Wednesday September 24, 2014 Lahaina, Maui, HI

1st cache on Molokai

We had set alarms for 5:30.  Today was our trip to Molokai.  We had to check in at 6:30 at the harbor in Old Town Lahaina, the ferry left at 7.  The ferry trip to Molokai was two hours.

I had downloaded and saved 17 geocaches on the island.  Saving the caches on the iPhone makes it possible to search for them with out an internet connection.  We weren't sure what cell service on Molokai would be like.  It turned out to be pretty good in most places. Since I wanted to find caches on Molokai we rented a car instead of taking a tour.

It turns out that from the ferry terminal we had to take a shuttle to the airport to pickup the car.  It was about a 15 minute ride to the airport. We also had to have the car back at 3 so we had time for the shuttle back to the ferry back to Maui at 4.

Most of the caches that I had saved were closer to the ferry terminal, so I was lucky that the cell phone worked.  I found the first one just outside the airport.  The cache log was in a small DNA tube hidden in a hole drilled into a rock.  It took us some searching to find it.

Looking down at Kalaupapa

We drove up to Kalaupapa Look Out.  This was pretty much the highest point where we could drive.  According to the map this area is some of the highest sea cliffs in the world.  The same claim was made on Madeira, Portugal. Kalaupapa was the location where lepers were exiled.  There is a tour that goes down to the village via a trail near the look out.  It is a donkey ride or three hour hike.  You can only go there on the tour or by invitation.

Turkeys at Kaluakoi

We drove to the far western part of the island to a small village and then to a ranch area where some  homes were being built.  There was also a resort area with villas and condos but they looked like they were past their prime and not very busy.

A view of cattle and the sea from Maunaloa

All the islands we have visited n Hawaii have a dry side and a wet site.  Molokai seemed to have a larger dry area, not as lush as many places on the other islands.  Molokai is the 27th largest island in the United States, 260 square miles and has a population of about 8000. Except for the higher elevations the predominant trees are Acacia and what looks like mesquite.

Coffee trees in Kualapuu

Before returning to the airport we decided to have an early supper at the Kualapu'u Cookhouse.  We had a very good meal.  Gerri had pulled pork with rice and macaroni salad and I had chopped steak with fried onions, rice and macaroni salad.  The steak was actually thinly sliced instead of chopped.

Gerri's pork plate

We didn't see any old barns, just an old house

A unique house painting

In one of my status updated on Facebook I told our niece Sandi that I couldn't live on an island, too confining.  She said it was "torcher" to live in "paradise."  I don't know if that is a new word for good or a misspelling of torture.  I have included pictures of some homes we saw on Molokai.

A house for sale in Kualapuu

The Molokai Princess

At 4 we boarded the ferry for the return trip to Maui.  The ride back was rougher than the ride over to Molokai.  We were back in Lahaina at a little after 6 and back at the resort after dark.

This was a good day we saw some new territory and I found caches on another Hawaiian Island. Actually I did better at caching on Molokai than I have here on Maui.  I found 5 and didn't find one. That one also had DNF by the last two cachers. My ratio found to not isn't that good here on Maui.

Later in our stay here we hope to go to the island of Lanai.  After I find a cache there I will have completed the Hawaii Island Hopper Challenge. http://www.geocaching.com/geocache/GC2X94M_hawaii-island-hopper-challenge  But I will have to get back to Oahu sometime to claim it.

After cleaning up we relaxed after a long day. After some reading,TV and computer time we went to bed early.