Waikiki, Oahu

Diamond Head

Waikiki Beach July 4th

The Three Musketeers

Waikiki is a vast menagerie of deluxe resorts, hotels, restaurants, high-end shopping centers and fine sand beaches, visited by a host of nationalities. Japanese come to tie the knot along with a plethora of Pacific Rim countries. Hawaii is a harmonious blend of many peoples, including the native Hawaiians, Polynesians, Chinese, Japanese, Koreans, Portuguese and Italians. With Patrick and Michelle alongside we played tourists and enjoyed drinks poolside, lounging by the lagoon, swimming, and boogie-boarding in the surf at Waikiki Beach.. Music abounds everywhere and we even danced on the beach at the famous Duke's Bar to a live band. Our friends stayed at the Ilikai Resort Hotel. Once the grandest resort on Waikiki, it has hosted the likes of Debbie Reynolds, Elvis Presley,and President Kennedy in the 60's, and a myriad of stars such as Michael Jackson and Beyonce in recent years.

Partying Hawaiian style

     The Ali Wai Marina is enormous and proved to be a good place to catch up on some boat maintenance. Art Nelson stitched up the sails, Rich McCreedy tuned the rigging and Dave and Sarah fixed a pesky window leak over the navigation station. Surfing is big here and Daragh learned to ride the waves with a lesson from Don at the beach.

The Duke Abides

      

Hurricane warning!

     A tour of the island of Oahu led us past the incredible scenery of the west shore with soaring, lush mountain peaks and wild blue-green waters with crashing surf beaches. The north shore brought us to the elegant Turtle Bay Resort for luncheon and more dramatic scenery. The week flew by and before long we were saying 'Mahalo' at the airport and planning for the next crew change and the long journey home. Chantey is in top shape but Hurricane Celia and Darby remind us who's boss when it comes to departure dates.   

Turtle Bay

60's Waikiki

Elvis Mania

Lahaina to Lanaii and Molokai

The days drifted quickly by as we toured Maui with Teresa, Ted and Sean. The Kanipali Villas Resort was a perfect haven from which to enjoy the pool and the famous Kanipali Beach with its' golden sand and turquoise waters. The snorkeling here is some of the best in Hawaii with actual live coral reefs and multi-coloured fish. Daragh even came face to face with a giant turtle! Our visit concluded with a hearty dinner at the Lahaina Yacht Club.

   Early next morning we set sail for Lanaii, a small dormant volcanic island off the coast of Maui. The trade winds were up as the day unfolded, but we entered the tiny, sheltered harbour of Manele Bay and tied to the dock before luckily scoring the only empty slip nearby. We spent the day in Lanai City, a quaint village really, started by the Dole Company. This entire island was, up until recently, an enormous pineapple plantation. The industry eventually could not be supported as the cost of labour rose and relocated to other countries. Mr. Dole gave all his employees the opportunity to retrain in the new tourist industry and the result has been an overwhelming success for Lanaii.

The old Dole Hotel

     A short walk from the marina is the scenic Hulopoe surf beach and the very grand Four Seasons Hotel, which we checked out briefly but skipped the $30 lunch. Surf was definitely 'up' with a wicked undertow so a swim was out of the qustion. Next stop Molokai.

Lanaii Harbour

       Molokai is a sleepy, lozenge-shaped island noted for being an isolated Leper colony during the American colonization period. It was a sad chapter in the lives of those individuals who were banished and lived there, including Father Damian, who was only this year commemorated as a Hawaiian saint by Pope Francis. The passage between these islands can be rather boisterous, with steady winds of 25 knots plus, and big seas as the afternoon trade winds picked up. After a 9 hour ride at 6-7 knots we finally spotted the prominent headland of Diamond Head looming in the distance, and sailed briskly into Mamala Bay.

Diamond Head

    One of the most interesting gastronomic finds is the prevalence of SPAM. Hawaii residents consume the most of this canned meat per capita in the entire USA. In fact there is a whole festival Spam-Jam dedicated to everything SPAM!
                                                                   

     Our first grandson Ethan celebrated his second birthday on June 28th. He was looking very handsome in his Hawaiian shirt and matching shorts!
                                             

Surfer Boy!

                                         


Waikiki Beach and Honolulu

       The imposing vista of skyscrapers off Waikiki was a welcome sight as we dropped sail and headed into the calm waters of the Ala Wai Boat Harbour. Daragh checked in with the Waikiki Yacht Club and a day later we moved to a quiet slip at the Ala Wai Marina on X Dock with all of Waikiki in the backdrop. We spent a few days on the inevitable boat repairs, laundry, cleaning and provisioning for the new crew, while awaiting the arrival of our pals Michelle and Patrick at the Ilikai Resort next door.

