Keehi Lagoon, Honolulu, Oahu, Hawaii
15 April 2012
21N19 157W53
Yet another writing hiatus was brought on by the many distractions land (and internet) offer. After our Hilo arrival, we spent a couple weeks waiting for parts, installing those parts (injection pump and injectors from the water in our fuel ugh). We did play tourist a little to see lava, and stand on the earth’s highest mountain (if you count what’s below water). Views from Mauna Kea gave all our other summits a serious run for their money. We sailed to Maui, and waited for more parts (the windlass motor choked), not much touring that time. We di
d have nightly Humpback whale visits in Lahaina, Maui. Some nights they sounded like they were singing in my pillow (LOUD). An advantage to a steel hull, is the incredible resonance we enjoy. Anytime dolphins and whales are near (and the engine is off), we’re treated with a musical concert of chirps, whistles, and sometimes long bellowing croaks. Not great for sleeping, but worth the lost ZZZs for the thrill of it. We stopped briefly in in Molakai, before we crossed to Oahu, and pulled in to Honolulu’s Keehi Marine Center for a haul-out. We were “on the hard” for a week, then back in the water anchored nearby for what’s turned out to be another 3 weeks of repairs and waiting for more parts (a motor for the water jet bow thrusters we’re installing).
Why so much repairing? Well, there’s a fine line between maintenance and repair. Once you’re in up to your elbows, in maintenance, it’s inevitable you discover a few things to repair “while you’re there.*” Since we are headed for colder waters (frigid?), we wanted to check all the plumbing, and make sure everything was ready for any thermal expansion/contraction that goes along with that climate. In checking all the SS clamps on our hoses we discovered that too many had rusted through, so we decided to replace them all. Reseating the hoses under those clamps, we discovered that much of the white sanitation pipe was fragile and cracking, so we replaced them all. While we were making new holes in the boat for the bow thrusters we closed off some old holes, and combined plumbing outlets to a minimum number. Fewer holes, means fewer places to look if the bilge ever floods. We got rid of five thru-hulls, and added four so it was nearly a wash, but the four new ones
are all adjacent, so only one place to look for those four. We’ve now replumbed the boat. We of course, really means Frank, I just drove around Honolulu enjoying the sights (and picking up parts).
We’ve also added acrylic storm covers to those hatches that were spraying me in the face like a firehose. We installed our new sails and are fixing a problem with the rollerfurler. The full list is much longer, but the details put me to sleep (early every night these days). We now see the light at the end of the tunnel, and my trips to town are more provisioning related. I’m motivated, and eager to put some miles between the nearest cash register and my credit cards.
This shore time has been good for tackling school, and seeing some local sights. We signed on as members at the nearby Bishop’s Museum to take full advantage of all they have to offer. Their polynesian artifacts are beautiful and inspiring, and we’ve been comparing and contrasting the Hawaiian myths and archaeology with the other polynesian equivalents we’ve seen along the way. The kids have grown an appreciation for the detailed carvings we’ve seen across the pacific, shell, wood, stone and bone. We took a stone carving class in NZ, which gave them a taste for how to approach a piece of rock or wood. But stone carving tools are expensive, not easy to find and require a lot of electricity. To remedy that, museum shop had “Bone Carving: A Skillbase of Techniques and Concepts
Pearl Harbor provided some quality field-trip material too, I took them to the Pacific Aviation Museum and the Bowfin Submarine Museum. We all loved the Bowfin, but it really should have been a Captain’s fieldtrip. I loved all the shiny brass, the old gauges, and getting a sense of what life on a submarine really must have been like (their bunks and quarters are even smaller than ours!). But I didn’t know any of the functions of those valves, dials and gauges, and the audio walking tours drive me nuts; I prefer to walk around at my own pace and have my own thoughts – even if I don’t learn as much. So I made Frank take a day off and take them back, he loves that stuff, and knows more than I (and he can balance any American bias in the museum exhibit panels with a European perspective – his grandpa was a naval engineer for the French Navy, who helped smuggled german submarine plans out of France for the allies during WWII**, so he has a deep interest in the topic). They also visited the Battleship Missouri – while they were there. Dinner conversations since have added even more History credits to their collection. There really is no better way to engage the kids, than walking back in time, with a history crazed dad as guide. And I managed to clean the boat – which stayed clean a whole hour after they returned.
xoxomo
For our sailing friends, I found a new favorite blog “Attainable Adventure Cruising.” For us, they could not have better titled or timed their article, “The Three Most Dangerous Words in Boat Maintenance”
*Paul Reveil alias “Jaz” (Jaz is a french watch brand, and Reveil, means alarm clock in french, he’s mentioned on the french wikipedia page about Alphonse Tanguy. According to Frank his grandfather memorized the submarine plans during the day, and copied what he saw each night. After successfully sending the plans to the allies, Paul Reveil was captured and sent to a German prisoner of war camp. He had both legs broken with a mallet in an unsuccessful attempt to get him to share names of his conspirators. So that stubborn streak of Frank’s – he comes by it honestly.