Indian Chief Travel Guides

Overview of Kaunakakai

Kaunakakai is Molokai’s principal town, and an ideal base from which to explore the rest of the island. It is situated on the south coast of the island, some 7 miles southeast of the Molokai Airport in Ho’olehua, more or less equidistant from the remote east and west coasts of the island. It has in it most of the island’s shops, restaurants and other amenities, including a handful of deli-cum-markets and local eateries, a gift shop, a sporting goods store, an art gallery, and even a bakery that sells freshly-baked “Molokai Bread.” Most of the businesses here are strung along a three-block section of the town’s main street, which makes up the heart of Kaunakakai. There are also a few good accommodations here, at the modest Molokai Hotel as well as a couple of condominiums.

In and Around Kaunakakai

The Kaukakai Harbor, situated just to the southwest of town, offers some interest. It is Molokai’s only deep-water harbor and commercial port, where ferries and commuter boats to and from the neighboring island of Maui depart and arrive, and from where the island’s honey, cattle, watermelons and other produce are shipped. The harbor is also home to fishing and charter boats, with some of them offering deep-sea fishing, diving, snorkeling, and even whale-watching excursions.

Of interest, too, a mile or so west of the center of Kaunakakai is Kapuaiwa, one of the last surviving royal coconut groves on the island, planted in the 1860s for Hawaiian monarch King Kamehameha V; and directly across from there, on the opposite side of the street, is Church Row, with its small section of quaint, box-like churches, one for almost every denomination.

From Kaunakai, you can journey east along the coast to Halawa Valley in East Molokai, or head northwestward to the town of Maunaloa in West Molokai. Kaunakakai is also handy to Central Molokai which is just to the north, with the Kalaupapa Peninsula lying a little farther to the north of there.