Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
urge to go frolicking through the palm grove, heed the warning signs and stay out from
beneath the trees, lest you get bonked on the head.
Church Row
If you're into visiting old churches, then
Church Row
across the street from Kapuaiwa
Coconut Grove has seven to choose from. Most of the churches are simple and don't offer
much in the way of architecture, but it's fascinating to see how many different denomina-
tions still practice devotions on a weekly basis. Some of the sermons are still conducted in
the Hawaiian language. You can stand in the parking lot outside and listen to hymns being
sung in Hawaiian while gazing across the street and almost see Kamehameha V relaxing
in his grove of 1,000 palms.
Moloka'i Plumeria Farm
Just west of town on Highway 460 as the road starts heading uphill sits the
Moloka'i
Plumeria
Farm
(808/553-3391,
9am-12pm
Mon.-Sat.,
free) where you can tour the 10-acre property and even make your own lei.
MM
Moloka'i Forest Reserve
As you head west from Kaunakakai, slowly gaining in elevation, the turnoff for the
Mo-
loka'i Forest Reserve
is just before mile marker 4. Turn right before the bridge, and after
a few hundred yards you'll pass the Homelani Cemetery. Here, red-dirt Maunahui Road
winds its way into the mountains. Your car-rental agency will tell you that this road is
impassable except in a four-wheel drive, and it's right—if it's raining or has rained re-
cently. The road is rough even when it's dry; anyone without a high-clearance truck or jeep
shouldn't even consider it. If you have the proper vehicle, however, follow the rutted road
up into the hills and you'll soon be in a deep forest of 'ohi'a, pine, eucalyptus, and gi-
ant ferns which have thrived since their planting in the early 1900s. The cool, pleasant air
mixes, with rich earthy smells of the forest, and at 5.5 miles you enter the Moloka'i Forest
Reserve.
After nine miles, you'll come upon the
Sandalwood Measuring Pit
(Lua Na Moku
'Iliahi), a depression in the ground in the shape of a ship's hull. Now bordered by a green
pipe fence, it's not spectacular. This is a long way to go over a rough road just to see a
shallow hole in the ground. Nevertheless, the Sandalwood Pit is a permanent reminder of
the days of mindless exploitation when money and possessions were more important than
