More pics of the Big Island and Hilo

Representing King's College (which I didn't attend) and some old coconut milk stains on my shirt.  

South Point, Hawaii

Dead fish clothing

This sequence represents the state of my current fitness.  

This sequence is a mess.

6.0 on the landing.

Green Sand Beach

Dan.... semi-impressed

Crazy crowd

Lava pile

There used to be settlements and towns near the shore....

Hair-whisps

Sylvie muckin about on a lava pile

Fresh lava

We could pretty much touch this rainbow. 

Waipio Valley

Videos of Tradewind Sailing in the South Pacific

Wing on wing from Galapagos to the Marquesas

Huahine and Tahaa

These aren't ripe but I'm clearly intrigued. 

Setting up a faulty chicken trap at Crab Bay. 

This is what you find at crab bay.  Catching these guys is a lot of fun, all you need is a bright flashlight and an oven mitt. 

We went to Crab Bay 3 times.  

Kids playing with massive blue eyed eels.  You show up with a can of mackerel and the kids put on a show.  One girl called us her 'clients' even though no one pays her.  She asked Sylvie if she had any 'heart friends', Sylvie asked her if she had any 'heart enemies', she had plenty, she claimed.

This kid just hung out at the eel place rambling in baby talk.  

Southern tip of Huahine.

Sylvie hiking.  Yes, hello Sylvie.

We found avocado trees up here.

Moose burial ground.

Beach strolling in Huahine.

The Saltbreaker brothers (Alex and Nick) at anchor in Tahaa.  They do very few things without welding goggles.  On this particular night we are supplying the beer as Saltbreaker helped us get off the reef earlier that day.  Early the next morning a metal piece on our mooring line would break and Ustupu was set adrift.  Alex happened to be up at 6AM and waved as we drifted by. 

Sylvie telling me what things she sees in the clouds.  An endless conversation.  

Wild birds.  

Bora Bora

Bora Bora was a special place for us.  This was as far west as we made it on the trip, in fact we turned around here and sailed back to Tahiti, directly into the wind.

We spent weeks here doing little.  I think it was the climax of the trip.

Our arrival to the beautiful island of Bora Bora.  We anchored in 85 feet which is insanely deep for us.  It took us a long time to pull up the 200 feet of chain. 

Our favorite anchorage, maybe of all time. 

These little guys were sold to us for a few bucks and some cigarettes we have for trading.  Delicious.

Sylvie, checking on the anchor or something?

This guy was actually drafting us, at like 4 miles/hour.  Lazy.

Bora Bora as seen from the Coral Gardens of Tahaa.

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

The proper documentation!

Sylvie says "Peace Out!!!" to Tahiti and Moorea in the background.

Semi-delirious dancing in the rain to Rasputin.  Notice the seizure-like eyes.

Gotta look good for the guys at the spam spaghetti food stand.

Angry volcano. 

                                                   A video!  We have fast internet again.