Starr Trek 1/13 Molokai
I have put all my journal entries together, so this may be the longest email ever sent, but I wanted you to have it!!
JOURNAL December 2012 /Jan 2013 Oahu & Molokai
December 28, 2012 Thursday
I continue to thank the Lord that I caught the Larry/Josh stomach virus Tuesday night and got it over with.
Larry had to work this morning, so I leisurely ate breakfast, finished packing stuff, brought all my library books back (I had to finish one more junky novel by D Macomber), brought all my cans, plastic bottles, and papers to the recycle place, gassed up the car, and went to the car wash. I had never been to the car wash before-- always the "man's job", but the told me what to do. I ddn't leave the key in Larry's car, so the lady maneuvering the car got stuck at the end of the car wash till I jumped in the passenger side and she could start the keyless ignition. I just stayed in while they dried it, then headed off. Larry called at 11 AM as I went down Fairgrounds Rd -- he was done at the office, so I picked him up & we headed home for lunch. Richard, our RV guy, finally called around 1 pm that he had the braker gizmo in my car coordinated with the RV, so we drove out there. Larry took the RV to our garage and managed to get in safely(!) and we took off for EP around 2 pm.
We got into the Hawthorne Suites where we will spend the night, and just leave the car for the remainder of our vacation. We got to Barnes and Noble and I found a book on North FL and the Panhandle to plan our future trip there. We went to Cielo Vista but there were so many many people there, that we skipped the mall (!) and just went to Cattle Baron around 4:45 to have our steak dinner and bottle of wine. Our waiter put on an elaborate display of opening our "fine" bottle of cabernet house wine, laying napkins on the table, swirling the wine, giving Larry a taste (did not have have him smell the plastic "cork"). We walked back to our hotel room to "crash" around 6 pm(!!!), Larry did not wish to go out to a movie, so we will just get to bed early and get up around 5 to get to the airport around 6 AM. We will fly to Phoenix, then to Honolulu -- we should arrive around the same time as Allison & family -- we even have the same rental car agency, so should meet up at the airport. We are ready for an exciting start to our retirement (sort of) ns
December 29/2012 Saturday
We got up at 5:30 am at the Hawthorne Suites-- ate our granola bars & oranges, took the shuttle to the airport at 6:30. Our flight to Phoenix was early(!), but there was a plane parked in our spot, so could not deplane. We ate sandwiches I packed-- fortunate since the Phoenix airport was packed with people -- long lines at the food places. The flight to Honolulu seemed so long -- the man next to me lives in Oahu-- works for the DOD -- was visiting his family in NH, so he really had a long day!
Our luggage took forever -- about 40 minutes. Allison & Doug arrived a half hour later, and their luggage came in sooner than ours!! Allison got Sarah to a bathroom since she was afraid to pee on the plane(!). We dragged our multitudinous suitcases/backpacks to the Alamo shuttle, then drove our rental cars about 45 minutes northeast to our house. The house is quite spartan for the price, but looks clean. The owner Tish came by to show us stuff and give us advice on a restaurant -- Keneke's. It was cheap and the chicken teriyaki was really good. The walls were covered with Scripture "graffiti" -- tables were picnic tables. Michael and Sarah refused to eat a burger or fries, and finally ate a rainbow shave ice and ice cream -- they were looking a little zombified at this point-- Michael did nap on the plane, but not Sarah. We dropped the kids at the house for the kids to go to bed, then Allison and us sought a grocery store. The big Foodland store is run by Mormans and sold no liquor, so Dad had to go to another store to get his scotch! He got me a box of wine too.
It is now 9:10 pm Hawaii time (12:10 NM time, 1:10 TX time!!), so we're all going to bed. Hope the kiddos sleep ok. Allison and Doug are spending the day at Pearl Harbor tomorrow for an extended tour-- we "get" to babysit-- will probably just beach the kids most of the day. Monday we do the Atlantis submarine trip -- should be fun-- it is our Christmas gift from them.
Dad just discovered that his electric razor is dead again-- must have been on for the past 24 hrs. This trip, he did bring his charger cord, so does not have to grow a beard again!
I almost forgot that today is Brian and Leslie's 11th anniversary-- I did forget till Allison just mentioned it, so Happy Anniversary-- by the time you read this it will be a day late.
We are heading for bed.. love ya....Mom
December 30, 2012 Sunday
We all got to bed last night by 9:30, and woke by 4:30 -- the kids were up and chattering away! Allison and Doug left around 6 am to head for Pearl Harbor for their 6 hr tour. It is raining here, but the kids are being good-- played Uno (I forgot what a pointless game this is indeed!), gave them a bag of junky toys that I brought along on impulse, so glad they have something to occupy themselves. Allison forgot to bring any books with them, so the natives are getting restless!
We broke down & took the kids to McDonald's where they snarfed down chicken nuggets and fries-- I don't think Sarah had eaten for 2 days!! They both crashed for a nap. So did we! I finished The Racketeer yesterday and finished Allison's book today 2 Kisses for Maddy while watching the kids play in the sand this afternoon.
Allison and Doug bought salad, steaks, & potatoes. Larry had not lit a charcoal grill in a few yrs, but managed to get the coals hot by the time they got home.
Tomorrow is the Atlantis submarine plus more beaching it for the kiddos!
I am starting to feel relaxed!!
Monday Dec 31, 2012
We all slept pretty well-- woke up around 4:30, then slept another hour. The kids/grandkids went to a beach north of here by Goat Island, but did not stay too long-- said it was rocky, but they had fun on the ocean, tho Sarah got a wave-full in her face!
Larry and I drove to the trailhead of the Hauula Trail-- it was only about 1 1/2 miles from our house. The morning is clear and sunny. We took our new daybacks and fold up hiking sticks. It is 2.5 miles total and supposedly takes "less than an hour"-- it took us 2 hr walking at a moderate pace. We got there at 7:30 and finished around 9:30 AM. Fortunately it was almost all in the shade. It was a lot of uphill and we could "feel" it even being at sea level. There were some muddy or slippery spots, so it was good to have our sticks for sure. Everything is nice and green-- saw a few purple, white, and yellow flowers, and a lot of cute little mushrooms. We only ran into one other couple who were just starting the hike as we neared the end. Larry led the way and has pretty good stamina-- only lost his balance once, but kind of danced down the hill and did not take a tumble (I could just imagine the headlines-- "Elderly couple injured while hiking"--!!)
Everyone is taking turns showering in the bigger bathroom. The other bathroom is almost the same size as our RV bathroom-- actually smaller. Doug showered there last night while Allison used the big bathroom-- she used up the hot water, so his was cold!
We are doing the Atlantis submarine (our xmas present!) at 1 pm, so will eat and run shortly.
We had a sandwich, then left for Honolulu at 11:30AM. We followed the McEwens to Honolulu -- slowly -- since Allison got a speeding ticket yesterday on the Likelike freeway(she does not like the Likelike anymore!). We got to the dock with time to spare, then had our Christmas present from Allison and Doug-- the Atlantis submarine ride! They first warned about people with motion sickness and my heart stopped-- but I didn't get seasick at all on the cruise over to the submarine, or on the Atlantis. Michael and Sarah were getting tired and crabby, but were very fascinated during the submarine ride past manmade reefs, shipwrecks, airplane wrecks -- it really was very enjoyable. It poured rain on the way back to the rental house, but there was no rain here-- good thing since we had left our muddy hiking shoes on our deck along with several beach towels. Larry and I grocery shopped + picked up 3 Pizza Hut pizzas-- Michael and Sarah do like pizza a lot!
After supper, we all went down to the beach-- just gets dark too early here. There were some fireworks from early celebrators. It is now 6:55 pm and we're all ready to crash!! Such party animals! The kids just got bathed and are heading for bed. We may try to play some cards tonight to welcome the New Year early!!
