Normally for every 5 days I spend in Hawaii, I spend 2 days birding. This trip was unusual as I did almost zero birding on Maui, and here on Molokai, will only bird today. There is the Nature Conservancy's preserves: Kamakou in the mountains and Mo'omomi a beach preserve. Kamakou requires reservation and it's often booked months in advance so as I didn't plan ahead I won't be birding there at all. So sadly, no endemic Molokai birds for me this trip, she added hopefully. Exotic birds aside, dedicated this one Sunday for birding for non-native Hawaiian birds. I drove out to the western reaches of the island where yesterday I got lost.
On the way there, I just HAD to stop to visit this cool kite factory.
Not just a shop, but a factory
Oooo the kites seemed to be as birdy as I am.
Red Bird of Paradise Kite?
A back room in the factory had lots of colorful kites hung in the windows.
Of course I'm quite fond of butterflies too.
Now this wasn't a kite, but it certainly was a bird. I think it was a Rocking Toucan. Cool!
Imagine how lucky the kid who gets to play with this banana-billed toy!
The Kite Factory is a big-ish building, connected to a second shop that had interesting goods for sale.
I gave in to buying a small book of Poki & other Hawaiian recipes,
and... a tee shirt. I can't resist the danged tee shirts. The shirt sums up life on Molokai. What driving around I've done has already shown me this shirt keeps it 100.
Yeah, this one came home with me.
Thankfully there is no room in my luggage for this beautifully carved wooden Honu
The shirt and the mini-cookbook didn't do much damage to the purse. After my tiny bit of support for the local economies I was off to the west for some birding. I had my big camera with me. I stopped briefly at Papohaku Beach park, because I spotted some small shore birds on the lawns. There was a big flock of Ruddy Turnstones - common enough on the California coast, but cool to see here anyway. The little buggers would not lift their heads up for me, so my pics are rather sad.
Ruddy Turnstones
There were also a couple of Pacific Golden Plovers too, but... let's not even go there! Now, about a quarter mile farther along was a puddle in the middle of the road. I parked and waited for thirsty birdies to come - and they did.
Nutmeg Manikins known by their creepy 'new' name, Scaly-breasted Munia which could be the birdie or a skin condition - your call!
After a while I drove on to the higher ground, out where I was good and lost yesterday. AHEM. I know my way around there now. There were Pacific Golden Plovers here and there on the roads.
Pacific Golden Plovers
Taking the loop I drove yesterday, when I was lost. I found another roadway puddle and was happy to watch a Small Indian Mongoose dart across the road there a couple of times. The little thing was too fast for me to get any photos of it at all. The puddle was quite the draw for the local birds. The first birds that showed sent me scrambling for an ID on my phone Hawaiian Birdie app.
Who gargles here? An African Silverbill
Soon to arrive, l to r, Zebra Dove, Red-crested cardinals and 2 more African Silverbills
And a Munia that thinks itself a Penquin
There was some romancing going on - a little Miss on the left and Mr. "I got the stuff" to the right
"Hey, little wahine, I can HULA!"
"Great, you Hula, while I get the hell out of here!"
It took a while for me to give up birding at the little puddle move on. One thing I saw yesterday and today were Falcolins, a type of partridge, of which there are three species on Molokai. None of the partridges hung around long enough for photos. There were lots of Wild Turkeys though, they were plentyful and slow, but I wasn't as interested in photographing them, as I've plenty at home. The photo below was a half-arsed effort of a photo, I took it with my iPhone.
One of many large turkey flocks on Molokai
Those were all the birdies I managed to photograph. I headed back east towards 'my' apartment and along the way spent time staring off into the ocean.
Looking east, with the pale Mokuooniki Rock in the distance
Won't forget the beauty of the waters off Molokai any time soon
Thought I'd go out for a good dinner tonight but instead bought groceries and ate in... I admit to being a little nervous, in anticipation of tomorrow's adventure.
When I passed through the little town of Kaunakakai on Friday, a local told me I should check out its Saturday farmer's market. The fruits and veggies on display there made me wish I lived here all the time. The little Hawaiian bananas taste like someone boiled down a thousand regular state-side bananas, condensing their flavor into each wonderfully luscious apple-banana. Yum... and I wanted to try all the exotic - to me - looking fruits and veggies, but I'm not going to be here long enough to fit them all in. Rats.
