Island in the clouds

Imagine sailing to a remote location. As you near your destination, you would expect to eventually see it on the horizon, correct? Well, the big island was playing hide and seek with us all day, until we finally caught up with it!

The entire surface of the island was obscured by thick cloud cover, even though the rest of the environment on the ocean was looking pretty clear and sunny. I started to doubt myself; maybe I entered the coordinates incorrectly into the GPS, and this whole time we've been sailing into nothingness! But no, we were on track. As the sun started to set, we had a welcoming committee. A monster whale surfaced near us, and just the exposed part of its back was the size of our boat. I thought we had seen some pretty sizeable leviathans back home near Santa Cruz island, but this one definitely takes the cake as the single biggest living thing I have ever seen.

As night fell and the miles left whittled down, we noticed the twinkling lights of the coastal cities off on the horizon. The lights reflected up on the thick cloud cover above, conveniently acting like big "Steer Here!" signs. Once we got close to Hilo Bay, we participated in a bit of a bad habit amongst cruisers--we sailed into an unknown harbor at night. Usually, it's best to just wait it out until morning, so that you may more clearly navigate all the quirks that you've yet to experience. But we were both excited to be here, stubbornly over-confident, and (once again) ignoring our intense sleep-deprivation.

The actual bay of Hilo has a massive underwater reef that protects it from the incoming swell. This, of course, needs to be clearly marked with bright lights, or else there will be a giant pile of wrecked boats. Unfortunately, though, the background for us was the city of Hilo, all lit up like Vegas! (Ok, maybe not that obnoxious, but sleep-deprivation, remember?). So, judging where to turn and to what degree was a bit tricky, but we managed through the major parts of the harbor until we squeaked back into Radio Bay.

What a cute little spot for transient boats! As the sun rises, we can see the wall in the back for "med-mooring," which is sort of like backing your car into a parking spot, and then climbing up a ladder onto the dock. Or, there is a larger middle area where you can just drop your bow anchor normally. That's what we decided to do, and were rewarded with the tranquilly flat water of a swimming pool, some personal palm trees off to the side of us, and a little chorus of those Hawaiian frogs that make a high pitched chirping sound. Now we will blow up our inflatable dinghy to get to the dock.

So, naturally, we are too excited to sleep! We'd rather go take a shower, clear up with the agriculture department and harbor master, and go get some grub. Oh yeah, and reteach ourselves how to walk--as we stand on a totally stable boat without movement, we still shimmy and lean and sway as if we're doing some kind of stupid dance. We look like two drunk toddlers, haha!

Later on we can put up some pictures of the passage, and maybe some final thoughts about what we learned from our trip over and how we can improve on our journey back. That trip back isn't until July, though, so until then we are off to explore this tropical paradise. I'm already in love with Hilo, and I haven't even left the boat yet.

Final Transit Time from Channel Islands Harbor, CA to Hilo, HI: 18 days, 0 hours, 0 minutes
Total Miles Traveled: 2346 (a few extra than necessary, but sailing isn't always in a direct line!)