Hawaii's forgotten isle now invites visitors to share its wonders
We sit at a picnic table less than 50 yards from the beach, staring across the azure water at the great landmass that is Maui. A gaggle of peacocks and roosters aggressively jockey for position at our feet every time we toss a scrap of food into the sand. Even after our picnic is over, the birds follow us around as if we're the only company they've had all day. In fact, we probably are. Aside from a couple of Jeeps and two dogs, we haven't seen another soul out here.
Instead, we've seen a vast expanse of junglelike landscape cut through by a rutted road whose red dirt now coats our faces and clothes. We've walked along gorgeous, empty beaches strewn with sun-baked coconuts and treasures blown in by northeastern trade winds.
Along the way to this untrafficked eastern side of the island, we've seen remnants from various chapters of Lanai's past: a pier and old pilings from its sugar plantation era, a tiny church from the days of pineapple farming that followed. Together they told the story of an island that has changed much over the centuries, but that remains powerfully, mysteriously itself: an island that lingers in your memories long after you have returned home.
Fragments of the past
Although it's only 9 miles west of Maui, Lanai feels utterly removed. It's tiny--141 square miles--with a population of 2,800, virtually all of whom live in Lanai City. The latter is hardly a city; though, consisting of little more than several streets of plantation homes, a 10-room hotel, and a handful of restaurants and shops. It's connected to the airport by one of the island's few paved roads, Kaumalapau Highway (State 440).
When you make the drive along this road from the one-runway Lanai Airport to Lanai City, the first thing you see is an expanse of arid land. The vivid red dirt is dotted by bits of black plastic, sheets of which used to provide a mulch for 16,000 acres of pineapples. From 1920 to 1980, 98 percent of Lanai was owned by the Dole Food Co. And virtually every islander worked in the fields, planting and harvesting the profitable fruit by hand.
