Aloha means goodbye
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| Honolulu- (we actually live around the corner) |
Nevertheless, we're looking at this sail with eyes wide open. Three different boats we know have left Honolulu for French Polynesia and all have been beaten up quite a bit. One boat was hit in the cockpit with a wave so large, it inflated someone's life vest and activated her man overboard beacon. Gulp. This crew has taken to sticking their head outside the cockpit during squalls to rinse the salt off of their heads. Not our style, but we're getting ready for a rollicking ride.
We've enlisted the help of a weather router with 43 years of experience and a resume that would make Al Roker cower in shame. We've informed him of our sailing preferences so hopefully he can order up some good conditions for us. But the bottom line is that 3-4 days out, an accurate forecast is as much luck as skill.
Aside from that, we've used this time in Hawaii to, er, see Hawaii. Pearl Harbor, Diamond Head and scenic hikes which are great due to the general lack of tourists. Hawaii continues to sputter to life economically despite the general lack of Covid cases here. And making it even more confusing for someone from the mainland, each Hawaiian island (or county) still has the ability to make its own immigration laws as though it was a sovereign country. Unbelievable but true.
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| Sacred ground- WWII's first American casualties |
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| 1,177 sailors died instantly when the magazine was hit |
Pearl Harbor has been on our "must-see" list since arriving in April 2020. Due to the pandemic it has gone between being totally closed to totally open to somewhere in between multiple times across our stay. Where the tour boat used to accommodate 150 guests per tour we experienced it with a mere 35 other people - no tour buses or cruise passengers. While we have all seen pictures of the iconic Arizona memorial, it isn't until being there that you realize how close to shore the boat was moored - and how horrific the blast must have been that so few were able to survive. It is humbling to be at the memorial and still see the fuel coming up from below...
Another attraction on Oahu formerly mobbed with tourists was the famed Diamond Head Crater and trail. It has also recently reopened so we found ourselves scampering up the path fully masked for what are some truly amazing views
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| Looking down on the tech billionaires and oligarchs with homes here |
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| Inside the crater - at one time not a good place to be |
And finally the Ho'omaluhia Botanical Gardens. Tough to pronounce and tougher to hike given that we were ankle deep in mud before deciding that the road was a better bet. Gorgeous place though.
We're focused now on how life will change in a few weeks for us. Home Depot, Costco, Safeway, US Mail.........all soon to be gone. So we're trying to think of everything we might need in the coming 12 months and buying it ahead of time. This leads to some bizarre Amazon deliveries such as me opening up a box which surely had my oil filters only to find gourmet wide rice noodles used in Kirstin's signature "drunken noodle" dish. OK, that ended up being a rather good trade. But we continue to spend money like drunk sailors because it won't be too long before we're back in the boat part desert.
Our efforts to see family while in Hawaii met with failure due to the pandemic. Asking someone to come from the East Coast to Hawaii is just too much flying given how little is open here......not to mention all the Covid poking and prodding that's required. We'll just have to bring people to Tahiti or maybe Bora Bora instead.
Our boat's tracker will again be working so the countdown is on. We will let you know when we leave! This could definitely be our toughest sail yet...