avionbianca   Blog for s/v Avion

When a favorable weather wind finally opened up last weekend, we decided to sail to Kauai overnight. We needed to sail for 12 to 14 hours over 100 miles, and I prefer to enter a new harbor for the first time during the daylight.  We left Sunday afternoon, and motored for several hours to clear the south-western tip of Oahu.  When the wind stabilized around 15 knots, we set the jib and the main for a beam reach and settled into 7 to 8 knot boat speed.

In the evening, a big full moon rose behind us from the east. While the full moon dimmed the starts, it illuminated the waves and made being in the cockpit easier.  Around 8:30 PM the wind started gusting up to 22 knots, and we put in the second reef to keep the boat flat and comfortable.  We cooked up some little pizzas, and settled into our two hour watch schedule at 9:00 PM.

We made good time. We could see the Nawilili Harbor light directly ahead, as wellas  airplanes taking off from Lihue Airport.  First light broke around 6:00 AM. We dropped the sails and came into the harbor under motor around the two breakwaters with a cruise ship in the distance behind us. We found the slip the Harbormaster had said to take, but it was occupied, so we went into another slip nearby, and secured the boat by 7:30 AM.  It was a good sail.

After napping and resting, we walked the two miles from Nawilili Harbor up to the town of Lihue and went to a great little saimin noodle shop for lunch, recommended by a friend of Megan’s.    We returned and spoke with the Harbormaster about the slip and got permission to stay where we had tied-up, so we could relax.

The next day, Tuesday, was Valentine’s Day, and my gift to Megan was to rent a car for a week.  In the afternoon, we drove up to the Wailua Waterfalls.  We then headed back to Lihue for Valentine’s dinner at JJ’s Broiler, sitting at an open bar. The fish in Hawaii is amazing, in whatever form you order it.

On Wednesday,  we did errands, found the Kauai Beer Company for lunch, and played tennis in the evening on some public courts with good lights.  Megan is getting to point where she can rally consistently, as long as I hit it to her forehand most of the time. The evening was warm and there was no wind, so we both got a good sweat going. The local tennis team was hanging out on the other court, after their practice session, and one friendly lady approached us and started a conversation.  She was interested that we were sailing around Hawaii for the winter and wanted to know all about our experience.

Thursday morning, we drove up and into the Grand Cannon of the Pacific.  We picked-up a hitch-hiker at the road into the park. He was a recent computer science graduate from the Czeck Republic and we chatted non-stop for an hour or so, until we got him to his campground.

Thursday evening, the marina started jumping with activity.  The Nawilili Yacht Club holds  their Beer Can races on Thursday evenings, and the second race of the season was about to be held.  We were invited to sail on two boats, and Tom elected to take the second offer, from a boat named Fast Company.  Megan tried to fit in one more errand, but missed the start, so Tom went off without her.  Fast Company is an Olsen 30, a boat that is very sensitive to the wind, with an experienced skipper and crew, but clearly Tom’s adroit and timely moving ballast was the difference maker. One boat finished ahead of us,  but we got the horn at the finish line for first place (adjusted for handicaps).

On Friday, we found a kayak shop that would rent an ocean kayak to us that we could  put on the roof of the rental car, and thereby explore two rivers, on our own, without a guide. We did the Wailua River in the morning, then came back to the boat for lunch and a nap. The Hule-ea River flows into Nawilili Harbor, so we launched the kayak in the late afternoon and paddled upstream from the boat.  Both are fairly large rivers with forks surrounded by mountains, but we preferred the Hule-ea River as it was quiet, full of birds and fish.

On Saturday morning, we found a Farmer’s Market and bought a bunch of local foods.  We then went south to the blow hole.  The waves were not strong enough to make the hole spout, but you could see the potential.  I guess one of the previous owners of the property had thrown some dynamite into the original blow hole, as it used to spout up to 200 feet high, and salt water sprayed over whatever he was growing.  I had been there with Adrienne, and my sister Amy and borther-in-law Danny.  It was our last vacation before the Alzhiemer’s took over, and what I really remembered were the feral chickens running everywhere (all over the island).  After the blow hole, we found a sports bar for lunch and shared a nice Sierra Nevada IPA.

On Sunday, we drove up to the north coast to the fabled towns of Hanalee and Princeville, and beyond to the trail head to the Napali Coast. It was overcast and cool, around 70 degrees. We found the pier in Hanalee, and walked out to the end.  A couple started a conversation; they were from Kansas City and their daughter was hiking the Napali Trail with a friend.  She is a nurse on a sailing research vessel, and loves to sail.  We told her our story, and they were quite excited and asked lots of questions (as most people do, when we share our  story).  Apparently, she wants to marry a sailor; Megan advised the mother to tell her daughter to move to San Francisco, as the ratios are good for female sailors.

Now we are looking at the weather for the trip back to Oahu.  I told the Harboarmaster we would depart on Tuesday, but the front that came though today has shifted the wind back to the east, and it will be heavy for a few days.  We might not be able to sail until Thursday or Friday.  Oh well, such is life when cruising and living on your boat.  We will have to rough it out until then.  The couple from Kansas had been on a whale watch and had seen whales, so maybe we should sail around Kauai to see whales off the Napali coast.  Stay tuned…