Day trip to Lana'i: Like Dying and going to Kitty Heaven

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to be on an island full of cats? Well, then you need to start planning a trip to Lana'i. Just a short ferry ride from Maui in the Hawaiian islands will get you to the place of your dreams.

First thing you need to know about planning your trip to Lana'i is that you need to book your ferry a couple days in advance on Expedition Maui-Lanai Ferry. Tickets run round $30 each way. There is a small boat harbor in Lahaina, Maui and you can park your car for around $12 a day (honor system) a few blocks away. 

We were camping in Olawalu, so we had a short drive to the harbor. We enjoyed a nice ferry ride across the ocean while we tried to spot some end of season whales, but didn't have any luck. The views were still lovely and it was a nice 45 minute ride. 

Upon arriving on the Lana'i there were several people gathered at the ferry docks offering ride service around the island. We got the last couple seats on Rabaca's shuttle service and for $10 each got a guided tour of the city on the way to the Lana'i cat sanctuary. I read that there were not too many other stops in Lana'i beyond Sweetheart rock and the daily car rentals were pricey, so we opted for the shuttle. I read you could get around for free, but we never figured that out.

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Once you get to the cat sanctuary you will find a gated entrance where they gather everyone together before signing you in.  Access is free, but donations are encouraged. They have bags of cat treats at the door to give them if you did not bring your own. 

As soon as you open the gate to walk in there is a swarm of dozens of cats that immediately approach and start begging for treats. Some like to be petted, some don't. Some prefer pets to treats. The sanctuary is a large outdoor gated enclosure on a wide swatch of green grass with trees and plants growing around. There are separate sheltered buildings for the cats to feed, or hide if they prefer. The shier or more feral kitties seem to stick to the far back of the enclosure where there is more tall brush to hide in and things to crawl under away from the human visitors.  They have separate enclosure for the senior kitties, kittens, and sick kitties with feline FIV. We made sure to spend time with all of them.  Everywhere you looked there were kitties, in the trees, in the grass, on the tables, in your lap. It was awesome.  We stayed there for about 4 hours, partially hiding out from the rain by putting down a towel and letting the kitties flock to us. It was such a great way to sped the day.

​They said there were currently 620 cats at the sanctuary, all from Lana'i alone. I was sad to hear they were euthanizing the cats on the other islands, especially after seeing all the cats at the park in Oahu a couple years ago and loving the experience so much, but when we went back this year there were no cats there at all.  They said they do adoption and even in-house adoptions, where they are adopted, but live in the sanctuary. Honestly, it doesn't seem like a bad life for a cat. I had a couple snugglers that I would have adopted if the 12 hour trip home wouldn't be so awful and stressful on a poor kitty.

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After Chris brought out the hook to drag me away, we finally left and caught a ride with the car service back to Lana'i city where we had lunch and explored the town's art gallery and art co-op. 

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We called the car service again to take us down to the beach, where we intended to snorkel, but the water was too rough. Instead we just enjoyed the beach for a while before taking a 10 minute walk back to the ferry. 

This time we caught the evening ferry and got to watch a nice sunset over the water on the way back to Maui. It was a quiet and peaceful evening. It gave us a chance to explore the night life and shops in Lahaina.  We found a pleace to book snorkel tour to Molokini island, which ended up getting canceled, but they took us to Coral Gardens instead, which turned out to be an awesome experience swimming with sea turtles just a little ways from where we were camping. Tune in soon to hear more about that adventure.  Word to the wise though, all the places advertising excursions and trips along the harbor are actually advertisements for condo reps who are trying to lure you in by offering a super low rate on the sign, as long as you take one of their tours. You can still book other tours through them, which we did because cell service is shit on Maui and we couldn't book otherwise, but the cost is way more than what shows up on the sign. Truth be told, you can get better rates on travelocity, so book in advance and just avoid the hassle, if you can.