Wednesday, June 24, 2015

Heaven, Earth and Sea - Favorite Hawai'ian Island Scenes

June 24, 2015 -
We enjoyed over 6 weeks here on the Hawai'ian Islands.  We certainly could have spent more time, but it was a great time...Here are a few of our favorite scenes:

The Big Island of Hawaii

Lava Flows

Vicky was always on the lookout for places to
run -- and Tom and I were happy to figure
ways to either get her there or schedule time
for some epic adventures on the trails.


 And life on the boat in Radio Bay!



Oahu 



A day at the Pearl Harbor Memorial -- Tom's Dad had been stationed here after the attack in 1941.
The view from our cockpit in Honolulu!

Kauai










Begone Goes Hawai'ian Style - Part 3 - Kauai

Tuesday, June 16, 2015 we arrived Hanalei Bay, Kauai. It's a protected Bay on the north shore that most mainland-bound sailors stop in for their
last stop for provisions and preparation.  It's also a place we enjoyed friends and amazing scenery.  Kauai is called the Garden Island and is probably the most laid back of the Island Chain.  Hanalei is kinda set up for visitors -- especially those driving out the hike or take a boat tour to the Na'pali Coast.

Vicky was quick to scope out the hiking/running trails and we all were looking forward to catching up with new and old friends.

The first gathering with our friend, Tim Sell formerly of Sausalito - now a resident to Kauai.  Given his talents as a diver, we asked him to prep Begone for the passage, share dinner with us, show us around the island AND entertain us with the canoe race in the Bay!

And a great dinner aboard with John & Simone (Popoki), Liz & Tim Sell (Lucky Star) 
and us on Begone.

Vicky found one of the greatest running/trails in the USA -- Kalalau Trail on the Na'Pali Coast.  Amazingly beautiful and challenging (even for Vicky)!


We were looking forward to visiting with Master Mariners/Sausalito friends Mary Smith and
Diane & Jerry Brenden.  What a great time we had with them.  The Brenden's have lived here for 20 years and Mary about 12. Seeing this island of 80,000 residents through their eyes was magical.



Dave, Vicky, Diane, Tom and Mary (and Suzanne) for a lunch at the Brenden's beautiful home.
A tour of the hills and river above Ka'paa (now my favorite town on Kauai). 

And then the Brenden's hosted a beach party for all us cruisers in the Bay.  The Bar-B-Q beach party was just terrific and a great reason for all of us that have sailed up the islands together to get together again  for some fun in the sun!


Little sail anyone?  We helped Diane launch the little hobbie cat for a little sail around the Bay!

Hawaii is known for rainbows, this was taken of our friends steel boat, Caledonia, just after a squall has passed.


Wednesday, June 24th - Begone, anchored in Hanalei Bay, Kauai -- ready for her sail back to the mainland.

We've traveled 3800 miles, so far.  And are about to take off back across the Pacific.  

Fair Winds, Following Seas and Happy Trails to us all!
Suzanne, Tom, and Vicky - s/v Begone



Begone Goes Hawai'ian Style - Part II

Part II takes us from Hawai'i to Oahu via Maui.
Leaving the Big Island was difficult -- we really enjoyed the diversity of the land, the people and things to do.  But deciding WHEN to leave was a rather easy decision,  To make our way up to Maui, we just needed a 24 hour sail across the DREADED Alenuihana Channel.  This crossing is positively legendary for intense winds and high seas and for breaking boats.  But of all the luck, the days we chose to cross, we had flat seas and very light wind.  It was a gift!
Another beautiful Sunrise in paradise

Maui -- for 3 nights, 2 anchorages, some friends and an E Ticket Dinghy Dock...
The rarely visited south shore of Maui


Our first night on Maui we chose to anchor at Oneuli "White Sand" Beach.  There hill provided protection from the NW 20 knots of breeze.  Surfers were enjoying some good breaking waves so we chose to watch the beach goers from the boat rather than swamp our dinghy trying to go ashore. 

