Hilo - 2nd coming and going!!!

Before we leave Hilo, I would like to tell and show you a little more of this delightful port. The shots at left are of Fete in Radio Bay, Port of Hilo. As discussed before, at different  times not only did we have the US Coast Guard as neighbors, every so often, we would awaken to the view at left with one of these ocean going cruise liners in for the day.The passengers would stroll off the boat  to go on a day trip around the island or to visit the the active volcanoes.



Here at left and below are some shots of Fete in Radio Bay. This delightful anchorage was where I would leave her for some 5-6 months while I went home to recuperate. I knew that she was in secure hands with Mike & Ku'ulei Thomas and the Port Authorities.
The two shots further below were taken by Mike when I was back in Australia in December 2009, and as you can tell from the darkened skies, these pics were to show me that Fete was OK after a major storm/hurricane went thru the area. Apparently the breakwater was awash with the swell breaking over the wall by 15ft or so.

Radio Bay was my savior and with staff like David and Tennyson and all of the others, whom I cant really remember all their names, I am deeply grateful.

Here is Fete mooring where Mike Thomas finally settled her up against the wharf wall and alongside the Coast Guard Cutter, as I had left her in mid harbor prior to my departure.

The guys of the Coast guard are extremely polite and helpful and if ever you are in Radio Bay and they are in port, make yourself known to them and say hi.

As you can tell from this pic, the Hilo Harbor is a working port - evident by all of the containers behind Fete! Great Pic!!!

In my 5-6 months away from Fete a series of emotions ran thru me as I was under some pressure to get back to Hawaii and to repair her for the journey home.
I wasn't sure what to expect, damage-wise, as I didn't have enough time to inspect the boat fully before leaving Hilo and heading back to Australia.

I knew that the engine needed some extensive work, as did the communications equipment, the main boom, and from what I imagined, a plethora of other odds and ends would need some attention before I could even consider sailing her home.
I started to make some lists whilst back in OZ, from memory, and calculated that I would be up for bills of around $US10,000 to $US15,000 due to the knock downs from our little journey thru the hurricane on day 6 of the journey to here.

Bob Lawrence

May 2010, I had finally rallied some mates to assist with the delivery of Fete back to Australia. They were Jock Wilson and Bobby Lawrence. These two Old Salts had been delivering and sailing boats around the world for many years and I welcomed them aboard. The arrangements were made and I took off back to Hi some 10 days (or so I thought) ahead of them to get Fete squared away.

Jock Wilson

 Having arrived back in Hilo early May, I went straight to the Hilo Hawaiian on Banyan Dr and booked in, but left straight away to get down to the harbor to see Fete and climb back on board after the long absence.
I found her sitting proudly in Radio Bay as if she owned the harbor. It was so good to be back on board.
Next I went to Hilo AA Storage where Mike was working and caught up everything that had happened since November the previous year.

Hilo Hawaiian

Having established that all was well I returned to the hotel for some R&R before returning to Cronies for dinner and re-aquainting with Shay and the rest of the staff.
After a great feed and a good nights sleep, I left The hotel and walked down Banyan Drive to the main street and headed back to the harbour for a proper inspection of Fete and the damage that needed to be fixed.

Banyan Drive, Hilo

As you can see from the pic, the Banyan trees abound in this part of the world and are as abundant as the ever present coconut trees.

This leisurely walk back to the harbour took approx 40 minutes and as I walked along, the memories from my previous time here came flooding back.

The last time I was here, I spent the second nite at another hotel on Banyan Drive, Uncle Billy's. Due to my injured ribs it was a blessing to be on some stable ground and a bed that wasn't rocking all over the place.
Uncle Billy's was also a very friendly place and has a general store where you could buy some necessary goods without having to go all the way back into Hilo CBD.