It's been a fun day.
Tuesday Jan 1, 2013
Not our best day because of lousy weather. It has been a cool, cloudy, windy, rainy day. Allison & Doug left at 7am to drive to Diamond Head--there was no place to park-- lots of tour buses, so they came back. We drove to the north shore but never found the sun. We ate at the Breakers--had good mahimahi clubs--kids had pancakes. We stopped a little while at Turtle Bay--nice resort--a few diehards were golfing in the rain. The kids took naps. Doug actually went snorkeling -- he met some other people who were catching octopus to cook up for dinner!
Larry and I went for a walk about 4:30--our landlady Tess was in the gallery and decided to give us each a 9 x 11 print of Lance's paintings--she will have him sign them. We then walked up several streets from the highway -- they all ended in a block or do, but it was fun to see "normal" houses. It felt good to get a little exercise.
I made spaghetti for supper since the kids would eat that. We all played UNO after supper--brought back memories.
Hoping and praying for better weather tomorrow!!!!!
Wednesday Jan 2, 2013
Once again, it is a cloudy overcast day in Hauula, so we decided to look for the sun. We drove up toward Haleiva and did see patches of blue sky (even some rainbows), then drove down to the Dole Plantation-- we were like the first people there, so got our tickets for the first train leaving. The kids enjoyed seeing the pineapple growing on the farm. Allison, Doug, & kids went thru the maze and reportedly, Michael loved it! Larry and I shopped in the store-- found some "bargain" sweat shirt/jackets since we have not much in the way of warm clothes-- did not think we would need them! I got a quilted bag that was also 1/2 price-- the saleswoman said it was the "bargain" of the day, so it worked for my frugal nature quite well! We then drove to Waehila (sp?)- they bought MacDonalds for the kids “to go, and we went to a Thai restaurant the Plumeria-- it was not crowded at all -- very small-- but the food was good. Larry got us "mild" spicy and it was plenty spicy. Allison had no spice and Doug had strong spicy -- his face looked only a little flushed, so he is pretty tough I guess.
We drove into the Waimea beach parking area (the sun was shining!!), but the kids had no sand toys, so kept going to near Sunset Beach-- there were lots of people watching surfers on the big waves. Michael and I got a moderate soaking from a big wave. It then started raining (again), so the lifeguard made everyone leave the beach. We stopped at the grocery store to get another steak dinner (for tonight or tomorrow night). We also stopped to check the Polynesian Cultural center to price the dinner/show ticket. It is about $90 each -- we'll see if Allison and Doug would want to do that one night for his birthday gift. They just all went down to our little beach-- Doug plans to snorkel, the kids will dig in the sand, Allison will ?? -- it is windy and cool, but at least it's not raining.
The kids are being generally good.
We will keep hoping for better weather, but today was really a pretty good day.
Thursday January 3, 2013
We woke up to another windy rainy cool day. Allison and Doug decided to drive north to a beach with the kids, looking for the sun! Larry and I decided to get "cultured" (at least to kill time) and drove to the Bishop museum. We got there about 8:45 (opens at 9), so we were about the first at the ticket office. The main part of the museum was in an old 3 story building with lots of history and Hawaiian artifacts. Other buildings had a Hawaiian fashion exhibit, Hawaiian athletes, seashells. There was an interactive children's museum with a lot of giant moving bugs, a volcano exhibit, a sea life tank. We thought about going to downtown Honolulu, but instead drove to Kailua (just found out that the Obamas were staying there-- Larry says we're lucky that we didn't end up in a roadblock so they could get some shave ice). We ate at Buzz's Original Steakhouse-- found a parking spot right away, and enjoyed a fish burger (L) and an ahu-ahu wrap (N) with some good crispy fries. We decided it was too far to for dinner tonight though.
We then stopped at the Macadamia Nut outlet farm-- they had a lot of good tasting flavored nuts to taste-- cinnamon, caramel, garlic, coffee flavored-- we got a bag of the caramel. Suddenly, about 5 Japanese tour buses pulled in, and the place was absolutely packed-- we left pretty quick.
We stopped at the Crouching Lion restaurant to check the menu--there were steaks, seafood, and chicken nuggets(!) so we may be able to go there tonight or tomorrow.
Larry decided to confirm our car rental on Molokai and got a message on line that the owner went out of business and all contracts were canceled!!!!!! He tried Hotwire, and could find no rentals at all. I took the kids down to the sand to play (in the cold wind-- at least not raining) while he (with great anxiety) attempted to find a solution to our new problem (our dream retirement vacation is turning nightmarish). What is going to happen, I guess, is that we can get a rental car on Monday. There is a bus that runs to the west side of the island, but not on weekends. So we will have to take a cab from the Molokai airport, stopping at a grocery store along the way, and then be stranded in our condo. Monday we will take the bus to the airport to get the rental car and then start our remote destination vacation!!! Guess we'll just work on this one day at a time and see how things flow!
Friday January 4, 2013
Woke up to wind, but a little bit of sun!! We decided to drive up to Waimea Beach-- got there around 8 am & had no problems parking at all this time. It was not as windy and was more sunny than in Hauula -- occ misting only + saw a rainbow! I walked all the way down the beach twice-- picked up little shells, saw a lot of little fish on the shore-- Larry & Doug picked up a few to throw back in the water since their little gills were still moving-- most were dead -- not sure if the ones that were "saved" would have good quality of life or not-- maybe anoxic too long! The kids had fun jumping waves at the shore, building sand volcanos, and sliding in the sand. We spent about 2 hr, then back to clean up. The kids are on a waffle kick, so had them for lunch again today. Larry and Doug went to Subway and got some sandwiches.
After lunch, the kids went down for a rest. Allison and I took a long walk -- probably 3-4 miles, going north up the road to Huuala beach park. We stopped in a junky shell shop and souvenir store along the way. There looked like a lot of swarthy people on the beach and along the road. It felt good to get some exercise and we both felt warmed up. We found a park with a little playground across from the school--Allison and Doug just left to take them there + get some ice cream.
We have been wanting to do something for Doug's birthday, so we will plan to go to the Crouching Lion restaurant tonight and let him get "anything he wants" since it is his birthday (actually it is Sunday-- turning 34).
Right now at 3:30 pm it is partly a blue sky, quite windy, not as cold -- sprinkles on and off. Tomorrow is departure day. Tish stopped by yesterday and brought us our prints that Lance signed-- kept apologizing about the lousy weather-- she felt bad that we did not have that great of a time. She offered to let Allison and Doug stay later than the 11AM checkout which will help a lot so they don't have to kill a whole day with the kids till their late plane flight. We will be flying to Molokai around noon and it will then be up for grabs how we get to the condo-- guess it will be a cab with a stop for groceries along the way-- should be an adventure. If we don't have good weather in Molokai, I am never coming back to Hawaii!!!
Saturday Jan 5, 2013
Would you believe that Allison Doug & kids ran into Michelle Obama & daughters at an ice cream store yesterday?! They were the last customers in the store-- Allison was outside with Michael. She said about 5 big black vehicles pulled up in front of the store. Several men came to the door, then michelle & girls walked in just as Doug & Sarah walked out. Michelle wore big sun glasse & Allison said she was really beautiful in person. She was so stunned that she didn't even say hi or anything. We saw on the news that the prez was golfing at Turtle Bay just about 12 miles up the road from us.
Last night we sent Allison & Doug to the North Shore to celebrate his birthday. Larry and I picked up 2 shrimp plates at Giovanni's original shrimp shack-- there are actually shrimp farms along the road--it was delicious!!
