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We are finishing things up in Hilo with a diagnosis of prostatitis for John (no more Mexican hot sauces or those big ballena cervesas!). Since it's nothing serious he's ready to get going again, and (weather permitting) we'll probably head out of here tomorrow (Thursday).
It's a bummer to have to waste this good weather window on pesky things like minor medical issues. But we've decided John needs to get whatever's going on with him resolved once and for all before we can set out on any major passage. Not sure how long we'll be delayed in Hilo or where we'll go from there, so stayed tuned.
We got a call from Jamie, a Pacific Seafarers Net HAM operator, who let us use his Molokai mailing address to receive some boat parts we've been waiting for. To our great surprise he and his wife, Kim, offered us their old beater car which they've replaced with a new one for their use. As soon as John picked up the car we drove back to the Port to take all of our stuff out to the boat so we could go touring unencumbered. But when we jumped into the car again to begin our adventure, it wouldn't start! We were parked in a 30 minute waiting zone so John pushed us to the main parking lot and raised the hood. After fiddling with it for some time he got through to Jamie who gave him the magic instructions to get it running again.
With great trepidation (I thought we'd be sure to get stuck out in some remote area where the car would refuse to start for good!) we headed off down Hwy 450 East. We passed condos, parks, hotels, and houses and drove 20 miles before the road really narrowed and we decided to turn around (this was after we'd already passed two signs indicating "Road Narrows"). We stopped at a couple of old fish ponds where rock walls had been built to trap and catch fish. At one public beach access road we snooped on a perfect, human-enhanced cove, clearly marked "Private Lagoon" at the entrance from the ocean. Throughout the drive we were both reminded of Huahine or Moorea by the lush tropical woods, fragrant flowers, the same type of hedge fences, and very similar architecture of the houses. The major difference is that in French Polynesia you rarely see homes surrounded by collections of junk like the ones we saw everywhere. Not to mention the For Sale signs which abound here.
We made a last stop at the Kamoi Snack-n-Go for some Dave's Hawaiian Ice Cream which was ono (delicious). We parked the car for the night and took cold showers in the public restrooms next to the harbor master's office. It costs .10/foot for the boat plus $2/person per day to anchor out here so we wanted to get our money's worth out of it, cold water or not! I can't think of another state which charges money for boats anchored in public waterways, but maybe it helps the State prevent permanent liveaboards from choking Hawaiian waters.
Today we drove 17 miles out Hwy 460 West to Maunaloa (but not the additional five miles down the dirt road to Lono Harbor). We circled through and drove a few of the residential streets, and it was a bit reminiscent of Waimea/Kamuela on the Big Island. Only instead of the booming Parker Ranch, here the Molokai Ranch has closed and so has most of the town along with it (the Lodge, restaurants, and the movie theater). In fact this entire end of the island was completely different from the east side, with grassy rolling hills and mostly cleared land. The paved roads are red from the deep red soil. It's a beautiful bright green now, but there's a real problem with drought during the rest of the year.
On the way back we stopped to see Papohaku which is a big, white sand beach with huge winter surf breaking on a reef at the edge of the water. Down the same road we found the Ke Nani Kai which is a top end condo resort, the Kepuhi Beach Resort which looked like it had been turned into apartments for locals (by the looks of the cars in both the long and short term parking areas), and the Kaluakoi Golf Club and Resort which was boarded up. Driving back out to the highway we scared up a flock of half a dozen wild turkeys crossing the road. By this time we were pretty hungry and had the good fortune to stumble upon the Kualapu'u Cookhouse on a side road back to town. We ordered chicken katsu (John's fave) and the roast pork special, and both reminded us of the plate lunches we enjoyed at the Big Island Grill in Kona. Portions were large and we took a lot of both entrees home with us.
The weather has been predictably calm in the mornings until about 9 AM. The wind picks up and it can be very breezy in the afternoons, but then it usually calms down again by 5 PM and remains so during the night. Some afternoons are windier than others, but it's been very pleasant to have a little of both types of conditions each day.
Oh, and we spent a very quiet NY's Eve on Nakia. The fireworks and firecrackers were sporadic beginning after sunset with peaks at the top of each hour (to celebrate different time zones?). We went to bed at 10 PM and heard them going off until 12:30 AM. Fortunately a local law prohibited anything from being fired off after 1 AM, but there was a small party on the causeway which managed to keep the music playing until sunrise. Ziggy did very well, and I think it helped that they were intermittent rather than a concentrated crescendo of noise.
