Position: 20 degrees 52 minutes north, 156 degrees 41 minutes west, at a slip in Lahaina harbor, Maui
Wow – we’ve been on Maui for over two weeks and it has flown by. Our first night on Maui was spent in La Perouse Bay – turns out to be a good surf break, but was super windy when we stopped there! Here’s a picture from the back of the wave, where we were anchored.
Next morning we moved over to the next bay, in hopes it would be less windy. Turns out there was a surf break there as well, so after checking around the whole bay, we anchored next to the surf break. Tim was below decks napping, when I noticed a jet ski approaching us… friendly tourists coming to say hi??? Not so lucky… Apparently we were anchored in a Natural Area Reserve. The enforcement agent for the Dept. of Land and Natural Resources practically catapulted himself onto the boat and informed us that we were anchored illegally and he could seize the boat and arrest the captain on the spot, but that he was only going to issue us a citation. We explained that we understand the importance of protecting the natural resources, and would never have anchored there had we known, but our cruising guides did not mention any restrictions in that bay! He issued us 3 citations and we're supposed to appear in court on July 7th.... Skip (our friend on the boat Dolphin) got the same citations. ARGH!!!! So we learned the hard way that you must check with the closest harbormaster about whether it's ok to anchor in any particular spot in Hawaii. Meanwhile, we’ve also learned that our cruising guides for the Hawaiian Islands are not to be relied on for sufficient info about where we’re allowed to anchor. Lots of folks have told us how *unfriendly* the state of Hawaii is for cruising boats, and we’re finding that to be true in many ways.
Because of the citations, we had to go to court to settle the matter – we couldn’t just pay a fine and leave town. We managed to get our court date moved up to yesterday and it was an interesting morning in the local district traffic court on Maui! A bit nerve-racking for us because at first the judge was going to give us an automatic two week continuance – he wanted us to consult with a public defender because the offenses carried a potential penalty of up to one-year jail time. Luckily, the court clerk noted that we were not state residents, and so we were sent to confer with the public defender out in the hallway! Then there was the issue that he wasn’t supposed to represent both Tim and Skip, because that is one of the rules… so they had to both agree to waive the right to separate attorney, and then they each took a plea agreement which amounted to a $80 fine for one charge (a petty misdemeanor) and they dropped the other charges. Yipee!!! We are sooooo relieved to have this over with – we weren’t sure what the outcome would be or how long it might take to resolve!
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| Skip and Tim walking out of Courthouse - finally free of that worry! |
In any case, here in Lahaina, we’ve been really enjoying ourselves…When we first got to this town we took a mooring from the Lahaina Yacht Club – here’s a video to show how rolly the boat was on that mooring.
So, after a few nights, we checked with the harbormaster, and were promptly allowed to move to a slip (note – all our cruising guides said don’t bother, there are NO slips for transient boats!)! It’s a cutesy little town, with lots of touristy shops and also tons of art galleries!
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| Dolphin (skip's boat) and Midnight Blue sidetied at the dock in Lahaina |
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| There's a rainbow behind the boat every afternoon! |
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| Yup, this is what Hawaii is supposed to be like! |
There are also surf breaks all over – Tim got to surf a big south swell that hit this week, plus there have been plenty of little waves everyday. I’ve been surfing a bit – trying to learn how to ‘go left’ on a wave – till now, I’ve only ridden waves going right. Here’s some photos of the break right in front of the our boat. It’s super crowded during the day with lots of surf lessons. Gives a whole new meaning to the surf ‘lineup’. They’ll have about 40 people on boards waiting their turn to be not only pushed into the wave, but the surf instructor actually holds the board while the person rides all the way in! Pretty funny!!!
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| Surf school's in session! |
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| Jane's new favorite break |
Our friend Dantel (Skip’s wife) was here last week – we went on a mai-tai tasting tour (he he he!). We also went on various island explorations – the Maui winery, the Road to Hana, and snorkeling at new beaches.
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| Mai Tai #1 |
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| Lahaina has some beautiful sunsets! |
Tim and I did a trip up Maui's biggest volcano, Mt. Haleakala. First we went on a guided tour of a Nature Conservancy preserve with some native forest lands and birds! Then we went up to the summit – it was really windy – gusting up to 50mph! So we decided not to hike into the crater… too cold out.
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| Haleakala Crater |
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| It's cold up here! |
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| And this might be the highest elevation we've ever been at (not counting airplanes!) |
This weekend Tim’s friend Grant will come over to Maui to visit – he’s never been here even though he lives on the Big Island and can see Maui most days! Then Tim and I will make our way to Oahu, and from there we’re thinking we’ll try to head to the Line Islands at the end of July…at least that’s our current thought!
