Staycation at Ke Nai Kai on Molokai

[1Kflyerguy]

I am not that familiar with Molokai. How different is the area, weather, etc is Ke Nai Ka from the area where you live? Does Molokai have a dry side and wet side like some of the other islands?

 

[slip]

I am not that familiar with Molokai. How different is the area, weather, etc is Ke Nai Ka from the area where you live? Does Molokai have a dry side and wet side like some of the other islands?

Yes, Molokai is similar to the other islands. We live on the East side and that's the eet side of the island. It's always green and lush there.

We are now at Ke Nani Kai and that is in the West side which is the dry side of the island. When we first bought our condo at WaveCrest 8 years ago. Many of the islands were in a drought. The west side of the island was all brown with the grass drying and brown. It was so bad the deer were starving and dying off.

The last few years have been good though and the west side looks pretty green. As a matter of fact, it's rained every day we have been there. The east side got more rain but it rained really good here on the west side.

Here's the Kepuhi Beach Condos looking towards the ocean. This is the lady who cuts our hair view. This is right across the street from Ke Nani Kai.

 

[T_R_Oglodyte]

When we stayed there in 2006, we loved the beaches on that side of the island.

We came over to Ke Nani Kai after spending a week at Point at Poipu. We flew LIH to HNL first, and met up with my brother and SIL at HNL. They had arrived on Oahu three days earlier, and had been staying in a Ramada in Waikiki. The four of us then took a Mokulele flight to MKK and had a delightful week together on Molokai.

When we were leaving Ke Nani Kai, I gave my brother a list of his portion of our shared expenses (MFs for the unit we used for the exchange, exchange fee, groceries, rental car and gas) He looked it over once, then a second time more closely. Then he said that the his total was less then they had spent for three days in Waikiki and the accommodations were much better.

Our highlight of the trip was the mule ride down the cliffs to Kalaupapa, and the tour of the colony, followed by dinner at the Kualapu'u Cookhouse, and the Friday night community uke and hulu at the Hotel Moloka'i. We all smelled very strongly of mule, but no one seemed to mind.

Ain't timesharing great?

Hula night at the Moloka'i Hotel:

 

[slip]

When we stayed there in 2006, we loved the beaches on that side of the island.

We came over to Ke Nani Kai after spending a week at Point at Poipu. We flew LIH to HNL first, and met up with my brother and SIL at HNL. They had arrived on Oahu three days earlier, and had been staying in a Ramada in Waikiki. The four of us then took a Mokulele flight to MKK and had a delightful week together on Molokai.

When we were leaving Ke Nani Kai, I gave my brother a list of his portion of our shared expenses (MFs for the unit we used for the exchange, exchange fee, groceries, rental car and gas) He looked it over once, then a second time more closely. Then he said that the his total was less then they had spent for three days in Waikiki and the accommodations were much better.

Our highlight of the trip was the mule ride down the cliffs to Kalaupapa, and the tour of the colony, followed by dinner at the Kualapu'u Cookhouse, and the Friday night community uke and hulu at the Hotel Moloka'i. We all smelled very strongly of mule, but no one seemed to mind.

Ain't timesharing great?

Hula night at the Moloka'i Hotel:

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Some things have changed since then. Ke Nani Kai did get renovated but there hasn't been Mules rides to Kalaupapa for years. Same with Hula night at Hotel Molokai. That hasn't been there in years either. The ranch where the Sheridan was closed in 2008 and its been rotting away ever since. The golf course is all grown over.

The Kualapu'u Cookhouse has been closed for about 5 years now too. There is a rumer that someone is going to lease it and reopen a restaurant but that hasn't happened yet.

There is still music nightly at Hiro's Ohana Grill that is in the Hotel Molokai. All the local music is still very good. We are going there for Thanksgiving again this year.

 

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Our daily visitors came through this afternoon.

 

[T_R_Oglodyte]

Some things have changed since then. Ke Nani Kai did get renovated but there hasn't been Mules rides to Kalaupapa for years. Same with Hula night at Hotel Molokai. That hasn't been there in years either. The ranch where the Sheridan was closed in 2008 and its been rotting away ever since. The golf course is all grown over.

The Kualapu'u Cookhouse has been closed for about 5 years now too. There is a rumer that someone is going to lease it and reopen a restaurant but that hasn't happened yet.

There is still music nightly at Hiro's Ohana Grill that is in the Hotel Molokai. All the local music is still very good. We are going there for Thanksgiving again this year.

