Kalaupapa: How to get there today

By Anna Weaver
Hawaii Catholic Herald

You may know about St. Damien and St. Marianne. And you may know about Kalaupapa and its Hansen’s disease settlement where they dedicated their lives to serving those forcibly sent into isolation because of their disease.

But do you know how to get to this holy and historic place?

“Many, many people dream of coming here. But few make it,” said John McBride, who co-owns Saints Damien and Marianne Cope Molokai Tours.

As of May 2019, the only way to visit Kalaupapa, the isolated peninsula on the north side of Molokai in the Hawaiian islands, is to fly there. A landslide in December 2018 took out one of the essential pedestrian bridges that allowed people to hike or ride mules up and down the steep cliffside trail that connects “topside” Molokai with the peninsula.

The path is indefinitely closed while the National Park Service, which operates Kalaupapa National Historical Park, figures out a repair. The last park service estimate was that it could be about a year until the pedestrian bridge is reinstalled and the trail reopens.

In the meantime, if you’re over 16 years old and in good health (there are no public medical facilities in Kalaupapa) you can fly in and tour the peninsula with permission. The easiest way to do that is to go with a sponsored tour company.

That’s because even if you’ve arranged your own flights to Kalaupapa, you need to be the guest of a current patient or resident in order to visit the national park.

 

Official tour companies

The two official tour companies operating in Kalaupapa today are co-owned by two different resident-patients.

Clarence “Boogie” Kahilihiwa owns Kekaula Tours and works with Molokai Mule Ride. There aren’t any mules going to Kalaupapa right now what with the trail closure, but you can still book a flight and tour package through them. Fly in day tours cost $249 from topside and $349 from Honolulu and Kahului.

If you’re booking flights separately, the tour alone is $79 a person plus tax, which includes ground transportation and a light lunch. More information is at muleride.com or by contacting 808-567-6088 and themuleride@gmail.com.

After Damien Tours’ owner Gloria Marks retired a few years ago, one of the main ways to tour Kalaupapa ceased. In its place, Saints Damien and Marianne Cope Molokai Tours started operation in January 2019.

Mele Watanuki co-owns the company with John McBride, who also acts as the group tour guide and bus driver, and Paul Meyer, the former president of R.W. Meyer, Ltd. Topside to Kalaupapa tour prices are $329 for individuals and $310 for group bookings, which includes the flight, tour, transportation and lunch. For more information call 808-895-1673 or email molokaidaytour@hawaii.rr.com.

Other options

Several times a year, Bishop Larry Silva leads a Kalaupapa pilgrimage trip arranged by Seawind Tours and operated by Saints Damien and Marianne Cope Molokai Tours. There are two pilgrimages remaining in 2019, on Aug. 10 and Oct. 27, both costing $399 per person including flights, transportation, a guided tour led by the bishop and lunch. Read more about the March 2019 pilgrimage experience below.

Sacred Hearts Father Patrick Killilea, pastor of St. Francis Parish in Kalaupapa, also takes small groups of 6 or less around from time to time but not as part of an official tour company.

Make sure to check with your tour hosts about whether meals are provided during your Kalaupapa trip. Those with food allergies should bring in their own food. Tours without food provided mean you’ll need to bring in your own sustenance as there are no public restaurants or stores on the peninsula. You might also want to pack a snack and bring a reusable water bottle either way. The one small grocery store on the peninsula is for residents only.

Available flights

Mokulele Air was picked in March 2018 as the designated airline to provide essential air service to Kalaupapa. It operates regular daily flights to and from the peninsula with the average roundtrip cost of a flight from Oahu at around $120. Call 808-495-4188 for more details and current pricing or visit mokuleleairlines.com.

Got a small group that wants to go to Kalaupapa? The following charter flight companies offer private flights for between 4 to 9 people per plane to and from Kalaupapa. Some of them have flights with a stopover in Kaunakakai on topside Molokai before heading down to the peninsula. After Mokulele Airlines, Makani Kai operates the most regular flights to Kalaupapa. Call for pricing and details.

• Makani Kai Air: 808-834-1111
• George’s Aviation Services: 808-834-2120
• Pacific Air Charters: 808-839-3559
• Royal Pacific Air Charter: 808-838-7788

The bishop’s pilgrimage

By Anna Weaver
Hawaii Catholic Herald

The day was clear and not too sunny when 16 people joined Bishop Larry Silva on a March 17 pilgrimage to Kalaupapa.

Among them were six non-Catholics, a few repeat visitors, and many local Catholics on their first visit to the Hansen’s disease settlement where two saints lived and died.

