Welcome back for another exciting Quickstride and Shambler adventure! I hope you enjoy, and if you do, please share with a buddy. Or a pal. Or an enemy for that matter.
There are 137 islands in the Hawaiian Archipelago, eight of which are the little dots sequestered in their own section on maps of the USA. Those eight islands, Hawai’i, Maui, Oahu, Kauai, Molokai, Lanai, Ni’ihau and Kaho’olawe are considered the “major” Hawaiian islands, six of which are available for the layperson to visit. Ni’ihau has less than one hundred inhabitants, and visitors are allowed by invitation only. Kaho’olawe was used as a gunnery range for the U.S. Navy until 1990, when it was returned to Hawai’i and converted to an Island Reserve available for only temporary visits by researchers.
One of the many items on our Hawai’i bucket list was to visit as many islands as we could. Considering neither Jenny or I knew anyone on Ni’ihau and didn’t have the research chops to hitch a ride to Kaho’olawe, we settled for the other six. If there was a way to visit all 131 islands, Jenny would have found it. We visited Maui, Kauai, and the Big Island early in our Hawaiian tour. Molokai required two trips to hunt Axis Deer. Leaving Lanai as our sixth and final island to visit.
Lanai used to be an island-wide pineapple plantation, and now is a 98% privately owned resort town. At the urging of another couple friend of ours, I booked a room at the Four Seasons Sensei. The room was very expensive for a single weekend, but everything in Hawai’i is expensive and the room rate included airfare to and from Lanai. I figured we could splurge and make the trip a gift to ourselves for Jenny’s birthday, my birthday, and Christmas.
When it came time to head to Lanai, Jenny and I drove to the Lanai Air terminal on the private jet side of the Honolulu Airport. After checking our bags at the check-in desk staffed by impeccably dressed, impossibly friendly staff, we breezed through security and took a seat in a posh waiting room.
We arrived at the terminal about an hour before our flight boarded. Giving ourselves an hour to get to our gate would cutting it close for a regular airline, but it turned out to be too early for Lanai Air. Minutes after we sat down, one of the impeccably dressed staff members cheerfully informed us we had been moved to an earlier flight that was scheduled to leave in about twenty minutes. Jenny and I followed the small crowd out to the tarmac, climbed into the waiting Pilatus PC-12, and buckled in for our flight.
The flight was uneventful, touching down on time and with the slightest jolt on the Lanai runway. We were ushered through the terminal with our fellow passengers and onto a van to complete our journey to the Sensei resort. A large, black statue of a naked woman greeted us when we pulled into the resort, which I thought odd. We disembarked the van and walked inside, where we were greeted by more incredibly friendly staff and another large statue of a naked woman, this one in gold.
After we checked in at the front desk, an attentive staff member guided us to a comfy couch and plied us with warm towels, a refreshing juice, and a folio containing our agenda for the weekend. She then handed us our hotel key/bracelets and escorted us upstairs to our room.
Upon opening the door, we were taken aback. I have stayed in nice hotel rooms before, but this wasn’t a hotel room. No, this was a luxury condo that happened to be on hotel grounds. The living room had a fire place, chandeliers, a dining room table, comfy couches, and a wine cabinet. A glass door provided access to a private lanai with a view of the resort’s large koi pond.
Our hotel-appointed guide left us to marvel at the deluxe trappings of our temporary home. There were two bathrooms, one in the hallway between the living room and the bedroom and a large master bathroom, both with high-tech Japanese toilets. The master bedroom was huge, with its own entertainment center, but the real star of the show was the sauna-equipped bathroom.
After quickly settling in and unpacking our suitcases, Jenny and I made our way back to the lobby to quickly walk around before our first scheduled adventure. During our walk around the resort, we discovered that the Sensei was not just a resort, it was a wellness retreat tailorable to the clientele’s needs. Yoga classes, spa days, custom menus, whatever you needed, the attentive staff at the Sensei would provide.
Our first planned adventure was a sunset cruise on a huge catamaran. The hotel shuttled us and the rest of the catamaran cruisers to the harbor, and were underway after a humorous safety briefing from the cheerful crew.
While we sailed around Lanai, the clouds rolled in and covered the sunset. The lack of dramatic sky color didn’t bother Jenny or I, as we had seen several hundred Hawaiian sunsets by that point. The clouds did, however, affect the two Canadian passengers’ engagement a little bit.
Jenny and I turned the light hors d’oeuvres into our dinner and chatted with the catamaran’s crew more than we socialized with our fellow passengers. I’m sure the other passengers were nice people, but we had a great time talking to the deck hands.
The next morning we embarked on the experience I was most excited for: Sporting Clays. Jenny and I woke up to catch a hotel-provided van to Lanai Pines, a local shotgun range. We were greeted by a shooting coach wielding two Beretta shotguns and piloting a golf cart. After collecting our ear and eye protection, then receiving a quick safety brief, we hopped into the golf cart and drove to the first station.
It was my first time shouldering a shotgun in years, but even though the range-provided shotguns were missing their sight beads for some reason, it was just like riding a bike. I can’t say I hit every clay, but it was fun to get behind a well-built shotgun again. It was even more fun watching Jenny figure out how to hit the clay pigeons with the little 28 Gauge over/under Beretta our coach put in her hands.
When we returned to Sensei, our next adventure was more traditionally relaxing. After a quick lunch, we went to one of the resorts private “Hales” for a spa session. The hale was styled like a Japanese bath house, with an outdoor shower and hot tub and cold plunge, a wooden bathtub, a sauna and steam room, and some snacks.
Jenny and I spent our two hours relaxing in warm water, snacking on fresh fruit, and drinking tea. Wrapped in our fluffy bath robs, we felt wonderfully calm and at home in this wellness retreat. Had you asked us right then and there, and had it not been for the dogs waiting for us back on Oahu, we would have signed up for one of the “sabbatical” packages and never left. Unfortunately, nobody asked us and our reservation at the Hale came to an end when the friendly attendant rudely asked us to leave for our gourmet dinner.
The food at Sensei was phenomenal. There were two restaurants on the resort, the Koele Garden Bar for light refreshments, and the other the Sensei Nobu, a Japanese-inspired restaurant. Jenny and I ate at Nobu several times during our stay, and enjoyed the ambiance as well as the food.
During breakfast, we sat out in the cool island air on Nobu’s deck, watching the Koi swim around the massive pond. We enjoyed traditional Japanese breakfast while sipping coffee and fresh juice. For dinner, the ambiance swapped from bright and peaceful to warm and cozy. The food remained incredible.
That Saturday , Jenny’s Hoosiers played the Ohio State Buckeyes. Thankfully, our luxury condo had that massive entertainment system, perfect for watching the Hoosiers stomp the Buckeyes as part of their undefeated season and run-up to the College Football Championship.
The Hoosiers’ win over the Buckeyes was a perfect endcap to our relaxing weekend on Lanai. Our flight left Lanai the following morning, and we touched down on Oahu with a jolt back to reality.