Port Angeles Welcome

WindWatcher greets Comocean as we approach Port Angeles.

We arrived at Neah Bay on Wednesday, July 27th around 11pm. Our journey is complete. Our voyage from Hawai'i was 3,174 miles. Neah Bay was empty of anchored boats this time and anchoring in the dark was fairly easy. Finally we could sleep all  night. Thursday was a day to clean up the mess from a three-week passage and then rest.

Friday morning at 6:15am we were under way to Port Angeles. A few miles from Port Angeles Greg noticed a vaguely familiar boat. It circled around and approached us. Lo and behold, there were our friends Chuck and Jan on WindWatcher -  another Catalina 42. They had sent an email, which we hadn't received, telling us that they were starting their adventure and would try to intercept us as we passed in the Straight of Juan de Fuca. What a pleasant surprise! They joined us at the public dock  in Port Angeles for the night and we shared dinner on Comocean. Chuck and Jan are headed to San Diego where they will prepare their boat for a cruise to Mexico, the Caribbean and beyond. We shared our new cruising knowledge and said goodbye in the morning.

It was so nice to share our regular bed. Our passage berth was the aft starbd berth. The cushions, abandon-ship bag and various bags of stuff kept us in place. Cinnamon was a frequent bunkmate. I had to be very careful when I rolled over because would end up under me. Once we were at anchor and back in our regular bed he didn't need us for security and we sleep without him now.

Cinnamon picked up some unusual habits while we were at sea. When he didn't eat or drink during the first week I had to resort to some unconventional methods to encourage him. He developed a fondness for drinking his water from a tumbler in the bathroom. I guess it was the traces of toothpaste that made it so special.

We visited the NOAA center for the Olympic Coast Nat. Marine Sanctuary in Port Angeles. It was smaller than the Hawai'ian center in Hilo but filled with lots of interesting exhibits and two knowledgeable workers. I gathered some materials to share with my Semiahmoo friends and the next C42 Rendezvous.

Now we are headed to Dungeness Spit which is a little southeast of here. We have our fishing/crabbing license in hand and we are eager to get back at it!

Land Ho!

On July 27 we are starting to see boats on the AIS. 50 miles off shore and there 8 ships around us. At 7pm, 25 miles out, I climb into the cockpit and see land - Vancouver Island. By 11pm we should be at anchor in Neah Bay. But, as they say on the Pacific Seafarer's Net, "It's the crunchy bits around the edges that are the dangerous parts." I don't anticipate a problem though. We will be arriving after dark but we have been there before and know what to look for.
-----
At 7/27/2011 4:31 AM (utc) our position was 48°29.63'N 128°45.56'W on course 091T at 6.6 knots.

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com

1,000 Miles to Go

Another nice day, zipping along at 6-7 knots we are cranking out 150 mile days like clockwork. But, lest we get complacent, there are 3-4 days of heavy wind/sea coming day after tomorrow from a low moving down the coast. We're past 2,000 miles with about 1,000 to go. Cool enough at night now that we've reassembled the Pacific-Norwest configuration with an enclosed cockpit. Still on spinnaker but that comes down tomorrow p.m. unless Sonia turns off the power earlier**. She is prep'ing meals ahead for the bad weather.
Greg

**
The other morning I was at the end of my 6 hour watch and hungry. I sat down on the settee across from the sink with a bowl of cereal. The next thing I know the boat rounds up and chaos ensues! Greg wakes up and we both rush out to the cockpit. I couldn't get the rudder to respond and the instruments were all off. I wondered how we could have blown a 300A fuse. First Greg checked the steering to make sure it was okay and then started to work on the electrical problem.
Once solved he demanded to know where I was when all this happened. I told him that I was sitting down trying to eat my cereal. AHA! What? "You turned off the master switch"! The switch was right under me and apparently I kicked it and didn't realize it. Oh, well. That was better than something breaking and besides it gave Greg something to raze me about.
Sonia
-----
At 7/20/2011 12:05 PM (utc) our position was 46°38.13'N 151°07.09'W on course 087T at 6.7 knots.

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com

Flying the Spinnaker

4 am on a beautiful cloudy early morning; 1300 miles north now. Fishing is good under the full moon and the birds (I can't tell if they are storm petrels or shearwaters) are flying around the boat while keeping up a lively conversation. They have Cinnamon's attention.

We deployed the spinnaker yesterday and then we ran out of wind in the afternoon. I knew it was too good to continue. From 8 knots to 3, and then zero is hard to take. The spinnaker kept collapsing so we finally dropped it and motored for a while. Sometime during Greg's watch he deployed it again, BY HIMSELF, and probably without his vest and tether. We are flying again - 6.6 knots in 11K of wind. My spirits are lifted.
-----
At 7/15/2011 9:28 AM (utc) our position was 41°36.95'N 164°47.17'W on course 007T at 6.6 knots.

