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We still had some battery charge in our VHF handheld and called a Coast Guard cutter that we saw as we approached Hilo. Unfortunately the battery gave out almost as soon as we raised the coasties on the radio. They immediately launched an RIB and boarded us for a safety inspection. We were sailing with the spinnaker in very light air ghosting along at 2 knots or so. No way we were going to make Hilo before dark. We informed them that we had no lights so they lent us a strobe and told us to be on watch for the cruise ship that was due that night. In the morning we sailed into the harbor and dropped anchor. We roused a couple of cruisers anchored in Radio Bay and asked them if they could pull/push us into Radio Bay with it's very narrow entrance. We hand pulled the anchor up and finally got ourselves tied up to the dock. The ordeal was over. And we missed getting run over by the cruise ship that snuck in over night.
We worked more on the engine while here and were able to get it running again now that we could get parts. We put a new oil pressure gauge on and found that we could get much oil pressure without adding quite a bit of thickener as in STP. The oil was more like honey but once again the Volvo roared into life. Met some more great people here.
Had some rainy days but mostly the weather held for us while in Hilo. Quite often we could see the snow on the volcano. We used the bikes a lot all through Hawaii.
We spent both Thanksgiving and Christmas in Radio Bay and of course had some great potlucks.
Christmas Eve 1989 was spent in a real house in Hilo. Walter and Susan had some friends that offered us the use of their beautiful home overlooking the ocean. Wally and Debbie made everyone fragrant leis. We all ate till we couldn't move.
Hilo is a great place to visit.
I wish this photo was clearer. What a diversified business: Income Tax, Ear Piercing and Solar Energy Service all in the same office.
I celebrated my birthday in Hilo and Marc cleaned up.
We made a trip out to the volcano. First went to cauldron and the museum.
Then drove out to the lava flow that crossed the highway. We were lucky and there were some fresh breakouts where we observed lava flowing up close.
Had lunch at the black sand beach and watched the steam from where the hot lava flowed into the ocean.
While in Radio Bay a Soviet ship, the 'Sever' came in. The U.S. government didn't allow Soviet vessels into Pearl Harbor. It was very interesting meeting Ivan (First Mate), Sergie (crew) and others. A very diverse group from many areas that we would later hear much about during the break-up of the Soviet Union. They invited us aboard and gave us a tour, some homemade bread and a drink made from wheat that was apparently a replacement for milk. Ivan was from Kamchatka and gave Marc a Soviet flag, a Lenin pin and some photo postcards.
A local boat that came into Radio Bay and managed to foul anchors from 3 of the boats tied to the wharf.
Still had very low oil pressure but the engine kept running so we decided to wait until Honolulu before doing some serious work on it. Sailed out of Hilo in early January 1989. Winds kept building as we sailed up the coast towards the channel. Topped out at 50 knots. The seas weren't as large as they should have been with this kind of wind. We figured the winds were caused by the high volcano and were localized. After a while they started settling down and we ended up having to motor through the channel that night. That was good because the channels between the islands can get very nasty. Back in 1969 we lost the rudder on Shadowfax sailing between Maui and Molikai. We were able to get into the Honokahou Harbor for a couple of weeks. We did a few minor repairs and cleaned up the boat.
Honokahou is a rectangle blasted out of an old lava flow and then a channel cut leading out into the ocean. Since so much fresh water flows from the lava into the harbor, there is little marine growth on the boat bottoms although still plenty of fish that don't seem to mind the low salinity. Unfortunately, it is already filled to capacity, most with fishing boats. The city of Kona is a few miles away so we either rode the bikes into town or hitchhiked.
The water right outside the harbor is good for snorkeling and there's even a small beach area with a swimming hole.
The wind doesn't normally blow much here being shadowed by the high volcano. Drive just a little north though and the winds can get really high. We saw some new houses being built and the roofing was being blown off them already. Les and Susan on Sunrise we in Kawaihae Harbor during this blow and limped into Honokahou later looking really beat up. Their boat was all salt and sand encrusted.
Hyatt Regency had just completed a beautiful hotel close by. We borrowed a car and made a day of it visiting the luxurious grounds. Years later we heard that the place was sold for a huge loss having cost about $350 million to build and later sold for $50 million or so.
We were able to do a bit more site seeing before heading off to Maui.
