Catching up on passage photos

We didn't take a great number of photos while we were underway, but we did get a few.

Last night in Mexico - waiting to clear customs at Nuevo Vallarta (can you see little Ka'sala among the mega yachts?)

I bought all my fresh vegetables and fruit at Costco, Mega and La Comer.   The grapefruit and oranges I bought from Costco lasted beautifully and I could have bought more.  By the end of the third week we only had apples and limes left.

Once I got all the fresh stuff on board I had to organize and store it.  A decision had to made whether to wipe it down with a vinegar solution or leave it as is until ready to be eaten.  I've tried it both ways and figure it is best to just leave it as it has likely been treated for longevity.  As it happened, everything survived except the cantelope which I had to cut up and refrigerate on the second day.

I got these plastic crates at Mega - asked the produce clerk and he just gave them to me.  I also used the thick purple paper trays that you often see apples on to separate the layers.  Because we would be using one of the settee berths to sleep on for the passage, I converted the forepeak into storage.  The whole system worked extremely well with two exceptions: the cantelope and the carrots (which started to go soft - I had to soak them in water and move them into the fridge to revive them).

The interior while underway - note the sea berth to the left with the lee cloths.

Galley while underway

Un retouched photo - the ocean at 20 degrees North is an incredible colour of blue!

Note the jordan drogue in the bag behind the helm - we didn't get anywhere near having to deploy it

We saw a lot of squalls on this trip, but many of them passed us by.  The white board with the maple leaf is the paddle of the monitor which self steers Ka'sala

Another beautiful sailing day - note the storm sail rigged to the mast in the red bag - never got close to using it.  Also note the dinghy upside down on the foredeck - we had our ditchbag tied within as we had the whole thing rigged as our life raft.  Also note the kayaks now stored on the sides of the carriage roof (usually stored on top) - not ideal, but allowed us to use the staysail (which is flying between the reefed headsail and mainsail) and still have enough room for the jacklines along the deck.

An evening squall - note the jugs on both sides of the foredeck - port are the diesel jugs and starboard are the water jugs (which we never used)

Only one of many glorious sunsets

Approaching Oahu in the Kauai Channel - usually notorious for standing waves because of a strong current against prevailing winds- we were fortunate that the trade winds were light that day!

Koko Head - a volcanic crater on the east end of Oahu - people actually build their houses on the rim!!??

Diamond Head with the sky scrapers of Honolulu peaking around the corner

Doug raises the quarentine flag as we approach Waikiki and the Ala Wai.  This flag was replaced with an American and Hawaiian flag once we had cleared customs and immigration later that day.

Honolulu - First Week

Our last night at sea was relatively benign.  The winds were constant between 10 and 15 knots and the seas remained relatively calm.  The only straw in the ointment was a counter current which ranged from .5 to 2 knots against us and added several hours to our final day.  By the time we reached the Kaiwi Channel we had to turn on the engine or we would not have arrived in Honolulu in daylight.  (I later learned that Kaiwi means "slowness" in Hawaiin - which has nothing to do with calmness - as this channel has the reputation of being quite rough - no wonder if the current is this strong against the prevailing trade winds.  Now I know why we saw such gigantic, close together waves when we crossed from Molokai 7 years ago).  As our last day at sea dawned, we could see the outline of Maui and Molokai behind us, and the great slab of Oahu ahead of us.  It is a wild and dramatic landscape with steep sided, green covered hills and extinct volcanic cones.  A subdivision spread out along the lip of a cone at Koko Head seemed nonsensical. 

In the Kaiwi Channel approaching Oahu

You can just see the white houses of the subdivision on the right of the Koko Head volcano ridge

As we rounded Koko Head, Diamond Head came into view and very soon after the skyrises of Waikiki and Honolulu.

Doug raises the "Q" (quarentine) flag as we glide past Waikiki

We arrived at the Aloha dock at the Hawaii Yacht Club in the Ala Wai just after 12:30 local time.  (We later realized we had our time mixed up as we had not known Hawaii does not follow daylight savings time).  Robbie Buck, the Port Captain, greeted us and once we were secure on the dock, Doug called US customs and immigration.  Within half an hour, Mr. Shoda was aboard checking our passports and boat documentation.  He found everything in order and we were free to go ashore, however we had to report to his office the next day to finalize the paperwork and renew our US cruising permit. 

On the Aloha dock at the Hawaii Yacht Club in the Ala Wai

 We also needed to be inspected by the Agricultural branch, however, the agent was not available until 8am the next morning.  We were required to keep our garbage aboard until she could inspect it.  And, inspect it she did, then we bagged it and she took it away to be incinerated.  While onboard, she checked through all my stores.  I had thrown all the remaining produce overboard the night before so I knew I would pass that test.  However, she confiscated the remaining eggs and two small steaks I had in the freezer.  She inspected all my opened dry goods, such as flour and rice, then went through the fridge.  I was required to wash down all my countertops with bleach while she supervised.  It was the most thorough check we had ever undergone, but I had no problem with it at all.

