Day 7 Molokai

Today was the first day at our new camp. After a stellar dinner made on the campfire last night, we broke our fast with Molokai pineapple coconut bread with a goat cheese spread and a side of fruit. Delightful! We were up early to get to Halawa. Our fingers were crossed we'd get to do the hike to the falls today. Molokai Fish and Dive is a great place to get local info (and they have snorkeling/scuba trips). We booked our hike to Halawa Falls there and we were lucky. You can easily find a guide to the falls, but our tour came with a healthy dose of Hawaiian Culture. One of the family members who lives in the valley begins the hike with a traditional greeting in Hawaiian. Then you get to hear about his life growing up in the valley. As the last living survivor of the Tsunami that crushed the Halawa Valley on April 1, 1941 this Hawaiian Elder is extremely knowledge and willing to teach about his culture. After our culture immersion we started our hike. Remember that Tuesday there was a flash flood? Today the river was pretty high, but we forded it and only got a little damp. Our hike included stories about the plants and trees the Hawaiians use and explanations of the ancient customs and the ruins left behind. The waterfall was worth walking through the squelchy mud! We got to take a cool swim and after lunch (leftovers+fruit) we felt refreshed and ready to hike back to the modern life. If you come to Molokai, plan to do this hike on day one or two, then you can pick your guide's brain for local tips! We got a lot of answers for questions we'd been pondering as well. The road back was awesome, beautiful and sunny. Apparently the weekend starts on Thursday here on Molokai since everyone was out at the beaches and on the water. After a quick stop in town to get apricot bread we started back to our camp. Mentally ready to swim, sun and eat we were stopped short in our day dreams by rain. Wet, wet rain. At the campground we reconoitered and then headed back into town making a beeline to the laundromat. After a consolation dinner and mope at the Cookhouse (mixed plate with beef/veg stir fry, teri chicken, fries and mac salad with a slice of chocolate mac nut pie for dessert) we ventured back to our original campsite. Now we're ensconced in our dry tent, making new plans for tomorrow. We were going to hike to Kalupapa, but we don't want to slide down the cliffside. There is an option to take mules down the hill, but we don't want to pay that much when it will be more adventurous to hike it. Hopefully we'll be able to go on Saturday.

Day 5 Molokai

The Road to Halawa. It was on our itinerary today to drive this one lane highway and then take the guided hike to the waterfalls where it ends, but Mother Nature thwarted our desires. Rainfall caused a washout and our guide cancelled the hike for safety reasons. We plan to try again on Thursday, so the one lane road will be back on the itinerary. The rain is staying late this season, but since Molokai has been in a drought for the past 7 years it's good for the island.

Most of the shorelines on this island are quite rocky which discourages us from just hopping in the water for a dip. It doesn't stop a body from relaxing on the sand and wave watching though! Maui is in the distance with heavy cloud cover obscuring her peaks. A lovely view.

We ate a more hearty breakfast to give us strength for the hike today. Spam Musubi, lemon greek yogurt and apple banana. Spam is everywhere in Hawaii, a food staple. If you don't like the luncheon meat, no worried, chickens roam free on Molokai and there is plenty of local fish, beef and even pork to satisfy your protein cravings. There are also Axis deer here, a gift to the Hawaiian Royalty of yesteryear from the country of India.

A fresh blueberry scone was the perfect midmorning snack at the beach and while resting there, we decided that instead of a hike we would visit the coffee mill (they make their white chocolate mac nut latte with Ice Cream). After an alfresco picnic lunch (prepared this morning before our hike with fresh fruit, coleslaw and fried chicken from Molokai Burger we popped across the road to Island Fashion, a local boutique. We found gifts to take home and Island Fashion gave us a free kukui nut necklace with purchase (an awesome deal). Guess what we found in town? Our ice cold young coconuts! So refreshing and delicious. They were a steal at $3 from a corner fruit stand. We ventured into several other shops in town before heading back to the campsite to relax by the sandy beach. After dinner (leftovers and fresh coconut) we ventured to the (closed) Coconut Grove and then headed out on the pier to the wharf. This was a great spot to catch the sunset in front of us and Maui if we looked over our shoulders. Tomorrow we break camp and move to a new spot on the other end of Molokai. As the moon rises over eastern shore of Molokai it's nearly full and a lovely beginning to our last night at One Ali'i Beach Park.