Hilo, Hawaii

Hilo (pronounced Hee-Lo) is situated on the Big Island in the archipelago on the island "Hawaii". This is the 2nd largest city in the islands with Honolulu being the largest ,of course.

Hilo, seat of Hawaii county, northeastern Hawaii island,  Hawaii, U.S, circled on map at left. It lies along Hilo Bay and is the island's business centre. Polynesians settled the area about AD 1100, establishing agricultural and fishing communities. Christian missionaries arrived c. 1822 and were followed by whaling and trade ships that did business in Hilo's port.

 In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the city attracted tourists who came to view the island's active volcanoes. In 1946 and 1960 the city was damaged by tsunamis and whilst I was there on the two occasions, we were subjected to several warning trials which, at first, I thought were the real thing. Only the embarrassing feeling of running down into the foyer of the Hilo Hawaiian and noticing that everyone was going about their business in the normal casual Hawaiian way, did I realise that it was just a trial.

 Tourism increased dramatically after 1967, when direct air links with the U.S. mainland began. Sugar was once the city's economic mainstay, but the industry has since declined. Hilo supports a thriving orchid industry. Exports include orchids, papaya, anthuriums, macadamia nuts, and cattle. Its deep water harbour is protected by a breakwater. Wailoa River flows through the area and provides berths for a large fishing fleet. Hilo's lush beauty is fed by more than 275 days of rain per year, a factor in its much slower growth as a tourist spot compared with other destinations in Hawaii.

As per my previous Blog, "SF To Hilo Hi", we arrived in the Islands on the 22 day of the voyage on 28th October 2009 and as we travelled south down the coast line and got closer to Hilo Harbour, we started to see more life the closer we got to the town itself. It was a great sight, but we still had some problems due to having no communications and as our engine was not working.

My travelling companion remarked that it looked a lot like Ireland with the hills and the lush detail on the hills. As you can see from the grainy pics at left, A tremendous sight after so long at sea.
During this part if the journey, I was constantly on the VHF, even though we didn't know that the port authorities could hear us, but we could not hear them.

As you can see from the aerial pic at left (courtesy of Wikipedia), we were heading down the coast to this protected bay & breakwater. After entering the bay and doing several tacks and jibes within that zone, a fishing vessel with several locals on board, approached and set up a bridal and tow line and attached it to our bow. They then took Fete into an area called Radio Bay to the left of the pic.

The Port of Hilo is a commercial port and as you can see, it is divided into two distinct areas, the cruise terminal and the smaller Radio Bay with smaller anchorages for boats like us and other transient craft.

This port was under the authority of US Homeland security and therefore it turned out to be very strict  on all movements within the Port proper although I was extremely happy to be in safe hands.

Radio Bay was also home to the US Coast Guard as you can see in the pics below.

 

This is the first sight we saw as we entered the bay under tow and below I will show you Fete at her eventual mooring.

We dropped anchor and got busy securing Fete and getting the tender into the water so as to go to the authorities and get all the paperwork sorted out. After being escorted to the office and getting all this done, we decided to go to town - as you do in a new anchorage.

As we left the marina, and having received directions to town from the security personnel at the gate, we started to walk into Hilo, approximately 2-3 kilometres up the road, but as you can see, they must have known we were coming, for they had put out a sign for us.

The first thing that I noticed while we walked, was the lack of the tourists like you would find in Honolulu or Maui, even on the western side of the Island at Kona, or on some of the other islands in the Hawaiian group. The sense that Hilo was more of a locals city with some tourism due to the Cruise liners, back packers and visiting yachties, was highlighted even more when we found the Restaurant, come sports bar, that the security, guards had told us to visit - Cronies.

Cronies, as you can see is a Sports Bar and specialises in good old Pub food and drink. The staff were friendly and extremely helpful to us "Orzies" having just arrived on a boat from the mainland.

Lance, Shay and all the girls were fabulous and on my next trip back to Hilo, we spent a great deal of time eating here as it was good and affordable.

It was this first nite on land\, here at Cronies, that my travelling companion decided to leave to voyage and go his own way, which I was happy to hear as he had become increasingly obnoxious as the voyage went on and the last 22 days at sea bought out the worst in him, and I suppose, me. It is a long time to be couped up with a person with all of his problems.
He left that nite and stayed on another yacht moored in the Bay. I returned to the boat to decide what to do next.


As I had been injured during the passage, I decided to get some medical assistance the next day, and then, arrange to have Fete left in Radio Bay so as I could fly back to Australia for short period to aid in my recuperation and to gather some crew for the homeward leg of the journey.

On arrival here, the skipper of the local Pilot boat came over to introduce himself to us and it was to him, Mike Thomas, that I turned to for assistance.

Mike and his delightful wife Ku'ulei, ran Hilo AA Storage business just outside the main gate to the port and seeing that the port authorities were not keen on transient yachties leaving their boats in Radio Bay for extended periods, with the exception that if you had a local who could look after the vessel in your absence, then it was permissible.

