Thursday, July 30, 2015

Note from the Sea: Musicians in the Night







July 30, 2015

Latitude 31d, 28' 27" N

Longitude 154d, 24' 04" W



It's 1:30 am and I just came on watch. I have trained myself to go to sleep at 7 pm so that I will be rested by the time I start watch at 1 am.  There is a full moon and the seas are fairly calm.  Gentle winds and low swells are coming against us but they are spaced far apart and there is no slapping or pounding as there was coming back to the Marquesas from the Tuamotus.  When dawn arrives, we will have been at sea for five days on this passage, making a little over 150 miles a day, which is good speed for us, or an average of about 6.3 kts. (7.25 mph).  Try driving down the street at that speed to get a feel for it, then imagine taking a coast to coast trip and sometimes speeding up to 7 and 1/4 mph on a 20 degree bouncing tilt, and you have sailing the North Pacific.  Winds are predicted to drop in a day or two and we will travel about 600 miles through a high pressure area where we will be lucky to make 4 kts.



We have been passing through an area that the charts call the Musicians Seamounts which are under water spires of about 9000 feet named after musicians.  Below us, we have the classics and romantics, as well as some modern ones.  There are mounts named after Prokofiev, Rachmaninov, Schubert, Shostakovich, Ravel, Debussy, and Strauss well as Berlin and Hammerstein, about 35 mounts in all, continuing the SE to NW directional pattern of all the Pacific island chains.  Of course, all of this is about 7500 feet below us.  I can imagine some ocean cartographer naming them after his favorites.  I would have added Gershwin.



The full moon is darting amid wisping clouds and the night is quiet.  I will play music in my head to accompany the night's beauty.


Friday, July 24, 2015

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.

Sunday, July 5, 2015

Go away! Welcome!

Our first two dives near Lahina on Maui were sobering.  The ocean had very little life to it. We learned later that many of the easily accessible dive spots have been killed by all the sun screen in the water.  Later in the week, we traveled to an under water spire off of the island of Lanai which showed only slight coral bleaching. Sea turtles, parrot fish, and much more abounded.  We were joined by our daughter Margot and her sweetheart, Desmond.

We took off for the island of Molokai escorted by a pod of Spinner Dolphins.


Desmond was treated to his first sail ever, which included a full drenching as he sat in the cockpit, winds blew at 27 kts. and waves slammed over the rail. It was a fast trip and we slid into the quiet, small town harbor of Kaunakakai at sunset.
Young men were swimming to a buoy and back.  We waved a warm "aloha" and one of the young men shouted to us, "Go back! Go back home where you came from!"  Our hearts fell.  We were so saddened by that reception, we talked about pulling anchor in the morning and leaving without going ashore. A man we had met in Lahina had told us he never traveled to Molokai anymore as he didn't like going where he wasn't welcome.  Interestingly, the nick name for Molokai is "The Friendly Island".
Instead, we decided to at least check out the famous pillow bread from the local bakery.  At night, they close the bakery and sell the pillow bread out of the back alley. Walking down the long narrow, dark alley, we were confused and wary, unsure if this could really be the place.



Far down the alley, a passage way branched off and we could see a light at the end.


  People were gathered, chatting with each other, waiting for their orders. Still thinking of our encounter in the harbor, we were surprised to find folks cheerful and curious about our journey. It was welcoming.



 We got cinnamon, butter and sugar on a soft round, 12" loaf and like our new acquaintances, tore into it with our hands.Yumm!



A car rental from Dusty's Repair, the local (rather than Alamo) fellow allowed us to wander the island.  At 10 by 35 miles, Molokai can be traveled slowly in a day. The farmers market added fresh tomatoes, onions, bananas, oranges and cucumbers to our provisioning. 




We traveled the narrow roads




 To the east, we saw a pristine valley.


To the north, we stood at the overlook to see the old leper colony below, and we're disappointed at first, as it was cloaked in the mist.


But moments later, it cleared showing the community below the cliffs, said to be the tallest sea cliffs in the world.


Finally, the west side of the island has the longest white sand beach in the state and it was nearly deserted.


We were so glad we hadn't let one unhappy man spoil our visit. We were met by warm and kind people everywhere. We hoisted our anchor the next morning and motored past the rugged terrain of the sea cliffs.


We arrived in Honolulu at night, wowed by the immensity of the city!

Honolulu, even more than Lahina, is brimming with tourists parting with their money. Cranes sprout on nearly every spot as new hotels, condos and retail space soar into the air.  The architecture is creative, but who knows about sustainability.  Hawaii has met or broken its own heat record 20 times in the past month. The island has an excellent recycling system and a state bottle deposit law that provides a steady 5 cent/bottle or can income for the homeless who abound here. On the other hand, Waikiki sports stores for Gucci, Rolex, Christian Dior, and more.  It's a plethora of who's who of expensive fashion. The wide open doors lure people in with the air conditioning that pours onto the sidewalks. On the lighter side, the local ABC Stores, a kind of liquor/convience/tourist trinket chain offers Obama options.  You can get an Obama bobble head for your car, or a can opener in surf board or ukulele style.


Just what I needed?

