Moon Dinner Series at Four Seasons Resort Lanai

Beginning this month, Four Seasons Resort Lanai will host a series of Moon Dinners to celebrate the planetary satellite and its full moon stage.

First up is the Buck Moon Dinner on July 21, 2024, the first full moon of the summer season, which will be held at the poolside Malibu Farm.  Guests will enjoy a welcome reception starting at 5:30 pm with a Buck Moon Cocktail made from maple syrup, ginger ale, orange juice and vodka along with canapes including ahi wontons and watermelon and goat cheese bites.  A four-course menu will follow, with wine pairings available for dishes such as butter poached lobster with zhug; pork belly with charred fruit salsa and more.  The dinner is limited to 16 people, reserve at Open Table, through a travel professional or Lanai Experience planner at exp.lanai@fourseasons.com.

Full moons are a lunar phase that occurs roughly once every month when the moon is located opposite the sun in space, with the Earth in between, resulting in full illumination. Many cultures across the world use the moon to track the change of dates and seasons to then guide activities.  The Buck Moon is named for the time of year when antlers start to appear on male deer (bucks); other names include Hay Moon or Berry Moon celebrating nature in full growth.  Additional dinners are planned for the fall this year: a Harvest Moon Dinner on September 17 and a Hunter’s Moon Dinner on October 17.    

Guests interested in additional astral activities will enjoy the Lanai Observatory, featuring a telescope housed in a domed structure that spans approximately 25 feet (7.6 metres) in diameter. Made by PlaneWave Instruments, the PW1000 has a direct drive altitude-azimuth (Alt-Az) mounting system, stands 135 inches (3.4 metres) high and weighs approximately 3,000 pounds (1,360 kilograms).  Sample activities include the following – check online calendar for details and schedule.

• Moon Nights  - Look through a high-class 1-metre telescope to see the moon and learn how it was used in ancient Hawaii in this 30-minute experience led by the Resort’s Love Lanai Cultural Advisors.
• Observatory Day Tours – Tour the two-storey observatory and learn about the mechanics of the high power telescope in a complimentary experience.

Cultural advisors from Love Lanai share ike kupuna (ancestral knowledge) of the celestial sphere as well as guide guests on a tour of the night sky in the Kilo Hoku Experience. The team tells how indigenous Hawaiians and people of the Pacific utilized the celestial bodies and elements of the natural environment to guide their way on the ocean. It is thought that voyages between Hawaii and the South Pacific occurred as early as 400 AD. A keenly developed ability to read the night sky helped early Polynesians find their way from island to island across the Pacific, and ultimately to Hawaii. Lanai is an ideal location to observe the stars, with low levels of atmospheric and light pollution to facilitate stargazing.