There were lots of fruits and greens for sale I couldn't identify.
I guess those giant bananas are plaintain... and those avocados are huge.
The crops were only a small part of the market on the street across from the library. Naturally there were lots of tourist souvenirs for sale, but I seldom buy souvenirs any more.
Lots of homemade items made from tropical materials were for sale
There was one tent that had items for sale that gave me a difficult time though... I stood there maybe a half hour, spending the entire time talking myself out of buying anything. I often have this same problem, over the same items, but these particular Hawaiian 'things' beg me to take them home.
I thought the Uke on the left was the prettiest thing with strings e-vah
To talk myself out of buying anything I had to remind myself if I bought a ukulele, what were the chances I'd actually put in the time to learn to play it? I had to entertain myself by watching a woman, who played like Izzy, shopping for a ukulele for her niece. She told the seller it would be her niece's second uke, an improvement over the kid's 'starter uke'. Wow, that woman could play!
Having perused the market and having purchased nothing, I headed east on a tiny highway. The roads out that way were small and gave me an idea how tiny the entire island is. There were several little roads leading to beaches. The first I went on lead to a car filled parking lot. I just turned and drove right back out, not wanting to share a beach.
Yikes! Cars at the end of the drive
The driveway down to another beach a short distance away was delightfully empty.
Yay! No cars at the drive's end
Hurrah! A Molokai beach all to meself!
What do you do when you find you have a beach all to yourself? Why, you walk down to the sand and you sing "This Molakai beach belongs to ME!" song while doing an impromptu hula. *Sigh, me and my illegal, colonial invasion-ist ways* I videoed my song & dance on my iPhone, but as the sun does one's aged face no favors, you will have to beg me, with sugar-on-top, for a viewing.
I walked on the little beach until finally a couple of young men arrived, outfitted with nets and gear for seine-net fishing (?). On driving out, I discovered I was lost. I drove around and around the deserted roads and could not find my way back out of the maze of little roads. I drove around a bit over an hour, feeling lost. Eventually, I found some some kane (men) working on an electric grid box, or some such, and asked them the way back to civilization. They pointed me down a road I'd convinced myself was a dead end, and soon I was on my way back to the main town. Whew! That was a close one. I mean, can you imagine being doomed to spend the remainder of your life in paradise?
[Update by Management: Ms Miller hereby promises she will never, ever again, video tape anything vertically. If the good flying spaghetti monster meant for giant black bars to surround videos she'd have not invented horizontal. Honestly... even rhinos & theater screens would be vertical. Enough foolishness now, be gone with you.]
Ooooo I love small airplanes, and my flight to the island of Molokai was small, holding only 9 passengers. The inter-island 'puddle jumper' was a Cessna Grand Caravan, and it holds about a half dozen passengers plus the pilots.
Ready to board the flight to Molokai
The Cessna is so small there was no room inside for carry-ons. So, the free-of-fees carry-ons were stored with the regular luggage, while the regular luggage that was in the same spot as the carry-ons was not free. Confused? That's OK. I take whatever part of 'free' I am allotted. I read, Molukele airlines was started by a native Hawaiian woman. Go Hawaiians!
I was thrilled to be seated just behind the pilots so during the flight I could see the cool dials, blinking lights and whatnot over their shoulders.
The controls show we were between Maui & Molokai, with the extra land form being Lanai.
So long Maui!
I knew we were on a good flight when this rainbow spilled into the Pacific.
No Leprechauns here...
The flight was quite short, less than an hour and I enjoyed every second
of it, watching so much of the Pacific passing underneath, and Molokai coming into sight.
I hear Molokai has steep cliffs, and that's apparently true
Now. How small is the Molokai airport?
The luggage carousel is this bench.
With my luggage I walked over to the car rental place, the only one on the island. The super basic rental car on Molokai was nearly 3 times as expensive for the 4 days I would have it, than was the well appointed, humongous SUV I had on Maui for a full week. That's what happens when a small local needs to either make their year's profit in a short window or is just tiny and doesn't get as many customers. Ask me about Alaska or Maine's rentals sometime (I dare you!). Packed in my ride for the week I headed east. Had to pass through Kaunakakai, a town that is smaller than its name. I stopped at the Molokai Fish and Dive shop to sign up for a snorkeling boat adventure. I was the ONLY one signed up and they require at least four passengers for it to be a 'go', so I was assured they weren't expecting to go out before Tuesday, when I'm leaving. RATS! So, disappointed, I headed out of town, as far as the roads would take me, to Halawa Valley.
