So, the big trip is over, and life is now more settled. I will try to post to the blog weekly with updates from Hawaii.
I am settling in a bit. Last Monday, I walked into town to go to customs, then the harbour office, then the Western Union office (the harbour office only accepts money orders), the bank (Western Union only accepts cash),
return to Western Union then back to the harbour office, with side trips to the hardware store, convenience store, and a restaurant that I didn't go into. By the time I arrived back at the boat, I realized how much my leg muscles
had atrophied. Painful!

Radio Bay is quite small; smaller than the Nanaimo harbour boat basin and I am anchored along with 6 other boats, wth several more boats anchored in Hilo Harbour. I have slipped anchor 3 times so far, as I was using too
little chain. With the small space, it is hard to find enough room. I think I am stuck in now. My windlass wasn't working, so it was all manual up and down. That has since been fixed. There are 4 more boats due to arrive.
There is space along the seawall, and there is a washroom there as well. However, when I dingied over there, I notice thousands of little bugs that looked like silverfish, so nada on that.

Officially, we have been told we need to quarantine for 14 days, however, that is a state law, and the state seems not to have a presence here. That is, no-one is watching too carefully and both customs and the harbour office
indicated we could go for 'emergency' supplies. Logic has prevailed as we are obviously not a risk to spread Covid-19

My immediate plan is to stay in Hilo for 2 weeks at least. It's a great place to go biking as most services are within 10 km, and there are good shoulders/bike paths to ride on. No idea what I am going to do after that, and not
thinking about it. By then, the regulations could change.

I will need to be in Hawaii at least one month before I even think about tackling the NE Pacific. I have easily 2 weeks of chores on the boat, and there are some things around here to look at, including volcanoes, so if I have to
stay here, not so bad. The parks are all closed, but I am not sure if they are barricaded or just not staffed.

Two downsides to Radio Bay are that it rains most days, and is often cloudy, and I have no ready access to internet. I am hoping to scope out Starbucks for that. They are 8 km away and are open for pickup orders. I have
cellular data on my Mexican phone plan, but I am not sure how much that is going to cost here.

With the rain, everything is clean, which is nice. I am swimming everyday off the back of the boat. 30m from me is the breakwater and I might explore snorkeling on the other side of that in the open Pacific. For water, I am
collecting rain water for washing dishes and showers. There is spring water available at the washrooms, and I use a 25l jerry can for that. I am also trying to use that washroom for #2 as I don't want to fill up the holding tank.
Power will be solar and wind, with a little diesel generation.

On Day 2. I did get a couple of things at a vegetable stall. 4 tomatoes cost $US5 ! Boy, I am not in Mexico anymore. Later trips to Safeway showed generally full shelves, but prices are high here always. Like everyone, the
toilet paper and flour shelves are empty.

To keep some social contact, I have also started a VHF net in the morning for the cruisers that are in the bay. We share information about regulations, share resources for tools and knowledge, someone does a local
weather forecast, and then finish up with one boat a morning will do a 2 minute story about themselves. Cruisers are used to being isolated, but contact is good for the soul.

I am resigned to the state of the regulations in the state of Hawaii, and am excited to be in a safe, new place with lots to do and explore, at least for now.


The tuna I caught on Friday is running out, but I still have lots of food, just less options. The big box stores like Target have public wifi, so I have sat outside and done major downloads (like updates, email and the like). And I
have a way to recharge my Mexican Sim card without too much trouble.

I have now joined the world you have encountered for the last few weeks. Hawaii is not in lockdown, as I understand it, but there is a curfew. People are social distancing at the stores, and the number of people in a store is
limited. I suspect this will go on for a long time. Covid-19 has obviously had a major impact all around the world. I hope that you are yours are safe and healthy, and that you can withstand the economic difficulties this brings
on.

Perhaps this is a wakeup call. Such a pandemic has been expected for a while (see Bill Gates Ted Talk from about 2015) It is a time to take stock globally. Climate change is also predicted and happening. It is going to be
far more devastating than Covid-19 and we will not likely have a quick recovery. Something to think about.

I enjoy hearing about how you are doing and can be reached at my regular email. 'See' you next week, to see how things are progressing. I hope to post more pictures soon.

Take care,

Brian