Today we fly to Molokai. Hope we have better weather! The good news is we emailed Vicki Winberg about our rental car dilemma--still can't believe they would go out of business and not notify us. Anyhow Vicki contacted some friends at the condo complex who will pick us up at the airport, get us to a little grocer, and drop us at the condo--it is about 15 miles from the airport. He will then take us to the Alamo car rental that does have a car for us on Monday. So things are looking up! Hope I can survive a flight on a small plane today--it is really windy & I don't even like big planes much.
Allison & family go on the redeye flight tonight.
Sunday Jan 6, 2013 Molokai!
We slept pretty well after our spaghetti dinner last night. Woke up to blue skies and sunny sky--windy, but not as bad as in Oahu. We put on our daypacks and got our hiking sticks to go down the road about a mile and a half to find Popakua Beach-- supposedly 3 miles of white sand. We hiked past some private homes, and easily found the beach park-- no cars parked there at all. The beach is absolutely gorgeous. We ran into a total of 6-7 people on this big gorgeous beach-- got one lady to take our picture together. She was staying at a house south of the beach. Another lady we met lives here full time-- she used to have a car rental agency and now just surfs and beaches it with her husband. Another couple -- Andra and Pat from Oregon-- are staying in the same complex we are. They are spending 5 weeks here. We just said hi to another couple. I mentioned how my friend (Judie) had said that you could see all you want to see of Molokai in one day-- they just laughed. They said there is lots of hiking and things to see. I picked up some shells and coral pieces on the beach -- no big shells at all like in Mexico, but pretty. We walked back to the condo on an old cart path that a jogger told us about earlier when walking the road. It is such a contrast between the nicely landscaped condos and the remnants of this old golf course -- I keep thinking how beautiful this golf course must have been before it went defunct!
We really are learning how to relax-- Larry is now doing the crossword puzzle in the Molokai Dispatch newspaper! I am about to go outside and read my book.
addendum at 8 pm
Our landlady came by this afternoon-- she was very nice-- she brought some things like tin foil, plastic wrap and tp since the maids had not left many supplies for us-- a problem since we are car-less still! She was really nice-- she and Ken live in a house a block or so away-- they used to live in this condo, then built their 2 bedroom house with a separate little "casita" guest house. She has a real estate office in Kaunakakai, and Ken works for the DOD in Oahu Mon-Thurs, then is here on weekends. They bought 15 acres for $175,000 several yrs ago, and built their house on it-- it is a pre-fab house made of bamboo which was erected in about 3 days (they actually lived in this condo before). They just had to contract out the plumbing, electric, tile etc -- said it ended up costing about $200 a square foot-- about 1300 sq feet total.
We took another hike to the beaches north of our condo-- saw some deer this time. Ran into a few people who were beaching or surfing, even tho the waves were still really big. In front of our Kipehu beach there is a Hawaiian flag and a surfboard-- some people told us it was to memorialize a man who was surfing here last month and got killed -- these really are big waves! We came back to the condo around 3 and just rested and read our books. We took another walk to the ocean to see the sun set-- pretty, but not the beautiful colors of a NM sunset. I made some beef that I broiled, baked potatoes, green beans, and salad for supper-- and a bottle of yellow tail wine-- liquor is actually cheaper than milk!! We went to the pool area and no one was there at like 7:30 PM so we sat in the jacuzzi by ourselves and enjoyed a clear starry night-- tho not as many stars as in NM! Maybe the humidity decreases the number of stars you can see. On the way back to the condo, we saw a flock of about 14 deer on the grass across from us.
I am feeling very relaxed, but tomorrow we take the free bus to the airport around noon and then we are off to sight see like crazy!!! We plan to get up early and hike back to the 3 mile beach in the morning so I can walk all the way to the very end-- Larry might even come with me. This really is fun as long as we have good weather-- I am praying that it stays nice.....
Monday January 7, 2013
Since we were still car- less, we left the condo about 8:30 to walk the entire 3 mile Papakua beach. It was so beautiful. We did not get rained on, but there was rain on the ocean, so we saw several lovely rainbows. We took our time walking to the end (we actually had a "tailwind"), so I poked along picking up shells and enjoying the warm water on my feet. On the way back, we had a "headwind" -- the sand blew low, so we had a dermabrasion from the knees down -- nothing in our face or eyes. We met a nice couple who are staying in a condo near us-- Carolyn and Mike-- they own a lodge in Oregon and had been here before, but always with their children-- so this is their second honeymoon, she says. They offered to drive us to the airport, but we had decided to take the bus, so we didn't have to rush the rest of our hike. We figured that we walked about 7 miles total! We then went back to shower and took the little free bus that runs on weekdays to the airport. We took the "long" way, going thru Maunaloa HI -- formerly a town built for a pineapple plantation that no longer exists. We talked to a man on the bus who was staying where we are-- he was staying 6 weeks and comes often. He said he rented a car just the first week, and now is renting one for the last week.
Alamo car rentals had a car for us, so we drove downtown and looked thru the few touristy shops, got more groceries, stopped at Molokai Wine and Spirits for more vino. We drove past a coconut grove that was planted by king Kamehameha V a long time ago, and also past "church row" -- many churches-- Mormon, 7th day Adventist, Jehovah Witness, Calvary Chapel, Baptist, Congregationtal, some other Hawaian churches, but no Methodist! We stopped at Molokai pizza as recommended by our friends the Winbergs, and we ate a whole medium pizza-- sausage and fresh pineapple! It was very good. The people in the little stores were all nice, wondering if we were just here for the day or staying on the island.
We drove back to the condo, and realized we forgot to buy some rice, so drove 5 miles to Maunaloa where they have a little general store. We went to the famous Kite store there and chatted with the owner who has had the store for 30 yr. He and his wife make and design kites, but had a lot of other stuff to browse thru-- jewelry, books, souvenirs, photos, wooden puzzles.
I just bought a book on tidepools for Josh and a book on Father Damien for me. We made reservations for tomorrow to hike down to the leper colony-- it is a 3 mile hike. Our friend at the Kite store has done it many times, so told Larry about leaving our condo by 6:45 to get to the trailhead by 7:30 AM. The mules go down at 8:30, so we want to beat them for sure and not have to walk in mule droppings!
We will pack water and a lunch for ourselves. At the bottom, we have to pay $50 apiece to take the Damien Bus tour-- I am so excited to do this-- I have been interested since our very first trip to Hawaii in the 90's.
On Thursday, we will take a guided hike to Haliwa Valley -- you can only go with a guide, so we called a private agency instead of the big Molokai Adventure group, for half the price. The guy we rode the bus with today told us about it.
This has been a unique vacation. Larry and I were talking about who of our friends would like something like this-- we decided that it would only be Jim and Glenda! We are getting a lot of exercise and a lot of relaxation time as well. We are really having fun-- hope the good weather continues, or we won't have any fun at all!!
Tuesday Jan 8, 2013
We got up at 6 AM so we had time to dress, make lunch, and pack our backpacks to hike to the Kalaupapa peninsula where the leper colony is. We left the condo at 6:45 and got to the trailhead at 7:30 exactly, as we had planned. There was no sign there, tho there were a bunch of cars parked on the road just before that was the mule stable, so we knew we were close. Larry had called to make a reservation on the mandatory Damien bus tour at the bottom yesterday, but we had no proof of this, so that made him nervous, since all the signs say that if you don't have a permit, there is a $500 fine! The lady he spoke to said just to pay at the bottom-- cash only (this seems to be the trend in Molokai). We had to pass around a big gate that said "No Trespassing", but we went on thru a forested area for 1/4 mile, then to the actual path. It had numbered switchbacks-- 26 total. It was very muddy, so our hiking sticks came in handy when skidding!
