I wanted to share a quick update on our Hawaiian adventure and some photos from Maui and Molokai.
We had a unique reason for planning this trip to the islands; Kevin’s college basketball team (California Golden Bears), was invited to play in the Maui Invitational tournament. As we often do, we followed the team to watch them play. Through the three-day tournament, we stayed in West Maui with our friends from Los Angeles, Oscar and Erin. While Kevin and Oscar went to three basketball games and a tournament related events, Erin and I explored the West and South sides of the island while joking about us enjoying paradise while they chose to sit in a hot and smelly indoor gymnasium. Still, they had a good time with one great win. In between games they joined us to explore and find good food.
We visited Maui once before, and while I do prefer the adventurous spirit of the more remote, windy, and wild sides of the island, we had a nice stay. There is a reason most tourists only go to West and South Maui: The beaches are gorgeous! And despite the throngs of beachgoers, I found a really diverse snorkeling area and even a tiny turquoise cove with a sandy beach that I had all to myself.
But we’re getting our island adventure and then some. Just yesterday we took the ferry over from Maui to the island of Molokai. This sparsely populated island doesn’t have any traffic lights, and few businesses stay open past 5pm. It is infamous for being the site of the Hawaiian island leper colony, and today for opposing the tourist development that has been both a benefit and a curse to the more popular islands. Most guidebooks say the island has a reputation for being unfriendly to tourists.
There were only about 10 other people on the ferry all Molokai locals returning home to spend Thanksgiving with their families. We talked at length to two nice couples who told us a lot about the island and raved about its beauty and unique history. Both invited us over for Thanksgiving dinner. We took one of them up on their kind offer and had a wonderful afternoon and a delicious home cooked meal. This definitely made it easier to be away from home on the holiday.
We were right to take a chance on Molokai.
I’ll be posting more pictures and updates from our trip on Instagram so please join me there.
Until then, aloha!
I’m excited that you gave Molokai a chance. It’s a beautiful island with incredibly friendly residents as you saw first hand by being invited to a family thanksgiving.
Definitely! Beautiful, historic and friendly. I can’t wait to go back!
Wow, those beaches are really something special. Even though everyone thinks that Asia is the place for great beaches, I’ve found most of the beaches in SEA to be pretty lacking. Certainly nothing like what you’ve got there! GORGEOUS.
There’s definitely a reason it’s a popular beach destination! The sand is so perfect and clean. SEA probably has them beat on the diversity of good food, though! Hawaii has fine dining options and good farmers markets but nothing like the abundant street food deliciousness you’ve got! I’m making myself hungry dreaming about it — especially seeing your post there about Malaysia’s best food city… 🙂
So beautiful – we’ve only been to Maui but it was magical
It really is! And Molokai is worth a visit next time. It’s so different. Very quiet, no resorts or chains, and almost no other tourists. It’s amazing to me that a place like this still exists in Hawaii! In view of Maui!
If you can’t make it to Molokai then the closest you will get to that feeling is on Hana side of Maui. Would like to see more pictures from Molokai. Most people see that island only thru the windows of a helicopter which is unfortunate and fortunate at the same time.
Doug, you’re exactly right. It felt a lot like Hana! It’s fortunate for Maui that so few folks go to Molokai, but unfortunate for Molokai which could use the revenue. In fact, the guy at the Maui dive shop where I rented snorkel gear gave me a discount because he’s “never met anyone who was going to Molokai for 5 days!”
I have a ton of great photos, I’ll make sure to reach out to you when I pull the album together. It’s definitely worth a visit if you haven’t been over there!