Travel / Outdoors

Getting to and from the Hawaiian island of Molokai truly was half the fun.

I flew on Mokulele Airlines to and from Molokai via Honolulu on a tiny 9-passenger Cessna prop plane. Baggage-checking and baggage claim takes about one minute and passengers stroll across the Tarmac to clamber aboard.

Mokulele Airlines’ Facebook page shows a photo of their little planes that fly the islands. Add an ukulele and it’s an in-flight party.

Every seat is a window seat and passengers are seated by weight (yes, the check-in agent asks or weighs you so they can balance the plane). The pilot just swivels in his seat to give the safety instructions and then the little plane takes off with dazzling views of the shorelines and a humpback whale spouting in the ocean.

Everyone knows someone on the plane since Molokai is like a small town with just 7,500 residents.

On one of the flights a passenger pulls out her ukulele and starts strumming and singing a lilting Hawaiian song. She switches to Beatles’ songs and all the passengers, and the pilot, cheerfully sing along on the half-hour flight. Best in-flight entertainment ever.