Island Way, Hanalei Bay, Kauai, Hawaii. 7 July 2002
Dear Everyone
We have, sadly, reached the end of our stay in the Hawaiian islands, and in the next day or two we plan to set sail for Vancouver Island in Canada. With the trade winds blowing steadily and quite strongly at the moment, we can be reasonably confident of a good sail northwards for at least the first few days, and we hope to complete the 2700 (nautical) mile passage in about three weeks. If the journey proves to be as uneventful as the 3000 miles from Mexico to Hawaii, we shall be extremely grateful!
We arrived in Hilo, on the Big Island of Hawaii, on 9 May, exactly three weeks after leaving Zihuatanejo, giving us an average speed of 6.4 knots, with which we were very pleased. Apart from a day or so motoring to get beyond the light winds around the Mexican coast, and the final 18 hours when the trade winds deserted us, we had a good sail all the way. The winds varied between easterly and north-easterly, usually around 20 knots, giving us a reasonably comfortable (though sometimes quite rolly) ride. We did have one day and night when the wind got up to 30-40 knots, but with Island Way’s staysail set and the mainsail double-reefed, we stayed below, emerging every few minutes to make sure that the ocean was as empty of other traffic as ever, and the faithful Autohelm continued to steer us with greater accuracy than we could have achieved ourselves. During the three week trip, we saw no more than four distant ships and a couple of fishing boats, though the emptiness of the Pacific was occasionally interrupted by dolphins which came to play around the boat - we even had one performing acrobatic leaps in the moonlight just off the bow, which was a magical moment. We had some fishing success during the first part of the journey, though we found that hooking the fish and landing it on the boat can be very different things. Of the six mahi-mahi (dorado) which we reeled in to within ten feet of the boat, three managed to escape. However, the three we successfully landed provided several wonderful meals. For the first time for many months, we found that the combination of solar panels and wind generator generally provided us with enough power to run all the electrical systems on board (including the power-hungry fridge). We only had to run the engine twice to recharge batteries, after days which had been particularly overcast, with no power being produced by the solar panels.
Our arrival in Hilo brought the first substantial rain we’d seen for over four months - and plenty of it! In fact the clouds over Mauna Kea, Hawaii’s highest mountain, occasionally lifted to reveal the snow-capped summit, evidence of even wetter-than-usual conditions at the lower altitudes. Having been starved of rain for such a long time, it took the whole two weeks of our stay in Hilo for the novelty to wear off (and in any case there was plenty of sunshine in between the showers). Hilo was a good base from which to regain our ‘land legs’ - not overwhelmingly commercial, but with enough shops to restock with essential items. It was also a safe place to leave the boat while we did some inland travelling. We had a couple of days out with new friends also just arrived from Mexico en route for Canada. The first, after we had equipped ourselves with an 8-seater four-wheel drive, was intended to take us to the top of Mauna Kea at over 12,000 ft, but as we reached the visitors’ centre at 9,000 ft, a blizzard was starting to blow further up the mountain and the summit road was closed. Not quite the image of Hawaii which we had arrived with! However, the earlier part of the day had taken us to one of Hawaii’s most beautiful valleys where the reality did live up to the image. The second excursion took us to some of Hawaii’s many volcanic craters, and to the area on the south-east coast where lava is still flowing after an eruption several years ago. A few months ago, the flow reached the coast, with spectacular effects as molten lava met cool sea water. That has now stopped, and the flow has receded further up the hillside, where the more heavily forested areas have been bursting into flame as the lava reaches the trees. The areas which have already been exposed to the lava flow are quite spectacular, often resembling a moonscape, though in some places the lava has solidified into the most intricate patterns like woven rope. We ended that day with a hot bath (yippee, says Barbara!) in a seawater pool, volcanically heated by water from a nearby hot spring. Lovely!