I was a little tense going down, trying to watch every step -- there were rocks and cement square things on the path, so you could dodge the mud fairly well. We had read on the internet of people going down in 1 hour, but we really took our time and went slow so we would not slip. We were surprised to run into one man hiking up -- I asked if he had hiked down earlier, but he said he lived there!-- he worked for the Nat'l Park Service. Then we ran into 2 older gentlemen (they were probably our age!)-- I asked the same question-- had they hiked down already? One man said he lived there! I asked what he did and he was the Catholic priest-- Father Pat! He said he had a daily mass at 5:45 AM. The other man was a Presbyterian minister named Tony from Maui, and he was visiting Father Pat. They warned us that the trail was even more treacherous down below, so I asked him to say a prayer for us! It took 2 1/2 hr to hike down since we went so slow -- beautiful views of the leper colony and ocean along the way. Larry's legs were getting really wobbly as we got closer to the bottom path along the beach to the leper colony-- felt like spaghetti he said!
There was a big grassy area with people that we got to-- there were restrooms and a school bus that Damien Tours uses. Our guide/driver was Ian - originally from Thailand, but now lives on Waikiki! He commutes over each day to do the tour. There were about 6 other hikers who had come earlier than us, about 12 people who had flown in from other islands, or from the Molokai airport, and another 5 that rode the mules. He warned us that we could not take pictures of people-- there are only about 8 people who were lepers (ages 70-90), and other people worked for the Park service.
Our first stop was to a little store that sold snacks and soda -- the lady who worked there told me she lived there and that her parents owned Damien Tours. We then drove to Sister Marianne's gravesite (she just became a saint in 10/12-- a big celebration is scheduled soon for 400 people coming in). Ian pointed out where a boy's orphanage had been, girls dormitories, the ruin of the hospital -- it had caught fire in 1980-- the fire station is a block away, but they could not get the fire engine's engine started! So there is just a ramp where they used to wheel patients in, and a few corner bricks. They have a new yellow hospital building-- really just an out-patient clinic-- anyone who is really sick gets flown to Honolulu. We drove past a post office and a general store -- only for the inhabitants-- we were told not to go to those buildings. We spent time at the big church-- Ian said Father Pat was going to talk to our group, but I told him probably not, since we met him going up the trail. Ian was sure he was at the "parsonage" since the door was open, but Father Pat indeed was indeed not there. So we just wandered around the church-- took lots of photos -- it is in very good condition. He drove us to a little building where they had a few souvenirs and books for sale-- one was the book that I bought at the Kite store yesterday. We then got on the bus and drove to the other side of the peninsula. We stopped at St Philomenes church where Father Damien is buried-- sort of. When he died in the 1880's (of leprosy at age 49), his body was taken back to Belgium. Then they sent his R hand back (to memorialize his ministering to the lepers), and that's what's buried in the grave. Going into the church was a little slot in the wall-- if people put a coin in, it makes a little ding sound-- was supposed to reward the parishioners for their tithe. One section of the church had 2 inch holes on the floor near the pews. Ian said many of the lepers could not control their salivation, so they would put big leaves rolled up in the holes for them to spit into and did not have to leave the service. While parked there, a cat came meowing by the bus-- Ian put some cat food out for him. Then he told us about the cats on the island-- he said that children were not allowed there (even now, no one under age 16 can visit). if women got pregnant, their babies were taken immediately from them to be adopted out. Some women wore big muumuus to conceal their pregnancy, and tried to deliver secretly at night so they would have a chance to hold their babies at least for a few hours. So the cats became a substitute for something to cuddle for the moms.
We drove a little farther to the area (Kalawa) where we ate lunch (we brought a sack lunch)-- it was the area that the lepers were left at the pier or "dumped" out of boats in the 1860's -- they just had to swim to the shore. (We met a couple Vernette and Mike from CA who were staying at a B&B in Maunloa-- they had the experience of having booked a flight from Kona Sunday, and arriving at the airport to find their flight was cancelled. So they stayed extra in Kona and came yesterday.) The highest population was once 700. Father Damien was the 7th of 8 children -- his brother was a priest and was assigned to Hawaii, but he got sick, so Father Damien came instead. He was in Oahu, and with 3 other priests, were supposed to take turns coming to the leper colony for 3 months. When he came, he decided to stay. The location here was gorgeous, with the huge cliffs, and 2 big rock islands in the ocean.
The bus dropped the hikers and mule riders back to the grassy area near the water. Larry decided to walk fast thru the flatter area by the beach -- we left at 1:30 and we were afraid it might take us 4 hours to get back up-- that's what some people told us it would take. The going up was actually not as treacherous as going down (easier on my knees for sure), but we discovered that Larry has strength and I have stamina. We had to make a lot of stops for the “old guy" to catch his breath. We saw several lovely rainbows. There were 2 younger couples way ahead of us. Another younger couple named Katie and Matt from Madison WI, were actually behind us for quite awhile. They were taking pictures at all 26 switchbacks, so that slowed them down. We each took photos for each other. As we neared the top of the trail, it started misting heavily -- Larry kept grumbling about me "trying to kill him", but we both had a feeling of deep satisfaction to have survived this hike! We made it up in 2 1/2 hr -- I felt better coming up, since I was not as fearful of slipping and falling. We did have to watch out tho for mule-do (not mildew!) since the mules passed us on the way up. Larry was not too crazy about the up or the down trip -- we kept checking each other's pulses!!
It was really a wonderful adventure which we will surely never do again!
Wednesday Jan 9, 2013
We slept a little later today, but were not as sore as we thought we would be after our Kalaupapa hike yesterday!
We drove up to the north central area of Molokai and 1st went to the Molokai Museum and Cultural Center at the site of the old 1878 RW Meyer Sugar Mill. A lady there showed us 2 short videos - one of the restoration of the leper colony, and the other was the history of the sugar mill which operated from 1878 to 1889. In 1988, a couple got interested in restoring the buildings. We toured the area where they crushed the sugar cane and squeezed out the sugar juice, boiled it, centrifuged it to separate the molasses from the crystals. There were lots of old photos in the museum of the leper colony and Father Damien, with old news articles as well. The lady there was nice -- they don't get a whole lot of visitors, so her hobby is quilting-- she was doing some applique while we were there. We looked at the visitor registry and saw a name from Abilene TX and one from Socorro NM! Another young couple from WA took the self guided tour with us of the Sugar Mill.
We then drove a little farther, past the trailhead to the leper colony (still many cars parked there-- they must belong to workers living down there), to Palaau State park. It was a 5 minute walk to the Kalaupapa Lookout-- we marveled again that we had done that trek yesterday. We then hiked about 15 minutes to a very "sacred" area called Phallic Rock -- a young man we met as he left and we were walking toward it said it was not really "that big!". There were signs on the tree nearby, emphasizing how sacred this was and not to throw "coins or trash" at the rock!! We hiked back to the car-- it was misting and cool-- and found a picnic table to eat our picnic lunch on.
We then drove to Kualapuu -- browsed in Denise's Gift shop, then on to the Coffee Plantation. There was nice store there-- we actually found T-shirts saying that we "survived" the hike to the leper colony, so we each got one. I found some soap I liked and a little Christmas ornament that showed a choir of fish singing carols(!). Larry got a Molokai hat.We then treated our selves to a "Mama mocha" -- it was sort of like a cappucino Blast that Baskin Robbins used to sell-- very tasty! The man from the Kite store was working in this gift store today.