We got up the next morning and headed for Lahiana hoping to meet up with our friends from Crockett, CA -- Louise and Rob McClendon who were visiting Maui.  The nice 20 knots of breeze on the beam faded to calm just as we noticed a boat we had met in Radio Bay -- and we had the jacket he left at the party.  It was an impressive and successful hand-off at sea with Vicky on boat pole, Tom at the helm and Suzanne at the camera!  

We continued North to Lahiana -- and the wind proceeded to build to 30 knots.  Our friends on "Popoki" were anchored in good holding ground in the Mala Wharf beach - 1 mile north of Lahiana.  So we chose to anchor rather than trying to pick up a mooring ball at the Yacht Club.  It was a gusty anchorage, but we were confident that Begone was well stuck (Thank you John and Dorothy for choosing a big 45 lb. anchor!)

The next morning, the NE 20+ knots of wind continued, but we wanted to meet Rob & Louise on shore -- so we launched the dinghy and headed to what is generally a calm launch ramp/dinghy dock.  BUT NOT TODAY.  You may be able to see the waves breaking in the entrance -- it was an 
E-Ticket ride and tie-up.



It was great to catch up with Rob & Louise and enjoy lunch on the waterfront.  It was too snotty to bring them out to Begone so we said our "good-byes - see ya in Crockett" and headed back to the rock and rolling at the anchorage,  We decided that spending more time on Maui would have to be another trip.  The wind was blowing and Oahu was calling us.  The next morning we weighed anchor and headed for Honolulu.

Three Week on Oahu -- Begone is side-tied to the Aloha Deck of the Hawaii Yacht Club (Waikiki/Honolulu).   




This was taken from a plane ride (more late) -- Begone is right in the middle of the picture.

We were warmly welcomed at the Hawaii Yacht Club.

 And enjoyed the canoe'ers and SUP'ers and rowers go by us everyday.


We had met John Tebbetts (Ichi Ban) in San Carlos in 2013 and have enjoyed (hated) getting together with him ever since.  We wanted to get to Honolulu before he took off sailing to the South Pacific.  We shared several get togethers (and paid off our Super Bowl pizza bets) before his departure.  Fair winds, John!


\
SPAM continues to be on our shopping list -- Tom's new favorite is Black Pepper SPAM

Tom had to do a motorcycle trip of the island -- so chose a Triumph for his wheels this time. 


Our favorite boat neighbor - "Redford" and his owner Steve is AOK, too.


Before we left Honolulu, we invited a few friends over for appetizers and beverages.  Begone managed to accommodate 13 people and Redford!  Turns out that's just enough weight in the cockpit to allow 2 inches of water in through the cockpit drain!

We decided to add AIS to our navigation/safety gear...Tom engineered a beautiful mount. 

Things we did during our weeks on Oahu:

Vicky had met Merle and Mary (Tirnanog) when she and Chuck were sailing in the South Pacific.  Merle is now the caretaker and chief pilot for Hawaiian Airlines 1st commercial plane - a 1929 Bellanca.  What an amazing ride we had!


Pilot to Co-Pilot -- NOT!  Merle and Tom had the cockpit covered!

And then there's Vicky's Epic Run on the "Stairway to Heaven" Trail...a 5 hour run with a major elevation demand.  Was this from a plane or on foot?  ON FOOT!  Amazing - so she did it twice in 24 hours!

And then there were parties on Begone -- one night we had a party with 13 people aboard and a good time was shared by all -- despite the stern was so low that 2 inches of water came up through the cockpit drain!  

It was a fun and eventful 3 weeks on Oahu.  But it was time to leave for Kauai on Monday, June 15th.  We were looking forward to our trip to Hanalei Bay, Kauai.  So off we went!
But had a Mai Tai with our friends at the Royal Hawaiian Mai Tai bar on the beach as our send off!

Chapter 3 -- Kauai



Monday, June 15, 2015

Begone goes Hawaiian Style - Part I

Part 1 of a 3 part series on Begone Cruising the Hawai'ian Islands!