Preparing for the crew

       Duke Kahanamoku was the world reknowned Olympic athlete winning awards in surfing, swimming and paddling. He is also a beloved mentor for the Hawaiian people. Duke encouraged his people to treat each other with kindness and respect in all they do. Here is his creed....
                                                                     

                                         Aloha is the key word to the universal spirit
                                          of true hospitality, which has made Hawaii a
                                          world center for understanding and fellowship.
                                           I believe in it, and it is my creed.
                                           Aloha to you!
                                                                    Duke Paoa Kahanamoku

                                          

        

Hilo Hawaii to Maui

Daragh bid farewell to his most excellent crew, John and Al, and prepared for the arrival of his new mates Cathryn and daughter Kim at Radio Bay, Hilo Hawaii, 21 days after the departure from Cabo san Lucas, Mexico. Radio Bay is a rather rough and ready container port but gave us our first access to these amazing volcanic islands. We visited Volcanoes National Park and the active Kilauae Caldera which regularly spews steam and molten lava over The Big Island. We also traversed a lava tube, which is actually an enormous long cave that once contained smoldering magma. Very spooky, but also very cool to see!

Lava Tubes

The next day we plunked our umbrella down at Hapuna Beach, noted in the guide book as the #1 beach in the USA.  The sun was setting as we arrived at the top of Mona Kea Observatory, the highest volcanic mountain in the world at 33,000 feet from the ocean floor to the summit! The icy cold air hit us with a blast and apparently it was snowing at the summit a short distance above!

    Time to head north with Kim up the leeward coast of Hawaii towards Kona. Unfortunately, we hooked two very large rusty anchors as we lifted ours from the bay and spent the next hour extricating ourselves from the jumble of chain. Chantey V made a brief pit stop at Captain Cook Bay (Kealakekua), to pay respects to the great mariner and take a dip in the sea before aiming for Kona. At last we arrived at Honohuhau Harbour which presented a rather hokey Tahiti -moor system of docking at the  marina. Kim bravely 'volunteered' to swim out and grab the mooring ball, which had no pick up line or eye, and hook it over the bow. As a reward we treated her to the Kailua Kona Village Resort Hotel for a pleasant dinner and view over lovely Kona Harbour.

      A few days later we set off early for an overnighter north to Nishimura Bay to get in position to cross the notorious Alenuihaha Channel to Maui. Unbeknownst to us, a cauldron of trade winds was brewing under the shadow of the volcano.As we sailed north the whitecaps and horsetails started to break over the seas and suddenly the forecast of 15-20 knots climbed to 30-35 knots on the wind speed meter! With high winds on the nose and current we were only making 2 knots and things were getting ugly! Daragh made a call into the harbour master at Kawaihae container port and we made a quick about face and tucked into the sheltered boat basin to wait out the trade winds. A day later, at 1:30 am we slipped out in the dark and continued another 12 hours across the channel, with high winds and following seas, sailing all the way to beautiful Lahaina.

Lahaina

Surf town

      Lahaina is an old whaling village-cum-tourist mecca. But it somehow hasn't killed the mellow ambiance of this balmy surfer town. We caught a mooring ball on the way in and braved the fierce surf to tie up near an enormous Banyan tree that sends dappled light over the shady central courtyard. From here you can stroll the boardwalk or sip a shaved ice with a tiny umbrella in it.

OK, hit it now!!

    Time to check in with Stacie, Carlos and the friendly folks at the Lahaina Yacht Club. This famous Y.C. sits right on the edge of the boardwalk overlooking the bay, but due to heavy surge has no slips attached - just a handful of moorings in the bay. The atmosphere inside however is a bustling hive of activity as the kids plunge into the surf and swim out to catch their tiny boats.

Lahaina Yacht Club

    After a shower we were ready to go explore. Next stop was Fleetwood's bar and restaurant, named for Mick Fleetwood and his famous band. The music was rockin' and the view from the rooftop patio breathtaking! At dusk the bagpipes play as the sun sets and the music echoes into the evening.
    A tour of Maui along the hair-raising winding Hana Highway brought us to Hookipa Bay. Suddenly the rocks began to creep along the beach! It was a pod of 'Honu', turtles, basking in the sun and enjoying the occasional swim in the sea. Kim was on her way homeward so we ended the day with a fine meal at Wailuku's, The Mill House, an old sugar plantation with a magnificent vista of evergreen peaks and the valley beyond, before saying fond farewells at the airport. A few days later sister Teresa, Ted and nephew Sean arrived at Kannipali Beach for some overdue rest and relaxation Hawaiian style.

