Lanai’s Life of Luxury--on a Budget

Money talks on Lanai, as it does everywhere, but it may speak a little more loudly on this 13-by-18-mile speck of an island wedged between Molokai, Maui and Kahoolawe. If you take a look at its plush hotels, you may hear it saying, “Aloha and welcome to the aptly named Luxury Isle. Please check your money belt at the desk.”

As a graduate student at the University of Hawaii, I barely have a belt, much less one stuffed with bills.

Still, I wanted to see Lanai, a place that attracts only 100,000 tourists annually and only a few of them from the other islands. (Contrast that with Maui, which gets about 2 million, or Kauai, which gets a little more than 1 million.) So my girlfriend, Sylvia, and I devised a plan: We would go to Lanai for the weekend and indulge at the hotels, but only for snacks, meals or drinks. For lodgings we would camp at Hulopoe Beach for only $5 per person a night, plus a registration fee.

In doing so, we experienced the best of both worlds, finding that some of the island’s delights do come at a price but that others are free. Both make a trip to this dewdrop-shaped island worthwhile.

We flew from Honolulu to Lanai on the Friday before the Fourth of July and picked up our rental Jeep. There is no public transportation here, and the island has only 29 miles of paved roads, so we decided to fork out the $129 per day to explore the dirt roads that crisscross this onetime pineapple plantation.

Beginning in 1922, the island was turned into a sort of pineapple republic by the Dole Corp. (The only town of any size is Lanai City, population about 2,600.) Castle & Cooke bought much of Dole’s stock in 1932 and merged with Dole in 1961. By the 1970s and ‘80s Hawaiian pineapple producers were relocating to countries where labor was less expensive, and the island turned to tourism. Two upscale resorts were opened in 1991, the country manor estate-style Lodge at Koele, and the beachside behemoth Manele Bay Hotel.

All 102 rooms at the Lodge at Koele come with mountain or ocean views and numerous amenities. Two huge fireplaces warm the large lobby, decorated with wicker chairs, oil paintings of European gentry, pillow-soft sofas and lamps with paper shades, all softly illuminated by frosted panel skylights. The Terrace dining area looks onto the 18-hole golf course and a hiking trail. A one-minute drive or five-minute walk takes you to tennis courts. In the afternoon, tea is served in the music room. Room rates begin at $400 a night.

The 249-room Manele Bay Hotel has a hangar-sized lobby decorated with antique Asian art, furniture and rugs. An Olympic-size swimming pool with two spas looks out onto to Hulopoe Bay and beach, and guests will also find a fitness center and health club. Rooms begin at $300 a night.

That is how the other half lives. This half, meanwhile, had picked up a pineapple-yellow Jeep and settled in for dinner in the core of Lanai City at Pele’s Other Garden, an organic deli and restaurant with a small health food store in back.

We began with an organic mixed green salad with a sweet vinaigrette, and bruschetta, topped with tomato slices and webbed with simmered balsamic vinegar that was slightly sugary, like molasses, and drew out the sweetness of the tomatoes. We had the bow-tie pasta with marinara sauce and sampled the cheesecake with two dipping sauces, raspberry for Sylvia and chocolate for me.

The sun began sagging toward the sea, so we were eager to set up our tent. Lanai’s expanse of rolling fields broadened before us as we drove down Manele Road, or Hawaii Highway 440 East, which really heads south, six miles to Hulopoe Bay. Norfolk pines line the highway amid a veldt of sweeping, neck-high grass. Orange and volcanic gray earth and burned-out trees frame the view of Kahoolawe island (a former military bombing range shut down by protest and now uninhabited and littered with ordnance) on the winding last leg toward the bay.

The campground is not clearly marked, but we could see several tent spaces against a wall of brush and small trees. There was a quiet place for us underneath coconut trees (from which the fruit has been removed). We had permits, but we chose to sleep on the beach instead of at our designated spot.

With tent up and sun down, valuables locked in the Jeep, we walked up the torch-lighted paved trail to the Manele Bay resort for a nightcap. Sylvia sipped a lava flow, a pina colada with strawberry puree, and I nursed a pineapple island iced tea (a Long Island iced tea with pineapple juice). We reclined in rattan chairs in the Ahe’Ahe lounge overlooking the darkened bay, listening to pianist Maggie Dula play and sing “Blue Hawaii.” Kitschy? Perhaps, but we were too relaxed to care.