Solidified lava fields in the ocean around the Big Island

After inspecting Fete and the damage and making a list of what repairs needed to be done, and as I had a couple of days up my sleeve till Bob & Jock arrived, I decided to do the tourist thing and have a look around the area.

Molten Lava flowing directly into the ocean creating
what you see in the above pic

I had previously toured the Big Island with Greg (Capt Muddie) Edwards and an old friend whom I mentioned in my previous blogs, Dana Boardman.
Dana use to live in Kona and we visited him on our way back from the Miami Boat show & he showed us this fabulous Island.

Kona on the western side of the Big Island

Kona, as most of you will know, is the start and finish line for the Hawaiian triathlon and the athletes swim, run and cycle around this magic place.

Majestic views such as the one here on the left and some of the pics below show the beauty of this and all of the Hawaiian Islands.

Big Island cattle station

The Big Island is such a contrast with the spectacular beaches and surf to active volcanoes to rural cattle stations and hill top world renown research stations. It's no wonder that tourists flock to these Islands year round considering the stable temperatures and all that the Islands have to offer.

Mauna Kea Summit Observatory Complex

This observatory complex sits on the world's tallest mountain - Hawaiian Tourist Information - when measured from the base. She rises to reach 13,796 ft high when measured from the sea??? To put it into perspective, the ancient Hawaiians thought the top of the mountain was "Heaven".

Hapuna Beach State Park

I spent a couple of days just roaming this beautiful place and meeting some of the friendliest and most helpful people that I have ever met. Everyone was so willing to help that I feel indebted to them in a strange way, but now it was time to get busy and to have Fete prepared for the arrival of Jock and Bob.

Bob arrived a couple of days later and as he was a diesel mechanic and jack of all trades, we sat down and studied what we needed from West Marine on the mainland. The first thing he inspected was the engine and found it ship shape and needed no repairs as I had previously thought - thank God!!!

Hilo Bay

A pin had sheared off in the throttle and had jammed the engine into neutral, so my thoughts of having to overhaul the engine and gearbox were put to rest.
Second item. Main sheet U Bolt. This had come apart after the knock downs on day 6 of the passage and the guys at the marina office gave me a contact who came down and welded the part back onto the boom cap - another job I thought would cost a fortune, but was corrected for little cost.

Another view of the tranquil Hilo Bay

Next - Inner forestay turnbuckle. This had sheared off on day 2 or 3 of the passage, so we put this onto the west Marine list.
Helm - as most of you have seen the damage to the wheel, we ordered a new one from the States.

Amazingly, found that Fete was in better shape than I have imagined and with Bob's help, we had her ready to sail within a week of him arriving and a couple of days before Jock turned up.

Hilo Farmers Markets on King Kamehameha Ave.

The Main which we had used after the knockdown, had no reef points, so off the mast/boom it came & into a sailbag for shipment to Honolulu, then we decided to send the original Main as well, but when we unfurled the torn sail we saw it had only ripped along the seams and that the sail itself was still a good working sail, so we sent this off and told the sail maker to add a couple of Reef Points to this as well. A week later the sails were back and another job done!!!

Farmers Markets again

All in all it had been a huge learning curve for me and I thank everyone whose contribution had made this a memorable event. All repairs and replacement parts were ordered and received and spares stowed away when Jock arrived at the dock and due to the fact that he was the smallest of the three of us, we hoisted him up the mizzen to check out the VHF antenna. Again, an earth wire had come loose, which he fixed and we were back in communication.

Thurstons Lava Tube

Fete and her crew were now ready for the trip back to Australia and the next blog will take you on that journey.

Below I have added a few more pics of the Big Island for I found it to be an amazing and friendly place to visit with a host of things to see that you would never get in a lot of other tourist destinations - well worth the visit.

Strolling atop of Kilauea Volcano

Downtown Hilo

Cafe Pesto, King Kamehameha Ave

King Kamehameha Ave overlooking the
picturesque Hilo Bay

The Palace Theater, Haili Street, Hilo