I immediately employed Mike to look after everything, then secured the boat, packed some gear and headed off to the airport. This was in November 2009.

San Francisco to Hawaii - Finally

The day had arrived - Thursday 7th October 2010. This is the day we set off to Hawaii. We fuelled up and taken on some water here at the Hyde Street Pier, as the water in Napa Valley was well water and we wanted some clean drinking water to sustain us through the coming weeks to Hilo on the Big Island of Hawaii.

At 0830 hrs we cast off and headed up the bay towards the Golden gate bridge, and as you can see from below, the day was sunny and cool.

At this stage we were under power and had no sails up for the coast guard guys and some of the locals told us that outside SF we would encounter the main North/South shipping lanes and we had to keep a good watch.

It took an hour and half to get to the bridge before we passed under and headed out to sea. Time was 1000 hrs.

As you can see from the pic here, we proudly went under the Golden gate with our Red Australian Ensign flying off the Back Stay. Boy was it getting cold.
As mentioned previously, every day a fog/mist engulfed the Bridge and this day was going to be no different that all the rest.





At 11.30 hrs we  were engulfed by the thickest mist/fog which bought visibility down to a couple of meters at best - not good when we were entering the main shipping lanes off the coast. We have put up the mainsail and the headsail in the hope of getting further away from the coastline as quickly as possible. The engine was still on to assist us as well.

At 13.00 hrs we were 26nm (Nautical Miles) south west of SF and we had been told to watch out for the Farallon Island group, and as we were still engulfed in the mist, we were striving to keep a vigilant watch when thru the mist on our starboard side we saw the islands approx 2 nm off our starboard beam.

Looking back to Farallon Islands with mist clearing

Just then the fog started to lift and we were surrounded by 2 pods of whales breaching on either side of us. A magnificent site.

Still sailing under headsail and main with motor on to get some distance and thru the Shipping lanes by nightfall.

The wind started to increase around 1500 hrs and became overcast and very very cold. I think it was the coldest nite I have spent anywhere in the world.

Taking pics of the whales while the fog lifts - as you can see ,
there is not much visibility

The rest of the day was spent keeping watch and looking for ships. The temperature was getting even colder as nite closed in and at 2100 hrs, the wind was up to between 15-20 knots, but on the nose, so we still had the motor going to aid the sails.

We were averaging 6-9 knots but the seas were getting lumpier as the nite went on. Both of us had on a couple of layers of clothes and we had our dooners up top as well, as you can see from this pic.




Day 1 of the voyage ended cold but dry with 6 hours of motoring and 100nm distance sailed since we left SF.


I stayed watch the entire 1st night due to wind changes and course changes. Our boom was thrashing around so much we had to keep a good eye on it so as not to allow any damage. Unfortunately, 3 lugs of the mainsail had come off and due to the thrashing about we were getting from the elements and the inner fore-stay sheared off which left us without our staysail for the rest of the trip.

2100 hrs the second nite, our radar showed a large mass converging on our starboard. Whatever it was it was massive. From the cockpit we could see the starboard and port lights very high up in the sky and we decided to make sure this thing could see us, so we lit up the entire boat with all of the lights we had on board. The minute this happened we were shrouded in search light's from the passing vessel which passed approx 1/2 nm in front of us. Once passed us she turned to her port and continued onto its destination.

The rest of the nite proved uneventful but the seas remained large and lumpy due to the surrounding storm fronts that we were heading thru.

The next coupled of days we sailed thru some choppy seas and 25 knot plus winds  and on the fourth afternoon we experienced the sun for the first time, even the seas started to abate. I was really enjoying myself as this is what I had wanted to do for so long.


To date we had travelled some 516nm from SF which left 1784nm to go to get to Hi.



Day 5 - awoke to becalmed sea and a glorious sunrise at which my travelling companion remarked the old fable "Red sky at nite, a sailors delight and red sky at morn, sailors be warned" - this turned out to be an ominous statement as you will see below.

Day 6 started with our port anchor needing attention as it had come loose and we needed to strap it to the boat to avoid chaffing. The barometer stared dropping and at 0600 hrs it was reading 960, which is quite concerning as a reading this low indicates some nasty weather is about to hit us.

The wind has swung back from the south-west and were rising to 25-35 knots and the seas were between 3-5 meters. We decided to divert from our Rhum line course of 236 degrees to a more southerly course of 170-190 degrees just to get some headway against the oncoming storm.

1430 hrs - the conditions are worsening. The barometer has dropped to 940. I remember thinking that the seas look like something out of a movie, but the problem is, I wasn't watching it on TV, I was in the middle of it and it was getting worse.

As you can see from the radar image, a series of fronts were coming our way, so we decided to batten down and wait for some relief. No such luck - at 1630 hrs we were knocked down twice by 50 knot+ winds and some mountainous seas which stripped our main and left us flapping around like we were in a washing machine.

