More Lana’i

[Kyle]The Four seasons at Manele beach has a shuttle that runs between it and their other property - the Lodge at Ko’ele in Lana’i City. For ten bucks, non-guests can buy a pass for the whole day.

We were on the first shuttle of the morning with a full day planned. Our first activity was the five-mile walk from the lodge to the Koloiki ridge. We were immediately sidetracked by the Lodge. Wow, again! Although the atmosphere was mountain instead of beach, the place was also stunning. The enormous grounds were gorgeous from every angle. The staff was also wonderful. They even offered us bottled water for the hike, which we didn’t need. We promised ourselves a good look upon our return as a reward for completing the trail and reluctantly left the property.

Beautiful Four Seasons Ko'ele Lodge at the top of Lanai

Before we had made it very far. A couple of men pulled up alongside us in a pickup truck, stopped, introduced themselves and shook our hands. It turned out they were not hotel staff, but were checking the chlorine levels on the tank supplying the city’s water. They just stopped to say hi. Aw, jeez!

At the water tank, the trail began at the far end of the fence surrounding it. Laid along the fence were about thirty walking sticks to take along. It was a big hint, so we each selected one and headed into the forest.

The steep ground was hard clay that would have been very slippery if it had been raining. We realized a bit late that the sticks were a necessity rather than a convenience.

Exercise at last! And some stunning views to make it well worth the effort

The trail met up with the longer Munro trail (a jeep trail) for a bit, which led up and down through green forest before splitting off to the Koloiki ridge trail. We came out of a gap in the trees and could see the island of Moloka’i in the distance. A little bit further down the ridge, we found ourselves standing atop the junction of two steep gulches leading down to the Auau channel. Moloka’i was to our left and Maui was to our right. Wow again. Hawai’i seems to be the land of a thousand wows.

We arrived back at the lodge with muddy feet and legs streaked with clay. We cleaned up as best we could and had a walk around the grounds. There was a big koi pond, a couple of gazebos and a big pagoda. The coolest thing for me was a little conservatory buried in the back that was full of orchids. There were hundreds of varieties in all shapes, sizes and colors. In the middle was a little table and four chairs, where a guest could sit and chat over tea if they’d like. It was a perfect little sanctuary.

We headed to the main building, where we stopped for a game of croquet before exploring the many libraries and game rooms inside. Along the way, we saw a guy wheeling a cart of orchids, looking like he was on his way to one of the guest rooms. A cart full of orchids, how fantastic.

We bought a drink each from an enormously friendly bartender while we waited for the shuttle into town. We were dropped in the town center by Dole Park. We had a pass through the well done cultural center and then had a stroll around.

Typical Lanai City scenes

The town is definitely low key. We had a really good meal at a café that specialized in practically all genres and then went out to see the other seven things. Along the way, we met a local artist named Mike Carroll as he was painting on the lana’i of his gallery. Nice guy. He told us he was originally from Chicago. He visited the island several years ago and on the fifth day, he had put a deposit down on ‘The Worst House on Lana’i’ He’s been here ever since. I can’t say I blame him one bit.

We took the shuttle back to Manele, where our first priority was two long showers each. Ah, that’s better!

We got dressed up (for us) and headed up to the sports bar at The Four Seasons for a last farewell to this beautiful island. One of the servers recognized us and remembered our names, asking if we were there to decide the world championship of shuffleboard. Why yes we were! I mean, no, we weren’t. Maryanne killed me that night. Once she’s warmed up, she’s unbeatable at everything! We added a dessert called a Lana’i Sundae to our Mai Tais and other cocktails and had an even better evening, if that was even possible. We walked back to Begonia along the beach path lit with tiki torches. Oh, we are really going to miss Lana’i.

A walk along the coast back to the Hotel for the evening cocktails and fun

Manele (Lanai)

[Kyle]From Kalama Nui we sailed the short distance east to Manele, the main harbor on Lana’i. We dropped anchor just out of the entrance channel and swam to the opposite side for some more amazing snorkeling. We were surprised to find such large areas of thriving coral so close to a well used area.

Some fun snorkelling while (briefly) anchored at Manele Bay

We dried off and got into the dinghy to row into the little harbor. Before we even landed, a local guy on another boat yelled over to us and told us to bring Begonia inside where it would be more comfortable. We thanked him and landed the dinghy to have a look around. We hadn’t even stepped ashore when the harbor master’s husband pulled up in his truck and told us we were free to take the one remaining big slip for Begonia, where we were temporarily tying up the dinghy. We were on the fence as to whether it would be with it to go to all of the trouble, when a catamaran came in and pulled into the slip. We apologized for being in the way with the pudgy, but he was really nice about it. He said he had just pulled in to hose off his boat before heading to his med-mooring on the other side. He also said we should come in.

