Still car-less, we relied on the bus to get us to Lahaina (making an out-of-the-way stop in Haiku, which I will explain later). Like clockwork, we caught the ferry and set sail for the not-so-distant shores of Lana'i. Though a layer of haze prevented us from getting a panorama, the blue of the ocean mesmerized us for the entirety of the 45-minute ride. Andrew thought it reminded him of Duke Blue. I think I got a little seasick.
Time for a history lesson! For most of the 20th century Lana'i was known as the pineapple island. Almost 98% of the island was owned by Dole Pineapple, and pineapple dominated the 140 square mile island. But, for some reason, in the '80s the owners decided that owning a secluded Hawaiian island was more valuable than owning pineapple fields. So they got out of the pineapple business and began marketing Lana'i as the "private island," complete with a few high-end resorts and, of course, golf courses.
To reiterate, we knew almost nothing about the island. We didn't know that Lana'i City was approximately 10 miles from the harbor. We didn't know that it cost $20/per person/one-way to take the shuttle to the city. We didn't know where the hiking spots were. We didn't know which direction the beach was in or where to set up the tent. Luckily, we were able to follow the train of coolers that led us in the right direction. On the short hike to the beach/campsite we came across a dude who was struggling to carry an immense bag o' beverages. Being nice (and also thirsty) we tried helping him out for a while, which proved useless, but still managed to get two beers out of it.
The campsite we found was not what we were expecting. Tents galore were set up on a grassy lawn in front of the beach. Folks had set up elaborate campsites, complete with grills, stereos, and hammocks which made our accommodations look extremely modest. Oh well, rocks to sit on and beans and rice to eat are good too.
We set out to find the park ranger to get a permit and a spot to set up shop. Good thing we did too. Turns out Hawaiians are more than a bit touchy, and rightfully so, about where visitors can camp on their island. Another young couple found this out the hard way. As we were in the middle of signing paper work with the ranger, they approached him and told him all their stuff was gone. He became silent for a brief moment as his eyes became wider before bursting into a long scolding about how they had put their stuff on the bones of his ancestors. Many people were angry, he said, and wanted to rip up their tent. The couple apologized profusely, but the damaged had already been done. And all the while, Andrew and I are standing right there in the middle of this exchange. Shocked.
The rest of the afternoon proceeded without a hitch. We spent it on the beach where we did beachy kinds of things. Swimming, walking, snorkeling, snooping around the Four Seasons Resort, you know.
Around sunset we took a short walk along the cliffs. The views of the red rock and the blue water were nothing short of spectacular.
The next morning we were determined to go for a hike, only Lana'i is not extremely well known for hiking. Not only that, in order to get to where there were trails we had to make it up to Lana'i City. Did I mention that was 10 miles away and would cost $20 per person to get there? No way did we want to pay that! So instead, we began our hike only to the top of the ridge where we were hoping to catch a nice view and call it quits. We didn't get too far. Not 5 feet into our hike, some guys in a pick-up truck asked if we were going to Lana'i City, and if we were, they needed to give us a ride. They were right. It was a long, but really beautiful, drive up the mountain.
Once in Lana'i City, which isn't really all that much a city, but a collection of small restaurants that cater to guests of the Four Seasons that are lined along Dole Park we weren't sure what to do next. The roads and the park were filled with these bizarre pine trees that one would never expect to see in Hawaii. Andrew got quite a kick out of them.
The problem of now being in Lana'i City was that we had no idea what to do except to start walking, which is what we did. A guy who was also walking along the road asked us if we were lost and offered us some advice for a trail we could pick up. The trail felt and smelled very remote until we came across a golf hole! Bubble burst!
Anyway, about a mile and a half into our hike back down to the harbor, another family offered us a lift which we decided to take since we were both feeling a bit tired and needed to make the 4:30 ferry (Note: Dad, yes we got rides from people, but we did not actively hitch hike - I think there's a difference ;).
When we got back to camp we were surprised to find it was only 11:45 which meant we got to spend another afternoon at the beach!
All in all, our trip to Lana'i was wonderfully exhilarating. Very little planning went into it, which is extremely unusual for us. Andrew even commented that he thought that if we had done more research, we probably wouldn't have done it. A closer read of our guidebook now tells us that "You'll start to wonder if Lana'i is the Hawaiian word for, "It costs how much?" But, if we had thought about it more, we would have probably missed out. And I'm sure glad we didn't.
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