We Made It!!
07 June 2007 | Lahaina, Hawaii
Tyler Borges
Victoria, BC to Lahaina, HI
26 Days, 1 Hour. Phew! A lot longer than expected but at least we made it in one piece!
We are now moored on Lahaina Yacht Club (LYC) Mooring Buoy #3. The water is so clear you can see the boat's (and your own) shadow cast on the bottom! I must say though, that our arrival to the Hawaiian Islands was not quite as we had intended.
Last night we practically flew along. The seas were quite lumpy 12-15 feet with rain squall after rain squall steamrollering us. Winds would pick up to 28 knots or so. We were surfing down waves at 10 knots!!! At 09:00 GMT we picked up Maui on the radar and 10 minutes later you could see the glow of the lights on the horizon. Between the weather and being close to land (yes, 6 miles is close to land when you're used to several hundred miles), Morgan and I had another pretty much sleepless night. Dawn finally broke and we continued along the coast toward Kahului. We had breakfast and then both of us showered and shaved to look presentable to the folks at US customs. I was just getting out of the shower when I overheard Morgan talking on the radio and knew there was a problem.
No Entry at Kahului. Not for pleasure craft.
Speaking with the harbourmaster on the radio and subsequently the customs agent by cell phone, we were told that we could not enter Hawaii at Kahului and would have to go to either Hilo (on the big island) or Honolulu. Both of these options really are poor as either port is a 24 hour sail away.
We were very shocked by this turn of events. After so many days at sea, all we wanted to do was be let in. We had several publications on board, including one published by the University of Hawaii just last year, that described in detail the ability to clear customs at Kahului. After a number of phone calls between us and the customs agent on the island (and an hour of tense waiting) we worked out a solution. We would continue around to Lahaina and the customs agent would meet us there the following morning to clear us. Thank god!
So off we went around the north end of the island. Once we entered Pailolo Channel the winds increased to 15 knots from the stern and gradually rose to 20 knots gusting to 28 knots. It made for a nice fast ride around the island.
We pulled into Lahaina at 00:00 GMT on June 8. We left Victoria Harbour at 23:00 GMT on May 13. What a long haul...
Both of us are looking very forward to a good night's sleep. Neither of us has slept much at all in the last few days and for nearly the past month none of us have slept for more than a couple hours at a time!
But now, more than anything, both of us are dying for a nice cold beer to celebrate. Unfortunately we'll have to wait until we're cleared by customs tomorrow morning before we can go ashore and get some.