We did not fall over when we stepped on land.  In fact, on the first day it all felt completely normal to walk around and be in a big urban centre with all the associated sights and sounds.  It was almost as if the last three weeks hadn't even happened!  It wasn't until the following day that I felt discombobulated.  Our first night we wandered over to a nearby pub for draft beer and pizza and were in our bunks early. 

Next day, after the agricultural inspection,  we sorted out the rest of our US clearances and found ourselves at the Hawaii Brewery for lunch.  Doug was in heaven and with so many IPA choices he had to settle for a flight.

IPA heaven

On the way back to the boat we scoped out bicycle shops, grocery stores and laundry mat to be visited the next day.  I found the walking difficult after so many days just keeping my balance, and realized that I would need my bicycle if I was ever going to get around easily in this city.  Doug had them set up and ready to go the next morning.

Overlooking the beach at Honolulu - Diamond Head in the distance

 We have spent the last couple of days figuring out the bicycle routes, shopping for the boat and for us, doing laundry, cleaning, etc.  We are looking forward to slowing down a bit so we can enjoy a vacation in this dynamic place before we continue north again.

Happy to have my wheels again!

Aloha from Hawaii

We arrived at the Aloha Dock at the Hawaii Yacht Club at 10:00 UTC or 12:30 local time after 23 days, 6 and 1/2 hours and almost 3000 nautical miles.  Yay us!  Now to clear customs, etc, and settle in.  I will post more later!  Big thanks and hugs to all of you following our passage!

Tuesday, May 15 - Day 22

21.21 N
155.09 W

Distance travelled: 118 NM - 128 to go!

All going well, today will be our last full day at sea. At the moment, we are just coming up to the north side of Maui. We can faintly see land in the distance, but most of it is enshrouded in cloud and haze. We may see more land as we will pass closer to Molokai. We have heard that the volcano on the Big Island may blow its top, but we see no evidence of anything different from our perspective. If it does blow, the fall out will be downwind of Oahu, so it is unlikely we will notice a thing.

Last night was a quiet one and we both slept well on our off watches. The stars were once more incredible, but that was all we noticed - no wildlife, no shipping of any kind. However, we have begun hearing Hawaii Coast Guard notices on the VHF. We sailed through the night on a reach and this morning we shifted back to wing on wing to keep our course. The forecast is still holding good for us. We expect the winds to pick up this afternoon, but they are supposed to die down later in the evening. We will pass through the channel between Molokai and Oahu in the wee hours and pass by Diamond Head in the morning.

Last night on the Seafarer's Net we asked that someone call the Hawaii Yacht Club to notify them of our pending arrival. Jane did it for us and they are expecting us. It was a busy night for them as several boats tried to join the roster, but the reception was not great. We heard that a boat heading to Honolulu from Tonga lost its rig and had to return under power. Another sailboat, with a 74 year old solo sailor aboard, has been reported missing somewhere between the Galapagos and Hawaii. We are thankful we have such a sound boat and we are capable of such a journey.

Today I went through the provisions for the last time. I made up a big tomato sauce to freeze, with as many vegetables as I could and the rest I had to throw overboard. Hawaii does not allow us to bring in fresh fruit and vegetables and I feel we need to respect that. At first I was a little chagrined by how much I had to throw away - potatoes, carrots, cabbage, onion, garlic, ginger, limes, and peppers - but then I realized that I had planned our stores for a possible 30 day passage. We would have eaten these things if we had been that long at sea, so I believe my planning was close to perfect. And it's better to throw a few things away, than to not have them at all. Of course, we still have plenty of canned and dried foods, so we are a very long way from starving. On another note - we still have over half of our fresh water supply. Are we good, or what???

Tomorrow I shall try to post our arrival, so stay tuned. There may not be a lot of detail, but that will come later. Thanks to all of you who have been following our passage - we appreciate your thoughts and prayers - all that positive energy surely helps!

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Monday, May 14 - Day 21

21.21 N
153.50 W

Distance Travelled: 134 NM - 246 NM left to go!

Today marks three weeks at sea and, I have to say, the time really has flown by. In fact, when I look back the days seem to blur together and I am thankful I kept my journal and this blog to look back on some day. It has been quite a journey, so far!

Yesterday was an almost perfect sailing day, however, last night we had challenges as the winds gusted and deflated which meant we were in the cockpit doing a fair amount of tweaking - we're sailing - right? What are we supposed to be doing? Sleeping? Watching movies??? Then the wind died to a trace and Doug fired up the engine to get us going again. We also needed to top up the batteries, so it wasn't really a problem.