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com

1000 Miles

There's a full moon hanging over a bank of dark clouds to the southwest this evening. The wind is soft and the seas are rolling gently with less than a one foot swell. It's a pleasant night watch.

We have passed the 1,000 mile mark and tonight we will start heading northeast as we round the Pacific high. Less than 2,000 miles left. There are at least four boats making their way back to the Pacific Northwest now and we each seem to have our own unique idea of how to do it. One poor captain was congratulated last night for finding the exact center of the high when he reported his position, wind (0)and boat speed (0)to the Pacific Seafarers' Net - he apparently doesn't have access or understanding of GRIB files. They have really made a difference for making safe and faster passages.

This passage hasn't been as bleak as the passage from Baja to Hawai'i. We see birds everyday - maybe only one or two shearwaters, but two nights ago we were surrounded by a flock of over a dozen black-footed albatross. The flying fish are plentiful out here and are amazing to watch. One flew into the cockpit and smacked Sonia on the leg - he was a beautiful little thing but none the less, he became cat food.

We are enjoying this brief calm before we start the sleigh ride across the high in the next day or two.
-----
At 7/14/2011 9:19 AM (utc) our position was 39°30.79'N 164°56.79'W on course 356T at 7.8 knots.

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com

Chasing the High

A squall blots out the almost full moon to the west. We plow north through the waves around the ever-moving high. Hawai'i lies 850 miles to the south now. I wonder if we will encounter the "garbage patch" as we make our way around the north Pacific gyre.

Made visual contact with the ship "Huian" yesterday, 7 miles off our port bow - the second ship we have crossed paths with since leaving Hawai'i.

We are making 150 miles per day and are on track for a 20 day passage.
-----
At 7/12/2011 1:16 AM (utc) our position was 33°08.92'N 164°11.72'W on course 009T at 6.1 knots.

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com

Leaving Hawai'i

Our last stop in Hawai'i was Kane'ohe Bay on the east side of O'ahu. Kane'ohe Bay or Chinaman's Hat (named after a rock in the bay) is a large shallow bay that grows coral rapidly due to the good water conditions. Because of the extensive coral and a very long sand bar it is challenging to navigate. In daylight its fairly easy to see the coral but at night a US Marine escort boat is called upon at times to help boats safely navigate into the marinas.

We stayed at the Kane'ohe Yacht Club; Med moored only feet from the beautiful lawn, pool and club house. After securing our boat we watched, along with our neighbor Cadence, as a sailboat full of inept young sailors tried over and over again to place their boat between us. They were probably tired and I'm sure copious amounts of beer played a part in it. I really got worried though when the young man at the helm told me he was afraid to back the boat up. They were finally successful, but in a very ungraceful manner. After a brief recovery they proceeded to party loud and hardy into the late hours.

This did build a relationship between us and David and Beth on Cadence. They have sailed to Hawai'i several times from Newport Beach, CA. David is a long distance swimmer (they travel all over the world so he can swim things like the English Channel). They graciously offered to drive us around in the SUV they had rented for hauling his surfboard around. David swam every day in Kane'ohe, as well as surfing at Waikiki, and told us that he had seen a baby hammerhead shark which was about a foot from eye to eye. We were latter told that the area around the Kane'ohe YC is a hammerhead shark nursery. Early on our last day there we heard a very loud crash beside our boat but couldn't figure out what it was. Later that morning while standing on deck I heard it again (like someone jumping into the water) and saw a large bubble-like disturbance next to Cadence. Several people saw it but no one knew what caused it. I think some large fish had just had his breakfast.

We left on Wednesday July 6th and had a rough first 24 hours, 8-10 ft seas, but we made 150 miles. The second day wasn't any more comfortable and we found out that Cadence had had a terrible passage to Kaua'i and had broken their wind vane. Their return home would be delayed. At 1pm we were hailed by a Coast Guard plane and advised that the military was going to do missile exercises in our area and wanted to know our intentions. We thought it was pretty obvious but I didn't get smart with them - they had missiles! We were on a NNW course and they told us to change our course 5-10 deg to N. Not comfortable but we did it. They were trying to contact another boat but weren't successful. They hailed us again and told us not to go west of our current longitude. "This will insure your safety". Great - that meant that we were going due north until 6pm. It was horrible - but hey, we didn't get shot! In fact, we didn't see any planes, boats or missiles. My guess is that they couldn't contact the other boat so they made us line up with them so we were easy to shoot around.

On my watch last night the wind hit 33 knots and Comocean was screaming along at over 10 knots - a little scary. If all goes well only 18 more days of this.
-----
At 7/8/2011 9:53 AM (utc) our position was 24°35.80'N 160°02.86'W on course 318T at 6.8 knots.

