16. Passage to Honolulu, on the Island of Oahu, Hawaii, May 2020

We left Nuku Hiva, French Polynesia on April 28, 2020 and arrived in Ko’Olina Marina- southwest of Honolulu, on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, on May 12, 2020. The passage to Honolulu was 2,200 nautical miles and lasted 15 days.

As I said in the last chapter, we departed Nuku Hiva with mixed emotions. On one hand we wanted to go to Tahiti to join the rest of the boats still around from the World ARC Fleet, but ultimately we decided that we would be much safer medically in the US in the event we contracted a COVID-19 infection. We also felt that the New Zealand borders would probably not open up for us in time to go there before hurricane season in the West Pacific (November-April).

For the first several days of the passage after we left Nuku Hiva, we had good southeasterlies and we headed northeast, close-hauled, for 2 reasons. The first was to avoid the shoals of Motu 1 about 100 nm north of Nuku Hiva, and the second was to gain as much to the east as possible so that when the trade winds backed from the NE, we could go northwest toward Hawaii. It all worked out quite well.

We actually crossed the equator without having to motor. The equator is often an area of no wind, or little wind. We motored a few hours while in the ITCZ where we also had several squalls with sudden gusts of wind and downpours of rain.

For several days, the passage to Hawaii was quite rolly and windy.  Some meals had to be eaten while wedging myself in the galley!

Trying to catch fish

Weather routing

For the first time we hired a router, Chris Tibbs, who also worked for the World ARC, to give us two weather updates.  In addition, Giorgio downloaded Grib files with the SSB twice a day.  Our friend Franco Vigna kept us updated with the changes in the weather pattern.

The night sky and the southern Cross

 

Every night, we were enchanted by the night stars and the Southern Cross. The Southern Cross is a 5 star pattern in the sky which is the most distinctive feature of the Crux constellation.  The Southern Cross can be used to find the location of the Southern Celestial Pole, and has been used by navigators for centuries. Every clear night we looked for it in the southern sky near the horizon, tilted on its side.

Keeping in touch

Eternally grateful for my Garmin inReach, I was in constant contact with dear friends and family. I was also making plans to seeing my cousin Betsy Weatherford who lived in Honolulu. My friend from high school Clayton Deaver, who used to live in Honolulu and had owned a boat, kept us posted on where to go and what to do when we arrived. He suggested Ko’Olina Marina outside Honolulu, and we felt lucky to get a slip there, away from the crowds and city. Fortunately, Clayton was still sending us daily news reports since we had no access to the news which was changing so rapidly with COVID-19. Satellite phone calls with our sons Robbie and Marco were priceless moments for us!

Ko’Olina Marina is located on the southwest coast on the island of Oahu. The marina is part of the Ko’Olina resort, and includes several elegant hotels, a golf course, tennis courts and beautiful beaches. Many sailors in the marina live aboard their sailboats but the hotels are empty. We have the place mostly to ourselves!