Happy Leap Year!

Both the islands of Maui and Lanai are visible from our condo but since we've been on Molokai the vog (volcanic smog) from the Big Island has been blowing this way and so we've only been able to see the ghostly outlines of these neighboring islands.  However, this morning when I stepped out to photograph the sunrise, the vog had cleared and I could see the sharp silhouette of the massive mound of West Maui and the deep canyons of the flatter Lanai.  As the sun rose higher I could even see the resort buildings of Ka'anapali on Maui's west shore.  Way out in the distance was the outline of uninhabited Kaho'olawe.

Then, unexpectedly, as my eyes were trained on the horizon, I saw something leap out of the water and land with a big splash!  A whale!!  I almost screamed to alert Liane who was making coffee in the condo but I didn't want to wake any sleeping seniors.  She joined me after a few minutes anyway and we sat sipping coffee, watching the delightful sight of breaching whales.  Humpback whales breed in Hawaii and they are here from November - April.  

Drove all the way to the west side of the island to Dixie Maru Beach (named for a Japanese vessel that sunk there) - a beautiful protected bay with good swimming and OK snorkeling.  There were huge waves breaking just outside the bay.  Occasionally one would sneak in and give us a lift.  The water was murky and deep...  not much reef, just some large rock formations.  We practiced free-diving down about 10 feet to retrieve lost lead fishing line sinkers.  We also got to hover over a feeding honu (sea turtle), our first on this trip.  Aside from the honu the other cool thing we spotted was a green and gold Stocky Hawkfish sitting on the rocky bottom with red pectoral fins and bulging eyes.  The sand on the beach was so coarse, actually made up of tiny cinder and lava rocks and shells.  More Teensy Tiny shell hunting.  We ate our lunch in the  adjacent rocky bay which gave us a view of Oahu.  Watched waves pummel the rocky shore and then caress each and every crevice with its receding whitewash.  Lazed around on the 3-mile long sandy Papohaku Beach and let the roaring surf mesmerize us.

There are a lot of wild chickens on the island, sometimes used as fighting cocks.  But we saw two birds that definitely weren't chickens...  I think they were pheasants?  Cool....

On our way back to the condo we stopped at Hotel Molokai for Friday happy hour.  The place was packed.  Probably every single visitor to island ends up there for this "event".  The extent of Molokai's "nightlife", hahaha!  Some old-timer locals sit around a table and jam Hawaiian songs - this particular circle had one bass and one guitar and about six ukuleles.  Liane bought me a beautiful fragrant lei strung with white tuberose and plumeria flowers, punctuated with purple and blue bougainvillea.  MMMM!  Intoxicating.  Now I can say "I got lei'd at Hotel Molokai!"   :)

wetsuits rock

Today we went back to 20 Mile Beach to snorkel in the deeper section.  We totally geared up this time with wetsuits (thank you Kimo!) and gloves for me which allowed us to stay in the water for over an hour without getting too cold.  We also took the underwater camera for a test run!  Not bad! Though the ocean was rather surgy which made it hard to compose pictures, plus fish don't pose. The "sea mode" on the camera puts a red tinge on it to correct for the blue water, but I think that was meant to be for diving in more depth because our shots were all red.  I'll try to color correct before uploading.  

This session was much more fruitful than the last.  Numerous dark purple Blennies with red eyeshadow perched between the fingers of cauliflower coral.  Tons of blue-orange Saddle Wrasses and pointy snouted female Bird Wrasses darted around.  The bright orange and white spots of the juvenile Yellow Tail Wrasse made it stand out, while the 4-foot long translucent Cornet Fish faded into the blue background.  Hiding under a large coral formation were the biggest Manini I've ever seen (probably 10") and a Moorish Idol trailing its long dorsal fin.  When we were able to hover about 3 feet above the reef we spotted 3 baby brittle stars, green-blue shrimp, and a crab busily stuffing itself with algae, its pinchers looked like they were in fast-forward.  Saw a shy but stunning Blue-Spotted Grouper, and on my way back to shore I came across a Blue Boxfish whose coloring reminded me of those festively painted wooden chairs.  Liane was lucky to photograph a pair of starry-eyed Rockmover Wrasses.  After drying off we sat on the beach and started a search for our tinsy tiny shell collection.  