We've had fun playing tourist and it's made our stay here much more memorable than it otherwise would have been. We can't thank Jamie and Kim enough for their generosity. Sunday we'll probably take a break from all the fun and get back to business by taking a drive to the laundromat...
In a bit of local news, Maui County is going to be the first in the State to stop using plastic grocery bags beginning January 11!
Happy New Year to all our friends and family!
It was a relief to escape the big city where our days seemed to pass in a blur of trips to Walmart, Home Depot, and Costco, and bicycle rides to and from the library. I didn't even step on a bus until the week before our departure and that was only for a ride to the library after all the rain made riding a bicycle a damp proposition. After spending too much money on "stuff" we let xmas pass without even a hint of a tree, decorations, cards, wrapped presents, or holiday foods. Instead we ran our pedestrian errands amidst people carrying Victoria's Secret shopping bags (oddly enough these were predominantly women), and more people standing in long lines outside the mall Post Office carrying piles of Priority mail boxes. We didn't put a bow on it, but Ziggy got a 22 x 16 x 11 storage box as a new litter pan. He has taken to doing his wet business from only a half squat and we're hoping the high sides will keep it all in the box and not on the teak.
John made a round of doctors visits and lab tests for his annual physical, and we got a reminder of why we prefer to take care of these things in any other country but the U.S. We're used to paying cash for services and receiving copies of the results in turn. Here it was a challenge to get his own medical records given to him, and the bills have gone to insurance limbo. We're told that if the insurance company doesn't pay the full charges, we'll receive a bill "in a few months" which will end up at our mailing address in Oregon. It seems that by the time everyone gets paid, John will be due for another physical!
I enjoyed a two week visit with family in Portland at Thanksgiving time and had a great time getting to know the downtown area there. I was lucky to time my visit before all the bad weather and really enjoyed walking outside in the cold, but mostly dry winter days. Before departing Honolulu John and I took a walk along the Waikiki beach boardwalk, ate hot malasadas (a Portuguese donut) at Leonard's Bakery with Soggy Paws, and watched the xmas eve fireworks with Windy City.
Here in Lono Harbor we finally receive all the major networks, including PBS, which is more than we got in the Ala Wai. But there is no internet, and cell service is only possible from out on the beaches or breakwater - oddly enough, not from the boat, maybe because of the steep cliff backing the bay. A dirt road leads to a very sleepy village five miles away with a small post office and the Mauna Loa General Store which reminded us of the tiendas in Bahia de los Angeles (with all produce stored in a refrigerator). We were lucky enough to be invited to join a local man for the 30 mile drive to the main town in his truck. We spent the day with Chuck and his dog, Kula, with time at the library for internet, a walk-through of the small grocery store (which made me glad I stocked up at Foodland!), lunch at Molokai Burger, stops at hardware and auto parts stores, and a side trip to the Kalaupapa lookout (Father Damien's leper colony).
There are only about 6,000 people living on Molokai now and it seems even sleepier than when I visited in 1984. We've enjoyed slowing down for a few days and concentrating on things like cleaning the dinghy and Nakia's hull (in the murky water), and generally getting back into cruising mode again.
We made our Honolulu landfall at dawn after heaving to for a couple of hours to wait for enough light to enter the channel. We tied up to the Aloha Dock at the Hawaii Yacht Club where we were happy to have an opportunity to hose salt off the boat again and fill our water tanks. My sister and her husband drove in from Ko Olina to welcome us and deliver our mail, and we all trekked over to the Ala Moana food court for lunch and some shopping. I bought my obligatory pair of Hawaiian Island Creations custom made slippas (you pick the color straps you want to go with the flip flop bottoms) which I discovered on my first visit in 1984. Leslie and Tom headed back to their resort and we finished picking up the boat before joining Soggy Paws on Infini where we were treated to a delicious post passage/welcome to Honolulu dinner.
While I normally like being tied to a dock with amenities as nice as the ones at HYC (showers, Wi-Fi, communal kitchen, book exchange, TV) it's really difficult when all Ziggy wants to do is get off the boat. The routine becomes: we get woken up at 4:30 when he hears the gardener and housekeeping staff starting work outside and wants to get out to see what everyone is up to; I finally throw in the towel at 5:00 or 5:30 after he's climbed on us a few times, knocked the clock off the bookshelf and, as a last resort, starts meowing; make the coffee and feed him even though he barely touches it because he's far more interested in going outside; and put his harness on and stake him out on the dock with his leash and about 20' of line until it's light enough (the sun comes up at around 6:30 here) to walk him around the club building. It has to be light enough for me to see whether he's eating something or just sniffing. The first day I let him eat all the grass he wanted, including some grassy plant with wide long blades which he was scarfing whole in 2-3" pieces. Well, he threw that up, still whole, in the flower bed, and threw up some more later in the day on the boat. No more eating grass after that! Our last morning there he managed to catch a very small brown gecko which I forced out of his mouth before it became breakfast. He wasn't able to find it again, so I hope it managed to survive intact.
