Molokai - Day 5: Wild Turkeys, Sea Kayaking and the cliffs of Kalaupapa

We were joined by a flock of wild turkeys for breakfast... guess they were hoping we could spare a few extra corn flakes...

After breakfast, we took the girls sea kayaking... Ellie paddled almost the entire 2 miles! (All that swimming has made her arms and shoulders strong!) I was really impressed!

Down the coast we entered a mangrove "forest" and paddled up a narrow stream (sometimes only the width of the kayak). We negotiated through the tunnel of branches and roots which often hung just above our heads. A few times Ellie and I almost ran face first into large spider webs stradling the creek. I don't know who was more freaked out by that... me or the 2" spider staring us down! The stream dumped us into an old "menehune fish pond" believed to be built as early as 800AD.

After the mangrove paddle, we all went out onto the reef and did some snorkeling. It was pretty windy and rough. Kate drank mouthfuls of sea water, but was a trouper! I couldn't talk her into getting back into the boat until Ellie came back in as well...

After kayaking we needed to rehydrate with an island favorite... old fashioned SHAVE ICE! Yum! Then headed up to the lookout over Kalaupapa (the old Leper Colony). Once we arrived on island we found that you have to be 16 to enter the colony, so we weren't able to take the donkey trail down. (Note: the trail goes down the 4000 ft. cliff on the left! These are the highest sea cliffs in the world, which is what made Kalaupapa the perfect prison to contain the lepers. What a sad story of inhumanity and ignorance.)