We arrived in Hilo on the big Island of Hawai'i on Sunday, May 10th.  But now it's June 18th and it's taken me over an month to make time to update our blog.  A while ago, it dawned on me that most people come to the islands with a return plane ticket (or to work or to retire).  We were able to come and enjoy being here with only a vague departure idea based on inclinations and weather.  We also had people we wanted to see, places we wanted to go, and mountains Vicky needed to run.

So here's the first section of our travelog starting on May 10th.
We anchored in the rather small but well protected Radio Bay, Hilo.  Radio Bay is in the industrial section of Hilo with the Cruise Ships, Cargo Ships and a lot of Homeland Security presence.  There is a nice shower house/covered picnic area/book exchange/fresh water facility for cruisers.  To go into town, we rowed our dinghy to the beach of the paddling club, then a walk past the water treatment facility and up to a rather busy road. We decided to rent a car for a week which worked out perfectly as we were able to cover most of the island during that time.
Tom had been hoping to see the C&H Sugar sign that he had remembered from sailing to Hilo in 1991.  But alas, the only C&H sign remaining is just three miles from our home in Port Costa -- Crockett.  Almost all sugar interests in these islands were sold in 1993 to Alexander & Baldwin, Inc. and the "H" in C&H no longer originates in Hilo.  
Kids from the traditional canoe rowing club enjoying an after row dip in the Bay!

We enjoyed meeting the cruisers on the 6 other boats who came in about the same time as us and stayed about as long as us (~10 days).  It was $9.10 a night plus a $17 initiation fee...but you had to pay with a cashiers check (no cash, credit card or check) which want an occasional visit to the Payday Loan shop.  Crazy or amusing!
A fun potluck dinner for all us Radio Bay'ers...the party went well past cruisers midnight!

All of these people we have continued crossing tacks with up the islands.


One raining morning, Vicky and I hiked along the shoreline in search of the 
Hilo Yacht Club (about 2 miles south of Radio Bay). We brought Tom back for a very nice dinner and were warmly welcomed. We exchanged our Point San Pablo Yacht Club burgee for a Hilo YC one.  The unprotected windward location of HYC made it impossible to anchor or place a marina. So HYC is more of a social/swimming/tennis club than a boaters club.  But hey any good reason to get together in a beautiful setting!

Things to fix, places to go and people to see!
Vicky up the mast -- this time to discover our jib halyard was seriously chaffing!
We stopped in Captain Cook at a Car Repair/Machine shop so that Tom could make replacement parts for our mainsail batten that had lost it's plug.
We had a terrific afternoon/evening/morning with longtime cruising and Sausalito friends Dawn and Jeff Stone who now live on Hawai'i.

And on the South Shore, we had to stop at Shaka's Restaurant for a beverage at 
"The Most Southern Bar in the USA"
No trip would be complete without a trip to the Recycling and Transfer Station -- actually it was the closest we could get to the most recent and active lava flow.



The Big Island with Plush tropical terrain, Mountains, Volcanoes and Lava Rock
This is the tropical paradise viewed from the windward side of Hawai'i.
As you travel West and Inland, the waterfalls and mountainous terrain unfold.


Vicky shot this looking down from Mauna Kea's observation trail (9,200 ft above sea level) during a little run from the ranger station.  The top of Mauna Kea is the location of some of the most powerful telescopes on Earth.  Scientists are searching for what ever is out there in the beyond.  The mountain rises 13,700 foot high above sea level, It feature snow much of the year and offers international scientist a clear view of the heavens with no competition from city lights or atmospheric disturbance. 

And on the Southeast side of the Big Island... 
There's active Volcanoes!  We visited Volcano National Park and looked over steaming craters and walked through lava tubes. 




Lava is a story all to itself -- here's a couple interesting pictures.
This is from the 2010 lava flow the wiped out a large area of the SE corner of the island.

This is the house that "the Lava Man" rebuilt a small home over his land/home that had been completely destroyed and covered by lava in the 2010 flow.  And do you like his toilet? See below. 
\
New life pushes through these lava rocks.  It's rather amazing.



On Wednesday, June 20th, the weather window invited us to weigh anchor and head up the island chain,  Part II of this Hawaii portion of  Begone's Blog will cover our short time in Maui and 3 weeks on Oahu.   Aloha!