“I’ve wanted to come for so many years but I didn’t know how to get here,” said Marilyn Llanos, a parishioner at Immaculate Conception, Ewa Beach, who brought her daughter Louise Greencorn along with her. After seeing an ad for the bishop’s pilgrimage, Llanos finally secured herself a spot to see Kalaupapa.

That day’s pilgrimage group boarded two small Makani Kai charter planes early on the morning of St. Patrick’s Day and flew from Oahu directly to tiny Kalaupapa airport. As they prepared to touchdown on the small runway, the travelers caught a glimpse of the beautiful and isolating sea cliffs that naturally separate the peninsula from the rest of the island.

The group then boarded “the nicest vehicle in Kalaupapa and maybe the whole island,” according to tour guide John McBride, a large Mercedes-Benz passenger van purchased with the start of the new Saints Damien and Marianne Cope Molokai Tours.

Kalaupapa historian Pat Boland helped co-lead the tour. Sisters of St. Francis of the Neumann Communities Alicia Damien Lau and Barbara Jean Wajda, who live in Kalaupapa, helped keep things running smoothly.

As the van headed off on the tour, Boland pointed out the “Welcome to Kalaupapa,” adding, “What it should really say is, ‘Take off your shoes, you’re on sacred ground.’”

Since this was the bishop’s pilgrimage, the day trip followed the Diocese of Honolulu’s “St. Damien, St. Marianne Pilgrimage Guide.” It started off with prayer at the airport and included Mass at St. Elizabeth Chapel and a prayer service at St. Philomena Church in Kalawao, one of the churches built by St. Damien, a skilled carpenter. (Kalawao is the other “district” on the Kalaupapa peninsula besides Kalaupapa town itself.)

During a brief break on the tour, McBride and his tour company co-owner Meli Watanuki sat on the front porch of Bishop Home, a former residence for girls started by Mother Marianne and the current home of Sisters Alicia Damien and Barbara Jean.

“I think our tour is unique because we try to tell the stories of the patients,” McBride said. “We want to let people know the hardships that these people had. But not just the hardships.

“I mean it’s a sad story of what happened, but I think it’s also a story of triumph. These are people that overcame a struggle that most people would have given into. They had nowhere to look but up because there was nobody else that was going to help them.”

“The events that have happened here have somehow made this place hallowed,” McBride said. “Somebody who’s sensitive spiritually will feel that this area is a little different from any place else that they’ve been.”

As he pointed out to that day’s tour group, visitors are able to come because of Meli Watanuki’s invitation. “Without her you wouldn’t be here,” he told them.

Watanuki was diagnosed with Hansen’s disease at age 18 while still living in America Samoa. She has lived in Kalaupapa since 1960, nine years prior to the lifting of the forced quarantine there for Hansen’s disease patients. She said she prayed to Sts. Damien and Marianne before starting her tour partnership with McBride and knows the two saints guide her life. She is happy to welcome visitors to Kalaupapa today, whether they come through her tour company or another group.

The tour group also visited Papaloa Cemetery, St. Francis Church and the Kalaupapa pier. They caught a glimpse of Waihanau Valley as they bumped their way down the pothole-marked Old Damien Road to Kalawao, and had a lunch stop at the Kalawao picnic pavilion next to what Bishop Silva calls “possibly the most beautiful view in Hawaii,” the ocean overlook where massive sea cliffs loom next to the small islands of Okala, Mokapu and Huelo. The day finished with a mandatory stop at the gift store (cash only that day due to a bad internet signal) and a final prayer at the gravesite of Mother Marianne.

“Not a lot of local people come out here,” said Howard Lee, who went on the pilgrimage with his wife, Teale. He is a St. Francis Healthcare System of Hawaii board member and was making his first trip to Kalaupapa.

The Lees, who aren’t Catholic, were even more inspired by Damien and Marianne after the day trip.

Two other non-Catholic couples, one Methodist and one Episcopalian, with an interest in visiting Kalaupapa flew over from the Big Island to join the bishop’s pilgrimage.

Today there are less than 100 people living in the Kalaupapa peninsula, which has “all the gracefulness and pettiness that comes with a small town,” Boland said.

There’s a handful of churches, one store, one gas station, a medical clinic and many graveyards. Once a year a barge shipment brings much of the supplies and large purchases like vehicles and appliances that are sent to the peninsula.

The current residents include a small number of patients, national park and health department workers, the sisters and Father Killilea, and an assortment of other workers and residents.

Plus the occasional tour group.

Correction: The May 17 print edition of this story misspelled Meli Watanuki’s first name as Mele. The story listed Paul Meyer as the current president of R.W. Meyer Ltd. He is the former president of the company and current president of the Meyer family trust, Miala, Inc. Makani Kai’s correct phone number is (808) 834-1111. We regret the errors.