We spent Wednesday and Thursday playing with Leslie and Tom. We took them out for a windy sail along Waikiki during which we passed a pile of fishing net floating in the water. John had only just informed Tom that we had a line out when Tom noticed that we had a fish on! It was a small mahi mahi which made a colorful leap out of the water, but it shook off the lure and was gone. We tried making another pass by the floating "dorado condo" without getting another bite. On the way back to the marina we made a brief stop at a Turtle Canyon mooring where we did indeed see a couple of turtles but not much else of interest in the murky water (only John and Tom actually got in the water). After putting the boat away we drove to a snorkeling stop at Electric Beach where a power plant discharges warm water not far from the small beach next to the plant. This was better with lots of fish but not a huge variety, and the water was murky again. We ended the day with homemade Lynchburg Lemonades on the beach at the Ko Olina Marriott resort where they were staying, a big dinner at the Outback Steak House, and an overnight with L&T in their beautiful suite.
The next morning we were somehow hungry enough for banana pancakes at Koa Pancake House. We stopped for pictures at the Pali Lookout on our way to beaches in the Kailua/Lanikai area. John and Tom burned calories by body surfing and boogie boarding while Leslie and I applauded and soaked up the sun. We tried another beach for snorkeling but L&T reported back that it was dead and murky, not to mention rough.
Finally we were hungry enough to get to Buzz's Original Steak House in Lanikai before they closed for lunch at 3 PM. We were met there by an old family friend from Bainbridge Island, who used to own a shoe store on the island. I have fond memories of our annual late summer pilgrimage to his store where he very diplomatically mediated between what the kids wanted versus what their mothers thought best for the coming school year! Stan treated us to sashimi and the best calamari steak appetizer we've ever had, and we enjoyed our lunches of fish burger, special Caesar salad, fish burrito, and fish Caesar salad accompanied by the house Mai Tais and BFRDs (Big Rum Drinks). There was a special brownie topped with ice cream for Leslie's birthday dessert, plus key lime pie, and huge wedges of ice cream "pie" for the rest of us. It was a delicious meal in a fun setting made even more special by our visit with Stan.
We wound down the day with one more celebratory drink atop the Ilikai hotel where there is a great view of the Ala Wai Marina and we could see Nakia tied up at the Hawaii Yacht Club. Finally it was time to say goodbye to Leslie and Tom, and return to reality after our "vacation" from our "retirement."
The next day we moved Nakia to a "slip" at the Ala Wai Marina where we are on a dock with no fingers; we are med-moored with the bow tied to a mooring ball and stern-tied to the dock. We're almost close enough to the boats on either side of us for Ziggy to jump off Nakia, but at least he can't jump to the dock (which we get to in our dinghy like we did in Honokohau). Now it's time for us to get busy with boat projects!
{GMST}21|17.020|N|157|50.595|W|Ala Wai Marina|Honolulu{GEND}
While we've been playing on shore poor Nakia has been bouncing around like a drunken sailor in the anchorage. Even with the rocker stopper the swell and wind chop have been awful, sometimes to the point of having to hold on to drinks to keep them from sliding across the table. After three nights of this we're feeling a little sleep deprived, and I think we'll be glad to get out to sea where we can get some better rest!
I bought Ziggy a nifty new toy. It's an egg shaped "weeble" type thing, weighted on the bottom half. The top screws off to fill it with kibble or treats and there's a small hole for them to fall out of. The idea is for the cat to manipulate the egg to get the kibble to fall out a few at a time, but the boat rolls so much that the toy is pretty much self-dispensing at the moment. But Ziggy got the hang of it right away and now he has to work a bit for the kibble portion of his meals. Whatever keeps him occupied!
This afternoon we went to lunch with Ralph and Glenda as well as Randy and Lynn (from the Pacific Seafarers Net) before heading over to Honokohau for a short snorkel. As luck would have it our old neighbor from last year, Russ on Lepika (http://www.lepikasportfishing.com/)
was backing into the fuel dock just as we arrived. John went over to say 'hi' and before John could leave Russ asked if he wanted to go fishing Saturday. Unfortunately we plan to sail for Oahu at 1 AM tonight/Saturday morning which should put us into Honolulu early Sunday morning. So no fishing on Lepika this trip.
