Hawaii - The Big Island - Hilo & Kona

Fete in Hilo Hawaii - The Big Island!!!

Most followers of this blog will recognise this pic, and a lot of you have asked me about it and the location.
Well, it was the 1st stop on our way from Napa/San Francisco to Australia back some 10 years ago now. Hasn't the time just flown by !!! It is in a bay on the Big Island, Hawaii, called Radio Bay in Hilo Harbour and was our first landfall after battling storms, engine & instrument failures, torn sails, flooding engine compartments and many more such incidents, too numerous to tell on, as Gilligan would say:, "On that Fateful Leg of the Trip".

 

Above are some more pics of Fete in Radio Bay, Hilo where I left her for several months to go back to Australia to recover from the trip over from the States. The bottom pic, taken by Mike & Ku'ulei Thomas, whom I left in charge of Fete during that period,  emphasising Fete against the dark sea and background, is caused by a small hurricane that passed over Hilo in December 2009. Mike told me that waves were breaking way over the break walls and the wind was howling, but Fete managed to get thru unscathed again.

Why I say again, is that Fete's original owner, Eugene Eisenberg,  went thru a typhoon off Japan in Fete on his voyage around the Pacific back in the 90's.

The Big Island has always had special memories for me as I have a great mate who lives on the western side of the Island, in Kona. His name is Dana, or should I say Dr Dana Boardman as he is now referred too.

That's him to the left back in the days when we were fishing for marlin up on the Ribbon Reefs, north of Cairns, Australia.


 

I first met Dana back in the early 90's when I was invited to go game fishing with another mate, Jay Meyer.
That's Jay & his wife Candice at left, and Dana & me at right catching my 1st ever marlin on board Warrigal.
I will never forget the experience or the forming of a life long bond with these two whom I am proud to call my brothers.

It was our first day out from Lizard Island on the abovementioned trip, Dana & I were in the cockpit watching the swell rolling by as we trolled down from #10 to #8 Ribbon Reefs, when one of us said: "It would be good sailing out here today" - almost 20 years later, I was in Napa Marina working on Fete and Dana came up for a visit. From that very first meeting on Warrigal, I knew we would be Maaaaaaates from then on in, and so it was & is today.

And at left, here is the third part of the trio. The man who introduced me to Jay and Dana - Greg (Muddy) Edwards.
Mud had been in the game fishing business for most of his life as his father, (Bald Eagle) Bill Edwards was a skipper of his own boats and taught Mud everything.
Here we are at left on the Big Island in front of a coffee producer of note back in 92. Of course I bought some, but had a few problems getting it back into Australia thru customs as you could imagine.

Now back to Kona, below is a description from Wikipedia of Kona, but it will never be able to tell you of the beauty of the area or the diversity of the Big Island.
"In the Hawaiian language, kona means leeward or dry side of the island, which I can vouch for as on the other side, Hilo, has over 250+ days of rain a year as stated in one of my past blogs.
Kona is also the home of the world famous Hawaiian Ironman which occurs in October of each year and is  also the place that Captain Cook met his fate in 1779.
The volcanic slopes of Hualalai and Mauna Loa in the Kona District, provide a unique microclimate for growing coffee and Kona coffee is one of the premium coffee specialities in the world - hence my purchase of the Bong Brothers coffee as mentioned above.
And finally, in the Pop Culture world, Kona is the region which served as the basis for the Beach Boys song "Kona Coast" . So now the history lesson is over so you will have to travel there yourselves to enjoy it.

Here is the King Kamehameha Hotel where the ironman starts and finishes and where Muddy an I stayed back in 92 after helping Jay with his stand at the Miami Boat Show. 

Above are a couple of short clips that Dana sent me of recently, which I will be seeing in September this year when Jay, Dana & myself will all be in Kona for a catchup. Looking forward to it with great anticipation.

I can't wait to catch up with these two although I think my liver is not quite up to what it use to be, and I'm a lot older, (not wiser!) than I used to be, but I am sure we will reminisce on all of the good times and other happenings that occurred over the years . . .

Some things  will never be told about our adventures . . . but those who know, will know!!!

 Well that's all for this blog . . . but as always, until next time . . . CHEERS!