Hookipa Turtles

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                                                                       

The Mill House view

Getting 'leid' in Lahaina

I was sitting at a table in an open cafe,
waiting for a drink of rum,
When I asked my waiter for the time of day
He said, "Look there's a centipede coming your way!"
In Lahaina , the sugar cane grows,
In Lahaina, the living is slow,
In Lahaina, the mangoes are sweet,
But the centipede crawls all aver your feet!"
    Loggins and Messina

Cabo san Lucas to Hilo, Hawaii

Sure it will be a wonderful cruise............

Job one was to provision for the 21 (or more?) day trip to Hilo. It took two trips to the supermarket plus sides trips to stock up on water. Coleridge's rime was pasted on the water book as a grim reminder of what running out looked like. Amazingly we found places to store it all with the aft cabin doubling as a "bodega" for the fruit and veg in baskets. We departed heavily laden for a mini shakedown cruise to Cabo san Lucas - and of course the final night out on land for a long time. We had an excellent meal at a Brazilian restaurant along with enough wine to sooth any lingering doubts about the voyage at hand.

Los Arcos at Cabo

We departed Cabo at noon and soon were sailing past the busy tourist traffic at iconic Los Arcos headland. The wind picked up as we cleared the tip of Cabo and it was reef #1 time already. We were happy to be sailing fast but we were way south of the course we wanted. It certainly was rough with the washing machine effect of wind waves at ninety degrees to the swell. Little did we know that this rolling would persist most of the way to Hawaii. We did not have much of an appetite but managed to down the prepared meals John had cooked ahead of time. We settled into our 3 on and 6 off watch routine which worked very well for us.

Helga takes charge

The wind stayed fairly steady out of the North West, driving us further south but only requiring two hours of engine run most nights to keep the batteries up. Six days out we deployed our Hydrovane (Helga) which worked well as long as the apparent wind was nine knots or more. This also saved a lot of power compared to running the auto pilot (Otto).

Four strands left!

The morning of day 7 John called me to come quickly to the mast. His first light rig inspection revealed the mast baby stay had failed and was just hanging on by 4 strands. The Genoa was furled and we jury rigged a strop around the first spreader with an old halyard to the bow and then back to the lazy genoa winch. This restored the mast bend and re-tensioned the the aft lower stays. We got an email out to Blackline to organize a replacement and to confirm the stability our our jury rig.

Jury rigged stay installed

We got fairly regular connections with our SSB and kept our grib files and Pacific surface forecast up to date.  Connie and Peter sent us updates as well on our Delorme inReach. This device was invaluable for instant SMS text messages to friends and family dependably anytime day or night. We also used it for the spot forecast service from Ocens which is a very worthwhile addition - similar to the bouy weather format.

Wing on wing stormsail

The wind finally veered to the east and allowed us to make some decent VMG for Hilo. Next we were all downwind, wing on wing with the main and genoa, substituting the spinnaker in daylight when the wind eased. By
day 16 we deployed the storm jib alongside the poled out genoa and made hull speed, easily handled by Helga all day and night for the next week.

Nice jicima salad Al!

The food was excellent for the trip with Al and John outdoing each other with creative meals on the dwindling fresh food supplies. Al caught a beautiful ma-hi ma-hi and made a delicious ceviche followed by grilled fillets for dinner. Captains hour was eagerly awaited each day with some great appies to go with the nightly beer  or G and T. Strict water management eased mid trip when we realized we were well under the 10 litre daily allowance.

Champagne all around at Hilo

Stern tied in Radio Bay, Hilo

We arrived at Hilo at noon on Saurday, 21 days for the trip. Many thanks to CBP officers Valdez and Foss for clearing us in and sparing us a week-end waiting on the boat.
We enjoyed a few days together checking out the big island including a helicopter volcano tour and going snorkeling at Captain Cook. All in all a great trip with two of the best crew - Al and John - that you could hope to get.

The final track - 2,500 NM

"And it is an interesting biological fact that all of us have, in our veins the exact same percentage of salt in our blood that exists in the ocean, and, therefore, we have salt in our blood, in our sweat, in our tears. We are tied to the ocean. And when we go back to the sea, whether it is to sail or to watch it, we are going back from whence we came. "

— President John F. Kennedy