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com

Maui

Maui Sunrise

 We arrived at the island of Molokini, off the coast of Maui, just before dawn. Molokini is a premiere snorkeling spot and I wanted to visit it. The wind gods had other ideas and they made it clear that we should anchor off of Maui. We dropped anchor off of McGregor Point. The Coral gardens were supposed to rival Molokini so we headed there next (I've been told since by a frequent visitor that isn't the case). Anchoring was very difficult. We tried to find a large sand patch to avoid damaging coral. We weren't successful. I went snorkeling in the Coral Gardens while Greg stood watch above in the dink. The coral formations were astonishing! Coral 20 feet high created canyons. The colors varied from white thru green to yellow and pink. Unfortunately for me, there weren't any fish.

We left the Coral Gardens the next day and headed to the old whaling town of Lahaina.



Rainbow over Lahaina



Canyon near Lahaina

The anchorage at Lahaina.

Banyan Tree Park, downtown Lahaina

One of the most outstanding features of
Lahaina is Banyan Tree Park. This popular park is covered by a banyan tree that covers a city block.

Children were climbing all over the low-slung branches. The arieal roots of the banyan tree root and essentially form a new tree when they touch ground. This one was 18 trees.

 The air in Lahaina as in other cities we visited are perfumed by the flowers that grow abundantly on the islands. The most common seemed to be plumeria.

 Lahaina is one of the top tourist destinations in Hawai'i. There wasn't a lot there to interest us because it is so similar to Cabo San Lucas in Baja. We got a heads up to this as we passed the submarine "Atlantis" moored outside Lahaina. For $100 it takes tourists who don't want to get wet 140 feet under water to see fish. The entire shore off the old section of town is lined with kiosks hustling tours of various sorts.

We stayed a few days and headed for Moloka'i.

Maui Sunset.

Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park

The Hawai'i Volcano National Park was a must see; top of our list when we rented a car. We were hoping for hot lava entering the sea but that stopped over a month ago. The park was still well worth visiting. Hawai'i's volcanoes are still active. From 1983 to 1991, lava flows repeatedly invaded communities on Kilauea's coastal south flank burying eight miles of highway and destroying 181 houses and a visitor center in Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park.

Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park has been designated an International Biosphere Reserve (1980) and World Heritage Site (1987) in recognition of its outstanding values.

The park lies  southeast Mauna Loa and runs to the ocean. Due to dangerous volcanic gases most of the Crater Rim Drive around the Kilauea Caldera was closed but there was still a lot to see.

We started at the visitor center and then went to the Jaggar Museum which overlooks the Halema'uma'u Crater. This small museum was packed with great displays relating the volcanology and seismology.




Greg at the visitors' center.



Kilauea Iki Crater

                                                                                                                                  

There is a trail that actually crosses thru Kilauea Iki Crater. You can walk over the cooled heaving lava  and watch the steam escape from below. I don't know how wise this is since they told us that the last time there was an eruption they only had three hours warning. We decided to skip it but note the people within the red circle in the photo below.

'A'a Lava

There are two types of lava: pahoehoe and 'a'a. They are chemically alike but form differently. Pahoehoe has
smooth and ropey surface while 'a'a is jagged and frothy looking.

A large air bubble creates a mini lava tube.



Devastation Trail




The Devastation Trail leads to Kilauea Iki Crater.

I found the process of revegetation especially interesting. The soil that develops from volcanoes is very fertile.

Lava blown into crotch of tree.

This fern looks like it landed on the moon. Somehow a spore landed and found some moisture.

 

This is how the land will look after many years.

'Ohi'a lehua      Mountain apple

This plant was plentiful on the path of Devastation Trail.

Kalij Pheasant

I came across a pair of these pheasants feeding beside the trail. They were eating the red Pilo berries. They jumped straight up two feet to reach them - like little jack-in-the-boxes.

Unfortunately I didn't see the endangered Nene, the Hawaiian goose.

I spotted several red honey creepers.

Park staff concentrates of the biologically diverse habitats and those offering the best chance for restoration. The strategy is to control or eliminate the most disruptive invasive plant and animal pests. They build fences to keep out feral animals, track and kill feral pigs and destroy invasive plants. As native plant communities establish themselves again, the populations of Hawaiian honeycreepers, nene geese, Kamehameha butterflies and happyface spiders may flourish.


Pukiawe with pink berries.

 


At the edge of the rim of the crater.

 


Wild Orchid




Lava Tube Walk







Entrance




 

Looking back at entrance.

Looking into the lava tube.





Wild fuchsias hand from the walls leading down to the entrance.



 



Large trees and ferns grow above tube.