We got the "kids" off safely after a delightful nine days with them.  They chipped in at every turn and learned new skills along the way.  It was a joy to be with family! We completed a few minor repairs (remember: the reason people sail is to be able to fix their boats in exotic places!). The sailmaker put a third reef in the mainsail to manage storms more easily. This form of removable nip and tuck allows much more flexibility, especially with the large mainsail of a J Boat. Here's hoping we don't need it. Here I am replacing the back stay onto the mast.

We had a delightful and delicious dinner aboard Desmiada (Portuguese for "Too Much") as the guests of the commodor of the Hawaiian Yacht Club and his wife, whom we had met in the harbor at Molokai. They were kindred spirits, understanding the the fragility of the world and refusing to be in denial. They also turned us on to some of the local spots



and gave us suggestions for our next leg to Kauai.  We sail in the morning, making way for the Trans-Pac race boats starting to arrive from the mainland.  The 105' trimaran, Lending Club 2 arrived two nights ago, having dropped out of the race before it began to take advantage of a weather window.  They set the new course record of 3 days, 18 hours from Los Angeles to Honolulu.  We hit 12 kts twice in 10,000 miles, they averaged 24.6 kts. for over three days. We do 150 nm on a good day, the averaged just under 600 a day! And we are considered a fast boat!
Wish us fair winds and following seas.

Contrast: Real Town vs Fantasy Land, Hurricane?!?!???

We stayed two weeks in Hilo, mostly doing repairs.  We put in a new windlass to lift the anchor, mended the steering and replaced bushings on the gooseneck of the boom.  We took three days to be tourists and saw the all time best food truck, a pizza oven!

Complete with wood pile 

And sink


We traveled to Mauna Loa and saw the complete power and destruction of the lava flow as well as the night time glow of the hot lava in the cauldron.



The nene, national bird of Hawaii, is still threatened but is coming back from the edge of extinction. It still has many loses to vehicles and the mongoose.  We saw several of these fast creatures, brought here on the 1800's to deal with the rat population in the sugar cane fields.  Unfortunately, this diurnal animal did nothing to control the nocturnal rat and instead, decimated ground nesting birds like the nene, a long time descendant of the Canadian Goose.

At the National Park, displays about CO2 emissions of volcanoes vs people helped folks think about their carbon footprints.


vs the carbon footprint of the volcano.



While we found there was good recycling for homes, almost no businesses used recycling and the harbor only recycled bottles and cans.  Hilo had almost no public transportation and we ended up needing to rent a car to go for the hardware store, used book store, groceries, and volcano exploring. 
We enjoyed eating in restaurants again, but here's one we skipped for some reason, specializing in chocolate "donkey balls".


We have seen amazing trees on both islands. I will save the most spectacular for last, but here is the first, an eco system all its own in Hilo.

One defying gravity in Kona.

A banyan tree we thought was amazing,


Until we found this tree which we were drawn to briefly for its gnarled shape,

And then learned that what we thought was a tree, was actually one of 43 different trunks of the same banyan tree covering an entire city block/city park. It's main trunk was amazing, but only the beginning.


There were trunks everywhere!

And from outside the park you could see the whole, but only if you went to both sides of the park! These next the pictures together are just one tree!!!




We left quiet, unassuming Hilo mid afternoon and sailed through the night to Lahaina on Maui. What an amazing contrast! Hilo was full of folks working, farmers markets, and day to day life.  Lahaina is a tourist attraction, full of mostly Americans spending money like water, having arrived by plane, an expensive carbon footprint! Restaurants, gift shops and hawkers of "adventure activities" abound. The next bay to the three miles north is packed with high rise hotels, white sand beaches, and golf courses.  What a contrast from some of the tiny islands we have visited. There are a thousand ways to part with your money here and the sidewalks and shops are teeming with people doing just that. I can't help but wonder how even a small economic downturn would affect this community which is so reliant on tourism. No sign of farmers markets here.

One of our daughters and her sweetheart are coming to spend a week with us and we will be tourists, too, riding bikes down into the volcano (dormant!), snorkeling, diving, and more, but take a pass on the sport fishing, helicopter rides, golfing and zip lines and more.

Then, weather permitting, we will sail to quiet Molokai and see the lepper colony which is surrounded by the tallest sea cliffs in the world. Historically, people of any age suspected of having leprosy, even young children, would be taken from their families and shipped near the shore.  They were forced to jump from the boat and swim to shore if they could.  Many never survived the trip.  Leprosy, now known as Hanson's disease, is a germ which damages the most remote nerve endings on the body, causing people not to be able to protect themselves from the normal injuries of life. Lack of pain created loss of fingers and toes by undected accidents and thus, many leppers were disfigured.  Today, there is a drug cocktail which can cure leprosy in 24 hours! A few of the members of the colony still live there.  For these elders, it has been home since they were children and they have no desire to move away, even though, as of 1962, they are now allowed to leave.

Today we teeter between preparing for family to arrive, and preparing to leave them in the lurch.  A storm is brewing off of Central America and we have been on every weather site we know of to determine if it is a danger to us.  It is truly to far to predict for sure, but currently appears to come this way at severe storm level, but not hurricane level.  If you re interested in such things, I recommend www.windyty.com or the NOAA hurricane prediction center.  Early this morning it said we will be hit, and so should leave now, later this morning, it said it will go north of us and we would be safer to stay put.  We are watching carefully.