Hawaii | Live. Love. Eats. & Travel

It’s been a while since my last post and I blame it on “island time” and doing research for my blog. My head is still somewhere in Lanai while I am back in Denmark. Our journey took 24 hours and 4 flights but it was well worth it. I hadn’t realized that the travel time from Denmark to Lanai was one of the furthest points we could travel. Conveniently enough we didn’t need to change our watches since it was exactly 12 hours time difference.

Lanai is the 6th largest of the Hawaiian islands with only 3000 inhabitants. There are no traffic lights on the island, only stop signs, and this is the way the locals want to keep it. To explore the island you can rely on public transportation contracted by the hotels or renting a car for “off-roading”. The islanders make their way, via a 45 minute ferry ride to their neighbor island, Maui, which is only 9 miles away, for shopping outside of the daily necessities as Lanai has no shopping malls.

The island was owned by Mr. Dole and was once known as the pineapple island because it of its wide-spread plantations. Unfortunately because of the rise in cost of the production it was moved oversees and it is no longer home to the pineapple plantations. The island was recently sold to Larry Ellison, CEO of Oracle. He now owns 98% of Lanai, leaving only 2% to Hawaii. According to the locals he plans to invest millions in agriculture and the islands infrastructure.

There are only two hotels on the island, both run by the Four Seasons. The Four Seasons Resort Lanai in Manele Bay and the Lodge at Ko’ele. The Resort Lanai is located on the southern coast, at Hulopoe Bay, and this was home for 5 days. The white sand beaches are so serene with the blue waters and even better a great place to see dolphins. We were fortunate enough to see them daily and some people with the group even swam with them. Hotel employees told us there was a hefty $10k fine if you were caught by “island officials” but fortunately enough for them the “officials” never came by.

A short hike up a rocky cliff from the Four Seasons Lanai lies Puu Pehe, Sweetheart Rock, a landmark between Manele Bay and Hulopoe Bay. Here you see will see majestic views of the sea and depending on what time you are there you can catch the sunset. Legend is a heartbroken warrior jumped from this 80-foot summit, as he was overcome with grief after he found his wife Pehe had drowned by the surge of the waves. Downer, I know, but whats a post on an Hawaiian Island without a warriors legend.

This place was paradise. A quiet island that offered true serenity.