We then tried to drive to the Macadamia Farm -- we managed to miss it-- I think we are the only people who have managed to get lost on Molokai (it is only 10 miles wide and 39 miles long!!). We managed to find it -- the lady there Kaliah (sp?) first gave us samples of their macadamia nuts. She also shaved little strips of a fresh coconut for us to dip in an island honey and a honey mustard -- it tasted really good-- especially the honey! She then gave a little lecture on the macadamia tree as we stood under one. Their orchard has been owned by her family for about 20 years. The trees are totally natural-- no pesticides or fertilizer-- they don't even water them. The trees produce all year long. The nuts are ready when they fall to the ground, and they just rake them up every day. They have machines to crack off the hulls, and another machine to crack the nuts. They the soak them in water and let them dry for a week in vats outside. Then they season them with some hawaiian sea salt and roast them for an hour.
She also showed us how to break them open by hand. Her brother had made a rubber "nut holder" out of a piece of old tire-- you hold the nut in the rubber gizmo and slam it with a hammer-- worked pretty well. The nut in the raw nut looks like a little coconut and tasted like one too! There was another guillotine type gizmo to crack the shells, but the hammer worked more efficiently. We bought a couple bags of the roasted nuts-- delicious.
We then drove to the Kamakana Country Store-- managed to miss the turnoff for that one too, but U-turned and back tracked. The lady working there, Lorna, was originally from the Chicago area-- she just works the store 3 hours a day since her husband is retired. She let us taste several types of Molokai sea salts-- sweet & salty, balsamic, chipotle spiced, lava(!), and balsamic-- I picked a bag of the balsamic. She gave us a free sample of a Macadamia nut cookie-- good!
We then drove to Kumu organic produce gourmet farm -- got some lettuce, 2 papayas, a grapefruit, and she threw in a lime. Then a bread lady approached the car and talked us into a loaf of whole wheat, seed bread-- it was very good-- but I never paid $10 for a loaf of bread before!!!
We drove back to the condo about 4 pm to eat a slice of our expensive bread with butter on it and a glass of wine. Tonight we will drive back to Kualapuu to go to the 'best restaurant in town" -- The Cookhouse-- it is a little plantation house with tables in and out side. I plan to have some kind of fish. We can BYOB, so have a bottle of wine to bring along.
We have found that you just have to not be shy and talk to people -- especially since there are so few people here-- parking is never an issue! The locals seem to enjoy people like us who are staying for awhile instead of those who just fly or ferry in for the day.
The sun is shining, the wind is blowing, but not hard like last weekend-- just breezy. It has been a nice relaxing day. Tomorrow, we are scheduled to hike in the Halawa Valley to a water fall-- about 4 miles total, but not as strenuous at all compared to yesterday's trek!
Thursday Jan 10, 2013
I packed some lunch for us for our Halawa hike that we reserved for today. We took off around 7:30 AM-- 1st drove to the Cookhouse Restaurant where we had dinner last night-- Larry picked up the jacket he left there. We then headed south to Kaunakakai, then to the eastern part of Molokai where we had not been at all yet-- much greener and more jungly, There were some other condos along the road, several little beaches, another Father Damien church (St Joseph's), and we drove about 20 miles along the coast. We could see both Lanai and Maui across the ocean from us. At about mile marker 22, the road turned into a one lane road with signs saying "narrow road, no passing, limited sight ahead". We only came upon one car going the opposite way and we had room to get out of the way of each other. There were gorgeous views of cliffs, rocky coasts, ocean spray, and little beaches along the road. Some people compare it to the Hana highway with its twists and turns, but it is only 8 miles instead of 60 miles, so I did not get car sick at all-- we really could not go more than 10-20 MPH along this road. It took about 1 1/2 hr from our condo to the end of the road.
Our reservation for the guided hike was with Kalani Pruett -- it costs $30 each instead of the $75 each price of the Molokai Activities company. I had read about him on the internet, and the man on the bus had also recommended him to us on Monday. We were to meet him just beyond mile marker 28 where there was a little picnic pavilion and restrooms, at 10 AM. There was one other car there with 2 young women, Fran and Corinna, who were sisters from CA and Reno. They had booked the expensive tour for 9:15 am. They arrived at 9 am and were still waiting when we arrived at 9:30. Around 10 am some other cars showed up and parked by the beach-- just tourists, not tour leaders. There was no phone service there and our Iphone internet did not work either. We were all getting aggravated around 10:20 Am, when along came Kalani Pruett. He told us that he had a flower farm called Molokai Flowers and his wife had a big order to fill, so would we like to reschedule for another day? Larry and I both said we did not want to make this long drive again, so he said he would give us oral directions on how to hike the 2 miles to the waterfall in the Haleva Valley. This is all private land, so if anyone questioned us, we could just say we were guests of Kalani. Then we could just give him a donation at the end of the hike at the flower farm. We decided to go for it, and the 2 young ladies opted to join us (hopefully they will get their $150 back from Molokai Activities). The hike was not very strenuous and fairly easy to follow the trail. We hiked past taro fields, thru a forest, past rock piles from ancient Hawaians. We could see the 2 waterfalls from a distance. Kalani told us we would cross the river there the 2 waterfall rivers joined each other-- that it would be shallow water or even dry near the rocks. Well, we saw one spot with big rocks and not shallow water, which did not look right to us, then we hiked higher till there was no obvious path, retraced our steps, and decided that we were not going to make it to the waterfall after all-- darn! So the 4 of us decided just to hike back. We got to a spot where there were a lot of logs, so decided to eat our lunch there, feeling pretty bummed out. Suddenly there was a boy about 10, another about 13, 2 young girls, an older couple and a large Hawaiian man. I assumed he was leading them on a private hike, so asked if we could follow them to the stream crossing that we could not find. He said sure, and we followed them to the spot we had seen earlier, with the big boulders and a lot of water. The kids all just jumped across the boulders on the rocks. Larry and I painstaking eased along, sometimes sitting on a boulder and sliding down to the next one, but we made it. Then it was an uphill more difficult, but short walk to the waterfall. It was beautiful-- again climbing on boulders to get a good look at it. All the kids were jumping in the water to swim-- a little chilly. We found a rock to balance on and finished eating our lunch, then opted to leave first in case we needed the others to rescue us on our river crossing! The 2 sisters decided to leave with us. We skidded across the boulders--I got my left foot totally submerged in the water-- oh well! We then hiked back. I picked up several berries, nuts, leaves and flowers and put them in my ziplock bag to ask Kalani what they were when we got to the flower farm.
At the flower farm, he was busy loading gorgeous tropical flowers into his truck to take to town. Some were for a funeral. He had a big order to send to Kaluapapa for the weekend celebration of Sister Marianne's canonization. The 2 sisters wanted to leave, but we stayed and he gave us a tour of his flower garden -- beautiful flowers, banana trees, papaya trees, guava, lemon. We each got to eat the freshest banana we have ever had, while his dog, who loves bananas(!) watched us woefully. Kalani then whipped us up smoothies-- fresh banana and fresh guava -- it was delicious. We then drove a little ways to the beach where the other group had gathered. One couple were teachers from Canada-- they had won a contest a few years ago to visit a teacher on Molokai. The big Hawaiian man, Matt who helped us across the river was the teacher from Molokai. He said that his parents grew up in the Halawa valley, so any family members can visit there and hike without a permit. Our guide Kalani grew up in Oahu and went to college there with a degree in art. His ancestors lived in Halawa Valley, and he decided to come back and clear the land and plant the flower farm. He and his wife are actually able to make a living with this. Their kids are picked up by a van at 6 AM to get to a school bus and they get home around 3:30 -- cannot imagine living so isolated.
Anyhow, our scheduled guided hike turned into an adventure as usual. We ended up just paying $20 instead of $60 (everything is cash only here almost), so we have more cash to spend now! There are ATM machines in town, so we do ok.
