Moloka'i: February 15, 2016; exploring

Wow, Moloka'i is really different from the other islands. Well, all the islands are distinct, but Moloka'i is really unspoiled. The whole island feels really rural. It's beautiful. And the few people I met were pretty friendly.

The not so great: I had planned to fly to Moloka'i at 6:30 AM, but yesterday, my flight was cancelled. I phoned Hawaiian Airlines, and they could only get me a flight at 12:22 PM. Fine. It meant I had only about 6 hours in Moloka'i but better than nothing.

(And by the way, after hearing about the delay, I actually figured, "Hey, I can squeeze in some surfing before I leave." And I did. But I was running late because of it... bad idea. Also a lot harder on my own).

The plane was a small prop plane that seated, I think about 50 people at most. We left late because we were, and I'm quoting, "Waiting for the last passenger." We waited for her!

My flight back was cancelled as well and I got moved to a direct flight from Moloka'i to Honolulu, without a stop in Lanai. Sadly, I can't say I went to 5 of the 6 islands, just 4 now....

Anyway, Hawaiian Airlines is pretty awesome. The flight from Honolulu to Moloka'i was about 30 minutes, and actual time in the air--I timed it, was 16 minutes and 20 seconds. We spent about 12 minutes either taxiing or sitting on the runway at Honolulu.

The other awesome thing is that despite the brevity of the flight, it's treated like a longer flight. So the captain spoke on the PA system, and welcomed us to Moloka'i and told us what the weather was! And on the flight there, there was too much turbulence, so we couldn't have drink service, but were welcome to take a juice or water on the way out. On the way back, we had drink service 8 minutes into the flight! That's awesome!

Photos after the jump.

Click to enlarge, as always.....

Signs right outside the airport, as I drove my rental to explore.

It's a slow island with not very much traffic. I pulled over to photograph those signs, and how awesome is this? Some guys pulled over when they saw me walking and asked me if I was okay. Nice.

Largely undeveloped.

Very rural. No major hotel chains. I think there's just one or two hotels, which are independent. There is supposed to be one traffic light, but I don't recall seeing it. For comparison, Oahu, the island where Honolulu is, has a population of almost 900,000. Moloka'i has about 8000.

The no longer functioning (?) movie theatre on the western part of the island.

These are called the phallic rocks. They were once believed to help
women have children if women slept there overnight. Get that smirk off your face!

View of the old leper colony run by St. Damien. You can see a glimpse of
what are supposed to be the tallest sea cliffs.

A deserted beach! In Hawaii! I only dipped my foot in.

Technically there are three highways on Moloka'i. Highway 470 runs north, Highway 460 goes east, and Highway 450 runs west, but really, Highways 460 and 450 are the same road, just changing numbering at some point.

Highway 450 gets increasingly narrow. It creeped me out.

West on Highway 450. Notice there are two lanes, and the ocean is on the side.

Highway 450 becomes one lane. Note the 5 mph speed limit.

Still one lane, but now the ocean is coming up on the side.

Same as above.  When meeting traffic coming in the opposite direction,
some sudden negotiation is required.

Heading back east, towards town on Highway 450.

A view of the mountains. Unspoiled.

The town, Kaunakakai.

I wish I had had at least 12 hours to explore, like I planned. I could have taken two days, actually.

Maybe next time....