Kalapaki Beach

May 21 2008

Wind is unfavorable.  Unbeleivably calm out here.  Motored for a while, then we here a loud cracking sound and bang.  I was in my bed at the time, which is kind of under the transom.  I ran outside, Dad and I look around for a second, then realize the motors gone...  hmmmm.   We look over the transom, and its hanging down there on the hinged mount.  It is raised and lowered by block and tackle, the block attached to the transom had ripped clear out of the glass.  After checking it out we saw whoever installed it skipped the backing plate idea.  Surprising it lasted this long.  We made a tempoprary rig for it, and ttried to get going, when we realize that we had jammed the throtttle cable beyond easy, immediate repair.  So we wait for wind.  And it comes.  A little puff had us questioning where to drop Dad off, Lihue or Honolulu, and we went for it.  This is when we learned how well our cat can go windward...  it doesn't.  It seems to me that with the same sail plan trimmed the same way as a monohull, we should make similar angles sailing upwind.  On Del Gnar, my Columbia 26, sometimes it felt I could sail straight into the wind.  Not so with Gonzo.  It was going to be a bit longer back to Oahu than we planned, timewise and waterwise.  Middle of the night, we turn back to Nawiliwili.  We pulled into Kalapaki beach in front of the Marriott just after sunrise the next morning.  Dad, Andrea and I wandered around until he had to catch his flight to Oahu and San Diego.  We had a few good meals, and walked through the Harbor drooling at all the nice boats.  

Now that Dad's gone, it's time to figure out what we're doing next.  If we go to Oahu, we won't have a slip, most of our friends will be gone for the summer, the traffic will still be there, and Honolulu will still be dirty.  If we sail around to Hanalei, we have a safe anchorage through mid September, a beautiful little town to get jobs in, and mountains towering above the bay with anywhere between 2 and 50 waterfalls at all times.  Sticking around was an easy decision.

At anchor in Kalapaki Bay

View from the anchorage in Hanalei Bay

Dad at sunset, sailing to Nawiliwili

May 27 2008

We've been at Kalapaki for a few days, and I'm ready to move on.  My friend Kiko, from San Diego, told his brother in law some of my stories of Kalalau a while back, and so now Matt Johnson is on his way to Lihue tommorow to sail around the island with us for a drop off in the valley.  We've been busy here getting things and stuff for the boat.  This morning, DLNR Harbor Police came by to tell us that we are moored illegally; we've got to move to the mooring balls across the harbor.  I told them I'm working on fixing the throttle cable, and they gave me a six hour deadline.  I hitchhiked up to Kapa'a, where there's a Honda Marine store, and got the replacement part.  By the time I made it back and fixed the problem, it was dark, so I set my alarm for 6 am to move the boat before the Harbor Police come back.  6:15 was too late;  when I got up, I looked outside and one of them was already on my boat!  I talked to them for a bit, and they inspected the boat, and then gave us both tickets for being anchored there.  Instead of a $25 or $50 ticket, we actually have to appear in court on July 7 to pay.   Bummer.  But the engine runs well, and we move over to wait one more night until Matt gets in and we can leave. 

Sailing break

Dad's visit

Sailing down the Na Pali coast

Morning arrival from Oahu

May 19 2008

Gonzo is acquired at about 11 am in front of slip 784 at the Ala Wai harbor on Oahu.  We left Oahu within about 5 minutes of handing the last check over to Graham, destination Kalalau on Kauai.  After a quick fuel stop at Ko'olina, we took off.  The sail over is nice once we get in the channel, and with 15 knots through the night we arrived on the early side the next day.  

We decided to continue onward to Ni'ihau to dive and fish.  The wind had died, so we got to try motoring for a bit.  Vog, which stands for volcanic fog, from the Big Island, was heavy.  At some points the visibility was under 5 miles.   We dropped the anchor in Lehua Rock, a horseshoe shaped island that is the remainder of a volcanic crater.  While entering the cove, a huge pod of spinner dolphions came along the boat to welcome us.  We motored at about 1 knot, while I hung off the bow taking some underwater shots of them swiming around the boat.  Some of the pics turned out alright.  Pretty fun.  The diving  here is incredible.  Maximum visibility, and lots of life.  I shot some black fish that looked good, and we had some lunch.  We used the guts for chum and tried shark fishing that night, and we got a 3 or 4 foot white tip up to the boat.  The next morning when we went to leave, we find a cormarant tangled in our anchor line and a bunch of nets.  Dad tries to cut it free of the nets, but it snaps back and slices him, so we had to let it float off to die in the nets somewhere.  I've heard of this a bunch before, but it's kind of a bummer to actually see wildlife out there so far from people, just wrapped up in our trash and dying.

Summer on Kauai

I've got a ton of pictures and stories that I want to get up on this blog, starting with those from trips on Del Gnar last winter, and working towards what's going on now in Hanalei.  I finally got the usb cord for my camera, and it's got over 600 pictures on it from January on.  I'm going to try to add pictures and stories as I sort through them, but I also want to keep up to date, so some of the stuff I add will be out of order.  But I'll try to get it all....