SVSoulsticeAdventures: Return to Hawaii

“ Our willingness to wait reveals the value we place on what we are waiting for…”

Stephen and I are waiting for our “weather window” to make a safe passage to Alaska. We worked 7.5 months in Nevada and returned to Oahu on April 18th. We had another intensive ICU COVID experience during our employment time but also to see the virus spread dissipate before our exit. And only to find it is alive and well in the marina currently with some dock friends being sick as of most recent. Luckily, no one required hospitalization.

We were generously picked up by another cruiser at the airport with our usual obscene amount of heavy luggage! 7 bags all 50 lbs!! OK a few 51 lbs but Alaska airlines didn’t blink an eye:) I get really anxious about all the luggage and hate traveling with soo much stuff. Every season we improve on our clothing choices but THERE IS ALWAYS boat parts/gear. So this year what made the additional baggage was a crab pot, a shrimp pot, new fishing rods/reels, 2 water immersion suits, and a new boom vang. I am leaving out some other products we use on the boat that are hard to find in Hawaii or too expensive to buy there as well.

It was a smooth transition as we only had one layover and not traveling internationally made the luggage send-off and retrieval less painful. Chelsea, our friend from SV Jeananne has an SUV, so it worked out perfectly. I was having some PTSD from when Stephen would try to convince me how roomy a Prius Uber can be when we would commute from Reno to Seattle monthly to work on Soulstice.

Our return to Soulstice in the Ko Olina marina has been relatively seamless. I don’t want to jinx us even by writing that…. ( boat gods, please take mercy). We did not decommission Soulstice completely like we have in the past. We left most of our running rigging up and our sails. This was good and bad. We did cover the deck with sun covers and foiled our plastic to protect it from UV. Additionally, on the inside, she was pretty much as we normally keep her minus all food. We did leave a bag of coffee in a taped Tupperware - A MUST For a happy 1st-morning post-return.

Steve, Chelsea’s other half, watched our boat for us while we were in NV by running the engine monthly, checking our bilge, and just an overall inspection on his visits to make sure all is well. That means NO cockroaches too! And all stayed well- phheeew! Also, every 6 weeks we had a diver clean the bottom and check our zincs. What I appreciated when we returned is that the boat did not have to be put back together so to speak just to live: sleep, eat, and move about. Every time beforehand on the return, the inside was so disassembled that it took time to make her kinda liveable. This was also in the sweltering Mexican heat. Additionally, ALL that luggage needs to somehow get swallowed up by Soulstice to their respective places or new space in the 40ft given!

In Hawaii, the weather is lovely. There is some humidity but usually 35-45% and temps high 70’s and low to mid-80s and always a breeze. In terms of breezes, they are constant and strong!!! The trade winds have been really intense (re-inforced is the weather terminology) during our stay so far. We had plans to be in the marina for 2 weeks and then make a beeline to Hanalei Bay to avoid another month in the marina but this decision was canceled. We did choose to stay for the month of May because there has still been a north swell and south swell of advisory levels and Hanalei Bay is a north-facing anchorage. The swell would make it rolly and uncomfortable.

Moreover, the marina location affords us the walking distance to Home Depot, Costco, Auto Zone, and Target. This is huge! And laundry facilities, showers with HOT water, bathrooms, BBQ grills with free propane, and 4 gorgeous lagoons to swim in and have beach days just adjacent to the marina. Hanalei Bay is gorgeous but besides boutique shops and an expensive tiny grocery store, nothing is close for us for chores/supplies and we do not have a car. In the marina, we have access to rides and cars with friends here. And we have friends here and have cookouts, play bocce ball, and just great camaraderie on our dock. Next to us is 2 young brothers, Ben and John, who just bought the Norseman 44 that was for sale next to Soulstice. They are Alaska fishermen who plan to head to French Polynesia next season. Just next to them is a friend, Adam, who we met in Hanalei Bay last year, and he is planning to sail to Ensenada with our good friend Mike from SV Easy as crew. We met 2 other boats Alaska bound in June and so that will be some company on the radio and company at sea even though we are not officially buddy boating.

The other enjoyable part about returning is that our project list was smaller than most return visits. This has afforded us more downtime but for me, although sometimes I struggle with that. Ridiculous for some to hear that but I do like to work and I do like my NP job. I can fill my downtime but I am a worker and I like making a paycheck :). There is always a big gulp when you return and start spending money and realize there is no more paycheck coming in. Hawaii is VERY expensive and so cost-prohibitive for going out very much. No more cheap tacos in Mexico.

During our second week here, we had friends from Nevada, the Robertsons come to the Ko Olina resort area with their family. Adam, Alise, and their son Lincoln along with their extended family were enjoying a family vacation. They were kind enough to include us in their BBQ night at the resort grill, some time at the resort pool and hot tub, and joining them in a luau. We both had not been to a Luau in 20 years and decided it was a show, with 2 free drinks, and food. It was a great time, especially because Alise’s parents who will be celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary in October, were honored up on stage with other couples celebrating their years of marriage, but they were most recognized as they had by far the most years together. They played the Elvis wedding song and all the couples danced. Lincoln even recognized how beautiful it was his grandparents were being revered.