So it was settled. We had walked all of three steps each on Lana’i and we were back in the dinghy to go fetch Begonia. It was the prospect of a good fresh water rinse that really sold me. Begonia hadn’t even been rained on for weeks and I was desperate to get off the accumulated salt and dirty footprints. Plus, we could fill the tanks, allowing us to be fast and loose with our water consumption on the way to Honolulu.

We put the nominal fee into the honesty box at the absent harbor master’s office and had a look around. Our first stop was Hulopo’e beach, a long arc of soft, white sand with the backdrop of a lone rock called Pu’upehe. Lots of people were out snorkeling and sunbathing. Back in the park behind the beach tents were being set up by members of little groups while the others were cooking on barbecues. It seemed like the perfect way to spend a Sunday afternoon.

We walked past the beach up the trail to the Four Seasons Resort at Manele Bay. While I was not actually rendered speechless, my vocabulary failed me and poor Maryanne was subjected to me saying, “Wow! I really like it!” about every five seconds. I have been to a lot of hotels in my life and my career. This one is by far the nicest one I have ever seen. Ever. I daresay it was perfect. The grounds were impeccable, with different themed gardens in each courtyard. The staff, which seemed to outnumber the guests, could not have been nicer. When we admitted that we weren’t guests of the hotel, every single one of them responded by saying something like, “Oh, that’s no problem, sir. Welcome to Lana’i. Is there anything I can help you with in the meantime?”

The beautiful Manele Beach and four-seasons resort at Manele

We went to the sports bar overlooking most of the grounds and the beach below, found a table by the railing and finally ordered our first Mai Tai in Hawai’i, which we shared for economy’s sake. I had a beer. While I only have the other one I’ve ever had with which to compare, this one seemed especially yummy. It really was the perfect spot to celebrate reaching our one hundredth sail aboard Begonia. We had a great time dragging it out with several games of pool and shuffleboard. I emerged the clear winner, thank you very much.

Kyle says Hi! to the rescue birds at the resort

We were having such a good time, we ordered another round. Our four drinks cost us more than we usually like to pay for two dinners out, but it was totally worth it. It was a perfectly agreeable night in an amazingly beautiful location. I could not have been more content.

Kalama Nui - Snorkelling Again

[Kyle]The next morning, we arose to find a small group of snorkelers and a boat on the other side of the bay. They seemed to be just finishing up. As we were getting ready to go in ourselves, the guy came over and asked if we wanted any food. “Yeah, sure!”

He handed us fixin’s for about five pack lunches. We got a loaf of bread, sliced meats, cheeses, various salads and, my favorite: a whole tub of pepperoncini peppers. Well, that’s a nice unexpected start to the day.

Snorkelling in this dramatic cove

In we went, aiming for the spot vacated by the tour group. The coral reefs at Kalama Nui are formed on top of fallen boulders and deep volcanic canyons, which gave everything an extra level of depth. There were lots of underwater caves and arches to explore. The fish were large and seemed unworried about us, particularly the rainbow-colored parrotfish. I even spotted a stingray coasting over the black sand bottom way below. As I was playing around in the surf near one of the caves, I spotted two other snorkelers with spear guns trailing a string of fish I had already all named Timmy. Not Timmy! Noooo!

Kalami Nui (Lanai)

[Kyle]It blew like crazy all night at McGregor point out of the northeast. That was good. We had a pretty long way to go to get to our next anchorage on the west side of Lana’i. I unzipped the sail cover and the wind just died as if someone had flipped a switch; 20 knots, three knots, nothing in between. Ugh.

We left the anchorage with everything double reefed just in case it came back as quickly. It didn’t. It was ahead of us, so we set the sails up to go upwind on the most favorable tack.

The wind started doing it again. It curved us away from our course to Lana’i. We tacked, and then it would curve us the other direction or possibly just start again from some random direction. By the time there were only three hours of daylight left, we threw in the towel and motored the rest of the way.

Cliffs on the south-west tip of Lanai

Lana’i has some interesting coastline, but it didn’t get really dramatic until we passed Point Palaoa at its southern extreme. Suddenly, the gentle slope of the mountain coming down to the sea stopped as if it were a cake and somebody had cut off the end. Around the corner on the western shore was a massive cliff showing a cross section of the island’s geology. It its base every now and then was a little cone of rubble where the edges had crumbled into the sea.

We proceeded up the coast until the cliffs had decreased to 30m or so (100’), found our indentation at Kalama Nui, and headed in with the last of the light. We located a suitable patch of black sand amid the rocks and coral heads and dropped anchor. What a place! We were surrounded on three sides by jagged cliffs, one of which had a tunnel we could see right through. Waves crashed into the rocks and then cascaded down in little waterfalls. On the fourth side was an unobstructed view of the sunset, for which we had just made it.