Dan, Sylvie and Felix Blog: Hilo, Hawaii

In case you were curious, yes, we made it to Hawaii without sinking the boat. Pat on the back for Dan and Sylvie.

After the squalls and rain subsided we had a beautiful sail the rest of the way to the big island until 50 miles out when the wind died, again. This time there was no patient waiting and we motored right to the anchorage. After we dropped the hook we wanted to play by the book so as not to upset the American authorities, which means that only the captain is allowed on shore to check into the country. So I rowed into shore to find customs and some sushi (our craving/obsession for the last week of the passage) while Sylvie sat very patiently on the boat. I came back without having checked in but with two meat dishes by accident, one of which was mostly spaghetti and spam.... let's just say Sylvie was none too ecstatic to see me and the exotic meals I'd brought her. The next day when I tried again to check in alone the customs guy tells me Sylvie need to be there for the check-in. This is after a security guard held me for a half hour between a cruise ship and the customs office. Anyway, we finally got checked in and sorted out.

Then, two nights later there was a tsunami warning. We were having a friendly Peruvian couple over for dinner and I could sort of hear the coast guard saying stuff on the vhf radio but I was trying to impress our guests with our wide selection of Latin music so I just turned up the Enrique or Pedro Infante or whatever I'd cleverly lined up on the i-pod to drone out the coast guard and apparently the tsunami warning siren that was blaring outside. Eventually we figured it out, and one hour after the first wave hit we took the boat out of the harbour into open water to wait it out. Luckily nothing serious came of it and we were back in the bay and anchored by 4am.

There are earth quakes here all the time and the volcano is very active, in fact you can see lava flowing into the ocean not far from Hilo. And this, is the place we're hoping to settle in. We've listed the boat for sale and we're planning to buy a cheap lot and build something in the not too distant future. In the mean while we'll continue to cruise the Hawaiian islands until we get to Honolulu where the sailing portion of our trip will probably end, but who knows. Like the wind, or a fickle friend, our plans change all the time.

Until next time,

Dan, Sylvie & Ustupu