UPDATE: I wrote the below posting about a week ago, but never got it online till now. Since then, time's been flying as we get ready to head out of Hawaii. Sold the truck - we'll part with it this friday )-: Had a great weekend with my sister Nancy in Kauai (big stormy rain & thunderstorms, but fun!). Nan comes over to Big Island tomorrow and I'll wrap up work this week then next week, after Nan leaves, we'll head for Oahu visit Tim's brother Kevin and to prepare for jumping back across the Pacific to Mexico. Ok, that's the brief update, now for the real posting...
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Belated Happy Valenties Day to ya’ll! We had a special celebration on valentines thanks to the Giant’s winning the Superbowl. Tim and I had a bet on the game and the loser had to be chef for valentines dinner… Tim lost, and he outdid himself on a wonderful beef stroganoff meal topped off with strawberries and whipped cream and yummy coffee drinks for dessert.
For those that I’ve not been in contact with over the past few months, we’ve been spending the winter here on the Big Island of Hawaii. Bought a car (actually truck) so we could get around, and a standup paddleboard for exercise & fun. We’ve been in a slip at Honokohau harbor, just outside of Kaiua-Kona, on the west side of the island. It's us and about 200 sport fishing boats. Very few sailboats in the marina, and even fewer transients that are allowed to liveaboard. So, it's a little lonely at night! Although we have met a few other fun cruisers that have pulled in, noone else has been here as long as us.
It’s been great hanging out with our friends here –my great friends Robyn & Brian & Tasman are about an hour away in Waimea, and Tim’s good friends Grant & Andie live in Hawi just about an hour away too. But it’s just far enough that we prefer to go for overnight visits usually.
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| Tim, Carol (grant's mom) and Grant on Thanksgiving |
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| Andie, Carol & Me |
I’ve been doing some contract work- actually rented a little office space in the marina shopping mall area. It’s in a built out loft above the Kona Boat Rentals shop. Windowless – but I’m finding I’m really focused and very efficient in the little green room. I’ve been putting together an economic analysis of yet another endangered species critical habitat designation – it’s actually a *redo* of an analysis that I worked on 5 years ago! I’m on track to get most of the work done, but as these things go, I will probably have to leave a few ends undone for the folks at IEc to fill in when Tim and I head off into the Pacific again.
We had a tough time deciding on our next steps from here – it’s intriguing to head further out into the South Pacific, but apparently there wasn’t enough pull there for Tim and I to sail there now. We miss Mexico. We miss our friends and of course, the surf, in Punta Mita. In fact, our good friends there have just had a new baby! So, you can imagine I am excited to get back and meet little baby Ela and to see mama Ana and papa Jason. Once we decided to head back east to Mexico, the dilemma was how – I actually priced shipping our sailboat on a container ship back to the mainland, but it was crazy expensive – probably $10,00 to $15,000 all said and done. So, we’ve decided on one great big adventure – to make the passage back by ourselves, just me & Tim. Usually boats heading east for the mainland wait till june/july, then jump off for San Francisco or the Pacific NW – it’s the easiest route. You go north till you hit westerly winds once you’re up past the Pacific High, then head east. But no, we like a bit more challenge. Since our goal is to get to mexico, and preferably before June when hurricane season starts, we are hoping for some favorable weather in March … like a cold front that pushes the Pacific High further south towards Hawaii so that we can get north and east of the high more quickly…We hear that this is a good possibility in March, so we are trying to get it together to be ready to go if/when the right weather presents itself. If not, we’ll see…
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| Me & Tim at Waipio Valley overlook |
