Hawaii - Jeff Campbell [373]
If you’re lucky you’ll enjoy an experience we had a few years back when we dropped by a Democratic Party picnic at the softball field and ended up talking story for a long while with Senator Daniel Inouye, an unforgettable experience that would have been tough to replicate on other islands where the crowds would have been larger and possibly more unctuous.
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The turnoff is on the mauka (inland) side of the highway, just over half a mile past the 15-mile marker, immediately after Mapulehu Bridge. Look for the dirt track into the trees and a fire hydrant. For more info about crossing the property, call Pearl Hodgins (336-0378).
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PUKO’O
Puko’o was once the seat of local government (complete with a courthouse, jail, wharf and post office), but the center of island life shifted to Kaunakakai when the plantation folks built that more centrally located town. Nowadays, Puko’o is a sleepy, slow-paced gathering of a few structures just sitting on a bend on the road (near ’Ili’ili’opae Heiau), but has surprises like the cozy beach accessible just before the store, near the 16-mile marker. Take the short, curving path around the small bay, where fish leap out of the water, and you’ll come to a stretch of sand with swimmable waters, backed by kiawe (relative of the mesquite tree) and ironwood trees.
Sleeping & Eating
Hilltop Cottage (558-8161, 336-2076; www.molokaihilltopcottage.com; Kamehameha V Hwy; cottage $140; ) Instead of sleeping down near the water, put your head in the clouds here. The wraparound lanai is almost as big as the living space and you can savor the views of the neighbor islands by day or the millions of stars drowned out by light in cities and suburbs by night. There’s one nicely furnished bedroom, a full kitchen, laundry facilities and a four-night minimum stay.
Mana’e Goods & Grindz (558-8498; 16-mile marker, Kamehameha V Hwy; meals $4-9; 8am-5pm). Even if it wasn’t your only option, you’d still want to stop here. The plate lunches here are something of a local legend: tender yet crispy chicken katsu (deep-fried fillets), specials like pork and peas, and standards like excellent teriyaki burgers. Sauces are homemade, the potato salad superb and the mac salad is simply the island’s best (it’s not too gloopy). Picnic tables are shaded by trees and there’s a little garden nearby. The store manages to pack an amazing amount of groceries, goods and a few DVDs in a small space. The bit of Hwy 450 between the entrance and exit to the parking area is easily the least used stretch.
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WAIALUA
After a few bends along the increasingly rugged coast, Waialua is a little roadside community just past the 19-mile marker. The attractive Waialua Congregational Church was built of stone in 1855. Onward north from there, the road is wafer-thin, winding its way through an undulating coast that’s forlorn, mysterious and fronted by white-flecked turquoise surf. The well-tended Kahinapohaku fishpond (see the boxed text, opposite) is a half-mile past the 19-mile marker.
There are few prizes for guessing what mile marker is found at Twenty Mile Beach, although its alias, Murphy’s Beach, might keep you guessing. Well protected by a reef, the curve of fine sand fronts a large lagoon that is great for snorkeling. Near shore there are rocks and the water can be very shallow, but work your way out and you’ll be rewarded with schools of fish, living sponges, octopuses and much more.
The pointy clutch of rocks sticking out, as the road swings left before the 21-mile marker, is called Rock Point (aka Pohakuloa Point). This popular surf spot is the site of local competitions and it’s the place to go if you’re looking for east-end breaks. The recent burst of creativity in place names extends to the fine little swimming cove about 500yd beyond the 21-yard marker: Sandy Beach (aka Kumimi Beach). Look for a taro farm back in a verdant notch in the coast near here.
Sleeping
Some of Moloka’i’s more popular rental houses are