We're not getting phone reception in this anchorage, so may be unavailable by phone for a few days. Yesterday we made the passage from the Big Island of Hawaii to Maui. The passage was great - we left in the dark a little after 4AM, but it was soon light. We motored a couple hours till the wind kicked in and then it was not too strong and we had a nice sail (a beam reach for once!). Now we're anchored next to a macking surf break - it looks pretty windy & out of control, but Tim and Skip paddled over this to check it out anyhow.
Before coming to Maui, we'd been anchored for ten nights at Nishimura Bay -- a very windy and small bay on the northwest corner of Hawaii. The passage from Hilo Bay to Nishimura Bay (11 days ago?!) was a bit rough - I was seasick the whole way, having forgotten that I get seasick since I made it the whole way from Mexico without being seriously sick. We went the north way around the big island. First, we left in the dark, and had difficulty making out the channel markers to get out of Hilo. Then we had various squalls and rain and confused seas for the first few hours. Then the winds kicked in we pretty much flew around the island, and right as we neared the corner where we were to anchor the winds really picked up. We made our anchorage just before sundown and were greeted by one of the crew of the 42-foot wooden boat Libertia, who had been cruising Hawaii's islands since leaving Seattle last November - it was good to see a group of 20-somethings keeping the wooden boat tradition alive. The three co-owners had been *given* the boat (sounds like it was on its last legs) and they worked on it in a boatyard in South Seattle for 11 months building a cabintop and deck and fitting it out for cruising. We shared the anchorage with them all week.
We finally got a chance to have our friends out on the boat - Tim's friends Grant and Andy came aboard to visit (bringing with them their dog Toni - a great boat dog). On Memorial day we took Grant for a sail (Andy gets seasick, and we weren't sure of the dog's seaworthiness yet). Good thing Andy & Toni took a pass, cuz it was a very lively sail! We weren't sure how the wind would cooperate, and suffice it to say, it did not cooperate. We sailed south till we were out of the wind and becalmed (about 5 miles?) then we decided it would be more fun to stay in the wind and keep sailing so we headed back north for the anchorage, but it was one of those days where each tack seemed to set us backwards?and the boat was covered in salt hours later when we finally got back to the anchorage.
Then Wednesday it was Robyn, Brian and Tasman's turn to visit. We opted to just hang out in the anchorage and have a *boat day* with them, and not subject them to sailing in the howling 30 knot reinforced tradewinds. Even still, the wind in the anchorage was a bit overwhelming. Had it not been for Tasman (age 7) urging us to go for a swim/snorkel, we might have taken a pass. But we putted in to shore in the dinghy and snorkeled along the protected shoreline & saw pretty fish and a really cool sea star with thorns!? And a flounder! Then back to the boat for lunch and carrot cake I made for an early birthday celebration for Robyn. I then went up to Waimea to spend a last few nights with Robyn & Bri and Tas before we left the Big Island - they took me to see Waipio Valley the next day - it was beautiful. Mom & Meta & Nan - we've got some new converts to play *May I* - we stayed up too late both nights playing cards :-) And I got to play in a pickup game of Ultimate Frisbee with Brian - my first time running in a very long time - surprisingly, it felt great! I'll have to look for pickup games on the other islands.
The day before we left Nishimura Bay, our friend Skip on S/v Dolphin sailed in bring with him a large Wahoo (called Ono here in Hawaii) he'd caught that afternoon. He offered us a large chunk and we helped him cut it up and vacuum seal it and were rewarded with a nice fish lunch. And when we got in to scrub the bottom of the sailboat (it's amazing how much stuff grows on there in a short time period - but it wasn't bad since Tim had just scrubbed it before we left Hilo), we saw two manta rays and got to watch them feeding on the bottom.
Will have to post more pictures next time I have a real internet connection!
