Woke to a beautiful sunrise
I discovered that I could get the chance to visit the Moloka'i Plumeria, pick my own flowers and make my own lei! Whoop.
Moloka'i is much quieter than the other islands. It's sleepier and - I was told today - has the highest percentage of native Hawaiians here. A decision was made some years ago not to bow to tourism and, as such there are no high rises, few hotels and places to visit are not always notably signposted.
I passed the Plumeria three times before I turned into the right road.
I met Dick, who gave me a tour.
I saw the deciduous trees, which produce the flowers in the orchard.
To be honest, I was expecting small orchid type plants, the kind you get on a pot.
The flowers were beautiful and they smelt divine.
Dick and his wife have been here for 30+ years, you can read about them here: https://molokaiplumerias.com/
I found their story really interesting. I enjoyed talking to Dick, who spent his teenage years in New Zealand and is very funny (dry sarcasm, just my humour).
We talked travel, life, bees and flowers. I was left to pick my own flowers and to admire the Plumeria
Sadly, about 15 years ago Dick and his wife had about 3000 trees. About 15 years ago they noticed the bore hole of a beetle which attacks the trees. The ants seemed to keep the beetle at bay, however. Since that time there has been less rain and higher drought levels. As a result, the beetle has multiplied and they have lost about (difficult to be exact) 1500+ trees. That was hard to hear, after all the hard work they put in.
Once I had picked my blooms, we retired under the tree to make the lei.
With the help of a special - really long - needle.
And a bit of thread.
Very proud of it I was too.
Dick had encouraged me to pick more blooms take back as the smell is intoxicating. It really is.
So I did
Following that I went for lunch. I had seared mahi. OMG. OMG. OMG. Never eaten mahi before. (It's a fish, a bit fleshy, like cod but oilier). It was delicious. All crispy and just mmmm
From the Fish and Shrimp food truck.
The rest of day was spent wandering round and on the beach. Chilled.
Then watching the sunset.
I can't complain.
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