Although there was much to see on the Big Island, we didn’t want to miss the other islands, and our next stop was Maui . Our cruising guide - not always as reliable as we would have liked - had particular praise for a small anchorage in the north-west of the island, called Hanalua Bay, and this time their enthusiasm was more than justified. It was a delightful spot, with calm, clear water and wonderful snorkelling. Apart from the dozens of fish, many of them new to us, the area has a large green turtle population, and it was not unusual to see half a dozen of them either underwater or swimming lazily on the surface. Sightseeing on Maui included the north coast road to Hana at the eastern tip of the island - a road unlike most in the USA, with dozens of sharp S bends and single-lane bridges. The views along the coast are breathtakingly beautiful, with steep-sided valleys, waterfalls, and luxuriant vegetation everywhere. Maui is also home to the Haleakala volcanic crater, at 10,000 ft above sea level. A good road goes all the way to the top, and many tour companies offer the unusual experience of 38 miles from the summit by bicycle, without having to pedal for more than 400 yards. This idea appealed to us a lot - though the cost of $75 each did not, and we felt there must be a cheaper way of doing it by using our own bicycles (though we were not keen to pedal the 38 miles minus 400 yards in the other direction!). As luck would have it, as we were expressing our dismay at being quoted the full $75 to have ourselves and bikes transported to the top of the mountain, our conversation was overheard and the next thing we knew, we were being offered a ride to the top in a pick-up truck by a lady who lives close to the bottom of the crater road! So thanks to Lulu we got our bike ride down the mountain, and very spectacular it was too especially as the day was almost cloudless, giving us uninterrupted views in all directions. The crater itself was also pretty amazing - apparently used by NASA as a site for familiarising astronauts with the kind of terrain they would encounter on the moon. From Maui we sailed to Molokai. Of the populated islands of Hawaii, Molokai is the least developed, and there was certainly much less evidence of tourism there. Molokai also has a much higher proportion of ‘ethnic’ Hawaiians in its 6500 population than the other islands, giving it a pleasantly authentic feel - very friendly and very laid back. We had hoped to explore the neighbouring island of Lanai, but the two recommended anchorages on its west coast turned out to be very rolly, so after a short night there, with too much swell for us to be able to land the dinghy, we moved on to Oahu (the island on whose south coast Honolulu is built).
Barbara was due to fly back to England on 9 June for a brief visit so that she could go to her nephew’s wedding on the 15th, and we needed to be in Honolulu by then. We had been told not to miss Kane’ohe Bay on Oahu’s east coast, and that was where we went for three days before moving round to Honolulu. Kane’ohe is one of the most spectacular anchorages we’ve yet visited, with a semicircular amphitheatre-like backdrop of steep-sided green-clad mountains - and very smooth water inside several reefs! It was a wonderful place to start our visit to Hawaii’s most developed island, and showed us a part of the coastline where tourism and housing development have not yet penetrated to any great degree - and where there are beautiful beaches where it is still possible to be entirely on one’s own.
Honolulu provided a complete contrast, with its high-rise buildings, shopping centres and busy roads and of course Waikiki with its two miles of hotels and its famous beach. In fact, despite all the glitz, we found much of Honolulu very pleasant - lots of open spaces, plenty of trees, parks with free music at weekends. And it was an ideal place to stock up on provisions for the next three weeks (or more!) at sea. Oahu also has a superb bus system which virtually circles the island. Any journey (or combination of journeys) costs only $1.50 - and bikes go free on the racks at the front. So when I went off to the opposite corner of the island for my first-ever, and very enjoyable, glider ride (while Barbara was in England), I only had to cycle the last six miles of the 30-odd mile trip to the airfield.
We spent longer than planned in Honolulu, but we did not want to miss the final northwestern-most island of Kauai, and we arrived here about ten days ago. Of all the islands, Kauai has probably been our favourite. More spectacular scenery, especially the Na Pali coast - the northwest section of coastline - which has some of the most extraordinary rock formations we’ve ever seen. Huge rock pinnacles and mountain ridges, steep cliffs, secret valleys, vertical waterfalls - all of it, except the most vertical faces, covered in luxuriant green, and most of it inaccessible by land and only able to be seen from offshore or by helicopter. Quite stunning! We have been on several walks while we have been here, and the bicycles have also been put to good use. We also had a night camping in the mountains in the west of the island, under a clear starlit sky. Hanalei Bay, where we are anchored, probably surpasses even Kane’ohe Bay on Oahu for beauty, though it is fairly open to the swell from the ocean beyond and has been uncomfortably rolly at times (a small price to pay for scenery like this!). It makes a good last port of call to remember Hawaii by! I’m afraid that we haven’t had time while in Hawaii to update our website (www.geocities.com/gayfords), so pictures of Hawaii will have to wait until we are in Canada, when we will make sure that we add them to it. Once again, replies to our AOL address may get deleted if they have to wait longer than three weeks before we try to download them (which could happen if our trip to Canada takes longer than expected), so please don’t send anything to Gayfordb@aol.com before the end of July. However, we do now have on-board e-mail (MZHU5@sailmail.com), and any replies would be more than welcome while we are on the high seas! Because Sailmail is a slow system, using short-wave radio, it will not accept attachments, pictures or anything else apart from a plain text e-mail - so text e-mails only, please!
That’s all for now. We’ll be in touch again when we’ve arrived in Canada. Meanwhile, hope you are all keeping well, and we hope to hear from you soon.
With love John and Barbara