Molokai Leper Colony Tour

leaving Honolulu

I usually blog in order of when the event happened
but this one is moving up to the front of the list.

We flew to Molokai for a tour of a historic Leper Colony.

It was such an unusual and interesting place;
I wanted to write about it before I forget things.

Molokai is one of the 8 Hawaiian Islands.

It's about 66 miles Southeast of Oahu.

The Kalaupapa Peninsula is on the north coast of Molokai, 

Settlements were established in 1866 for quarantined treatment of persons with leprosy; 

these operated until 1969.

We flew from Honolulu to the small Molokai Airport 

which is centrally located on the western side of the Island.

Then, from there we flew into the Kalaupapa Airport which is essentially an open air garage.

The only way to get to the peninsula is to fly, hike or ride mules over a rugged mountain range. 

PUDDLE JUMPER

YES, ONLY 9 SEATS

NO SECURITY :) 

Here are s few neat pictures from our flights to Kalaupapa.

Diamond Head Crater with Honolulu in the background

WAIKIKI

East coast of Oahu

East coast of Oahu

Coming up on Molokai

coastline

rural town on Molokai

The first part of the tour was in Kalaupapa(west side of peninsula) 

where the Leper Colony survivors who chose to stay on the island, still live.

There are 14 of them ranging from the upper 70's to 90's.

this was out transportation around the peninsula- fitting

Awesome tour guide at memorial to Saint Marianne

Remains of original hospital and existing hospital in background

transportation over the Mt range

Book store- yes I bought one :)

The tour also took us to the original site of this community in Kalawao
(east side of the peninsula)

There were few remaining structures but we learned about where the ships dropped off the lepers. How they often made them swim to shore & dumped supplies into the sea.

Before Fr. Damien arrived they had to fend for themselves in caves. His aim was to create a community for the diseased to live in and share the Gospel with them.There was much fear of the disease, thought not to have a cure.

We had a bagged lunch in this beautiful place.

This church built in 1872, was renovated 3 times and is the last existing building on the site.

Fr, Damien's grave. Since, his body has been moved- becoming a saint has it's politics.

Fr. Damien

The flights back home were just as exciting as the rest of the day!

Lighthouse at airport

from plane North Shore of Molokai

amazing cliffs

coastline of peninsula

Back to Oahu

 

Honolulu, Waikiki, Diamond Head Crater

Pearl Harbor

We thoroughly enjoyed our experience at Molokai!

Kualoa Ranch

When Chris was home for winter break we decided to go ziplining at Kualoa Ranch. 

The tour was about 3 hours long,

 including 7 zip lines ranging from 200 yards to a quarter mile long and 2 suspension bridges. 

smile Ken

We don't have many pictures from that tour 

because it was a little rainy and we didn't want to drop our phones!

Here are a few that we paid way too much money for :) 

As you can see the scenery was breathtaking. 

I was a little scared at first but after a few rides I loved it!

It is actually a functioning 4000 acre cattle ranch and tropical farm.

The ranch has many adventures to partake in including: 

horseback riding, ATV trips, ocean voyage, and a botanical garden.

A real draw is their movies sites tour where you see locations many famous movies were filmed.

(Jurassic Park, Godzilla, hawaii Five-O and many more)

50 First dates

This was a site from Lost

We also went on a jungle expedition where we saw a set from the Movie Jurassic World, 

you may recognize it.

You can see the dinosaur scratches

The jungle expedition was great, such amazing views and a few interesting stops.

This was our transportation.

Sacred Site

These guys are everywhere in Oahu

We also spent a little time at a beach at Kaneohe Bay, across the street from the Ranch.

smile Ken

It was a fun day, a fitting farewell to Christopher who was leaving the next day for school.