Well, when you’re in Honolulu, you’re supposed to do this hike to the top for the view. Here it is:
Well, when you’re in Honolulu, you’re supposed to do this hike to the top for the view. Here it is:
There’s a fantastic ukulele shop here on Oahu called Kanile’a Ukulele. They hand make gorgeous “ukes” and have a great tour of their facility. It’s family owned and operated and the pride they take in their hand-made instruments is so palpable – well, I had to have one. More about that later, but here’s some pictures of the tour.
Our new tradition is some Ukelele playing around the BBQ.
So, a continuation of the tradition we started in Fiji. Early last year while anchored off the village of Naividamu we had a “Uke-Fest”. The next morning the men in the village all commented that we were making “some noise last night” out on our boat. The women were more diplomatic noting that they heard us “making music”. I’m not sure which was more accurate, but we ARE getting better!
Just when you think…oh never mind.
Ann’s up in the BBQ area doing some sewing to repair some of our canvas stuff. It’s easier to spread everything out on the tables and now that we’re back in the US we can use our sewing machine off the boat (120 volt here – 220volt everywhere else in the South Pacific).
So, the last thing on my list was emptying the lazarette to do a couple projects. Re-attach the corroded leads on the hydro-generator and check the fluid level on the transmission. While down there I notice a fine salt film covering the transmission. Uh, oh…I turned on the engine to see what was going on and saw saltwater bubbling out of the exhaust water mixer. This is the set of pipes that pass saltwater through engine baffles for cooling and then pass it out through the engine exhaust. Crap! This area is very difficult to get into much less use tools in. Very cramped and right now down in the lazarette it’s gotta be 100 degrees! Anyway, it has to be fixed so here’s a look at the problem.
It’s always a bit dishearting to find “new projects” like this, but at the same time this was a big problem just waiting to cause a major failure, so I’m glad I found it here where it’s relatively easy to fix.
The update is that I took it to a local welder. He tried to weld the pin-hole and a broken weld on one of the pipes, but the material was toast and wouldn’t hold together. So…now we’re waiting for some stainless steel pipe which should arrive on Monday and probably a very large bill. Sigh.
Just read this post anytime you fantasize about owning your own boat, then go rent one for the day, have fun and go home knowing that the maintenance is someone else’s problem 😉
(Just kidding)
Aside from boat work we’ve had a chance to do a little touring. Besides some walks on the local Ko Olina area, we jumped in the van with Orcinius and did a day tour out to the east side of the island out past Honolulu. While Honolulu is very urban and built up, the east side is still largely dense vegetation and vertical cliffs. Very dramatic, although not easy to capture on camera since most of the roads don’t really offer easy access to viewing areas. Anyway, it was a nice day and included a stop at the Pacific War Memorial. This cemetery and memorial sits atop the hills overlooking Waikiki. A moving memorial and a beautiful view.
I often have a few shots that don’t quite fit the narrative. So, I’ve posted new pictures of the Papeete to Hawaii passage and here are a few that didn’t fit in.
After a long voyage from Fiji via Samoa and Christmas Island Orcinius has arrived in Ko Olina Marina. The cr was of Charisma and Orcinius are back in action! So fun!
(I am posting this so our Orcinius followers know they are safe!)
Aloha!
We’re presently recuperating and catching up on sleep. We’ll start boat work in earnest in a couple days, although as I write this Ann is polishing the stainless. She hates to see the rust! A thankless job.
Last night we rented a car and drove into Oahu to meet up over a couple of beers with Felicita the J-120 we sailed in parallel with from French Poly. They are staying at Ala Wai in Honolulu and we are 20 miles further around the island at Ko Olina. After seeing the downtown marina at Ala Wai, Ann and I are very glad we’re here. It’s so much nicer. So, good to catch up with Perry and crew. They are leaving for San Francisco on Wednesday. A fast turn for them.
Orcinius is scheduled to get in here on Wednsday, then it will be party time! We haven’t seen John and Lisa since we stayed with them at their house back in January.
Tomorrow, we’ll probably take our mainsail into town for some minor repair. We found a small tear in the leech and need to get that fixed.
The only bummer alert right now is that I reinjured an old injury on my left elbow on our last day out, Friday night. I burst the bursa about six years ago lifting weights and it’s susceptible to reinjury. I guess I bumped it just right on something as it has now swollen up and I’m having a hard time bending it without major pain. Hopefully it will get better in the next day or two, otherwise a trip to the ER will be in order. In the mean time, the old standby: rest, ice, compression, elevation.
Im also going to work on getting the passage pictures on this site. We have pretty marginal internet here – only up at the BBQ area, so we have to sit at the picnic tables to get reception.
That’s all for now.
Our last night on the big ocean was beautiful! A sliver of a new moon welcomed a galaxy of stars that were so bright that visibilty was great. Very important as we rounded Molokai toward Oahu where we could expect traffic. It was a huge treat given the very squally night before.
Our timing arriving at Oahu was perfect…morning light on Diamond Head and Waikiki…the best view!
We arrived at the fuel dock at Ko Olina just after 1 pm and waits for US Customs and crew
to arrive. They come from the airport so it took a while. In fact enough time to fold and cover the sails, wash the salt off of Charisma and straighten up the main cabin. Even had time to strip the bed and get the laundry ready to go. Customs required that we empty and wipe down the fridge and the entire galley with ant-bacterial wipes that they provided so I even got the galley cleaned before they left!
So we are here, walked to dinner last night and slept well, in the same berth! Bob is still asleep at 11 am and I am doing laundry.
Aloha…so glad to be here!
Position: 21 degrees, 25 minutes north; 156 degrees, 39 minutes west 120 nm day
Sooo close. We’re about 15 miles off the west tip of Molokai. We just sighted it below the clouds after dinner. We’re going into evening (it’s 1930 local time) here. We’ll spend the night running down the north side of Molokai, across the channel and then gybe on the other side to go down the channel a ways, gybe again, probably around daybreak and we should be able to see Diamond Head.
Pretty exciting stuff that after six weeks sailing time from NZ that we’re here! The weather’s gotten more reasonable. South toward the equator we were dripping with perspiration all day long. The weather here and now is almost cool. We’re still just in shorts and short sleeve shirts even at night, but there’s not the oppressive heat as further south.
Well, a long night ahead. I’m assuming there’s going to be some boat traffic as we approach Oahu, so no doubt there will be radar drills to determine course/distance and sleep with be hit and miss, but as long as weather holds, etc, we should be tied up at the dock end of day waiting for customs to come and clear us.
That’s all for now.