After our visit with the Robertsons, our friends, Dave and Lydia, from Maui flew out for a few days. Dave and Lydia have a sailboat in Lahaina and we saw them last cruising season in Lahaina. Dave is the one friend who we buddy boated with down from Seattle to Mexico in the infancy of our cruising career. During COVID in 3/2020, he and Lydia sailed to HI and we stayed in Mexico. Last year we caught back up with them and again last week. They have plans to sail to French Polynesia but they bought a new sailboat last year and the boat projects and financial hardships that go along with that have delayed their plans until this winter.

They flew out on a little puddle jumper and spent 2 nights on Soulstice. We did a big cookout one night with some other dock friends and Lydia invited some Maui charter captains she ran into in our marina as well. Bocce ball got started late and went into the sunset. AND as a BIG part of my favorite thing about boat life is that a big party with some drinks ends with a walk home and dishes can even be done with a hose on the dock! BRILLIANT!

Dave and Lydia did get a rental car so we did all take a trip to the Bishop Museum in Honolulu. This museum has a planetarium which unfortunately not known to us at the time is and on Wednesday it is not open. So…. do not go on a Wednesday. Still, the museum is in a gorgeous architecturally designed building that houses a significant amount of artifacts tracing the culture and lineage of the Polynesian people. The planetarium in the Bishop Museum was used for the non-instrument navigation of the 1980 voyage of Hokule’a. Hundreds of hours were spent in the planetarium sailing back and forth between Hawaii and Tahiti observing the changes in the rising and setting positions of the stars as we changed latitudes. This training as well as following meridional star pairs and recognizing moon phases gave an accuracy of within 3-5 miles of the precise latitude it was noted. What an incredible feat and this is why we are enamored with celestial navigation.

If our GPS gets hacked in a potential WWIII others may soon be VERY interested in navigating by the stars too!! As Albert Einstein said, “ I know not what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones.”

Our disappointment of no planetarium shows on Wednesday was short-lived because I signed Stephen and me up for a zoom planetarium event that is featured in the planetarium and gives a tutorial on stars and constellations used in Polynesian navigation and that was fun! I grew up with the planetarium being an annual field trip in elementary school and my favorite was when they reproduced lightning and thunder! In Reno, NV there is a planetarium as well and they do evening Pink Floyd shows:) For this event, we could drink wine in the comfort of Soulstice and enjoy this lovely planetarium presentation via Zoom. Everyone knows Zoom well secondary to COVID.

After Dave and Lydia left, we decided to hop back onto our boat projects. This included the installation of our new membrane for our water maker; continuous efforts on “tricky dick”,the Dickinson diesel fed heater; new fans installed to make our hydronic heater functional and installation of the new boom vang that was not without trials and tribulations due to wrong sizing sent and then size accommodation that required large 1/4 inch rivets and NO 1/4 rivet gun to be found or borrowed in HI. Actually, I found one for $160 ( NO Thanks!!!). Eventually, an auto shop saved us with 3 rivets being punched in for free and beer gifted, smiles all around! Other chores include standing rig cleaning with sending me up the mast, boat washes, stainless steel polishing and waxing, gel coat waxing, and a few other incidentals.

Now is the provisioning and mother nature giving permission for a safe passage? Not really, she is indifferent and this must ALWAYS be known. Your decision to leave is based on your weather forecasting resources, when the boat is considered “ready” and then burn some sage and click your heels three times.

We will get our dry goods soon and then freshies last. I am going to head home on May 19h for multiple family special occasions including a wedding where I will see many family members I have not seen for quite some time and 2 nephew graduations ( one from HS and the other college). When I return, Stephen and I will make a plan to exit the marina and head to Hanalei Bay in Kauai. The marina is very expensive and unforgiving with no ability to prorate for the day or week. They want FULL payment for the entire month even if you stay a day over. Ridiculous and just goes along with all the ridiculous rules and expenses of Hawaii. Beautiful placed but good riddance to the prices and regulations.

We look at earth.nullschool.net daily and Predict Wind. Our Iridium Go will be activated on June 1 and when we see the 5640 line has moved farther north and the perpetual low-pressure systems coming from Japan start to chill out, we will plan to heed Mother Nature and make our voyage to the North.

We hope this blog entry finds everyone well. As I mentioned earlier, the Rona is rearing its ugly head in the marina and we will hope our boosted selves stay well! This is where the UV and reinforced trade winds will help us out!

Soulstice with sun covers being taken off to clean the deck

Yanmar 4JH2E 50 HP - this sits under companion way stairs

Our new Earth flag! Where are you from? Earth

Tricky Dick - the dickinson heater

Lagoon ( 1 of 4) by Ko Olina Resorts - just adjacent to marina and our beach scene 5 min walk

Walk from Ko Olina on dirt trail to Electric Beach

Trade Winds blowing with 25-30 knots daily

Alise Roberston - friend from NV

View again from Lagoon next to Marina

Jenny back from a run in Soulstice- our cozy salon

Stephen, Dave and Lydia ( friends visiting from Maui on SV Cornelia - Westsail 43)

Bishop Museum

Run to electric beach- not a bad running path

Winch cleaning day! try to do every 6 months

My walk home to Soulstice

Provision day! Dry passage but booze to keep down costs in AK when arrive

Bocce ball - on the grassy knoll by Lagoon and next to the marina - not a bad background scene

Where to put it all? Actually, if anyone sees those Monsters they will be gone before we leave. Try to avoid drink cans for trash. And try to be healthier and stick with water ( of course AM coffee a definite)