The drive hugged the coastline. The rock rim on the water is a fish pond that is 7 or 8 hundred years old
The highway mostly hugged the coastline
I thought I could go snorkeling solo at one of the beaches, then decided it might be nice to be alive on Tuesday when I fly home. Those waters were much rougher than they appear in the photos.
There were many places to pull off the highway and walk to beaches
The only Nenes I saw were on this sign
The drive was mostly one lane and like the drive on Maui, it passed lots of farmlands.
Then I reached little Halawa Park, and the end of the road. A local, called to me that I could go on the road anyway if I wanted. Now my first thought was, 'can I drive through there?', not 'Oh look! A place to hike." I didn't go in.
End of the Road
The park was actually rather large and near a little structure, there were locals practicing for what looked to be a Hawaiian Ceremony*. Both of the men in red, below, are holding giant conch shells. The leader blew his, and it made a haunting sound.
Ceremony in Halawa Valley park
I parked to use the facilities and some locals walking by, invited me to walk the 3 miles with them up to the valley's falls. As it was miles away and all my stuff was in the car, so I declined
I spotted a sign that said the walk was a daily thing and I'd just happened by when the walk was just taking off. ("Whew! That was close call!", recalls the bone idle woman).
I headed back on the same road, to look for the Air BnB I'm renting at a little resort, that would be my little flat for the week. The drive back, was just as pretty as the drive in.
Mokuhooniki rock, that was used for bombing practice during WWII
See the Mo’oula falls? It looks like a silver ribbon at the end of Halawa Valley
At first I had the spot I stopped at to view and photograph the falls to myself. Shortly after arriving though, several cars and vans stopped and one of the tourists, spotted me and called to the others, "Look! There's our friend, remember her?" They meant me, and at first I was flummoxed. Then I recalled we'd all met in the wee hours of the morning at the Maui airport. There, when a flight for Molokai was announced I joined the little tour group as their names were called and each was given a seat position on their Cessna.There was no seat for me, and the steward told me I was on a later flight. Standing there on the view point, they told me that my flight left for Molokai more than an hour before theirs did. Their Cessna had problems & sat on the tarmac while the repair crew sorted out the problem. Happily we all made it to Molokai safely, and had our impromptu, and jovial 'reunion'.
Beach at the end of the Halawa Valley
Stern looking Tiki demi-god and bottles guarding a house on the wayside
I passed some fish ponds a second time, and took time to examine them. There are fish ponds on many Hawaiian islands. Ancient Hawaiians built the fish ponds and only royalty ate the fish that grew there. In modern times locals build up the pond enclosures with boulders and rocks composed of lava and coral reef.
The ocean water wafts in and out of the fish ponds
Western view of fish pond in the distance
Look at Maui from the shores of Molokai
Looking across harbor at Kaunakakai from the Ferry port
After lunching at the port off Kaunakakai I drove to claim my Air BnB. Loved my apartment, which was a cute one room apartment in a small 'resort' which is what apartments on the island seem to be called (or so I believe). It is owned by a guy whom I won't meet and who lives on the big Island of Hawai'i. It's on the second floor, has a small patio and a great ocean view. Yay! It's going to be a good few days here.
Hurrah for a great patio view!
Here's a quicky video (the sort I very-nearly-excel at, of the drive on the south eastern bits of Molokai on the road to the Halawa Valley.
*UPDATE: On line I found out the 'ceremony' I saw at the little Halawa Valley park is held just before groups hike up to the falls. After the cultural Hawaiian pre-trip rite, the group are lead on a 3 miles round trip to the Halawa Valley falls. They cross two rivers and go through a lot of mud and vegetation. Knowing all that makes me even happier I didn't take the walk to the falls. That said, I am tickled that I'd been fortunate enough to view that tiny bit of the traditional ceremony & the blowing of the giant Conch shell.
