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| Are you kidding me.....this beach all to ourselves ? |
Social media is over-run with them........the major news outlets abound with them..........people can't get enough of stories detailing the harrowing conditions sailors are enduring as the Coronavirus pandemic continues. "Stranded at Sea 2020" on Facebook is one of our favorites; small cruising boats pin-balling from country to country, rejected at each port.......low on food, fuel, and almost out of options. Appalling.
Meanwhile on L'ORIENT, we've been experiencing the pandemic in, let's just say, less challenging conditions.
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| Huge chandlery is a quick car ride away......masks not optional |
We realize that our blog (which some say is the most influential lifestyle blog in the NW Hawaiian Islands) must now be reaching millions of new readers, so I'll recap. In January, we traversed the Panama Canal and left our beloved Caribbean behind us. Beginning February 13, we sailed 28 days to Nuku Hiva in the Marquesas, the gateway to our French Polynesian dream. That date is important, because when we arrived, a month later, the world had completely gone to hell. No warm greetings from Polynesians..........no exotic drinks with umbrellas. We were met with a strict quarantine, threats of being expelled back into the sea, and a French warship to back it all up. Gulp.
Excuse me? Young Gendarme! Do you have any idea who we are?
That entreaty met with predictable results. The small bay in Nuku Hiva slowly filled with refugee boats......the one and only food ship serving the island was late..........each day brought stricter quarantine rules (no swimming in the ocean, no going to the store, no walking around, no congregating, etc.).
We both decided that Club Nuku had lost it's appeal so we bought the electronic Hawaiian charts (we didn't even have them) and left while our food and fuel situation allowed it. We were only in Nuku for 8 days.........and on land for perhaps an hour IN TOTAL. So much for French Polynesia. And with the world coming apart all around us, our expectations for Hawaii were set appropriately low. We had never been there, had done zero research...........never thought for a minute about the place.
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| Our morning hike...... |
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| The resort is empty so this is one of our FOUR personal lagoons!.....not bad |
The sail from French Polynesia to Hawaii we had heard about.........windy, wavy, stormy...........and it did not disappoint. Along the way we were rejected by several marinas via satellite phone until our Ocean Cruising Club guardian angel intervened and got us a slip. We were the first Polynesian refugees to arrive in Hawaii......which perhaps exhibits our tolerance for sub-standard treatment when we are only trying to spend our money in other country's exotic locations.
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| Our other personal lagoon.......in case we want to change it up. A three minute walk from the boat. |
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| Our morning walk.......BTW this isn't the golf course; the whole area looks like this |
So what did we find ? In a word, paradise. As I write this we are anchored on the NW coast of Oahu in front of a large, lush volcanic valley called Makua. We have about 2 miles of beach to share with 20 native Hawaiians. Dolphins come by periodically and jump out of the water near the boat. The water? Various shades of sea-foam, turquoise, and deep blue.
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| 2 PM on a Sunday........our own beach |
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| L'ORIENT anchored way off the beach, in 40 ft of water |
Sea turtles are everywhere. The temperature is always 82 during the day, 70 at night.........as if I was controlling it with a thermostat.
The wind has been shrieking (good for us) so we produce power by solar and/or wind generation nearly 24/7. Even with 3 refrigerators and our power guzzling stereo on (XM is free during the pandemic), we have surplus power and never use the generator.
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| Another view of our beach......sheltering in was never so good |
We continue to read about the troubles of other cruisers, many of whom we've met. And their troubles may not be over. There are a lot of boats stranded in hurricane prone islands, unable to relocate to safer ports. Gulp. The memory of seeing 300 sunken sailboats in St. Maarten after Hurricane Maria won't soon leave our memory. But for now, we are incredibly happy to be here and thankful we blundered into this place. We still have a French Polynesian "green card" which allows us to stay at least a year when those islands open up to inter-island travel and other basic social freedoms. But this isn't bad while we wait.............and the unspoken truth of our situation is that Hawaii will be really hard to leave.
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| Makua, our private beach resort |