Before we got so comfortable that we couldn’t move, we headed back to the beach, where kerosene lamps illuminated tents and wood tables. Kids with flashlights sat on the shore, and men fished. There were no mosquitoes and it was balmy, so we left our tent flap open, lulled to sleep by the dim light of the moon and the sound of the surf.

Soon after waking up Saturday morning, we spied spinner dolphins leaping and flipping above awestruck swimmers in tranquil Hulopoe Bay. (You’re almost certain to see them when you’re on Lanai.) Swimsuits quickly tugged on, snorkel masks in hand, we dashed to the water to join the dolphin frolic.

The dolphins zigged and zagged, forcing those who were chasing them to change course at the mammals’ whim. Before leaping in, I told Sylvia I’d rather not swim out too deep; I’d be disappointed if they swam off. (I’m no aqua-man but, in reality, a chicken of the sea.) I snorkeled past the breakers and saw the dolphins hundreds of yards away. Sylvia, on the other hand, swam out to the creatures and was treading water with other snorkelers as all eyes scanned the sea.

Ten minutes later, scores of dolphins returned. A swirl of them passed under Sylvia while others popped, flipped and skipped out and along the surface. People applauded and cheered, and Sylvia squealed with delight.

Swimming worked up our appetites, so we drove seven miles to the west edge of Lanai City for brunch in the Terrace dining area inside the Great Hall of the Koele lodge. I had a bagel with fresh salmon, tender avocado, crisp Maui onions and soft cream cheese, and Sylvia dove into the French brioche toasted, served with a vanilla bean sauce and garnished with a caramelized pear and walnuts. It was elegant and filling.

Ready to roll, we jumped into the Jeep and started down Keomoku Road, which winds eight miles to the sea. At the end of the dirt road is a footpath, but before walking up, I spotted a giant sea turtle, with a shell as big as a tire and a head as wide a cue ball, about 10 feet offshore. It’s illegal to touch one of these endangered creatures, so I was cautious. I dove in and swam about 15 feet behind it for half a minute or so until it shot like an arrow and disappeared in the deep.

The trail took us by the crumbling foundations of a lighthouse long destroyed. Standing atop its foundation, we spied what looks like a rusted tanker almost completely above water, stuck in the shallows. It’s actually a World War II Liberty ship washed up on the coral. Northeastern trade winds churn the water over the wide, flat reef, making it treacherous for ships. All manner of schooners have sunk or been crushed against the reef here, and bits of vessels wash ashore to this day.

We were about to comb Shipwreck Beach but realized we were near some Hawaiian petroglyphs, interesting images etched on stone that depict early Hawaiian culture. Scrambling through one brush gulch, we found some petroglyphs of stickmen and some sort of animal. (Had we planned a petroglyph outing, we would have spent more time at the Luahiwa petroglyphs closer to Lanai City--a heiau , or shrine, where the Hawaiian rain gods Ku and Hina were worshiped.)

After kicking around in the sand, we headed back to the Koele lodge and, next to the tennis courts, picked up a dirt road that snaked west. For 30 minutes we trailblazed in our Jeep through Mars-red dirt and barbed wire-fenced cattle fields, aiming for the Garden of the Gods, a plateau filled with thousands of hand-stacked prayer rocks.

On the way to the stonescape garden we stopped at the Kanepuu Preserve, six miles northwest of Lanai City. Managed by the Nature Conservancy, it has a 10-minute loop trail with examples of ancient dry-land forest that once covered 80% of the island. Cattle and sheep grazing and pineapple harvesting were the primary culprits in the deforestation. Much of the remaining canopy is threatened by 8,000 axis deer that roam wild.

Ten minutes north of the preserve, at the Garden of the Gods, we began our descent into the valley, awed by the swirl patterns of blue and violet embedded in tangerine and gray rocks. All the way down, thousands of softball-size rocks are piled into little towers. No one knows for sure how long people have stacked rocks here, but it’s obvious that it’s still being done.

Like a kid at the beach eager to build sandcastles, I wanted to start stacking, but I knew it was a spiritual place to many, so I left things alone.

Back in Lanai City, we discovered the ninth annual Pineapple Festival was in progress, so we joined the festivities. Sitting on the grass, we listened to music and nibbled at pork skewers, rice and sugar-coated malasadas . At about 7 p.m. we started to leave, then learned we could stay for fireworks a couple of hours later, so we wandered over to Henry Clay’s Rotisserie in the Hotel Lanai.

