We were awakened by the sound of the wild.. For once it was not Jayme.. Apparently (Joshua failed to mention this) there are a TON of birds on the island. Roosters, Songbirds, you name it.. Birds. We did awaken to perfect weather and took breakfast on our lanai. Anthony had a spread of fresh oranges, honey buttered multi grain toast, strawberry yogurt and big glasses of ice cold POG.
After a morning walk on our little beach we packed the car and headed to the north side of the island via the Kalae Highway to Pala’ au State Park. Along the way we got to see a bit of Kaunakakai (the big city) of the island in the daylight. There are no stoplights on Molokai and not really any stop signs. Molokai is NOT a tourist island, something that was quickly evident once we got to the Kalaupapa overlook at Pala’ au State Park, we were all alone.
We walked 2 short trails; the first to phallic rock, which is a HUGE stone that looks just like…. well in Jayme’s words like a big turtle. Along the trail Anthony started talking to the birds. He would chirp and the birds would chirp back. It was a true Polgara moment.
The second trail lead to the breath taking scenic overview of historic Kalalupapa. Kalaupapa was once home to banished Hawaiian’s who suffered from Hansen’s Disease (leprosy). You can take a mule ride down the sea cliffs for a short visit. But due to Jayme’s age this was as close as we got.
On our way back into “town” we stopped at an old coffee mill for 2nd breakfast and some island coffee.
Next stop was Purdy’s Natural Macadamia Nuts in Ho’olehua. Again we were the only visitors. We got a private free tour of the small nut farm and learned how the Macadamia nuts grow, harvested and processed. We even got a chance to wack open some Macadamia nuts! We bought two big bags of Macadamian’s and a bottle of Macadamia honey.
It was still pretty early in the morning so we decided to drive over to the dry side of the island. We drove up highway 460 and visited the tiny town of Maunaloa before turning northwest and ending up at Papohaku Beach, One of the longest and finest beaches in the Hawaiian Islands. This beach extends over three miles of coastline and is more than 300 yards wide. Again we were all alone. We searched for shells and played tag in the red/white sand. Our isolation was only broken at the end of our visit by a Hawaian beach bum who wandered by. We did have exciting walk back as we walked barefoot to the car. The sand on the beach was warm and lovely, but the sand on the trail was hotter then a imu! We all yelled, bounced and ran for it.
Everyone was hungry when we made it back to Kaunakakai. We decided to have lunch in a locals place (Auntie Ruby’s). Joshua ordered the Loco Moco, two hamburger patties drowned in brown gravy and 2 scoops of white rice, and mac and potato salad. Anthony had the Teri Beef and Jayme a cheese burger. After lunch, we stopped by the Friendly Grocery Store (that’s it’s name) and picked up fixings for a hot dog and bean dinner.