We ended the day driving east all the way to the end of the narrow winding highway to lush Halawa Valley.  From the bay we could see the silvery towering waterfalls plunge down sheer cliffs of the faraway valley walls.

Too tired to deal with uploading photos tonight, plus it doesn't seem to be working anyway.  So you'll just have to wait.  

Humuhumunukunukuapua'a

Yeay we moved to a super nice spacious condo right on the south shore.  Even though we are surrounded by bingo-loving senior citizens, the spotless bathroom, full kitchen (including gas stove, wow!), and complete privacy was worth the extra $$.  Liane told the host of the Gueststye that we had to leave because "Leila is extremely allergic to cats and didn't bring her medication".  It wasn't a complete lie, I did feel a little sniffly and wheezy, there was just more to it than that....    like the thick black mildew that I had to stare at on the shower walls.

Got a few groceries to supplement the big box of food we brought in the tiny town of Kaunakakai before heading east.  Glad to have the option of small Outpost Natural Foods store even though prices are outrageous.  A pint of organic half & half cost $4.40.  A gallon of gas is $4.13.  There's only one major highway on the island and the speed limit is 35mph.  No traffic lights, and hardly any traffic.  We were often the only car on the road for long stretches.  Wow.  I really love the lack of development here, just houses spread out here and there.  There are enormous ancient fishponds attached to most of the shoreline, a few actual beach parks, and many tiny deserted beaches.  

We stopped for a quick snorkel at 20 Mile Beach (at the 20 mile marker, fancy that!) and I have to say that that is the shallowest reef I've ever snorkeled.  Molokai has a long fringing reef along much of its southeast shore, which on a map looks like a snorkler's dream, but it was actually quite difficult.  When I say shallow, I mean in some spots there was barely any room for me to glide over the coral without scraping my nipples and knees.  And you know, I'm only a 34a cup!  Had to dodge the wana (sea urchins). We found some deeper channels to swim through and enjoyed seeing lots of live coral though hardly any fish.  At least the first fish we did see was the charming humuhumunukunukuapua'a state fish.  We also saw a few manini (convict tang) and belt wrasses.  Our necks were getting sore from having to look forward the entire time (instead of straight down in deeper water) and I was starting to feel like this session wasn't worth it until I spotted a school of 15 extremely large unicorn fish.  Neato!  I squawked through my snorkel to alert liane and we watched these 24" blue-gray fish wend their way around seemingly disproportionate shallow waters.  Also saw a school of nearly transparent needle fish floating near their usual surface territory.  Definitely worth it.

(sorry, can't seem to upload anymore pictures tonight...)

Hale Malu Gueststye

Secluded beaches on Molokai's west coast.

Aloha!  Well we made it in one piece.  Exhausted from long packing night and long travel day.  Got some great views of Oahu from the air.  Too bad its lush rain-sculpted mountains are covered with buildings.  Rabbit Island and Shark Island (below) off Oahu's east shore were favorite landmarks of mine as a kid.

We flew on a tiny 9-passenger plane from Honolulu to Molokai.  

You couldn't even stand up in it!

We are staying at Hale Malu Guesthouse which I expected to be a cute house shared by two parties.  But as it turns out, it feels like we're renting a room in messy community household.  The host lives in the bedroom next to ours, and a maintenance guy lives in a shack in the backyard but uses the kitchen in the main house.  Our room is nice, but all the common spaces are littered with their crap.  The host's office is in the kitchen.  The kitchen is a mess.  The tub is disgustingly stained from the shockingly red dirt that covers everything here.  There are two dogs and a CAT!  For those of you who don't know, cats are like kryptonite for me, I'm highly allergic. 

This is what $50/night buys you on Molokai.  Trying to be budget-minded, but I feel trapped in this room, and that's not good.  I'm desperately seeking other accommodations, although we will probably have to pay at least twice as much. We are going to feel it out tomorrow and decide.  Gonna get some sleep and have fun tomorrow....    Sorry for the downer first entry!  I promise to deliver some paradise soon!