This is the US Coast Guard sector Honolulu.

Some more boisterous sailing from Maui via Lanai and Molokai finally led us to our exquisite anchorage on Oahu in Kaneohe Bay, where corals grow, and turtles play. And where the Marine Corps Air Station seemed to be very ready indeed, judging from massive planes that kept landing and taking off again right next to us.

Also, there has been not one single day on the water without the US Coast Guard broadcasting to “all stations” about a vessel, a canoe, a surfboard, a raft or even a swimming person in distress. Fortunately, everything and everybody always seem to get rescued in due time. Maybe it’s because of all these distress situations that vessels need to do the yearly “buoy test” to be allowed to stay in Hawaiian waters. The Harbormaster of Hilo had agreed that after having crossed an ocean for 2700 miles the buoy test was too silly to mention and therefore quite superfluous in our case. And in Oahu they agreed.

But bureaucracy is a thing here. People, however, are creative and find ways to power through. And thanks to them, so do we. Meet Evan for instance, our buddy in Hawaii. We met Evan a year ago in Chiapas Mexico as he was getting ready to sail home. In the past couple of months, he has collected in his garage all the extra stuff which we ordered to turn O2 into a sailing vessel worthy of the higher latitudes. (Extra heating! Extra solar watts for the extra heating!)

Evan also brought us into contact with John the ship wizard who did some additional collecting for us and who in turn brought us into contact with both Chang the insurance lawyer who helped us tackle bureaucratic insurance nonsense for 65 dollars and Corey, the Ala Wei harbor master in Honolulu. After some prodding, Corey reluctantly admitted that there was indeed a “sort of a slip “available for our catamaran, although officially there was none. Being connected is a bare necessity, so it seems. 

And that’s how we found ourselves docked for a couple of glorious days in the heart of the city, on the doorstep of the Prince Waikiki no less, a 4 star hotel with an eternity pool high up from which swimmers happily stared down on our deck. Here we took the time to take the bus for 1 dollar to the Bishop Museum where we got submerged in the “One Ocean One People” creed. Hawaii is the 50^th state of the USA but stayed Polynesian at heart. Only recently, the ancient legends have been confirmed: the Polynesians didn’t arrive on Hawaii by chance, but on purpose. They navigated by the stars. When we were in Hilo, we saw the Hōkūle’a – a double hulled sailing canoe reenacting the original inter island ocean voyages which started already in 800 A.D. – depart for Tahiti. They are there now.

We also learned about the stories tribal samoan tattoos tell. Fun fact: “tatau” (or tattoo in English) is an onomatopoeia and refers to the sound of hammering the tattoo comb made of sharpened boar’s teeth into the flesh. Especially the blackened navel or “pute” caught our attention. It symbolizes “the second separation of a man from his mother, who releases him into the world, much like the letting go of the shoreline to a canoe”. Indeed, from Hawaii, Tahiti is just around the corner.

But another kind of passage is looming on the horizon. A passage which does make us feel a bit nervous. Sailing in higher latitudes means having to reckon with fast changing highs and lows which leads to an unpredictable Sea state as a direct result. Therefore, let us introduce to you Chris Parker, the professional weather router for whose services we have signed up this time. Chris and his organization are stationed on land (de beste stuurlui staan soms echt aan wal) and from their land station they will help us dodge gales and steer clear of unpleasant ocean behavior while on our way to British Columbia.

Important part of the preparation is a thorough check of O2. That’s why after the first haul-out in Portugal and 2,5 years of nautical miles later, O2 is on the hard again. Rudder shafts are being greased, anti-fouling is being patched up and now we are waiting for the sail drive kit (= the engine is connected to the propeller, basically through a hole in the bottom of the boat, so the seal or “rubber” better doesn’t leak) to arrive on Monday. Dusan – our Czech all-round boat mechanic and John’s top employee- struggles with the English language but talks fluently to the machines. He tends to be a bit over dramatic when trying to explain stuff.  So, when he told us “Rubber bad, dangerous, boat sink”, we got the message loud and clear. That’s why we are waiting now for the” rubber”, aka the seal of the sail drive to arrive from mainland USA.  According to Volvo’s maintenance manual, the sail drive and seal only needs replacement after 7 years. But then again, we did hit a huge ball of jungle debris while cruising along the Panamanian coast and some massive fishing long lines did get tangled up around that same propeller that hit the debris. So, It is better to be safe than sorry.

But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. There is still plenty of time for some fresh ahi poke of the day or some hamachi crudo. In other words, let’s hang loose now that we still can.