the long cliff, it’s natural to ask yourself – how? How do you get down there?
Obviously, the airstrip offers one option. Every day, a
couple of midget planes will bring a few passengers for the school bus, then
five hours later whisk them back to Honolulu or Maui or even to the little Moloka‘i airport “topside.”
Or you can walk.
There’s one trail – four miles long and two thousand feet
down. The trailhead starts not far from the lookout. Bring lunch and lots of
water. And take your time. Stop to savor the impressions – the native forest
that cloaks the cliff, the birds trilling, the phenomenal sea crashing below
you. The trail is wide and perfectly safe. It’s built to accommodate the
maneuvering of mules.
Yes, you can ride a mule down the trail to Kalaupapa. Each mule trek is timed to meet with the old
bus. The mules are big and brown, sure-footed and safe -- safe as your
living-room sofa. It’s important to keep remembering that “sofa” image on your
way down the cliff – when you’re mounted tall in the saddle and your steed is
casually clopping its hoofs around the outside edges
of the trail’s twenty-six dizzying switchbacks.
The ascent, of course, is no piece of cake, not even on
mule-back. It’s not easy, nudging and kicking your mulish way all the way back
up the switchbacks. By the time you get topside – elated in body and mind – you
know that you’ve had an experience. Something completely
involving.
And when you get topside, whether by
hoof or foot or even by plane, you are surrounded by something just as rare –
the remarkable
The Creative People of Moloka‘i Offer Heartland Authenticity
Two years ago, Moloka‘i’s first
recording studio, a start-up operation called Monkeypod,
took a big risk. It released a CD of songs by a fifteen-year-old boy raised in
a remote “backside” valley. Today, Darrell Labrado,
the “Kid from Moloka‘i,” is a household name in Hawai‘i.
Monkeypod’s
collection of various island artists, “Moloka‘i Now!,” also topped the local charts. The company’s new release
by Sterling Kalua is expected to explode.
Hawai‘i
pays attention to Moloka‘i.
In the 50th state, Moloka‘i is the
native heartland. It’s the only island with a majority population of native
Hawaiians. While tourism flourished, Moloka‘i defied
commercialization. Residents, regardless of their ancestry, feel first and foremost
that they are Moloka‘ians.
In Hawai‘i, people know that
anything coming from Moloka‘i will be unusual,
strong, and done well.
The high quality of Moloka‘i’s
creative people is evident when you look around Kamakana
Gallery, a one-of-a-kind project in the island’s only town, Kaunakakai. The
gallery displays the work of island artists, carvers, weavers, quilters and so
on – fifty-eight of them.
Wood-working is a Moloka‘i
strength. Bill Kapuni carves the implements of his
ancestors -- deep-toned pahu
drums from eighty-year-old coconut trunks, platters, and lidded wooden urns
called ‘umeke.
Jack Ewing takes full advantage of the density and color of Hawaiian hardwoods
to create bowls so thin that they glow when held up to the sunlight. Rob the
“Mountain Man,” who keeps his rustic woodshop and home at the edge of the Kamakou preserve, likes to integrate the hard edge of the
forest with his masterful work.
Some artists practice skills so rare you won’t find them
elsewhere. For example, Lola Spencer used a state foundation grant to learn the
endangered craft of weaving lauhala, the leaves of a
Polynesian coastal tree related to the yucca. Her hats are masterpieces – tight
weave, lovely shapes, and a highly disciplined control of color and pattern.
Moloka‘ians
like these are true originals.
So is homeboy Rik Cooke, whose
credits include National Geographic
and a fascinating coffee-table book of island portraits. In 1989, he and his
wife Bronwyn created a retreat center called Hui Ho‘olana, a gathering place for “creativity, healing and
the arts.” Set in the cool uplands of Kala‘e, the Hui offers a schedule
of live-in courses on subjects such as Life Paint And Passion, Seeing Your Life
Through New Eyes, and Kawaikapuokalani Hewett’s Hula Intensive.
Perhaps the most colorful of Moloka‘i’s
creative souls are Jonathan and Daphne Socher. They
stumbled on this outpost island twenty years ago and decided to open a business
that it certainly lacked – a design shop for making kites. Today the Big Wind
Kite Factory still inhabits the same building and gift shop it originally
established in the mini-town of Maunaloa,
headquarters of Moloka‘i Ranch and the Sheraton Moloka‘i. The Sochers travel to
For two decades the Sochers have
made good on their belief that Moloka‘i visitors
eventually, inevitably discover the essence of the island – which has something
to do with the wind and more to do with play.
Says Jonathan – who is as big-bearded as Saint Nicholas – “Moloka‘i is for
people who don’t need anybody to tell them how to relax.”
In short, keep your eye on the creative people of Moloka‘i. The island has great power and many teachings. People who know Hawai‘i are watching Moloka‘i because this island has something peculiar and
genuine to offer. Its residents are independent, honest folk, proud of
their island home. They create in the spirit of its wild isolation.
Moloka‘i Through the Year
Arrive when the
community is celebrating – this is an excellent strategy for travelers who
truly want to dig into and discover the culture they visit. This strategy is
especially valuable when that culture is strongly distinct, deeply rooted,
geographically unique, and full of people who are proud to belong.
In other words, this is
especially true on Moloka‘i.
Moloka‘i’s annual festivals celebrate two main
themes – the healthy physical challenge of the island landscape, and the rich
spiritual importance of its ancient traditions. However, to avoid sounding too
high-brow about all this, let’s point out another theme – Moloka‘i
people do love to party! Community
gatherings usually involve lots of good food and live music by the island’s
many talented musicians.
