Kalaupapa

Kalaupapa is the site of the leper colony started in 1866 by order of King Kamehameha V. Father Damien arrived in 1873 and ministered to the patients until he contracted the disease himself and died in 1889.

The Kalaupapa Peninsula is on the north side of Molokai, 3 sides surrounded by ocean, the 4th by a 1,600-foot cliff. You can only get there by boat, plane, hiking, or riding a mule. We chose to hike in and out, 3 miles and 26 switchbacks of steps steps steps. Originally I planned for us to hike down and fly out, but it was the one thing I didn't get to book in time, and the flight we needed was sold out. Soooo, we kind of had no choice but to hike out.
Hit the trail by 7:30am. It was so humid we were sweating buckets. I think even if we were just standing still we'd sweat that much. Awesome views of the peninsula below and ridiculously melodic birdsong on the way down. We met 15 other hikers at the bottom and waited for about 15 mule riders. Visitors to Kalaupapa must be invited by the patients or be part of the official Damien Tour which is run by residents of Kalaupapa.

The bus tour started at 10:00am and ended at 1:00pm. Visited Father Damien's grave and church and learned the basics of the history and hardships of the patients. Lots of it very sad and moving. Leprosy (Hansen's Disease) is now curable and the patients are no longer exiled there, they are free to come and go as they please though most choose to live the rest of their lives there, including relatives. Only 27 patients still living there, youngest is 66, oldest 87.

Our lunch break was taken at the other side of the peninsula in Kalawao, the original leper settlement. From there we could see the hump of tiny Mokapu Island and pointy Huelo Island with WHALES frolicking about in front of them. One slapped its tail 29 times, and several of them slapped their fins in the water. Everyone delighted when an adult and a baby whale leapt out at the same time splashing down hard. That north east side of Molokai has the tallest sea cliffs in the world, rising over 3,000 feet.

Before we hit the trail back up, Liane took a brief skinny dip at the perfect beach at the foot of the cliffs. Then it was a sweaty and heart-thumping up, up, up, up. Hiking out was a great experience, I'm glad we did it actually. Well, sort of... my quads are still sore 3 days later, I can barely waddle around.