Linda
Before leaving Hilo Ziggy got to meet Tank, a Coast Guard dog in training. John took Ziggy up the wall where they could sniff noses. Tank is still just a big puppy and was very sociable and happy to make all our acquaintance. Of course after that all Ziggy wanted to do was go to shore for more exploring. But we'll hold off on that until we get to the Ala Wai where we can walk him on his leash and harness.
Of the remaining Equator Hoppers, Freedom should arrive late today or early tomorrow morning, Kehaulani still has 400 miles to go, and Alobar is somewhere in between. The weather is clear for them and all are doing well.
We will take care of a few more chores while we're in Kona and should be headed for Honolulu by Friday. We'll skip the overnight to Maui because it's also an overnight to HNL from here and we're ready to avoid even the shortest of additional hops!
Linda
But first things first. I think I mentioned that John did a fantastic job of setting a bow anchor and backing straight to the wall behind us, in between Tango (catamaran) and M/V Kiska, the small Coast Guard boat stationed in Hilo. I slowly let out the bow anchor rode until he backed close enough to literally lasso one of the ship sized cleats on the edge of the wall. That was enough to get us set until we could launch the dinghy to properly tie both stern lines.
We started the arduous task of rearranging everything below back to its proper place, though not entirely since we'll be going back out to sea again soon. At 8:00 John picked Gary up from Sea Flyer to go check-in with the Harbor Master and Customs. Unbeknownst to me, John got a call back from our Hilo veterinarian, and made a 9:00 appointment. So in the middle of my cleaning and before John and Gary returned from Customs, I heard a call from Dr. Skip Pease on the dock. Since the dinghy was at the ladder where John left it I couldn't fetch the vet but, good sport that he is, Skip climbed down into the dinghy and did his best to row over to Nakia. He looked over an uncooperative Ziggy and completed the Health Certificate required by Animal Quarantine.
The next visit was from a veterinarian from the Department of Agriculture who asked that we meet her up at the picnic table by the bathrooms because she had her small daughter with her. So we harnessed Ziggy and loaded him in his crate, into the dinghy, and up the ladder. She scanned Ziggy's microchip, checked our ID, filled out the Airport Release Card and other paperwork, and gave an unhappy Ziggy another once over. By this time he was really stressed and by the time we released him back on the boat his nose and paws were very pink and he was breathing quickly, though not actually panting. Last year he'd had a day to get used to his new surroundings before going through all this and it didn't phase him. I'm so glad we didn't have to put him through a long trip to the HNL airport, which you have to do if you check in on Oahu.
We took the first afternoon bus to do some shopping at the mall, and get the aforementioned DQ blizzards, and caught the last bus of the day back to the boat. Picked up some not very good Chinese at the Oceanfront Kitchen and plopped down to see what's new on the TV. To our surprise we found there's an election coming up this Tuesday and the TV is full of negative ad campaigning and ads against negative ad campaigning. Welcome back to the good ol' USA...
Yesterday we made an early morning trip to the local laundromat and managed to get all of that done in one trip. I returned in the afternoon for a visit to the library and more groceries. Since we can only buy what we can carry on the bus, it's nice to pick up a few things each time we go into town.
Today we heard from Alobar, one of the three remaining Equator Hoppers, who reports that Kehaulani discovered broken wires on their rigging. The breaks are at the top of the mast where they can't make repairs in the current conditions. They've called the Coast Guard for help and are hoping to divert another sailboat in the area to get a younger person who would be able to climb the mast for them. Otherwise they would have to motor the rest of the way, and they don't have the fuel capacity to do that.
Yesterday was a gorgeous day - nice for the Holland America ship visiting from SoCal - and last night we got a good rain. This morning I wiped the boat down to get most of the remaining salt off, and just now we had another rain shower to complete the rinse cycle. Next I need to polish and wax the stainless which is looking very rough after more than three weeks of taking a pounding of salt spray. But first we are probably going to Kona on Monday to meet up with good friends, Ralph and Glenda. We're sorry we're going to miss Freedom's arrival in Hilo this week, but we've got to get moving on to Honolulu soon.
Linda
Ziggy doesn't know what to do with himself, and is following us around looking quite perplexed. I don't think he'll be going to sleep anytime soon this morning!
We're happy to have the boat still even if it means we now go into high gear fixing things and cleaning up the mess created by such a long, rough time at sea. The blog will be quiet for awhile until we're either settled in or moving again.
Linda