The next few days we visited Lahaina (again!) and then went pack to Kanapali for a few nights. The beach here is fantastically fun as it is super steep right into the water. When everyone had their fill of beaches we headed up to Honolua Bay. The bay is a nature preserve and a favourite spot for charter boats to deliver hundred of snorkelers. It was also a favourite spot of ours, despite the charter cats that would cozy up to us for the afternoon. There are excellent reefs along either side of the bay and a big hunk of sand down the middle. We could anchor right snug into the head of the cove and it was completely flat, despite the rollers ripping through the channel between Maui and Moloki. On our first snorkel we saw an octopus and at one time had four turtles in our field of view.
Green Turtle
The next morning spinner dolphins came into the bay to show off their skills and Kolby hopped in the water to join them. This time they obliged and he was about to watch them swim and jump underwater. What a lucky guy! I was stuck on the boat with a babe on the boob, but I’m sure my time will come at some point…
Rain Storm at Honolua Bay
We head to Molokai that afternoon and had a great sail basically into the Harbour. The little town is not only the biggest but the only town on sleepy Moloka’i. The town consisted of one long street of shops with two grocery stores and a few restaurants. It took maybe 30 minutes to walk the strip… but it would take a bit longer to soak up the culture here, which seemed to be dominated by local Hawaiians. We stood out like a sore thumb! In the cafe where we had breakfast of cinnamon buns the girl at the till asked me if I was visiting someone on the island – was it Bria? I sure looked a lot like Bria. I laughed and told her no – we had come on our sail boat. Molokia sees few tourists and I’m guessing they like it that way.
The next day was intense. We left as soon as Fynn woke up to walk to the laundry mat. We only had enough money to wash so we lugged the damp clothes back to dry on the lifelines. On route to Asunto we stopped by Yare for breakfast cake – the second and final birthday cake for the twins- before continuing home. Fynn and I hung up the laundry while Kolby filled the tanks form the jerry cans. We also made some water, but before we could do that Kolby had to replace a leaking hose on the water maker panel…I was busy running around tidying up and cleaning and such. Then in no time at all we had to head back to town to pick up the car rental for picking up the parents. We ended up splitting the rental with Yare – we would use is fist for the pick up and they they would use it in the am for another attempt at Mt Haleakama- this time for sunrise!. It was also at this point that I realized I had not eaten lunch… Anyway everyone was pretty excited when our economy car rental was upgraded to a Jeep. Now we could cruise the North Road in style! Kolby and I love this drive – it has many of the elements of the drive to Hanna – hair pin turns, one lane bridge and entire sections, sweeping vistas… but it only take 3 hours, not the whole day! We rolled into Costco a dusk and proceed to buy what seemed like half the store. Naturally it was Costco hotdogs for dinner then a real life game of Jenga as we packed up the car. The timing couldn’t have been better. We literally rolled up to the curb and picked up Ken and Tia and headed home
As McGregors wasn’t a favourite the first time around we certainly weren’t interested in staying any longer the next morning. So first thing we headed up to Kaanapali, which had come highly recommend to us. We loved it and couldn’t figure out why it wasn’t in the guidebook. We anchored in sand in the lee of Black Rock and brought the dinghy out front of Whalers Village to seek out some treats. The waves were quiet enough that Kolby could deliver us to shore then anchor the dinghy out and swim in. Pretty easy to do in such warm water. We spent the next morning at Hiilton pool for what I consider a ‘cheat day’ – a little break from cruising for a bit of luxury. That afternoon saw us back in Lahiana to get ready for the arrival of Kolby’s parents the next night. They would stay us with us for ten days and we need lots of food, and some clean linens. But first dinner. Aloha plate lunch filled us up with tasty nums without emptying the wallet. Doesn’t get much better than than that
Feeling like we were about done with Lahaina (and spending money!) it was time to head towards the snorkelling haven of Molokini. It certainly lived up to it’s reputation! We also completely lucked out and had the bay to ourselves. As we approached the bay I started looking for a mooring ball to tie to – Yare had been searching for a bit when we pulled up. And just like that we drove right over one- I leapt into the crystal clear water and swam down the 15 feet to grab the tie line. 5 minutes later we were tied up, dinghy in the water and ready to go see some fish!
about a 5 foot reef shrk
The water was so clear we could see the fish on the bottom 60 feet down. After we all had our fill of fishes (and even one good sized white tip reef shark) it was time to head to La Perouse for the night. La Perouse is gorgeous- formed by to chunks of lava rock on either end of the bay and a lush gree valley at the head it is the first anchorage where I appreciated the beauty. However there is nowhere to land our dinghy and the wind really whistled through there the next morning, so we headed to Makena beach for a quieter anchorage and a day at the beach. An hour or so later we dropped the hook in a patch of sand and enjoyed some decent snorkelling just off our stern. The Yare boys came over and the kids all played in the water and on the transom of Asunto. Things really got fun when Kolby brought up a bucket of sand from the bottom. The also got messy.