I'm glad, then, that we visited when we did.

 

[slip]

I'm glad, then, that we visited when we did.

You actually had really good timing for that trip.

 

[T_R_Oglodyte]

You actually had really good timing for that trip.

More fortunate timing. The golf course was still open, so my brother and I did a round at the golf course.

As well, the road to Hale O Lono harbor was still open while we were there.

 

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I made it down to Kepuhi Beach for a Sunset. Here I am with my new haircut.

 

[slip]

More fortunate timing. The golf course was still open, so my brother and I did a round at the golf course.

As well, the road to Hale O Lono harbor was still open while we were there.

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Nice shots. Things have closed down but the scenery is still the same. Kepuhi Beach tonight.

 

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I was a little further west down the Beach in this picture today.

 

[T_R_Oglodyte]

I made it down to Kepuhi Beach for a Sunset. Here I am with my new haircut.

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These are my shots from Kepuhi:

 

[T_R_Oglodyte]

More Kepuhi area from 2006. The resort was still trying to operate at that time.

 

[BJRSanDiego]

There aren't many choices to get a haircut here on Molokai. We used to have a friend that lived at WaveCrest do ours but she moved to the West side a year ago. We still make the trip over to take care of us but she had to have shoulder surgery this summer. It's actually been over six months since she cut our hair last.

I tried to keep up with it but I was way over due and I haven't had my hair that long in decades. Well, just before we left for our staycation she surprised us with a text that she is alright to cut hair again. So finally we were able to get our haircut.

She lives at Kepuhi Beach Condos so we just walked over. We haven't seen her in so long, we were there over three hours catching up. She has a nice view from her lanai and she has adjusted well to life on the west side. Below are a couple of pictures from her lanai.

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During Covid, I bought a contraption called a "FlowBee" to cut my own hair. You plug it in, put on the appropriate attachment and hook up a vacuum cleaner and cut away. With a little practice, it actually did a fairly decent job cutting my hair. The attachments helped to keep me from getting a choppy cut. But I needed help from my wife blocking off the back.

 

[Luanne]

Some things have changed since then. Ke Nani Kai did get renovated but there hasn't been Mules rides to Kalaupapa for years. Same with Hula night at Hotel Molokai. That hasn't been there in years either. The ranch where the Sheridan was closed in 2008 and its been rotting away ever since. The golf course is all grown over.

The Kualapu'u Cookhouse has been closed for about 5 years now too. There is a rumer that someone is going to lease it and reopen a restaurant but that hasn't happened yet.

There is still music nightly at Hiro's Ohana Grill that is in the Hotel Molokai. All the local music is still very good. We are going there for Thanksgiving again this year.

Sorry to hear about all of those changes. When we visited my daughter and I did the tour of Kalaupapa, but we did by plane, not mule ride. The ranch was still open and we had dinner there most nights in the bar. They had a great bar menu. We also very much enjoyed hula night with the aunties playing ukelele at the Hotel Molokai.

 

[slip]

Sorry to hear about all of those changes. When we visited my daughter and I did the tour of Kalaupapa, but we did by plane, not mule ride. The ranch was still open and we had dinner there most nights in the bar. They had a great bar menu. We also very much enjoyed hula night with the aunties playing ukelele at the Hotel Molokai.

Honestly, the changes don't really bother is at all. It would be nice if they would tear the buildings down but we really don't come over to this side often, maybe once every month or two and it's just for the beaches.

I would have liked to have seen when the ranch was running though.

 

[slip]

We are under a High Surf wind and rain warning here and we lost internet last night. We just got it back at 11am today.

Here's a short video from close to the pool at Kepuhi Beach Resort.

 

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Take in a little of last night's sunset from Kepuhi Beach.

 

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Here's some waves coming in last night.

 

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More Kepuhi area from 2006. The resort was still trying to operate at that time.

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Thanks for these. I haven't seen many pictures with the ranch up and running. It's hard to even make out the golf course now that it's so over grown.

 

[slip]

Well, we check out tomorrow morning and head back to the East side. This staycation was nice. We got to get a change of scenery and have a different schedule. We had some rain but not too bad. It was really windy and we were only able to enjoy the lanai a few times but it was still nice.

I'll probably split up these photos up but here are some on the walk to Kepuhi Beach from Ke Nani Kai.

 

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Here are some close to the Kepuhi Beach Resort Pool and the area that belonged to the old Ranch.

 

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Here's the last set of pictures for this trip.