Day 6

Today we sailed for a long time, first through the Pailolo channel and then along Molokai’s northern coast. The Pailolo channel was calmer this time. The wind was dying down and it was now blowing into our backs, which felt much gentler.

We passed a lighthouse. Somewhere near it is Kaulapapa, a former leper colony. The people who live there have been cured by modern medicine but have decided to stay in their community. About 60 people still live there.

The farther west we sailed, the drier and more desolate Molokai looked. Finally, we rounded the northwestern point.

As we sailed along the western coast, we were surprised to see houses and hotels. This was a lot of development for such a remote place.

There were several pockets of condos/hotels and isolated houses up on the hills. The big resort near the beach is called Kaluakoi Hotel & Golf Club. We called to make dinner reservations but it turned out the place has been closed for years. Thinking it would still be fun to explore it, we dropped the dinghy in the water and paddled for shore. The swell was significant and we could see it breaking in big waves all along the coast. There seemed to be only one safe area to land, a small section of beach to the right of a big rock where the water gently rolled up onto the beach instead of breaking in big waves. Jared and I paddled while Rich and Andrew got into the water in snorkeling gear and pushed the dinghy. Anne stayed with the boat.

We must have looked pretty funny, but there wasn’t much of an audience. With the exception of a couple people here and there and a group of surfers farther north, the beaches looked deserted. The wind was blowing hard toward us so we had to struggle to keep the boat moving. As we got closer we could see the water starting to break in front of us. It was necessary to wait for a calm moment then paddle hard for the beach. The landing was very smooth and without any problems.

The place was mostly abandoned. Some of the buildings had nothing but broken furniture inside. Only a couple of the rooms were occupied. The convenience store was oddly still open.

It was strange to see someone cleaning the swimming pool.

The grass was still getting mowed. The golf course was totally overgrown by weeds and cherry tomatoes. You probably can’t tell from the image below that we’re standing on a golf course.

We hiked up toward some cliffs that were once a sacred site. Molokai was once known for having the most powerful shamans on all the islands. The sacred site we were going to was used by them a long time ago. At some point the navy built structures there that are now mostly gone. Today there are a few remains with graffiti painted on them. From the cliffs we could see Papohaku Beach, one of the longest in the Hawaiian islands.

Our boat was visible from the top of the cliffs. From here the distance from the beach to the boat looked far.

It was time to go back. On the beach the waves seemed to be more violent than they had been when we arrived, either from new swell or incoming tide. It was difficult to find a gap in the breaking waves. We waited for the right moment and launched. Andrew and Rich, the ones wearing snorkeling gear and pushing the boat, stumbled onto rocks that were hidden below the water, getting some nasty cuts in the process. Their brave, if not at all graceful sacrifice gave us an initial push but we quickly realized that the swell was pretty strong as our boat hardly moved. It was necessary to paddle hard in order to get out far enough that the waves stopped breaking. We were lucky to catch a gap in the swell and did not get capsized.

The reward was the coconuts we brought back from the shore.

Go to Day 7