Our passage from the Marquesas to Hawaii took 17 days. Shortly, after crossing the equator we separated from our buddy boat, Capri. We were using the weather router, “theWeatherguy.com” this time. He advised us to head more East than they were comfortable with. As it turns out, they were starting to experience electrical glitches and we lost touch with them first by radio, then satellite, then sail mail. But by this time we had established good communication with Minstrel Boy, ( family of 3 from Victoria) and Dappere Dodo ( Dutch family of 4 whom we had met in the Tuamotus) ; both on there way to Hawaii and Pinocchio who had decided to stop for a while in the Fanning Islands.
I think we are getting better at our crossings. I seem to enjoy them more each time. One amazing thing is I haven’t been getting my usual sea sickness that I thought I was stuck with for the first few days of the trip . I was even drinking coffee like a crusty ol’ sailor!!
Mind you, I’m sure we owe the good crossing for the most part to Rick-theWeatherGuy.
Anyways we tucked into the large breakwater at Hilo and then into Radio Bay as the wind and seas were picking up from some storms happening in the NW. You have the choice of anchoring or tying to the wall. Pure bliss the first night at anchor in the protected bay. But we wanted to do a lot of boat work and had guests coming so we Med-tied to the wall. The next day weather intensified and each wave was breaking over the breakwater. Exciting to watch. But we broke a line and watched our neighbour start dragging toward the wall . So Dave went to help, then we got serious about our condition and put a second anchor out and reinforced the lines. It’s always good to get that wake up call early in the stay so you know just how bad the snug little anchorage you are in can be.
Radio bay is a noisy industrial place that is hard to get into town from. But on a friends good advice, we bought some fairly cheap bikes. The bikes have to be rowed to shore each time, but it’s so worth it for the freedom and exercise. The buses here are cheap. Only $1 for us over sixty-ers. $1 to go anywhere! And for an extra $1, you can put your bike on. So we caught the bus to the Volcano National Park with our bikes and were able to explore there and then ride 30 miles back all down hill!!
Another time we caught the bus to Kona across the island for $1 and met up with Trish and Herman who had arrived by plane and picked us up in a rental car. For the next 10 days we had such a good time exploring the island with those two.
After the New Year we were looking for the weather opportunity to move on to Maui, but decided to let one pass and wait here until we could get our Boat Safety Inspection in Reeds Bay. It’s a form that you need to have ( or get) if you stay longer than 3 days in any state run facility. The rules here are not straight forward, but I think we have everything we may need to satisfy authorities now. Having let that weather window pass, means we may have two wait here another two weeks. The Alenuihaha channel that we must cross to Maui gets very dangerous with intensified trade winds funnelling through especially at this time of year.
Our plans from here though, are to stop at a few anchorages on our way to Oahu, if we have time. We have to change our batteries in Oahu and then get to Kauai mid February or so to meet Robert and Jessica at the end of the month.
Did I mention it rains a lot in Hilo? Often it is torrential but doesn’t last all that long. The temperature is mostly a comfortable 20C. Only time I freeze here is in the air conditioned shops. Luckily there is a daily fresh market in town. On the whole, Hilo is a great place and we are fully enjoying our time here.