For the first half hour the prop did a bit of grumbling - it hadn't been pushing the boat in almost three weeks, so no doubt there was some growth on it. Doug noticed that we seemed to be having a problem with our electrical system. He spent a few hours doing diagnostics and eliminating some obvious things, but will have to spend some time on it when we get to Honolulu. It won't effect the rest of our passage, thank goodness. Could be something to do with the alternator or the batteries...time will tell.

The wind really didn't pick up again until after noon and now we are broad reaching following 270 True at about 5.5 knots. An enormous north swell has picked up again, so it isn't a particularly smooth ride. Although it is sunny and warm, we can see towering cumulus building in the distance and we shall have to keep our eyes open for squalls tonight. The winds are predicted by NOAA to be 10 - 15 over the next two days, but could be higher. At any rate, all looks good for our arrival in Honolulu sometime Wednesday morning.

The stars last night were amazing again and this time I used my binoculars to check them out. It is astounding how many are out there and really makes you wonder if we aren't alone in the universe. I watched a film called "Jupiter Ascending" about this topic. In this fantasy, a super elite humanoid cartel seed planets with humans that they can "harvest" when their populations exceed the ability for the planet to sustain them. They render the biological material to make a special serum that allows the humanoids to live eternally. Well, there is more to the story, but it caught my attention as I was looking at those stars! Ha Ha

Two more sleeps.......

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Sunday, May 13 - Day 20

21.17 N
151.34 W

Distance travelled: 120 NM - 380 to go!

Happy Mother's Day! A special day for special people. I am lucky enough to have a wonderful mother, Wineita Coleman, whom I cherish. Although I can't celebrate the day with her, I am with her in spirit and send my love.

Conditions calmed down considerably over this last 24 hour period. We had about 10 knots during the night and the seas were low enough that we weren't banged around too much. We both slept well. On our watches we enjoyed gazing at the stars - still not particularly bright, but a stupendous number were visible, including the Milky Way, against a backdrop of inky black. On clear nights on the ocean, we can see the stars right on the horizon (in fact sometimes we think they are the lights of ships) because there is no ambient light from land. From where we are now, we can see the Southern Cross and the North Star. Spectacular!

Last night a flying fish decided to pay Doug a visit in the cockpit. The mess it made gave me an excuse to wash down the cockpit and clean the plastic windows on the dodger and side panels. Ka'sala will look great when she pulls into the Hawaii Yacht Club - the captain and crew? Hopefully not too smelly and scruffy! We will certainly have a big bag of laundry!

Mid morning the wind backed and picked up. We are now sailing at 6.5 knots on a beam reach - an excellent point of sail for Ka'sala. Down below we can hear the swishing of the water along the hull. We are relatively stable. Up above, it is warm in the cockpit under sunny skies with puffy clouds. In a word: stunning! We will enjoy every last minute of it!

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Saturday, May 12 - Day 19

21.12 N
149.19 W

Distance travelled: 133 NM - 500 NM left

Aaaaaaah! Now this is nice! We are coasting along at 5.5 knots in 15 knots of wind. It would be absolutely perfect if the seas were flatter, but that close cross swell persists. Even though Ka'sala continues to rock, the movement is a bit gentler. The sun is shining. The sky is blue. It is warm - 28 degrees, and the sea a crystal blue. Gorgeous! We have had to work the sails, moving from wing on wing to a deep beam reach to keep Ka'sala as stable as possible.

We ran the engine today to top up the batteries, which also provided us with hot water to take a "bath". Lovely! It was calm enough that I was able to make a chickpea curry this morning and a little later I will make another batch of naan bread. Although we are down to apples, onions and potatoes, I have been able to plan out the rest of our meals until our arrival and we will be fine.

We aren't quite at the time zone, but decided to move to it this morning as we ended the night watches. We will stay in this zone until we are halfway to Sitka in late June.

We are in the "zone" for Hawaii weather reports and the outlook is looking excellent for the remainder of our passage - 10 - 15 knot winds and no southern swell. Of course the wind and waves will accelerate through the channels between the islands, but it should be manageable. We will monitor the weather closely and keep our fingers crossed that the predictions turn out to be correct. We are still expecting to arrive in Honolulu sometime on Wednesday.

We haven't seen any plastic or garbage in the sea until today. We were in the cockpit enjoying our lunch when we started noticing a fair amount of flotsam gliding by. Most of it was hand-sized bits of plastic, hard to discern what they began life as. There was quite a bit of it over an hour of time, then it stopped. Where had it come from? Prevailing winds and current are behind us, so maybe we just caught up with it. Horrible to see in the pristine blue waters.

Our moods are buoyant aboard the pea-green boat! Har! Har!

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