We caught up on some much-needed rest and are feeling great. We woke up to a peaceful quiet anchorage with waves lapping the shores. Went for a snorkel before breakfast and spent 15 minutes swimming with two sea turtles – it was awesome and we shot some GoPro video we’ll have to share.  We love it here but the weather window beckons so we plan to leave tomorrow.

So here’s the plan:

Tomorrow morning (Saturday), once the SE wind lightens and the seas moderate, we will leave Honolua Bay bound for Honokohau Harbor on the Kona coast of the Big Island. It’s a 100nm run so we should be in at first light on Sunday morning. We’ll hit the fuel dock and top off the diesel tank. Then we’ll immediately put back to sea and motor south along the Kona coast. It should take us about nine hours to clear the lee of the Big Island and encounter (what is forecast to be) light E winds at 10 knots. We’ll ride the light easterlies due south. On Monday the NE trades are forecast to fill back in at 15-20 knots. We should be well clear of the venturi effect of the Big Island and we’ll put the trades on the quarter and run for Fanning, 900 miles south of the Big Island. These trades are forecast to strengthen to 20-22 knots but we’ll have them on the quarter so it should be a nice angle and sea state. By the time they are forecast to strengthen above 25 knots we will be well clear of the squash zone and encountering the ITCZ around 9N. Then it’s anyone’s guess what the wind and squalls will do from 9N to Fanning at 2N. We’ll plan to make landfall 7 days later on Sunday (which is Monday in Kiribati because they keep the same date as the rest of Kiribati, much further west, and because they say so).

So that’s the plan. Stay tuned for the actual account.

Today the Mermaid is cooking up a storm in the galley prepping passage meals. She is also jarring green beans so they don’t spoil. I am tightening the lower shrouds because they looked a little loose when we had 25 knots on the beam; they are suppose to go slack on the leeward side but not flail around, and they seemed to be doing a little flailing, so I’ll give ‘em a half turn and see if that does it. I am also going to seal up the hawse pipe (where the anchor chain enters the deck) and un-pickle the watermaker. I adjusted the belt on the autopilot so it should work now. If it’s still acting like a moron I’ll throw it overboard and put in our spare.

Then it’s back to watching all the ridiculous tourists on the charter catamarans belly flop into the bay.

Cheers from Honolua Bay!

Aloha,
Lewis & Alyssa

April 24, 2015

Anchored: 21 00.861 N, 156 38.363 W

April 23 – In the past 24 hours we have experienced extreme discomfort and are now enjoying the best life has to offer. Allow me to explain…

We bid our farewells to friends dockside at 0900 and put out to sea into a lumpy steep sea state with little wind. We were bouncing and heaving side to side over 12-14 foot mixed seas as we cleared the lee of Oahu. We dosed on Meclizine the night before and the morning of our departure but despite our preventative measures we both were feeling terribly sick as Ellie got tossed around violently in the big washing machine seas with no sail to stabilize us. We’ll have you know that we have sailed over 9,000 miles together and have yet to throw up – although we have come close many times. In case you were wondering – the streak still stands.

Once we cleared the island the wind filled in from the NE at 22 knots and we sailed 50 degrees off the wind under double reef and half a jib on a heading for the lee of Lanai. A few hours of brisk sailing later the wind died but inconveniently the seas decided to seriously mess with us – hard. Once again we found ourselves in huge, steep, short-period swells from what seemed like all directions…..and no wind. Every monohull sailor out there knows how horrible it is to motor through steep washing machine seas with no wind to stabilize you – it’s the worst, most uncomfortable, barftastic motion you can experience on a boat. We were miserable. To compound matters we were forced to motor directly into the wind for 7 hours in this mess because we had to clear Penguin Bank, which was to the north by only a mile and fishing boats operating to our south. It seemed like an eternity to clear that bank and head north towards Lanai.

