Last Anchorage on Hawai'i!!!
21 January 2010 | Nishimura Bay
Sally
We so enjoyed our time on the big island of Hawai'i, but felt like it was time to move on. We did leave a few things from our list "undone" on this island, so know we will one day have to come back to finish up! We missed out on the Big Island Candy Co - can't wait to try their choc covered shortbread cookies - they just weren't along the bus route! Along the same line, we also missed the Mauna Loa Macadamia Nut Factory - we have eaten our fair share of these yummy goodies, but would love to see where and how they are made to be so decadent! We would have also liked to gotten up to the Mauna Kea Observatory area, but you have to rent a 4-wheel drive vehicle, and the same is true for the Waimea area and the Waipi'o Valley. Oh, well! We don't mind at all having something more and different to look forward to "next time!" Watch out Paula & Jerry and Bill & Patty... we'll be back!!!
It was amazing to us how different the Hilo and Kona sides of the island are from each other. Although we hit Hilo at the perfect "draught" time, it was easy to see how much rain they get each year - that side of the island is a lush, tropical green. The Kona side gets a fraction of the rain and it shows - much more like San Diego in the summer... beautiful beaches with fantastic weather, but a bit brown up on the hillsides. Both sides were a ton of fun - mostly because of the fantastic people we met and had the pleasure of "hanging with." It was hard to say farewell to our new Hilo friends and then difficult to say goodbye to our "Radio Bay Gang" who mostly re met in Kona. We had a fun time sailing on the beautiful catamaran, Relax, as they went in to be hauled out at the only yard on Hawai'i in Honokohau Harbor. We towed our dinghy behind them (filled with jerry cans!) and filled up and sped back to Kailua Bay in Little Dot - powered by the recently christened Ho'omali mali Kai (the new Yamaha!). We loved all the suggestions we got for names, but felt the meaning "We'll be good to the sea and the sea will be good to us" was too fitting to pass up! So, we now call the outboard O'mali for short! He is a gem and even I can get him started with one pull! :) Somehow we always end up in the right place to meet the right people at the right time and Kona was no exception. While drooling over settings for Tahitian pearls (okay, so you can tell this was maybe more me than Glen!!!), we met a young man named Coop working at the Pearl Factory. He came back to the boat with us for an evening of "talking story" (as they call "chatting" here in Hawaii!) and it was amazing to hear of his experiences. We thought we had seen a lot, but at 28, he has already been so many places and lived in so many "alternative" living spaces (like a cave for 3 months!!!), we were truly in awe.
It was hard to do, but we finally decided we needed to move on up the coast. We left early Wednesday morning with the plan to get to the last anchorage north on this side of Hawaii - Nishimura. It was such a pleasant day - the sun was shining, the sea was very calm, and we were enjoying humpback whales all around us most of the way up the coastline. About ten miles from Nishimura, however, the winds swept in and quickly increased until they were over 40 knots sustained. We had read all about the winds up at the top of the island and how they can pick up a good 20+ at a time, so we were prepared, but after just leaving Kona, we were wondering what we were doing!!! We had brought O'mali on board, but were towing Little Dot and all of a sudden, she went airborne! The winds were so strong, they had her flying like a kite! It took some doing, but we were able to get her pulled up to the stern and lashed down. The seas had picked up also, and we were being deluged with splash, so decided to change destinations. We turned around and backtracked about 5 miles to a little commercial port called Kawaihae. There was no harbor master, so we took our chances with anchoring inside the tiny little harbor. Of course, nothing can be easy, and our chain stripper pulled loose from the deck for the ???th time again! Other than that, all went well, though, and we had a fairly calm night. We left bright and early on Thursday morning in much diminished winds. We made it the last bit of the way to Nishimura Bay and got safely anchored before the heavy winds hit again. It was interesting reading about the surrounding area - King Kamehameha, the Hawaiian chief who united the islands, had been born close by, and we were looking up at a "mini Stonehenge" - huge rocks set into the ground centuries past for who knows what reason - navigation? Time keeping???? Anyhow, we sat through the day and night with 30-40 knot winds - we were basically sailing on our anchor and were so thankful it held. We kept checking the weather and the forecast was for calm winds Friday morning. We got up at 1AM to check, but they were still howling, so went back to bed. At 3AM, the winds had died and we knew we had the perfect chance to get across the 'Alenuihaha Channel. We kept hearing how nasty it could be and really didn't want to see it first hand! Thankfully, it was so calm we had to motor the entire way across - but we're not complaining!
We are now on a mooring ball (belonging to the Lahaina Yacht Club) setting right off of Lahaina on Maui. Dennis and Cathy... can you come back now?!!! :) The voyage up the entire length of Maui was filled with humpback whales. We had seen plenty on Hawai'i, but you can't look out here and NOT see a splash or a blow somewhere - it's incredible! We literally had whales all around us all day! The picture with this entry was one of my favorites for the day - doesn't he look like he's waving "Hello?!!" We have seen total body breaches, multi tail slaps, and so on, but this guy won our hearts with his flipper slaps - over and over. We feel like we are living a National Geographic episode!
More later once we've had a chance to explore Lahaina and Maui a little bit! By the way, I was able to get Christmas Island pictures loaded on to the gallery and almost have Fanning done. Thank you to "Gary" who left the nice comment about the picture descriptions - we sure hope they help make sense out of what we so much enjoyed. To answer you question about experience, Glen had been sailing for the last 45 years or so, but most of it was coastal. He had done one other passage to Hawaii on a powerboat, but this was our first long range trip. Our best advice is to take it slow and not be in a hurry - always let the weather lead the way. Best of luck to you on your voyage in a couple of years and if we can be of any help, just let us know! :)