Maybe not the best idea in hind sight
That night Fynn was asleep early and I enjoyed a quiet moment at sunset with Bowen. We woke up to another tranquil Hawaiian morning and packed up for a day at the beach. Hanging out all day on the beach with Yare is pretty awesome. Basically Kolby digs a hole – this one was so huge that Fynn actually couldn’t get out by herself, the kids play while the adults watch. Kolby and I also have a chance to snorkel together to while Bowen naps- heaven!
Fynn couldn’t climb out!
By about 2:30 we had our fill of sand, and started heading home. As we got closer we could see that the boats were really pitching and bobbing in the rollers that were coming into the bay. Asunto was a little more mellow, but Yare’s bow with gong up and down about 5 feet with every wave. We made the decision to head back to the protection of McGregors, about 8 nm away, for a decent nights sleep. It didn’t take us too ling to realize that this would be a far more ardourous journey than we expected. As we motored dead into the wind we watched the winds climb from 20 to 30 and eventually hitting 40 knots as we crossed the saddle – the valley between the the mounts on Maui- a place that is legendary for it’s high winds. Of course none of us remembered this when we hauled anchor for McGregors, but here we are, motoring at full rpm, pounding into short and steep waves, making about 3.6 knots of boat speed. We would frequently smash a wave so hard that our speed would drop to 1.5 knots. It was certainly intense. Kolby tried everything to make the trip more comfortable – but in the end he had to hand steer and manage the throttle and we occasionally need more throttle to push the boat over a wave without the wind turn us sideways. He was just soaked as waves smashed on deck and blew spray aft. Occasionally a wave would smash on the side of the hull and he would like the brunt of it in the face. I watched him from inside – that wild salty man driving his boat through a gale.
Down below things were drier (mostly) but maybe not more comfortable. Every hatch was snug closed and the engine had been running at full steam for about 2 hours. It was literally 100 degrees. The boats movements were so unpredictable the Fynn and I were confined to the settee and Bowen was strapped in his carseat secured under the nav table. I was incredibly grateful that he was happy in there as it would have been super chaotic helping Fynn while holding Bowen…. nursing him was chaotic enough!
Bowen’s hidey-hole
We rolled into the bay at dusk and gratefully dropped the hook. However the fishermen were non to thrilled about our arrival and had some choice words for us when they realized we weren’t going to leave on their behalf. They even went os far as the threaten to ‘f@cking kill us if they ever saw us on land’/ I envisioned us calling the police only to have them sympathize with the fishermen. Hawaiians take their fishing very seriously. I can only hope that if they knew the hell that it was out there they would have been slightly more understanding… but maybe not. With both kids asleep I all but passed out on the bed.
Wowsers, what to say! Hawaii feels like a total blur and some weird combination of cruising and vacation. Somedays feel like pure vacation, like when we rented a car on Oa’hu, other days feel like super hard cruising. Adapting to cruising here with our newborn, Bowen, has been an interesting ride. There were certainly some tears and messy moments on my part during the first week. I was simply tired. Tired from the crazy week before of having a baby and organizing to get back to Asunto, tired of the newborn night feeds, tired from life. But luckily things started to settle. I grabbed some naps here and there and before I knew it we were back in the groove. Kolby has been a champ – helping Fynn out and managing the boat and boosting me up when I had my break downs. Luckily Bowen will sleep well in his bed so I don’t have to spend all my time juggling the needs of two! However I do feel that it is really hard to blog. I am always too tired at the end of the day write something and then everything turns into a blur in my head.
Who doesn’t love baby cuddles!
And then there were two! Bowen is just two weeks old here.
So we left Honolulu for Maui, which has the most anchorages of all the islands. We decided not to go to Kona as we just didn’t have the time to do that much travelling, and Maui is a pretty awesome island. We headed to the roadstead of Lahaina first, where we tucked in for the night after a full ten hour day from Honolulu. Craving some good snorkelling and swimming we bumped down the coast the next morning to Coral Gardens, but the visibility was poor. Our friends from Yare were headed to Lahaina so we left Coral Gardens after only one night and met up with them on route.
So happy to see these guys!
Cruising kids are fast friends, age is much less important!
Once we turned the corner to the roadstead the wind was up to about 25 knots and the waves were getting choppy. YUCK! Yare was in full foulies- it was certainly a wet ride. We tried to anchor but didn’t like out position so we grabbed a mooring ball compliments of the Lahaina Yacht Club. This ended up being and excellent decision as the mooring was free and the winds held stead at 20 plus knots for the next three days. More than ready to get off the boat that was bucking like a bronco we decide to rent car with Yare and tour the island. So the next day we packed up all four kids, beach gear and cars seats onto the bus and head to Ke’hei to pick up the 8 seater mini van.
