b.c.bound

Marty was such a big part of our successful stay in lahaina that we wanted to do something nice for him. He accepted our invitation to sail with us to lanai. The wind finally started blowing in its normal pattern and we had a great sail with Marty steering all the way. We were worried it might be like a busman's holiday for him but he loved not having to answer dumb questions and to be able to drink a beer while sailing his dream boat. Mistletoe didn't disappoint, was in her element and touched 8 knots, relishing the conditions. We pulled into the lovely harbour at menele after about 3 hours, found an empty slip and had lunch. We grabbed our masks and fins and walked over to a nice beach were we were treated to a lovely coral reef, some beautiful fish we had never seen before and the most amazingly clear water we had been in for months. We sauntered back to the boat, had a few cold ones and watched as Marty departed on the last ferry back to lahaina. I was watching a sport fishing boat unloading buckets full of mahi mahi across to harbour and decided that they may wish to sell one of the smaller ones. 'have you got any babies for sale?' I asked one of the guys. He told me to take whichever one I wanted. I rummaged through the bucket, finding the smallest one. He wouldn't accept any money and I walked back to the boat with a handsome prize. Jen worked her usual magic and we ate like royalty yet again. Early start next morning as we followed the first ferry out of the harbour. Ben, from Trilogy charters told us to stop at sharkfin rock were they had several submerged moorings we could hang on. We couldn't find any and were about to leave when a rib full of snorkelers arrived and picked up what we were searching for. We pottered while they had their fun and having departed we were able to locate and attach ourselves to the ball which was about 15 ft under the surface. Somehow, we managed to drop a bright orange clothes peg into the drink and it became the target of scores of black fish that were attacking it. Never seen a fish go for a clothes peg before. Maybe there is a market there! It was pretty roly and we soon realized that we could not overnight here. After an hour we set sail and beat towards the north end of the island in a lovely 8 to 10 knot breeze. The only option for a smooth anchorage was at Lono harbour on Molokai which was reachable before dark. As we approached the channel between the two islands we could see a strong wind line defined by big waves topped with white foam. Our wind having died, we lowered the genoa and motored towards the fury. The main was all we needed and we took off surfing down the waves towards Lono harbour at the western end of Molokai. The range markers led us into a beautiful harbour created by two massive breakwaters. This harbour was created many years ago to ship sand to Waikiki beach and once they had enough sand to pitch some umbrellas and roll out a few lounge chairs, they abandoned the place. We just couldn't fathom that this place wasn't used as a marina or some sort of organized small boat harbour. Such a waste. We stayed two nights and picked up the plotting chart we had been looking for from Chuck, who is the lone, full time occupant of this amazing place. We motored out into a big swell ready to do battle with mother nature once again. Another clear wind line became visible once we cleared the end of the island and as soon as we crossed it, we were once again surfing westward at 6 to 7 knots. Uncle Sam had some toys out that morning as well and we were blessed with a carrier and a destroyer crossing close in front of us. I was hoping we would not enter the 500 yard security zone which surrounds these vessels, or they would have had to sink us as a possible terrorist threat. We bypassed Honolulu and ended the day in a very surgy marina on the west side of Oahu called Pokeye bay. As with all the marinas in Hawaii, these docks were pretty beaten up. We spent an uncomfortable night with mistletoe snapping violently at the mooring lines, parting one with a loud bang. We left at first light for the 70 odd mile crossing to nawiliwili on kauai. Another downwind romp at 6 to 7, surfing down some pretty large waves. Phoned the dock master about a mile out who arranged a berth and by 5 p.m. we were safely tied to the docks in the pretty harbour.