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).
Sewing in the parking lot - no - it's the BBQ area up near the parking lot.
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.
The dreaded lazarette. First I have to squeeze down this thing - it's about five feet down to the engine.Yup, down there......then in there - yeah, that hole. You go down here feet first, then you have to contort your feet/legs the other way around and get one arm at a time in throughout the hatch since my shoulders won't fit in all at once.Once inside the elbow thing on the left with the white heat tape on it had to unbolt from the engine and the two hoses and muffler.
Turns out the hose was rotten too. One of the clamps broke and the ends of the hose crumbled off.
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)
Took more than an hour to pry this thing loose, but it's finally out.While cleaning it up I found a pin-hole in the metal. At least now I know what's causing the leak.
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.
Ann and Lisa do a selfie on the viewing area above the eastern side above Kaneloa.View down toward Kaneloa on the east side.View from the Memorial down into Honolulu. You can just see Diamond Head peaking above the condos.Entrance to the National Memorial of the Pacific.A little part of the resort area that the marina is near. You can walk for miles down the beach.
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.
Ahh, one of the best parts of a long passage - the Champagne celebrating the completion.What's a squall look like? Oh, here's one!How the radar views a squall. The red patches are heavy rain.The rainbow on the "back side" of the squall.Our sleeping quarters when it's too hot in the quarter berth. Note the little fan above my head.
Shaking out the reefs due to light air in the morning...Ahh, that's much better!Red sails in the sunset.
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!
Waiting for Orcinius out by the seawall.Coming into the marina from Fiji by way of Samoa, Christmas Island, Hawaii and Maui.Once settled in, a little champagne for Lisa, John and crew Moses and Malo.
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.
Perry and Joe (Dave flew home the previous day) from Felicita.
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.
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!
Landfall Diamond Head!
After 22 days at sea, we're happy to see land!Ann doesn't waste a minute before going into "polishing the stainless" mode, so Charisma will look great when we get in!
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.
Two happy campers with Diamond Head in the background.
Position: 20 degrees, 31 minutes north; 154 degrees, 48 minutes west 125 nm day
We SAW land, but haven't stopped yet. We sighted the big island of Hawaii - the southern most in the island chain - at daybreak, but now we still have almost 200 miles to go to get to Honolulu. For Charisma that translates into a Saturday arrival, so two more nights! For now we're staying about 40 or so miles off to stay in the trade winds. After Hawaii, we have Maui, then Molokai, then down the channel and past the iconic Diamond Head to arrive in the Honolulu area. We're actually going about 20 miles further east to Barber's Point and a place called Ko-Olina. With the Transpac boats due to arrive in Honolulu area any day now, staying at Ala Wai at Waikiki would be too crowded and crazy. We'll opt for peace and serenity. ;-)
Position: 18 degrees 45 minutes north; 153 degrees, 40 minutes west 125 nm day
288,342. That is roughly the number of waves that have passed beneath Charisma these past five sailing weeks since leaving New Zealand.
Not one the same.
Some have been little - like right now - maybe three or four feet high, suggesting that weather ahead is going to stay calm. We can look forward to another warm, smooth day. Others have been the size of an apartment building, looming gigantic and sometimes menacingly out of the dark night. The only way you know it's coming is suddenly the stars behind you disappear, you hear the huge mass of water build, and Charisma tips forward (sometimes alarmingly so) just as you slide down the mountain. Above you now, sharp white teeth of the breaking wave-top glistens in the starlight.
The waves match, or perhaps make, the mood of the day. On a cloudy day the waves are a melancholy grey. Waves at sunset sometimes flash the colors of the rainbow as they challenge the twilight sky as to which can be more beautiful.
And the sound. It's always there so sometimes you stop consciously noticing it. But it's never far and it ranges from the storm force deafening roar of a huge black iron steam locomotive hissing and shrieking away, a cacophony of grindiing metal bearing down on you to the gentle sound of smaller waves as delicate as the trickling of a mountain stream.
My favorite wave appears on the 20 knot wind, cloudless sky day. That wave embodies the perfection of the color we might call "blue". This wave's blue is unmatched in beauty anywhere else in nature. It's a blue made powerful as it channels tens of thousands of feet from the depths of the ocean, yet at the same time so fragile its crests shatter with the wind into shimmering perfection of exquisitely transparent crystal droplets.
Position: 16 degrees, 59 minutes north; 152 degrees, 34 minutes west 132 nm day
No much to report today. Same as yesterday I suppose. Nice weather, very warm. Fewer morning squalls and we hope fewer tonight.
We're closing on the Big Island which is the southern most of the group. We're 200 miles off the east side of Hawaii. It's about another 200 or so miles from there NNW up the island group past Maui and Molokai to Oahu. We're thinking maybe Saturday if the weather holds, but there's a reasonable chance of very light winds as we get off the islands so who knows at this point.
We're still within 39 miles of the J-120 we're been pacing since leaving Papeete almost three weeks ago. We have a radio sked with them every day at 1700 local, so we're keeping tabs on each other. Also Orcinius just reported that they have left Christmas Island where they stopped for fuel, (coming from Samoa and Fiji). They have some interesting stories from Christmas Island we're eager to hear. Turns out a Benetau-47 sailboat dragged anchor or broke loose - not sure of the story yet - and went up on the reef. It's now a salvage project and John, Lisa and their crew went aboard and salvaged some stuff they needed for Orcinius. Can't wait to hear, but at the same time these stories give us the willies because we all know it's a fine line sometimes between riding out a blow and ending on the beach and it could happen to any of us.