Once we reached the edge of the bank we started our slow turn north….and so did our headwinds. That’s right, they stayed directly on the nose, and then started increasing in speed to 20+ knots as the sea state got steeper and steeper. It was so short and so steep that if the sets hit us just right it would slow us to less than 2 kts. We were sailing close on the wind with a double reef main and engine cranking hard. This went on for another 6-8 hours.

Once we reached the channel between Lanai and Molokai we were hoping to finally find this lee that was forecast and the dead air that windy.ty promised. Instead we were hit with 35 knots on the nose, short steep seas, squalls and lightning. The Mermaid was hissing at me and we were both miserable. Ellie was pissed as well and was only making about 2 knots towards Maui so I spun us around and ran for the lee of Lanai. It was 0200 (am). And the AIS was showing two tugs with tows coming right at us and a fishing boat thrown into the mix just for kicks. I woke up the Princess who had only laid her head down 30 minutes prior. “Lyss Get Up! Sorry! But the autopilot is busted, I’m hand-steering down huge seas running from 35 knots and we have three ships on a collision course steaming right at us.” At 0215 our autopilot conveniently bit the dust for good. Murphy’s law right?

I should mention here that in the midst of all the fun we were having we decided to bag the Big Island for now and go hang out in Maui until favorable weather is forecast for our crossing. So the night was spent trying our best to reach Lahaina. Hence why we found ourselves between Lanai and Molokai..

.Back to the passage from hell..  We motor-sailed around the south of Lanai in big lumpy seas while the sea tried it’s best to test our provision-stowing skills (Lyss was awesome and it all stayed in place). We rounded the SE point of Lanai around 0400 and found some dead air. One crappy element down, one to go (sea state). Once Manele Bay, Lanai was to port the sea state started to finally moderate. It felt amazing to be back in a reasonable sea state (it was a bumpy 5-7 feet at this point).

The seas kept calming down as we neared the lee of Maui and I was treated to a most spectacular sunrise. The sun started peeking out from behind both peaks of Maui and I saw it slowly creeping up from the valley in the middle. It was glorious. As I snapped photos, I forgot, for a moment, just how miserable the past 18 hours had been. I also remembered how sailing throws life at you in its extremes. I had not been that uncomfortable – ok, let’s call it miserable – since sailing between these islands last. I had also not had a moment as serene and welcoming as that sunrise. The misery was necessary to appreciate the beauty and simplicity of that sunrise over calmer seas. I always say, “The sweet would never be so sweet without the bitter.” That statement was certainly true of this passage.

We motored up the coast of Maui and dropped the hook in the beautiful Honolua Bay. The charter cat moored in the bay was cool enough to help us grab a sunken mooring pennant and even offer us some leftover grub – we swam the dry bag over to meet them and snag some fresh grilled chicken.

Inside of 12 hours we went from wet, cold, seasick, and frustrated – to – relieved, elated, welcomed and refreshed. We’re still exhausted but we’re smiling. We’ll take that over flat-lined any day.

We plan to spend a couple of days here and then we’ll have to go to Lahaina to find some diesel and a cheeseburger in paradise. In the meantime, wish us some rain to wash all the salt off our newly polished stainless.

Aloha from Honolua Bay, Maui.

Lewis & The Tired Princess Lyss

The send-off party was a huge success. We hosted about 40 of our friends on Ellie and down the dock. The keg was emptied halfway through the party, which happened to be right after the Aussies showed up! Our friends were jamming on guitars and Ellie’s waterline was half a foot below the boot stripe! We have made some amazing friends here and we’ll miss them all when we leave.

Today is our last day in the marina….so we are suppose to leave tomorrow….but it’s howling 30 knots in the marina and the forecast is for stronger winds through Wednesday. We learned our lesson last fall. We’re not going anywhere until the wind abates. No need to beat the crap out of Ellie and crew when we can patiently wait for a better weather window to head south. To make the passage even less appealing, in about 5 days they are forecasting multiple low pressure systems/tropical storm centers spinning on the edge of the 30 knot trades around 10N and huge squalls and thunder boomers – ya – F*** sailing into that crap!

