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Luxury on Lana’i
To get a full sense of the island’s offerings, we spend a night at the Four Seasons Resort Lana’i at Manele Bay. The island’s only other hotel is the Four Season’s sister property, The Lodge at Koele, a sprawling plantation-style estate located a little further inland. The grounds of the Lodge include lush gardens and a beautiful pagoda that overlooks the resort’s Reflecting Pond. The resort is a popular destination with both visitors and residents who come to enjoy the traditional afternoon tea service.
The Manele Bay property is breathtaking. A blend of Victorian, Chinese, Polynesian, and Mediterranean architecture, its design includes five exquisite, themed gardens. Rare and valuable antiques from throughout Asia fill the downstairs lobby, which opens onto a seaside terrace, but it’s the colossal wall murals that immediately captivate us. These line the lobby, and include a series of hand painted murals depicting the exotic wedding party of an emperor and his princess bride.
The hotel overlooks the beach cliffs and a marine reserve famous for the green sea turtles and spinner dolphins that populate the waters. After breakfast, I head out for a relaxing swim, and James dons his snorkel gear. While I float on my back by the shore, enjoying the songbirds that fill the trees close to the water, James is almost immediately surrounded by an enormous pod of spinner dolphins. Seemingly unfazed by his presence, they surround him, languidly approaching and retreating during the hour or so he swims among them.
Starlight
For our last evening in Hawaii, we’ve arranged for our own moonlight cruise aboard one of the beautiful catamarans belonging to Trilogy Excursions. Once we’ve found a spot on the deck, we relax and watch as the sails fill with a soft, steady wind, and the boat slips into the deeper water at the island’s edge.
For several hours, we sip our cocktails, watch as the stars slowly come out above the cliffs along the shore, and devise a plan that involves running away without telling anyone how to find us. We’ll live beneath the palm trees beside the sea, with fresh mango and papaya for dinner every night.
Once a romantic, always a romantic, I suppose. At least, while the stars are out, and I don’t have to face the prospect of trading fruit and coconuts to keep my shoe collection up to date. James just smiles, pointing out that we’d need a refrigerator, too. It is, after all, really the only practical way to keep champagne adequately chilled.
Resources
MAUI
Wailea Beach Marriott
Resort & Spa
(808) 879-1922
www.waileamarriott.com
Four Seasons Resort Maui
(808) 874-8000
www.fourseasons.com/Maui
Pacific Whale Foundation
Eco-Adventures
(808) 249-8811
www.pacificwhale.org
Trilogy Excursions
(808) 874-5649
www.sailtrilogy.com
I’O Restaurant
(808) 661-8422
www.iomaui.com
LANA’I
Four Seasons Resort Lana’i at Manele Bay
(808) 565-2000
www.fourseasons.com/manelebay
Four Seasons Resort Lana'i
The Lodge at Koele
(808) 565-4000
www.fourseasons.com/koele
Hotel Lana’i
(808) 565-7211
www.hotellanai.com
Expeditions Ferry
(800) 695-2624
www.go-Lanai.com
Jeep Safari
(808) JEEP-808, ext. 23
www.dollarLanai.com
January/February 2009
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