The time has come to slip our cable, drop the mooring, and once more put out to sea. This is the big one, the one we’ve been working up to. With any luck, in a month’s time we will be arriving in French Polynesia. We have ignored the naysayers, and will continue to do so. We will take our journey as it comes and adapt with every tack.
Our time in Hawaii has been pleasant on the whole. It is true that in some ways Hawaii is a difficult place for cruisers. Our cat has had to sit in quarantine, the holding in the one anchorage we’ve managed to visit was a challenge, other anchorages we’ve tried have been too exposed or failed to offer appropriate sea bed for good holding (without damaging coral), the harbor masters here seem to rarely answer there phone and when they do they demonstrate their practiced art of discouragement and dissuasion. All of that said, however, we’ve had a great time. Reed’s Bay was a wonderful anchorage, and we thoroughly enjoyed our stay in Hilo. Our excursions on shore have been a lot of fun and a well-needed break from life aboard. And even Kailua Bay surprised us. After reading that there were no moorings for transients and that the sea bed was a mix of rocky or coral and not good for anchoring (this I confirmed by donning mask and snorkel), we blithely picked up a vacant mooring after the harbor master proved unreachable. For a while this had me very nervous as the owner could show up and kick us off at any time. Luckily, as I was bringing one of our new crew members out to the boat I saw a commercial vessel picking up a mooring and stopped to ask them if they knew who owned the one I was on. It turns out they did, and *they* did! And after a brief conversation about our boat and our plans, they said it wasn’t in use and we could stay. They also told us there were at least two other moorings that were vacant, closer to the pier, and regularly used by transients. Who knew! Hawaii may be a challenge, but I believe it would be very rewarding to those with the wherewithal to learn its secrets.
But now it is time to move on. We have our new crew, we’ve got our cat back, and nothing remains between us and our dreams but the vast expanse of the Pacific Ocean.
Fair Winds!