Eleven country-style bungalows cost $98 a night at this home that Sanford Dole built. Inside Clay’s, we hunkered down at the bar and enjoyed tropical drinks. Even though we had just eaten, the food smelled delicious, so we ordered an appetizer of garlic shrimp in a Cajun sauce with bread on the side. It was divine.

As 9 o’clock approached, we walked back to Dole Park, joining grandmas, aunties and uncles, babies and parents. A few minutes later the fireworks began to streak the sky, and I looked at the faces in the crowd, bathed pink, green and gold by the flashes. As I watched the people’s delight, I was struck by how much a part of Lanai I felt. I was the richer for it.

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Guidebook: Both Worlds of Lanai

* Getting there: Hawaiian Air has nonstop service from LAX to Lanai. Many carriers fly to Honolulu, where Hawaiian and Aloha airlines offer service to Lanai. Restricted round-trip fares from L.A. begin at $431.

Travelers can also hop the ferry from Maui to Lanai. Round-trip tickets cost $52. Expeditions can arrange accommodations, golf trips, four-wheel treks, horseback riding and clay shooting adventures. For ferry information, contact Expeditions, 658 Front St., Suite 127, Lahaina, HI 96761; telephone (800) 695-2624, fax (808) 661-0544, Internet https://www.go-lanai.com.

* Where to stay: We had no hassles camping at Hulopoe Beach campground. There are six spots with fire pits and tables. Clean restrooms and beach showers are nearby.

We bought camping permits ($5 per campsite), then paid $5 per person per night for two nights. Camping is limited to seven days. Request permits at least a week in advance from Castle & Cooke Resorts, Camping Permits, P.O. Box 630310, Lanai City, HI 96763; tel. (808) 565-3978.

The rustic 11-room Hotel Lanai in Lanai City is an affordable alternative to the resorts, with rooms priced from $95 to $140, single or double occupancy. A continental breakfast is included. The acclaimed Henry Clay’s Rotisserie is in the hotel. 828 Lanai Ave., Lanai City, HI 96763; tel. (800) 795-7211 or (808) 565-7211, fax (808) 565-6450, https://www.hotellanai.com.

Dreams Come True, a bed-and-breakfast, is set in a large plantation house with beautiful gardens. Rate: $98.50 a night, double occupancy. Each room has a cozy canopy bed, private bathroom and antique decor. Luxury homes can be rented from $198 a night. 547 12th St., Lanai City, HI 96763; tel. (800) 566-6961 or (808) 565-6961, https://www.circumvista.com/dreamscometrue.html.

Manele Bay Hotel has a spa, a bamboo massage hut next to a waterfall and pond, an Olympic-size swimming pool, a golf course, tennis courts and the best beach and snorkel spot on the island. Rooms begin at $395 a night. P.O. Box 630310, Lanai City, HI 96763; tel. (800) 321-4666 or (808) 565-7700, fax (808) 565-2483, https://www.lanairesorts.com.

The Lodge at Koele was designed as a country estate. Rooms begin at $400. P.O. Box 630310, Lanai City, HI 96763; tel. (800) 321-4666 or (808) 565-7300, fax (808) 565-4561, https://www.lodgeatkoele.com.

* Where to eat: Pele’s Other Garden, Deli and Bistro, on the corner of 8th and Houston, Lanai City, local tel. 565-9628. Charming Italian-influenced place serves modest lunch fare ($6 to $12) and more elegant pasta and seafood dishes at dinner ($15 to $24).

The Blue Ginger Cafe, 409 7th St., Lanai City; 565-6363. Down-home ambience, indoor and outdoor tables. Breakfast ($3 to $6) and lunch ($3 to $18).

Henry Clay’s Rotisserie at Hotel Lanai (see above). Salads, pasta, ribs, rotisserie chicken and seafood; entrees $19 to $30.

* For more information: Destination Lanai, P.O. Box 700, Lanai City, HI 96763; tel. (808) 565-7600, fax (808) 565-9316, https://www.visitlanai.net.

Hawaii Visitors and Convention Bureau, 2270 Kalakaua Ave., Suite 801, Honolulu, HI 96815; tel. (800) GO-HAWAII (464-2924), fax (808) 924-0290, https://www.gohawaii.com.

-- Christopher Cottrell