The Missus must have felt really comfortable at the Hotel Lana'i. As usual I got up pretty early....She was still counting, sheep, or maybe opihi.... I decided to walk down and grab a bite to eat. Having another meal at Canoe's sounded tempting, but I decided to walk a few more feet, right next door actually and grab a bite at Blue Ginger. There were a lot of old timers hanging out in front drinking coffee. I went to the counter and ordered a "regular breakfast" which consists of your choice of protein (Portuguese Sausage of course), two eggs (over easy), fried rice, and toast. I grabbed a cup of coffee (serve yourself) took a seat at one of the tables adorned with blue vinyl checkerboard tablecloths, and took a look around. I recall someone telling me this used to be the dry cleaners and looking at the pipe fittings hanging from ceiling, I'm thinking they were right.
I quickly figured out why this place was popular with the old-timers. The coffee was serve yourself, the cups were quite large, and you can just keep your caffeine buzz going....
My breakfast was not quite as good as what I had the previous morning. The sausage and eggs were good, but the fried rice was a bit too mushy for me and the toast was loaded with margarine.
As I walked back to our cottage I noticed an interesting vehicle in the parking lot.
Hmmmmm.....
I hung out and watched the TV until the Missus woke. She, of course, instantly wanted to head back to Hulopo'e Beach...of course. But first She needed Her caffeine fix, so we headed down the hill and got a cup of coffee for Her. Wouldn't you know it....as we headed back up Seventh Street, we saw one of the shuttles driving up to the front of Hotel Lana'i. The Missus determined not to miss a single moment of beach time decided to run up the hill to the shuttle. Of course, She first handed me Her scalding hot cup of coffee yelling at me to hurry up as She took off up the hill. Somehow, my stumbling attracted a dog who decided it would be great fun chasing me nipping at my heels. So there I was looking like some pupule (crazy) tourist being chased up the hill by a dog spilling hot coffee all over himself....only to find that the shuttle we were chasing was the one to the airport. The other folks waiting around for the shuttle to Manele were treated to a bit of morning slap-stick courtesy of your truly and his first degree burns.
Now the last time I was in Lana'i the resort at Manele Bay wasn't open yet. So I was interested to see what it looked like. The shuttle drops you off right in front of the hotel and you walk through the lobby and down the trail to the beach. Unlike many other resorts, you're not bothered much at all...in fact the staff was giving us water and even asked us if we needed towels? Well, there are only the two big resorts and the Hotel Lana'i on the island, so I guess they figure you must be staying at one of them......
The lobby of the hotel is beautiful with a strong Asian theme.
There's a sense of quiet and exclusivity on mst of the hotel grounds. The Manale Bay Resport only has 236 rooms so things really don't seem very crowded.
I'm wondering what the staff to customer ratio is......as there seemed to be quite a few people working.
Here's a view of the pool area and Hulopo'e Bay below.......
To get to the beach, you simply walk past the pool and head down the trail past the foundations of a old fishing village.....
I tell folks I know who are going to Lana'i to "look out for all the turkeys." They think I'm joking, but there are folks of wild Rio Grande Turkeys flourishing on Lana'i. I've heard they have to be brined before cooking because they've learned to catch and eat crab and other crustaceans and there's no real above ground freshwater source on Lana'i so they drink brackish water making the meat fairly funky. Sorry to say I've never had it....though I did taste wild venison from Lana'i years ago. Still, it's quite a sight seeing flocks of wild turkey roaming the golf courses...more on that later.
As I mentioned before, the beach here is lovely and the Missus loved it.
After swimming I took Her past the camping area to the tide pools, which are great fun. There's even a stairway built going down to the tide pools.
Hike a bit further up the dirt path and you'll see one of Lana'i's landmarks, the Puupehe rock, also known as the Sweetheart Rock and the Tomb of Puupehe.
Several variations of the story exist, but the gist of it is the same. A young warrior from Lana'i fell in love with a beautiful girl from Maui. He was so jealous and afraid he would lose her that he hid her away in a sea cave near the rock. One day, the weather turned bad, he rushed back to the cave to find she had drowned. He managed to retrieve her body, and with the help of the gods scaled the rock carrying the body of the woman. When he reached the summit, he buried her on top of the rock.
There is an actual rock structure on the top of the rock! The late Archaeologist and Anthropologist Kenneth Emory actually scaled the rock and investigated the platform. He concluded that this wasn't a tomb, but more likely a altar. Nice story though!
nice post! love lanai!
Posted by: kat | Thursday, 22 March 2012 at 10:07 PM
I do too Kat!
Posted by: Kirk | Friday, 23 March 2012 at 06:40 AM
beautiful pictures!!
Posted by: ed (from Yuma) | Friday, 23 March 2012 at 09:43 AM
Lana'i is awesome! Great travelogue. How did I miss part one? There's a poke store somewhere in town that was pretty darned good we went there more than a few times!
Posted by: elmomonster | Friday, 23 March 2012 at 11:17 AM
Thanks Ed!
Hey Elmo - Long time no hear, I hope all is well. I'm thinking you mean Lana'i Ohana Poke Market? It's in this post where we do a poke round-up:
http://mmm-yoso.typepad.com/mmmyoso/2011/12/hawaii-a-plethora-of-poke-poke-stop-alicias-market-taniokas-seafood-and-catering-ono-seafood-and-lan.html
Hope all is well!
Posted by: Kirk | Friday, 23 March 2012 at 12:31 PM