So here’s our plan:

1) Wait until the trades shift to the ESE, which is forecast for Wednesday and Thursday. Then the Big Island creates a large enough lee of dead/light air to possibly get to Maui (80 miles east) or even all the way to the lee of the Big Island (150 miles east). We will try to make the Big Island but if we fall short we’ll head for Maui.

2) Once in Maui or the Big Island we’ll fuel back up and wait for the trades to lighten up. The current forecast is calling for lighter trades on the 30th – 1st. We’ll use those lighter trades to sail south to Fanning. The ITCZ also looks much less active after the 1st. [Stronger trades = stronger ITCZ]

So hopefully this plan works and we’ll be in Fanning around the 7th-8th of May. Timing the passage is tricky because we want to leave the islands in moderate trades but we also need to time our arrival in Fanning to clear in during the week so we avoid overtime clearance charges. We’ll be watching the forecast closely and heading out as soon as the wind lightens up a bit.

We’ll write again before we depart the islands. Hopefully it will be a message of satisfaction with our amazing weather interpretation and smooth crossing between the islands and NOT another horror story! We have the utmost respect for the seas between these islands so we will be as patient as necessary. 

Aloha,

Lewis & Alyssa

Ko Olina Marina, Oahu, HI

You would think I have had enough sea time over the past month, and 3,200 nm, but nope. Alyssa was hoping that I would get my fill of the sea and come back to Hawaii with plans to bury the anchor for another year. Well, that’s not how it went. A few days after returning to Oahu we decided it was time to head south again. We leave the marina on the 18th. If the weather window looks good we will exit the breakwater and set a course 1,050 miles due south to the little island nation of Kirbati. The passage should take us a week. We plan to make landfall at Tabuaeran (Fanning) Atoll. The lagoon is navigable so we will enter the pass and set our hook in fine white sand and enjoy the flat turquoise water.

The first couple months of the season will include remote isolated atolls with no internet access. We will most likely be unable to post pictures until we reach Samoa. Be sure we will be taking some epic photos and video and will share as soon as we can. Of course the regular blog posts should be coming throughout the next few months. You’ll just have to Google image search these various islands to get an idea of our surroundings.

I put together a map (below) of our “planned” route for the season. This is what we have written in sand at low tide so who knows where we actually end up going. That said, this is the general plan.

Our 2015 “planned” itinerary includes:

We are having a send-off party this Thursday at our slip. We’ll be filling up the kegs, rolling out the grills and celebrating our departure with all the wonderful friends we have made here in Hawaii. So many people have helped us out while we have been here, the least we can do is fill up their glass with a libation and say a proper farewell. We have really enjoyed it here and are very glad we decided to spend cyclone season in Hawaii. Ko Olina Marina has been a perfect home for Ellie. She is ship shape and bristol. We even treated her to a hull waxing this week so she’ll be sparkling for the party on Thursday. Still need to finish loading her up with a few months worth of provisions, empty the dock box, top off fuel and propane, etc. Then it’s South Pacific here we come!

Spending the season in Hawaii would not have been possible without Alyssa’s hard work. She was able to land one of the most coveted serving jobs on this side of Oahu (MonkeyPod Kitchen). She made enough to cover the entire slip fee (about $1,100 a month) and cover most of our other living expenses. There is no way the cruising kitty would have been able to sustain our fun lifestyle here in Hawaii without her contribution. She said it has been worth every minute of effort. We’ve both had a blast here and made friends that we will know for life. 

Oh, I sold the car…..for $2,000….a nice $700 profit after expenses. I also sold the motorcycle a month ago, for $3,300….a nice $900 profit. I’ve got a knack… 

Mahalo to all our friends here in Hawaii. Once again the sea beckons. Let’s go chase the green flash.

Aloha,

Lewis & Alyssa

April 12, 2015

Ko Olina Marina, Oahu, Hawaii, USA