Any voyage over 80 nautical miles is the comfortable limit for a day sail for us on india. We relish the overnight sails and often the winds die down and the seas flatten at night making it very pleasant. There is also the advantage of easily arriving at a destination in daylight without pushing to get there before nightfall on a long haul. Our destination to Hanalei Bay was 114 Miles which meant that we could plan a late afternoon departure and enjoy the southern coastline of Oahu before sunset and arrive sometime mid morning to enjoy the northern coastline of Kauai! The weather was perfect with only a few middle of the night squalls that didn’t interrupt our views of either coasts.
One of the many alluring aspects of sailing the Hawaiian islands is the dramatic volcanic coastlines. Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea on the Big Island are over 13,000 Feet, Haleakala in Maui is over 10,000 Feet, Kamakou in Moloka’i, Ka’ala in O’ahu, and Kawaikini in Kaua’i are also in the top ten highest peaks in the state, all over 4000 feet! Each islands’ recognizably lofty profile is as majestic as the other and each are a visual wonder as seen from the sea. Another notable aspect we have mentioned is the ever constant wind which makes for great sailing and the all-powerful swell that earns Hawaii’s reputation as a professional surfers destination. There is almost always a wave break somewhere in Hawaii. Our mission has been to chose passage days to our advantage by working with the forecasted winds and swell because working against it would be uncomfortable, ill advised, if not outright dangerous. Hawaii has been an exhilarating and exceptional cruising ground that has both delighted us and kept us on our toes!
Additional challenge has been the vigorous and impossible rules and regulations surrounding the very few anchorages we could find compounded by the pandemic. We’ve done our best to comply while pleading ignorance to all the confusion that makes travel between the islands much like travel between countries and have been told that we do a better job than most. We were absolutely astonished by the time we arrived at Hanalei Bay to find a proper little anchorage tucked behind two gentle surf breaks and nestled under breathtaking mountain ridges. It is as idyllic as promised and the most hospitable and normal anchorage we have found in six months here! We were so comfortable that we forgot to check in until Tuesday by which time we panicked the health authorities who sent three agents and an armed policeman to the beach to meet us and our documents! One of the advantages of being an older couple is that we look pretty harmless and unoffensive, and we did have our documents in order, so once the panic was over we were welcomed ashore with aloha to enjoy our latest Hawaiian paradise.
It was nice just to be at anchor again to watch the sunset on an unobstructed horizon. Now we had a new shoreline including a river to explore and the town was just a short walk away. The beginning of the week was very windy so we scouted the river a couple of times and spent hours in town investigating the small grocery store and browsing the shops and savored a meal at a busy restaurant. When the wind died down a bit, we pumped up the SUPs, swam in the cool waters and flew the drone. We originally thought we might stay here only a few days, but things were brewing in the background. Our intended next destination of Fiji had experienced a new Covid-19 outbreak and we were waiting for some clarification on how that might affect the Blue Lane Protocols for visiting yachts and the Memorial Day Weekend was upon us which might affect how our timing with required Covid Tests, Immigration Departure Documents from this end and Entry Approval on the Fiji end and a good weather window for the transit. Sometimes it is better to wait and see how it all might come together and what a great place to wait it out! So we decided to enjoy Hanalei Bay for quite a few extra days!
Reluctantly, we headed over to Nawiliwili to position ourselves for departure to Fiji. We spent the first couple of days on anchor behind the breakwater where it was calm and I winched David up the mast to repair our main halyard line that had frayed over the last two years. Then we took the SUPs around the corner for a final excursion and swam at Kalapaki Beach before deflation. And we had time to make a new acquaintance in Roger, a friend of Rick's, who came aboard to meet us and see the boat one afternoon. You will remember Rick was a crew member on our Panama Canal Transit. On Tuesday we took the dinghy ashore for final provisions and our dreaded Covid RT-PCR Tests and started the process of moving all of our documentation through the interwebs in the required 72 hour time frame for departure. We hadn't realized that there was no official customs/immigration clearance office for cruising yachts in Kauai even though it appeared that there was in some of our sources but we managed to get it accomplished over the phone and through emails, whew!, because it is also required upon entry for Fiji. Thankfully we didn't have to take the boat back to Oahu over a 100 miles away or fly one of us over with our paperwork! The marina came through with an outside slip last minute so once we had cleared a small tree from its entanglement in our bridle gear for the anchor chain we squeezed into the slip which was a tight fit between exterior pilings. From this point we were able to fill up with water and give india a badly needed scrub down! It really is so much more complicated to move a yacht around internationally during Covid that we are actually looking forward to some rest after all this by going to sea!
As our eminent departure draws near, we look back on our time in Hawaii with fond memories. From the awe-inspiring active volcanoes and rich coffee fields of the Big Island, to the quaintness of Maui with its visiting whale population and whaling history. From the rugged cliffs and solemn but inspiring story of Kalaupapa and the resolute inhabitants of Moloka’i to the bustling city of Honolulu and tourist laden Waikiki. Fascinating Pearl Harbor and all the military bases and presence in Oahu with the impressive Air-force exercises reminded us of a more recent history we will never forget and the lush gardens of Kauai in the deep green valleys of its steep ravines is a paradise on earth. We have seen it all from our seaside perspective and have been chasing the numerous and vivid rainbows from one island to the next. Each island possesses such abundance of character it is hard to recommend one island over the other. We just consider ourselves fortunate to have visited them all.
Hawaii is known as the Aloha State and until I experienced it first hand I cannot say that I fully understood what that meant. We all know that ALOHA means welcome, hello and goodbye roughly. It can also mean love. But it is something much more ethereal and refined than that. More of a gratitude than anything else. In our time here we have heard this word daily. The locals really do say it and often. It is expressed in the news and in advertisement. It is shown in how residents interact with one another and their environment. It is about living in harmony with the people and land around you with mercy, grace, sympathy and kindness. Some examples we have noticed is no angry horns in traffic that will always stop and wait for pedestrians with a smile. No one is in a hurry and everyone will stop and talk or help with information, directions or just to chat. We have noticed aloha amongst the locals in how the KEIKI (children) are treated so sweetly and how the KAPUNA (elders) of the community are respected and how visitors are thought of as guests. It really is remarkable and certainly part of the Polynesian heritage we have found in the Pacific so far.
And so we will say to all our friends new and old that we have taken such pleasure in knowing and spending our time with here in Hawaii…
A HUI HOU MAKOU
