The Simple Life in Lanai

Aloha! I'm back from an amazing trip to Hawaii and since there was so much to talk about, I figured I'd split my trip into two posts about the two separate islands, Lanai (pictured below) and Maui.



My friend Jana and I arrived at LAX bright and early Wednesday morning and boarded an uneventful American Airlines flight to Honolulu. But when we touched down in Hawaii, we found out our connecting flight on Mokuele Airlines was on a propeller plane that sat 9 people. At check in, we had to weigh ourselves and our luggage and so they could seat us accordingly to balance the tiny plane. Anyone who knows me can attest that I'm a slightly nervous flier (to put it mildly), so we headed to the bar for some liquid courage before boarding...

And even though I was trying to escape Hollywood for a few days, it still managed to follow me to the Honolulu airport. While going to our terminal, I ran into Paris Hilton's boyfriend Cy Waits and his friends who were heading to Molokai, another remote island to hunt wild boar. True story. Paris would be joining them next week for the non-hunting portion of their trip in Kauai.

After downing our drinks, it was time for Jana and I to head to Lanai via our little plane. This is what was waiting for us at the gate:



Despite my hestitation, we boarded the puddle jumper and tried to pretend it was a private jet. After a slight delay on the runway, we were off...and once we were up in the air, it was actually pretty awesome! They flew fairly low so we could see the island and the reefs from the air as we left. We even flew right next to rainbow! I figured that was a good sign and relaxed...a little.



When we touched down in Lanai, I was ready to start my vacation. Lanai is super small and very laid back. Jana kept saying "I feel like we're on Lost!". Apparently, we came during a slow time and we almost had the Four Seasons Manele Bay resort to ourselves. We liked how all of the rooms had empty minifridges, since Jana had packed snacks for our trip, and that the hotel offered free fitness classes. On our first night, we took the shuttle into Lanai City...if you could call it a city. As our bus driver said, "Blink and you might miss it". The "city" consists of a few restaurants, gas stations and not much else.

We tried to go to Pele's, which one traveler recommended, and they stopped seating people at 8 p.m! We settled for pizza and an early night. The next morning, we decided to do some hiking. There were a few different trails by our resort, and we opted to do the legendary Sweetheart's Rock path, which the front desk assistant recommended. It didn't disappoint! The hike was pretty easy and began with us walking along south by the beach until we reached the rocky cliffs. That's when the views got even more amazing. 

          

By the time we reached the top of the summit, we could see the Sweetheart Rock and our entire resort. It was stunning! Don't miss this if you ever visit Lanai.

After we got our hike on, we decided to hit the beautiful beach in front of our hotel.

The Four Seasons has tons of good freebies, and we're not just talking about your standard beach towels and chairs. They had free umbrellas, ice water, lemonade, cold hand towels and snorkel equipment.

We laid out for awhile and watched the spinner dolphins swimming in the bay. Apparently they're frequent visitors and the staff won't check out snorkeling gear when they're in the vicinity, so we just relaxed and read our books. Ironically, Jana had brought Swimsuit by James Patterson, about a serial killer on the loose in Maui. He also kills someone on Lanai and in Kihei (which we visited later in the trip). It definitely made me lock the patio doors at night!

Once the dolphins finished playing, we grabbed our snorkel gear and headed down the south side of the beach by the rocks. The water was so clear and you could see lots of colorful fish by the reef. We even saw an eel, and suddenly, that was enough snorkeling for us that day!

For our second and last night in Lanai, we decided to attempt a bar crawl. First, we hit the pool bar for happy hour. Although everything at the Four Seasons is pretty expensive, they had a good half price happy hour from 4-5.

Then, we took the shuttle up to The Lodge, the other Four Seasons property on the island. It's located up in the mountains and had a very rustic feel to it, complete with fireplaces in the lobby. Although it was cool to see, I was glad our hotel was by the beach. The Lodge wasn't that happening so we headed to Pele's (again) for their happy hour.

This time, we made it. All of their appetizers are half price until 8 p.m. and beer and wine was discounted, too. There were a few other people there, but it definitely wasn't crowded. That was the extent of our search for nightlife. If you're looking for a party, Lanai isn't the place to go. But if you want some peaceful relaxation in a beautiful oceanfront setting, I'd definitely recommend a visit. Just ask Bill Gates. He got married on the golf course at Manele Bay in 1994 and rented out the entire resort to ensure his privacy.

If you'd like to visit Lanai and the Four Seasons rates are out of your price range, there's one other option on the island: Hotel Lanai. It's located in the "city" but you can easily take the Four Seasons shuttle to the beach and rooms start at $99 a night. The restaurant there is supposed be excellent, too.

Lanai was a great place to start our trip and get into mellow vacation mode. Our next stop, Maui, was way more exciting. Check back here for more pictures and video soon!