Chickens, Astronauts and the Great Garbage Patch

We left Honolulu to make room for the Trans-Pac race boats to enter, 

And glad to leave the city behind, where the high rises seemed to dwarf Diamond Head Crater.

A short sail to the west side of Oahu brought us to Pokai Bay where the locals raced outriggers.  

We have seen outrigger races and practices in EVERY port we have visited except tiny, little Toau with its population of ten. We have seen soccer fields, but never with anyone there. More often, a horse might be grazing in it and always chickens scattered in the field. Speaking of chickens, they hide under the trees from the heat, excepting this farmer's yard where they each have their own shade spot.

We left Pokai and traveled through the day and into the night, arriving in Hanalei Bay about 1:30 in the morning. We woke to find why we had been told over an over to stop here. Exquisite beauty,

This side of Kauai has been the filming location for Jurassic Park, Avatar, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Pirates of the Caribbean, and many other films. It has breath-taking beauty. 

We leave in the morning for Washington, a trip of 2600 miles of open ocean. For much of our journey, the closest people to us will be the astronauts in the Intenational Space Station.  That sounds like hyperbole, but they are only about 400 kilometers above us, reminding us of how very thin and fragile our atmosphere actually is. 

We will travel almost due north until we are level with Vancouver Island and then turn east as prevailing winds will turn from the east to the northwest. That will keep us out of the North Pacific high where there is no wind, but not out of the world's largest garbage patch. As we traveled through Polynesia, we saw some bit of floating plastic more days than not. Globally, the South Pacific has the least plastic and other garbage, while the North Pacific has the most, and has since long before the tsunami in Japan. Curbing plastic at its source is critical, for example, San Jose, CA found 60% less pastic in its creeks and rivers ( which empty to the Pacific) after instituting a plastic bag ban.  There are so many ways to stop the pollution at its source.

Tonight we'll enjoy a nice dinner in town, then our last night sleeping through the night until we arrive home.

Fair winds to you all.