5:45 am Saturday morning June 11th land was sighted through heavy mist and rain squalls. A beautiful rainbow reaching across Hilo Bay welcomed us to Hawai'i. Hilo is so lush. I expected a rocky shore - instead its covered in trees and shrubs. The two 13,000 ft high volcanoes aren't visible from here.
By 9:45 we were med-moored to the wall in Radio Bay; not a picturesque spot, its part of the working port, but the only one allowed on the Big Island. In one direction we see stacks of cargo containers but in the other we see the breakwater. Moorage is only $11 per day and there is a nice restroom, water and trash service - a good deal. The dock at the yacht club in Honolulu where we expected to stay was destroyed by a hurricane so we have been directed to a resort marina. That ought to cost us a pretty penny or two. Speaking of pennies, Greg noticed a pile of Mexican coins at the base of a light, obviously left by someone not expecting to return to Mexico.
We went through customs easily. Agent Foss, unlike some US customs agents we have encountered at the US border with Canada, was an extremely pleasant and helpful man - part govt official, part welcoming committee and part tourist info person. He told us about the Hawai'i National Volcano Park just south of here and encouraged us to spend time there. A new vent has opened and its exciting to watch. Hopefully the island bus (which is free) goes there.
We had to surrender most of our vegetables and fruit as well as our eggs. We didn't have any beef or chicken so we didn't have any to lose. Unfortunately, the importation requirements for pets is very complex. I was unable to get any useful info via email while underway about pet importation but I was told "Hilo is not a port of entry". Odd, because Greg had specifically checked that. Turns out that the govt of Hawai'i only expects animals to enter through the airport at Honolulu. You would think an island would be a little more savvy when it comes to boats! So we and our friends on Tao are creating a commotion with our cats. Hard to imagine we are the only ones to ever arrive here with a pet. Anyway, it looks like Cinnamon will be arrested on Monday and taken to Kitty Jail. Quarantine can be up to 120 days but I hope he will be released when we leave.
The moment Cinnamon realized that we were safe and off the big ocean he reverted to his normal self. Once his environment was returned to normal he started drinking water and eating his kibbles again.
Greg has his work cut out for him. Only hours before we reached Hilo, a squall hit and one of the upper seams in our mail sail parted. I was rudely awakened and told "get up you have to help!". The main came down and we made our approach under power (how unsailorly!). The sail is now pulled thru the center of the dodger window and drying in preparation for its repair. After that he will repair the snapped spliced link between the spinnaker halyard and the sock swivel. hopefully our old main will hold together until we get home and Don Yager can make us a new one.
Both of us are looking forward to being tourists here in Hawai'i but we are missing our friends back in Blaine. We hope you are having a wonderful Spring.
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At 6/11/2011 11:48 PM (utc) our position was 19°43.87'N 155°03.13'W on course 021T at 0.1 knots.
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