This is all our stuff…
1.5 hours on a bus – un fun!
We had some pretty strange looks on the bus! After a beach day in a wind and rain storm, we decided we should attempt the road to Hana in the morning. It was an early morning start and a full day but the kids were great. We all voted we prefer travelling by boat all day over travelling by car. What a long time to be strapped in one spot! The only disappointment on the road trip was the 7 Sacred Pools were closed due to flooding. We had a second day in the car where we attempted Mt Haleakaema but it was completely fogged in and not a glimpse of a view to be had for our efforts. The last half day with the day we the car we got down to business – laundry, propane, food. Basically the essentials.
On the Road to Hanna
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- 3 up a tree
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- At the 7 Sacred Pools
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- Just another waterfall
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- Lava tube
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- Lovely Vistas
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- Black Sand Beach
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- Going for a swim
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- Explorers
So Fynn and Bowen and I are already back in Vancouver after an amazing 6 weeks in Hawaii. Kolby and crew are off on there second major passage to Sitka Alaska. The estimated travel time is around 20 days. But first I will throw a bunch of great posts up from Hawaii. It was just way too chaotic there to manage the posting! I will have to do better for Alaska or I will get way too far behind 
Asunto dropped anchor outside Honolulu harbour at 4:15 am local time. Passage complete!
We are getting down to the nitty gritty at this point. Just at noon today we were able to zoom in enough on the chart plotter to actually see some depth contours! We also heard some radio chatter this morning as we approach Molokai and Oahu Islands.
Since we have been running down wind with just the main the last couple of days the boat has been more rolly than any of us would have liked. It’s hard to sleep, eat and do just about anything on board.
We are 60 miles away from our waypoint at the islands and then have another 40 odd miles to get into Honolulu.
I’ve started cleaning out the fridge and freezer so we won’t have any fruits or vegetables on board when we get to the Ali Wai yacht harbour and I’ve started my list of stuff to get done before we leave the boat.
Tick tock tick tock
Position update at 1200 local time April 12, 2016:
21 28.013 N
156 06.189W
161nautical mile noon to noon run
101 nautical miles to destination
7.6 Kt. SOG
254 COG
I’m really starting to get self conscious about posting about all the things that are going wrong on board but here we go…
Last night on my 9pm – 12am shift I was hand steering as we were wing on wing and accidentally back winded the main and before I could get things sorted out we had blown off the vang again. This time the machine screws had pulled out whereas last time they had sheared out so I guess my fix wasn’t as good as I had thought.
Unfortunately it gets worse. With all hands on deck to remove the vang we managed to back wind the Genoa and with the increased winds we actually folded the whisker pole in half. We have one of those Forespar telescoping poles and on my initial inspection it looks as if it folded where the inner tube was still inside the outer tube as the pole was only extended about 3 feet.
I got out on deck and removed the vang, lashed down the pole, finished my shift and went below, however I didn’t sleep instead I had a fitful rest as every bang and clank I heard I thought something else was going to break.
As per usual in the light of day things were better (everything was still badly broken) but I got us back on course and running dead down wind on our main only. Jean rigged up a temp vang to the mid ship cleat and we have the sail lashed over to port as we make 7 plus knots straight to our waypoint.
Honolulu here we come!
Position update at 1200 local time April 11, 2016:
21 45.619 N
153 11.953 W
151 nautical mile noon to noon run
218 nautical miles to destination
7.5 Kt. SOG
270 COG
A pretty uneventful day especially for what we’ve had over the past couple of days.
The winds petered out about 3 amand we ended up motoring until noon. I am still running on the main tanks with 170 L in jerry cans we can top up if need be. I figure we will run as low as possible on the main tanks (without running out which is my typical style) and then put all the jerry cans in during a single fill. If the wind is low enough that we need to motor that much I figure the seas will be calm enough to allow us to do that without much hassle.
Otherwise the routine drags on and we’re starting to dig through our dry food supplies. The provisioning went pretty well with the veg lasting a long time although we are all but out now with only some potatoes, onions and carrots left.
I had decided to make a big breakfast this morning, the first of the trip, and made hash browns and scrambled eggs with onion and salami. Although this is a pretty basic breakfast it was a big process especially on a rolling boat in the middle of the pacific while motor sailing. I made out ok, after spilling half a pot of potatoes on the floor, but by the time I was down it looked as if a bomb had gone off in the galley. I sure am glad the cook doesn’t clean up :s
We also did a double up shift from noon to 3pm to allow us to move the clocks forward to Honolulu time. It gave us an extra 20 miles for the day (not shown below in the daily total) which we will be glad to have on the other end.
Position update at 1200 local time April 10, 2016:
21 29.038 N
150 28.890 W
156 nautical mile noon to noon run
392 nautical miles to destination
6.2 Kt. SOG
294 COG
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