Saturday, June 13, 2015

Molokai


[Notes from my travel/sketch journal #1]
Eyes closed, the fragrance took me back to the first time I smelled plumeria, growing on a bush.  The smell is transporting and makes one want to linger to bathe oneself completely in its perfume.  I didn’t know at the time that they release their soft fragrance to attract sphinx moths to pollinate them. Can you imagine attracting only one species of precious moths to propagate yourself?

This was first time in Hawaii and we were staying on the island of Molokai.    I immediately liked it and thought it was completely un touristy.  
 
Reading while sunbathing.

The short flight from Honolulu on a small aircraft was an adventure in tropical air.  We rented a car from the little airport and drove over dusty red roads to the west end of the island.  The Kalua Koi resort was the usual stuff, well manicured lawns,  swimming pools and myna birds shrieking out from the coconut palms. 
Gent, not sure to go in the water.

My friend introduced to the joys of snorkeling and was I transfixed by the reef fish of so many colors, shapes and sizes.  

We had fun driving to the little communities, but now suffering the economic woes of abandoned pineapple plantations. 
  
The main town of Kanakakai had only one street light and a tidy row of small churches built by feverish missionaries coming to the island to save the natives.  


Tattooed lady, Marcia, and Rags in Molokai Hotel bar.
I marveled at the signs under cocoanut palm groves warning people if walked under the palms they would be killed by falling coconuts.   

I partially enjoyed stopping in tiny boutique hotels with small bars where only the locals seemed to meet up.

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