Even tho this hike was much less strenuous, our legs are starting to get tired!! We decided to pick up a pizza to take to the condo so I wouldn't have to cook (sausage, mushroom, and of course pineapple). We stopped on the highway so I could go into the st Joseph church of Father Damian, and in the yard I saw the biggest mushrooms I have every seen growing-- like 5 inches in diameter.
It is 5:45 Pm and we are ready to crash. I think we'll just work at relaxing more tomorrow.
We did wear our new "I survived the Kaulupapa Hike" shirts today. The 2 young ladies we hiked with were impressed-- they opted to ride the mules tomorrow!
It was another very good day!
Friday Jan 11/2013
We just took our time this morning. Got up, sat outside and read for awhile, then decided to go to Popakua beach. Larry brought a towel to sit in the shade and read his book, and I waded in the water and looked for seashells to my heart's content for over an hour. The tide was just going out, so I walked along the tide line, looking for "virgin" territory with no footprints nearby, so I wouldn't be in an area that had been "picked thru" already. I found a few more cowrie shells, some limpets, and a lot of pink or white shells. I just love picking up seashells! While I walked, 2 ATV's zoomed by-- I could not believe any people would be using those in Molokai, but they were actually police ATV's. When I walked back toward Larry, I met a man who had been snorkeling and had a knife strapped to his calf so he could kill fish. He also had 3 dogs with him who were helping him to find deer! He lives near Kaunakakai, and said he had lots of venison in the freezer. I asked him about the police ATV's-- he said they were just checking on a tent that was pitched up the beach. I also met a lady there named Giselle, a Canadian lady who comes down here by herself for 3 months at a time just to relax.
I heated up our chicken/vegetable stir fry for lunch + we ate our other papaya sprinkled with lime juice (we need to go back to the Kumu Farms!). We got cleaned up and went downtown so I could check out a few stores we had not been to earlier. We drove to the pier where there were some old boats tied up, + the ferry that goes to Maui and Lanai. I found another church founded by Father Damien, and went into a little Kalaupapa exhibit there. We went to some gift shops, a general store, and just around the street there. We then drove to the Hotel Molokai just west of town that has the only bar in town -- the Hula Bar. They have entertainment on Fridays from 4-6 pm. So I had a Mai Tai. Larry ordered a martini, but the one they brought was "tainted" with some flavoring, so they gave it to him for free. Then he ordered his martini again, and they only gave him a half martini since they ran out of Gray Goose, so they gave him that one for free too. We both had a Mahi Mahi sandwich-- pretty good. The entertainment was a little hokey -- 3 men, 1 woman, and 1 kid had guitars or ukeleles who played. One of the men actually hula danced in his shorts. We then drove back to town to have a scoop of macadamia nut Hawaiian ice cream at Dave's ice cream.
We got back to the condo around sunset. It was a pretty sunset with a little more color, but nothing like those in NM. When we went out on our lanai, our next door neighbors came out and we got to talking. They are about our age and have been coming to Molokai for many years-- not always to the same condos. Bob is a professional photographer-- he and Hilda love to hike and take pictures. They stay here about 3 months a year and live in Washington. They really like to talk-- ended up inviting us in for wine and snacks and telling us about their many adventures-- sailing to Lanai, sailing around Molokai and sinking! They gave us more ideas about hiking to other beaches from our condo, so we are excited to try new hikes.
Tomorrow morning, we plan to go to the Farmer's Market downtown, then come back and hike some more. Our legs have still been achy today from our long hikes, but I think we'll be ready again.
Saturday Jan 12, 2013
We decided to go to the Farmer's Market downtown this morning-- got there around 8:15. There were more people than we are used to seeing, for sure. Lots of people down there selling produce (we got more papayas). There were a lot of people selling handmade jewelry or art. We bought a print from the artist herself, Linda Johnston-- her watercolor prints are all over town in the various shops. We saw notecards by her at the Hotel Molokai last night. She had done a water color overlooking the beach where we are staying, so I chose that one. We got a few groceries to last us for the 4 days that we will still be here. We stopped at Molokai Spirits to get a loaf of frozen bread-- our neighbors told us this was the best bread in town-- they have it shipped from NYC! (Only $6 this time!) We got some cheese there too.
We got back around 10:15 and decided to take a hike to the south of us. We drove to Dixie-Marue beach where the water is always calm they say-- it was located at the end of the paved road. We then hiked another 1 1/2 miles or so up a path that turned into a dirt road. There were small beaches along the way with occasional people on the beach on the way down. We found a pretty big beach that we liked-- it appeared to have an abandoned camp there -- there was a house by the beach with shaded outdoor picnic tables, so Larry parked himself there while i walked the beach-- I just love looking for shells. I walked over by big piles of rocks and boulders at the far end, and found lots of tide pools with different little fish, and lots of sea cucumbers! The first one I saw -- I thought it was a stick in the water, but I flipped it over with my hiking stick and could see his puckering mouth! There were several of them in the tide pools. I picked up lots of shells since there were no other people at all on the beach. There were a lot of black limpet shells, and really a lot of the white coral that is on all the beaches. I finally walked back to where Larry was "parked" and we had our lunch on the picnic tables-- really pretty nice, since I had envisioned us eating parked on a lava rock somewhere.
I then walked around the building to explore. It looked like it had been a clubhouse or snack stand at one time. Behind it were about 20 brown wood platforms, each with a little cabin area. There was a water spigot before you came to the beach, and the tap still ran water when I turned it on. We figured it must have been a YMCA or boy scout or church camp at one time. It certainly is off the beaten path.
Larry was hot and tired, and did not want to keep hiking to "the point"-- the southwestern tip of Molokai, so we turned to walk back. We ran into 3 surfer guys-- i asked them about where we had been. They said this used to be a campground run by the defunct Molokai ranch-- went out of business in 2008. They said it is now owned just by some investors in Singapore. It just seems so weird to see the empty structures on this west side of the island, where our condo is also. It must have been so beautiful in its heyday.
Anyhow, we walked back to the condo-- really only about a 3 mile hike total, tho it did seem warmer today and the wind is not blowing much-- we showered, and read books (Larry mostly watched football playoffs!). We took another walk around our grounds about 4:30. We stopped in the office, since I had a little page from the Kalaupapa exhibit in the Father Damien church we saw downtown yesterday-- the docent had asked me to get the office here to post it. The girl at the office helped me trace our steps on the detailed map they have on the counter there. She talked too about how our resort had been owned by the Sheraton in its heyday. She said that the Sheraton also had wanted to put a huge resort + have lots for million dollar homes in the southwest corner, but the local people of Molokai had voted it down-- they wanted to preserve their heritage and "not become another Maui". I respect their loyalty to their heritage, but I think it would be nice to have a little bit of fancy stuff to stimulate the economy here.
Anyhow, I'm going to make us some supper shortly as we continue to relax. Tomorrow, we plan to drive to Maunaloa -- about 6 miles away -- to attend church, instead of driving all the way into Kaunakakai. It is a Polynesian Baptist church, so should be an interesting experience, i think. There are no Methodist churches at all on the island. In the afternoon, the big entertainment is hawaiian music at the Coffee Plantation from 3-5 Pm, so we will attend that as well.
Sunday Jan 13, 2013
Since it is Sunday, we sort of made it a day of rest. After breakfast (I toasted some of our $10!! loaf of bread and smeared it with strawberry-guava jam-- very good!), Larry vegged out while I walked down to Kepuhi beach. I did not find many shells on this beach, but enjoyed walking on the sand and rocks-- it is a rockier beach than the others around here. The tide was just starting to go out-- the water felt really nice. I met a young couple from Oregon who just got to Molokai, so told them the "hot spots" to go to.