Visitors are always
welcome. But don’t expect to be coddled. Join in. These events are not tourist
attractions but down-home expressions of, by, and for the community. Just one
caution is necessary: when this island
celebrates, visitors from the other islands will throng the place. (After all, Moloka‘i is Hawai‘i’s
heartland.) So you might have some
trouble finding a rental car, and you might find that Moloka‘i’s
limited accommodations are all booked. The wisest advice is to plan ahead by at
least three months. A little long-range thinking can give you an authentic
cultural experience that you will savor in memory for the rest of your life.
The following
paragraphs describe most of the major annual events for the island. Others
arise, and the details given here can change. The best way to keep track of Moloka‘i through the year is to check the website and stay
in touch with the folks at molokaievents.com, Inc.
The Ka Moloka‘i Makahiki Festival takes
place on the third Saturday of every January. From ancient times in Hawai‘i, the Makahiki season has
always been the most festive period of the year – a post-harvest period of
peace, games, and sporting competitions between the different island regions.
This contemporary version, a one-day festival, preserves that tradition in the
style of Moloka‘i. Lectures, land and ocean
activities, sporting competitions, a song contest, and ceremonies take place at
the Mitchell Pau‘ole Community Center in Kaunakakai.
April sees the annual Ho‘omau Concert, which benefits the Punana
Leo o Moloka‘i program. Punana
Leo is a Hawai‘i-wide program dedicated to keeping
the native language alive by teaching the children to be fluent speakers.
Without a living language, no culture can expect to have a future. So this
all-day concert at One Ali‘i Beach Park helps finance
a critical cultural program, gives a performance venue to the island’s many
talented musicians, and brings the Moloka‘i people
together for a darn good time.
April is also the month
for Earth Day around the world. What better place to recognize the
preservationist spirit of Earth Day than on one of the earthiest islands on the
globe? The day is sponsored by The
Nature Conservancy Hawai‘i.
May sees two formidable
open-sea paddling races across the Kaiwi Channel, a
39-mile crossing between Moloka‘i and O‘ahu and one of the most grueling and challenging passages
on Earth. The Kaiwi Challenge Relay draws people come
from all over to make the crossing in one-person canoes, starting at west Moloka‘i’s Kaluako‘i Resort and
ending at the Waikiki Outrigger Canoe Club. Later in the month, the Kanaka Ikaika (strong man) Kayak Race is the world championship
kayak competition for both men and women.
May is also the month
for a uniquely Molokaian celebration of hula.
According to ancient tradition, the essential dance form of Hawai‘i
first emerged on Moloka‘i. The Ka Hula Piko Festival – “a celebration of the birth of the hula” –
features a free outdoor concert that lasts all day at Papohaku
Beach Park in west Moloka‘i. Hula halau
(schools) come here from throughout the state; so do electrified Hawaiian
bands, comedians, food-sellers, and handcrafters. This is a great party!
In July the Moloka‘i Relay For Life raises
funds to fight cancer and the benefit patient services and programs on island.
Best of all, this musical celebration lasts all night and features song,
comedy, and good food. In the same month, the Moloka‘i
To O‘ahu Paddleboard Race establishes the world
champion of long-distance paddleboard racing.
During August “Youth In Motion” are to be found all over Moloka‘i
engaged in sports clinics and competitions to develop their mental, emotional,
and physical skills. The Youth In Motion program was
launched by a Moloka‘i woman and is one of the most
exemplary such programs in the country. It includes a windsurfing race from
September is the month
for the annual Na Wahine o ke
Kai outrigger canoe race. The title means “women of the sea,” and the display
of power from these highly trained all-female canoe teams will astound you.
Visitors can catch sunrise and the race launch at remote Hale o
September is also the
month for Aloha Festivals, a major festival time throughout Hawai‘i.
This week is a great time to be in and around Kaunakakai for an involved
program of shows, parades, a ho‘olaule‘a (celebration) and a Royal Ball.
In October, the month
after the women show their stamina in the outrigger team channel crossing, the
men dig in. The Moloka‘i Hoe Outrigger Canoe Race is
the top world event in the men’s division of this grueling team sport. The race
takes off at dawn from Hale o
During the same month, Moloka‘i welcomes the top chefs from
November sees the
Friendly Isle Ultra-Marathon, which attracts runners from around the world.
Sponsored in part by the Kaihou Running Club of
Japan, the event features a 100K (62-mile) run, a 42K (26-mile) run, and a 42K
four-man relay. November is also the time for the island’s annual celebration
of traditional Hawaiian performing arts. The He Makana Aloha Competition, held in Maunaloa
town’s outdoor amphitheater, stages events in seven different categories of
island performance, including dance, song, slack-key guitar, and ‘ukulele.
Additional events involving lectures, crafts, and celebrity appearances make
this fairly young event one of the signature annual moments in contemporary
Hawaiian culture.
The Moloka‘i
year closes with its December Festival of Lights, a lively event featuring an
Electric Light Parade down the main street of Kaunakakai. The idea is to bring
a chair and park along
The much celebrated
“aloha spirit” of Hawai‘i is not an abstract concept.
It permeates the lives and customs of people who grow up close to the land, the
kupuna (elders), and the old ways. Nowhere in the
islands can you get closer to this spirit than by joining the
independent-minded community of Moloka‘i.