Day-trippin' with dolphins
Written: Feb 09 '03 (Updated Feb 09 '03)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: marine mammals seen en route
Cons: just another expensive, sorta remote tropical "paradise"
The Bottom Line: I preferred the journey to the destination.
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| Jiahong's Full Review: Lanai |
Lana'i, (pronounced with a's as in "hurrah" and "i" as in "see" after the glottal stop, not with a diphthong rhyming with "nigh" as in the word for porch or verandah as borrowed in English) is the sixth largest island in the Hawaiian archipelago. A residue of volcanic action, like all the Hawaiian islands, 234 square miles of Lana'i are above sea level, with the highest elevation 3400 feet. Allegedly, it once supplied more pineapples than anywhere else.
The island is still owned in its entirety by the Dole Food Company, administered by Castle & Cooke Properties, Inc. The 2400 permanent residents mostly work in tourism service, especially at the two large resort hotels.
Castle & Cooke licenses docking privileges to some Lahaina-based tour operators. There is a small airport and a regular ferry between Lahana and Manele Harbor, Lana`i (leaving Lahana at 6:45 am, 9:15 am, 12:45 pm, 3:15 pm, and 5:45 pm; with returning an hour and a quarter later, except for the last ferry, which is at 6:45 pm). The fare each way is $25 for adults, $20 for children aged 2-11, with a discount for those with Hawaiian driver;s licenses. Reservations may be made online at http://www.go-lanai.com/index2.htm. From Manele Harbor it is an 8-minute walk to White Manele Beach and there are shuttle buses to the hotels.
There are 30 miles of paved road on the island. I don't know anything about the quality of the hotels (see their web pages: the Lodge at Koele at http://Travel-Hawaii.com/Lodge_at_Koele.html, the Manele Bay Hotel at http://travel-hawaii.com/Manele_Bay_Hotel.html), or about driving or riding horses around the island (about which there is information at http://www.go-lanai.com/index2.html) having spent the three or so hours that the Seaview Explorer left me on Lana'i on White Manele Beach, swimming and snorkeling off it, plus exploring tide pools and walking up the rock shown on epinions photo.
At least during the humpback whale breeding/birthing season (December-April), the trip to Lana'i seems to me more interesting than being on the island itself. I mean, the vegetation and geology is no different from the other Hawaiian islands, and there are relatively unpopulated beaches on all the islands, even on Oahu.
In addition to the whales (and I doubt that whale-watching companies have to fulfill their promise to take people out again if they don't see whales during the season, since there are thousands of whales in the straits between Maui and Lana'i), there is a pod of spinner dolphins off Lana'i's south side. Boats cannot cut off whales or approach closer than a hundred yards to them (though the whales may approach the boats — and a mother and calf came over to check out our boat with the mother going directly under it), but may accompany the dolphins. besides swimming along with boats, the dolphins leap, spinning out of the water. The grace of their landings is variable, but landing on their sides or bellies does not seem to faze them, and their audiences are more forgiving than figure skating judges are.
Closer to Lahaina, we saw flying fish, and in the tide pools of Lana'i I saw crabs and fish jump. So, I saw a lot of jumping. I saw various tropical fish while I was snorkeling, but no sea turtles.
I have gotten seasick (on a pelagic expedition from Half Moon Bay in northern California, and very nearly crossing from Tangier to Gibraltar), but had no problems in the three hours on the Seaview Explorer (including more than an hour of drifting or moving very slowly as we observed marine mammals). Compared to the east Pacific coast of the US and Canada or most of my observations of the North Atlantic), the waters between Lahaina and Lana'i are smooth, though some other epinion writers have complained of roughness.
I can heartily recommend the people/company who took us to Lana'i (Craig and Greg) and provided food, drink, and a lot of information about the whales, the dolphins, and the history of Lana'i: The Lana'i Dolphin Adventure departs from slip 11 in the Lanai harbor and can be booked at the Korner Store (Dickenson and Wainea, a block inland from Front Street). There is a 4-5 hour "snorkeling adventure" and a 6+ hour one. I thought the shorter one would have been fine and don't know what the difference between a "deli-style" and a "picnic" lunch is. Presumably the staff at the Korner Store could have explained it, had I thought to ask.
There were 18 passengers in our group (departing at 9:45 am; there are earlier ones at 7 and/or 7:30 am) and I did not feel that we were treated like human cattle, as jdhauer says of Trilogy (contrast whitty's epinion), which uses slower catamarans for higher fares. The 6+ hour tariff for the Lana'i Dolphin Adventure is $99, $74 for children 5-12; the 4-5 hour charges $79 and $54—plus 4% state tax and a harbor free of about a dollar).
If one wants to do things on Lana'i, the ferry is the cheapest way to get there and allows more flexibility about length of stay, but it doesn't slow down or look for marine mammals.
Trilogy's "Discover Lana'i" about which whitty and jdhauer have written epinions is currently priced at $169 (6:30 am to 4 pm or 10am to sunset). Reservations and current information can be found at www.sailtrilogy.com. (It is not true that they have exclusive beach access. A large trilogy group arrived after we did and had less time on the beach. I didn't notice that they were fed barbecued food, but trust that that occurred.)
Another conveyor is the Pacific Whale Foundation (www.pacificwhale.org/adventures/wilddolphin.html) which advertises having hydrophones for listening to dolphins and whales and optical masks available for eyeglass wearers. Its price is $74.95 (plus tax and harbor fees of $4.62) with a child 6 or under free for each paying adult,
$15.00 for children aged 7-12 and/or additional kids 6 & under (plus tax and harbor fees of $0.92).
Recommended:
Yes
Best Suited For: Families
Best Time to Travel Here: Mar - May
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