I got back just before 9 AM so I could shower and get ready for church. We had decided to go to the Polynesian Baptist Church in Mauna Loa -- only about 5-6 miles away instead of to the Kaunakakai Baptist church that the Winbergs go to when they are here. We drove to Mauna Loa, then couldn't find the church. There was a nondominational church that must have already started before 10 AM since there were a bunch of cars and people inside. So we stopped at the general store to ask where the Polynesian Baptist church is. Larry said one woman did not know (how, in such a small town, could they not know where it is?), but the other lady directed us to the building just beyond the elementary school farther up the road. We arrived at this really small building and met Pastor Bob (he reminded us of a combination of pastor Andy McGowan and Larry's parents' old pastor Garth Hyde). He is a few years older than us and had been a missionary pastor. There was one other vacationing couple there-- Joanne and Ken from San Diego. They were renting this large house (larger than they needed!) near Dixie Laroue beach where we had parked yesterday. Ken told Larry that their dining room table could seat 20!!! They did not have a car when they arrived last week-- the house owner picked them up and took them to the house, and they had sent a list of groceries that someone picked up for them and had at the house! They had called someone private who rented a car for $25 a day, but it was not available the 1st days they were there. The have a 27 yr old daughter who is to be married soon, and a 19 yr old son who had gone away to college, then moved back in with them to go to college in San Diego. Ken's father was a pediatrician!. They invited us to come to their church when we are in San Diego in Feb, tho I think we'll try for a Methodist church there (I made a vow that when we retired, we would try to attend church wherever we are traveling-- we always enjoy meeting new people when we do that).
This was a really small church. The building was originally built in 1920 and was a big mess when Pastor Bob came a few yr ago. They renovated the building, but have a lot more to do-- like to put in plumbing and bathrooms! The inside was pretty plain, the chairs were white plastic patio type chairs, they had a CD player with some hymn accompaniments (no piano or organ). There were maybe 4 Hawaiian adults there, 1 Chinese lady (the $10 bread lady!), and about 5 children. The pastor's wife was on the mainland because her father died-- she is usually the Sunday school teacher. Anyhow, we chatted outside with the pastor and the other tourist couple, then mosied in about 10:15. We sang a couple of hymns (with the recorded accompaniment), passed a wooden bowl for the offering. Then the little Chinese (bread lady) woman took all the children to Sunday School. Normally the pastor's wife teaches the children. The sermon was about doctors sort of (interesting that we were attending + the son of a pediatrician). We then sang "Almost Persuaded" a capella since they had no tape for that one. After church I spoke to the Chinese lady Ino (sp?). She had her husband (an American) had met while studying in Switzerland, then settled in Grand Junction CO. The Molokai Ranch company had planned to reopen, so they moved here a year ago, then it didn't open. So she sells her $10(!) loaves of bread and he is working part time as an insurance man. They live across the street from the church and elementary school (up to 6th grade), so her daughter can just walk to school. Her little boy looks about 2-3 yr old.
We picked up a lime at the Maunaloa Gen'l store to squeeze on our papaya for lunch. We got home and opened a bottle of wine and had some jalapeno jack cheese slices on that $10 loaf of bread slices. I then thawed out the rest of the chicken we had bought and stir fried it again with onion, zucchini, mushrooms. We had the rest of our New York imported cheese bread, stir fry over rice, and papaya with lime juice.
We drove down to the coffee plantation store for the weekly Sunday 3-5 pm concert of Hawaiian music. All the seats were filled and the music was really nice and restful and tropical. We got another mocha momma (ice cream/coffee/whip cream/chocolate slush) -- I know Juanita is thinking that Wt Watchers is not on our minds-- how true! I bought some coffee grown in Molokai at the store and spoke to Daphne at the counter-- her husband is the kite store guy. She told me their daughter went to college in ABQ, but lives in Molokai again with her husband. She recently had a baby-- 1st grandchild! I asked if she delivered here (we drove past the little hospital earlier this week)-- but she went to a birthing center in Kauai!! Guess with a first baby, you can make it to another island to have your baby! Daphne said they actually had a young lady pediatrician recently for a year, but then she left-- she wasn't sure why. They have a lady family dr here who sees kids. She felt that Molokai could definitely support a pediatrician, but it certainly is off the beaten path.
Right now it is 5:55 and the sun is shining bright thru our patio doors which face the west. Again-- pretty, but no color like NM sunsets.
We called all the kids since it's Sunday. Sounds like NM is rather chilly this week. Hope it warms up by Thursday when we come home.
Monday Jan 14, 2013
Last night we watched the sunset -- more color than usual --after it went down. We ran into our condo neighbors again-- Bob and Hilda. They said that the haze in the air was due to smoke from the volcanoes on the big island -- if the wind blows the right way, they get smoke-- sometimes a lot that gets in throat and eyes. It did make for a pretty sunset tho which really was after the sun was down-- we all looked for and discussed the green flash. Bob, the professional photographer, said he has caught it on film by setting his camera to take photos like every second. He says the green flash occurs after the sun goes under the horizon on the water, not at the moment it goes down. We then enjoyed a little crescent of a moon between the palm trees-- a nice night. We talked about the hikes we might consider on the west side. I told them we planned to hike to the north of us tomorrow, and they said they had planned to do likewise and invited us to join them.
I wasn't sure if we would hold them up, but said we'd like to be with them just because we weren't sure where the path actually is. So we decided to leave at 8:15 AM.
So today we got up, ate, packed a lunch and met with Bob and Hilda at 8:15. It looked a little cloudy out -- the Weather Channel said a 50% chance of rain. Hilda said to take a few trash bags since we didn't have ponchos. Larry, Bob, and I wore hiking shoes. Larry and I had our sticks. And Hilda hiked in flip-flops!!!! Both are thin wiry strong people, a year or 2 older than us. We hiked along the old golf course cart paths, up and down, then to a path to the shoreline. Larry and Bob walked at a pretty quick pace. Hilda and I took our time. There was a breeze, but most of the clouds blew away. We hiked along several small secluded beaches -- some were just boulders, and we hiked across them too. The shoreline was very rugged-- there was a big square cliff by one beach-- Mak'e Horse (dead horse). We found a few seashells. It was 5 miles to the northwestern most point of the island. When we got to the top, there were some old abandoned buildings -- military buildings from World War II. Bob found an old rifle casing on the ground. We stopped in an area that had cement slabs that were quite comfortable to sit on to eat our lunch. We could see whales spouting in the distance, but nothing very close. Bob and Hilda said that the Molokai ferry is the best whale watching ever if it's a nice day. They have experienced crossings that they thought the ferry was going to wreck-- it can be very turbulent water between Molokai and Maui.
Bob and Hilda shared a story about one of their hikes to the point last year. They had a friend with them, and noticed some stuff floating on the water below the cliffs-- boat cushions & other things that looked recently from a boat. Then they saw the boat tipped over against the rocks. Then they saw one man sitting on the rocks far below. It was windy, so they yelled and yelled, but he couldn't hear them. Hilda called 911 while Bob and their friend called as loud as they could and the guy finally noticed them. Bob attempted to find a way to get down to the guy, but it was a very steep cliff. When he looked again, they could not see the guy--here he tried to climb up to them, but then he slipped and really scraped himself badly on the sharp lava rock, losing his shoes as well.
They finally were able to get him to the top, still trying to coordinate rescue with the Coast Guard and the rescue helicopter. It took about 4 hr before they finally got the guy picked up. He was a Japanese-Hawaiian fisherman from Oahu who had engine trouble and washed up near the cliffs, eventually wrecking. Bob (the photographer) took lots of photos, but the man acted strangely, saying he did not want any pictures in the paper. He has kept in touch with them by email, but they are uncomfortable socializing at all with him-- something seemed not quite right. But they are sure he would not have survived if they had not seen him.