After the initial knock downs and during a slight respite from the seas and wind, we managed to climb up top to replace the mainsail with a spare and whilst we were doing this a Tanker arrived and hove too to make sure we were OK. We couldn't communicate as our communications were down due to the knock down. Later in Hi we found out that it was the earth wire that had come loose.

One strange thought went thru my mind whilst we were battened down, it was what an old friend had said to me a couple of days before we left for SF. His name is Dana Boardman and he had done the SF - to Hi trip himself many years before and he said:- "This will be a good shake down leg, where you will get to know your boat and your boat you".
Never a truer statement at this point in the journey.

Actual Nav Chart for the entire trip SF to Hi showing
the daily mileage and direction

Day 7 - slept like a baby after all the rigorous happenings the day before. Winds still from the SW at 30-35 knots and the seas filled with white caps although the clouds had dissipated somewhat.

On checking the barometer we knew we were still in for some fun and games as it was reading 910. Ouch!.

We had only managed to travel in circles for the last 24 hours for around 6nm to the south as you can see from the chart at left so we decided to stay battened down to wait out the rest of the storm.

Day 8 - as  there was no change in the conditions and as the barometer had finally started to go back up, I decided to go under power and strike a due west course so as to try and get into the Trades. (Again you can see this on the Chart).

Day 9 - Awoke to overcast morning still on a 240-250 degree course with barometer still rising and sun trying to poke its nose thru the clouds. At approx 0300 hrs that day, we lost our mainsail due to chaffing of the halyard at the top of the mast. I hoisted Pete up to fix and we were back on our way.
We travelled a good 86nm this last 24 hrs, things are looking up.

Day 10 - 1286nm to go to Hi. 0300 hrs we lose all sheets to main boom and jerry-rigged the Boom Brake to keep us going. We have lost the stirrup that hold the sheet onto the boom so we leave it as it is.
Weather still fluctuates but is getting clearer and the barometer is stable on 1006.
After 10 days at sea and all we have experienced we finally see our first sunset - Magnificent - I feel alive again.
Travelled 78nm today.

Day 11 - Sunrise is getting later each day as we are still on SF time. We have moved into the Pacific zone and will soon be on Hawaiian time.

We have a beautiful day with brilliant sunshine and light winds and whats even better, the temperature is 75 degrees Fahrenheit, (22C). Travelled 114nm last 24 hrs.

Dead Calm sea and 5 knots of wind - decided to motor. This is as good as it gets.

Wind is still very light so we decided to raise the MPS (Multi Purpose Sail) to see if we could get some extra out of Fete and try to get into the "Trades".

This weather pattern lasted for the next 4-5 days and all we could do is try to catch some breeze whilst motor sailing to get to our destination.

It was during this period we sailed over the 1/2 way line between SF and Hi, only 1000nm to go. This was an important point as we were guessing we had 2 weeks still to sail due to our little experience with the hurricane on day 6. Our freshwater pump had karked it, so we were left with the bottled water as well as getting water from the tanks thru the peep hole on top of the tank. Food would also have to be kept in check to make sure we had enough to get to our destination.

Day 15 saw the winds come back at around 10-15knots and the seas seem to have come around behind us at approx 3-5 meters and the barometer has remained steady at around 1010.

Maybe we have finally found those illusive Trades" only time will tell.

That day and the day after we travelled 91nm & 97nm with the seas still following. Some storm fronts crossed over us on day 17 so we decided to ease the sails a little but we travelled 120nm on this day.

Day 20 bought an unexpected experience. Apart from the increase in other vessels on the radar, 3 to be precise, we saw a tanker on a converging course some 4-5nm on our port beam.

These boats certainly move across the water, and seeing that we were still without radio  communications and a disabled engine, all we could do is watch the vessel move up.

As you can see from these pics, the vessel moved to within 1/2nm off our stern before signalling and moving across the stern and heading on a more westerly course.

We now have only 300nm to Hilo, Hi and we have been sailing around 120-133nm per day. we are really flying and if this keeps up we will be in Hawaii within 2 days.

0900 hrs day 22 - land!!!!

Our first site of land on the Big Island of Hi. The lush green gentle sloping hills of the volcanic Island appeared out of the mist and it was the most welcome site I have ever seen.

I had been here to the Big Island before, but this time was something very special.

It was also good to know that now we could get all of the repairs done to the boat from the passage, especially the helm, communications equipment, main sheet, boom, freshwater pumps etc and all the other little things that would need attention prior to continuing our journey back to Australia.







This had been an experience which I don't know how to explain to other people, but suffice to say that after 30 odd years, I had started to live my dream.
I know now why yachties enjoy their cruising adventures such as the one we just completed and once Fete is repaired, I intend to set off again to experience for myself the wonders of cruising.  .