Anyhow, it started getting cloudier and breezier, so we decided to head back. Poor Larry was having a bad problem with his big toe rubbing on his hiking shoe, so he was not a happy camper, but he mostly led the way back, walking pretty briskly for being on the edge of sea cliffs! On one of the beaches we crossed, we came upon a baby monk seal lying on the sand. Bob and Hilda try to photograph any seals they see-- they help a friend keep the census of the seals on Molokai-- there are only about 37 total-- definitely an endangered species. He was so cute-- sweet little face. We took several pictures as well as he flipped around. He eventually slithered back to the beach and swam away. We were back to the condo by 1:30 PM -- it was a 10 mile hike!!!!
We both showered and have collapsed for the afternoon. About 3 pm, the clouds recurred and it really poured! It has been raining nearly an hour. Molokai really needs the rain -- I just never think of a Pacific island as having a drought, but this has been a big problem for them here. When we drove to the condo from the airport the first day, everything looked really brown-- almost like NM! As a result of the rain the week before (the rain we had while in Oahu was here too), each day the country side looks greener.
As far as animal life here, we have seen deer several times. Wild turkeys roam the grounds of the condos daily. Yesterday we saw 2 peacocks for the first time-- they apparently hang out here too. There are reportedly wild pigs around, but we have not seen them. There are always cats around. There are birds around -- some nenes-- the state bird of Hawaii. Our neighbors say that sometimes there are large scorpions and centipedes around-- haven't seen any thank goodness. We do get ants easily in the kitchen-- there is no bug spray, so I have been spraying them with Lysol with bleach and seems to work. I try not to leave any food around. I have most everything in the frig-- even a box of rice and a bag of chips!
Anyhow, it is sort of nice to have a rainy afternoon to just sit and relax. Larry likes to play his computer games. I have read all the junky novels that I brought with me, and am now starting on the junky novels on the bookshelf here in our living room. Larry has books for me on the Kindle, but I still like real books better.
We'll probably have leftovers for dinner tonight. Maybe we'll try to take Bob and Hilda out for dinner tomorrow since they were such good hiking guides for us today.
Tuesday Jan 15, 2013
Can't believe this is our last day in Molokai. We weren't sure how the morning would be after the downpour yesterday, but the front ran thru the islands and was gone today. It was a beautiful sunny day. We took our time getting up, eating, and reading books. We had invited our neighbors Robert and Hilda to go out for dinner tonight. The Cookhouse is BYOB so we needed to get us a bottle. Robert's son has a vineyard in the Napa valley, so they planned to bring a bottle of red wine also. We drove the 7 miles to Maunoloa, but they didn't have any wine that appealed to Larry (or that he even recognized) at the general store there. So we came back to eat lunch at the condo. I wanted to walk the 3 mile Paupakea beach again. Larry's toe was not good yet, so he decided to go shop for a bottle of wine. We wanted to get a gift certificate at the Coffee Plantation store for Vera & Jim Huff to thank them for the "limo" service from the airport, to the grocer, to the condo on our first day. So he went shopping, and I went walking and shelling.
I just love walking the beach and picking up shells. I just took my time and walked about 2 3/4 miles down the beach. Whenever I got hot, I just walked closer to the water and got wet to my knees. I took some photos with my phone camera-- the water is just so lovely. The beach is the width of a football field! So I got a very good hike in. Low tide was 12:30 pm, so picked up lots of little shells to add to my collection at the condo. Larry was back before me, so I got showered and clean, did a few loads of laundry, and relaxed to read a junky novel-- I read all the books I brought, so started reading some that were on the book shelf at the condo.
At 5:30, we met up with our next door neighbors and drove to the Cookhouse. We planned to eat inside, but it seemed really noisy, so we ate outside instead which worked out great. It was so pleasant outside, cool, but not cold. A man was softly playing a ukelele and a lady got up and did hula on the patio where we were. Robert and Hilda really like to talk -- they are just very fun people. They have been together about 25 years. She moved to the USA with her family from Norway when she was 7. She and Bob had an art gallery in Winthrow WA for about 20 yr. They have always loved hiking and Bob, especially has done some strenuous treks. We're lucky we could keep up with them yesterday! They are very knowledgable about Molokai politics and how things have changed over the past 10 years. They will be staying here until April. Bob took several photos on our hike yesterday that he will email to us. We got to meet their friends Mike and Peggy at the restaurant. They have homes in Molokai, CO, and NH. Bob is also into rock and mineral collecting and described a place in North Bend WA where he has found marvelous crystals. He is in his 70's but looks much younger. She is 67 and is a tall skinny gray haired cool person. The bottle of wine from his son's winery was an excellent dry red wine. We didn't even open up our bottle, so we will give them stuff we did not eat tomorrow morning-- the wine, a lime, a mango, 2 cans of soup, etc.
Our plane does not leave till 2 pm, so I hope to get to the beach around 8 am for one more walk. I already sorted my seashells-- am leaving the not so pretty ones here by the condo where there is some seashell "landscaping" and packing the rest. I am almost OCD about seashells-- I just love them even tho these are not half as nice as the ones I picked up in Rocky Point Mexico in the past. My grandkids always enjoy looking at Grandma's seashell basket at home.
I just wish it did not take so long to get home!!!
Wed Jan 16, 2013
Here is the last day of my journal written at the Honolulu airport Wed night.
Last day in Molokai -- another warm pleasant day. Yesterday I told Larry that I thought I saw mouse droppings in the kitchen-- yuk! This morning he got up at 4 am turning lights on because he thought he heard scratching sounds , but saw nothing.
While making breakfast, I heard a loud scratching sound in the broom closet. It couldn't be a mouse because it would fit under the door. I thought it might be a bird, a rat, or a squirrel-- but how could it get in there? All I knew was that I was not going to open that door! We both showered and started emptying the frig to give some beer, cheese, mustard, salad dressing to Hilda and Bob next door. All of a sudden the scratching noise stopped, so whatever was in there must have got out the same way it got in. Hilda wondered if something was actually inside the walls. I was just glad we were taking off. We called our landlady just so she might check this out before the cleaners came and opened the broom closet door-- we were certainly NOT going to open it.
Bob & Hilda were getting ready to hike on the east side-- wish we had met them earlier in the week. We really enjoyed out dinner with them last night.
Anyhow, we took one more walk to the beach and watched a couple of aging surfers. The ocean looked gorgeous!
We then headed downtown to buy a fiction book I had seen earlier about Molokai. I also bought a necklace with a piece of sea glass. We had a burger at the Molokai drive-in, gassed the car, and went to the airport. They informed us to go to gate 2 (there are only 2 gates!). The ride had a few bumps, but nice and short.
Then we were stuck at the Honolulu airport from 3pm till our flight to Phoenix at 11:50pm! We could not check our luggage till 9 pm. So I read my new book, took several walks. There was a little bar/grill & a Starbucks -- that's all. So we had an expensive sandwich & a glass of wine.
One lady at the other end of our row of seats disinfected her seat and one on each side with a strong lavender scented spray-- she came to sit there after sitting on the floor for an hour with her laptop! Made me cough & laugh!
We just heard that the flight is completely full, so we will feel like sardines all night long. It will be good to get home!
Thursday Jan 17 2013
I am not sure what airplane etiquette is. When we got into our seats last night, a large man was in the window seat-- it was not possible to put the armrest down, so we literally sat cheek to cheek. He slept most of the time. When I was ready to tilt my seat back a little to sleep, I could not reach the armrest with my seat button on it unless I woke him up, so I “slept” bolt upright all night.
We got home around 3 pm today. I'm afraid my nice soft skin will get dry and scaly shortly! We had a very good trip, but it is good to be home. ns
