It was a 20 hour passage over from Hilo to Maui and the secret is to find a window of very light winds to cross the Alenuihaha Channel. We picked a Friday night when the winds were predicted to be less than 10kt and left Radio Bay at lunch time. We motor-sailed up the east coast of Hawai’i and hit the channel at sunset as the wind dropped. We had a very gentle crossing with virtually no breeze . . . but no nightmares either!
Our first port of call was La Perouse Bay on the southwest corner of Maui, and our first task was to call the Customs to let them know that we’ve moved. This is the protocol for foreign yachts in the US sailing under a Cruising Permit. Once done we surveyed the bay for good spots to land the dinghy. The west and east sides of the bay are old lava flows where the shoreline is rocky and the rocks are sharp. The “beach” was loose rocks and boulders and was copping a lot of swell – neither good for the inflatable dinghy so we decided to blow up the kayak and paddle that about instead.
The bay is a favourite of tour boat operators out of Lahaina and Ma’alea whole bring boat loads of tourists here to snorkel – it’s like grockle soup. (If you’re not sure what grockle is ask someone from Devon). They drop all the grockles out on a reef in the middle of the bay which is rather deep and dull, not a great snorkel. The best snorkelling is on the west side of the bay which, as it happens, is part of a marine sanctuary and boats with motors are not allowed in it. So the kayak worked out really well. Snorkelling the lava flow was amazing with an intricate topography of underwater gullies and sea stacks. There was good variety of reef fish and the bonus was that the water was incredible clear, almost sparkling!
The grockles also come by land as the tarmac has been pushed through to this bay. They come to look at the lava flow which is dry, dusty and lunar. Some with a keener eye may actually spot a pattern in amongst the otherwise random boulders distribution. These are the remains of a village once here but now long gone. If you follow the footpath to the east you’ll come across a memorial to two surfers, just a couple of crosses overlooking the bay, but very evocative.
After three days we moved on. There’s a “72 hour” rule here which states the maximum stay at anchorage is 72hrs then you have to move. How long or how far you have to move is not clear and in practice it’s variously enforced. Anyway we headed up to Lahaina via Molokini, a submerged volcanic crater with just a crescent of the rim poking up above the water. It’s a well-known snorkelling spot and it can be difficult to find a “parking place” for all the tour boats. We thought we’d try our luck and did a quick turn through the mooring field, no room for us but, as luck would have it, we spotted a submerged buoy in the centre of the crater, about 10ft down. I quickly jumped in to dive for the painter and checked the mooring base. It looked fine so we settled in.
The south side of island is a well-known site for a wall dive so I thought I’d give it a go. Actually the dive was unspectacular, crater rims look the same below as above water, but the dive was saved by two highlights. Firstly the backdrop of whale grunts, whistles and songs sounded haunting (in a good way!) and was unforgettable. The second was a manta ray which found me as I was doing my 3 minute safety stop. It swam round and round me checking me out and seemed to approve as it stayed within 5m of me and accompanied me to the surface. I love those interactions!
Lahaina is well known for several reasons: firstly it was the seat of Hawai’ian royalty and governance until the annexation by the United States in 1898. In the 19th century it was the centre of the whaling industry and now it is second only to Honolulu for nightlife in the Hawai’ian state! For us it has good shops for provisioning, it has a swathe of eateries to choose from and the Lahaina Yacht Club has safe and secure moorings. We’ve been using it as our base while we cruise the nearby islands.
The town itself has quaint, pioneer look with plenty of old buildings to explore including the prison, an eternal favourite of mine! This one looked good from the outside with a solid prison wall but inside the wooden building looked more like a church than a prison. The ModelT Ford parked outside drew Neil’s imagination back to the days of whalers and drunken sailors. The tourists (grockles, in case you hadn’t guessed!) are thick on the ground and every shop on Front Street is a gallery, a jewellers or a gelataria.
So far I haven’t mentioned much about Hawai’ian food. With the same basic ingredients as in French Polynesia the traditional staples are fish, breadfruit and taro. They too have a raw fish dish named poke but use a wider range of flavourings such as shoyu and peri peri reflecting their diverse population. The taro is ground into a flour and mix with water to form poi – a greyish purple gelatinous paste. Apparently poi is described as 1-, 2- or 3- finger poi, depending upon the consistency. Often served with poi is lau lau; porky bits (or chicken or fish) marinated in a tasty spicy sauce, wrapped in a taro leaf and steamed – tastes good. With the introduction of American palates the most popular breakfast in Hawai’I is now the loco moco; a mound of rice then a meat patty topped with two fried eggs and brown gravy with a side of fried spam if you’re really hungry.
After a week in Lahaina we moved up to Honolua Bay on the northwest corner of Maui. This anchorage is known for it’s good snorkelling and great surf. The wind picked up to 20+ kt from NNE and was right on the nose for the trip up there. We skirted the swell breaking on either side as we entered the bay then found a relatively calm spot with a sandy bottom and dropped the anchor.
The next day we climbed up to the headland to watch the surfers on the break on the north side. The surfers were having a perfect day; endless sets of waves building up to 8-10ft then cresting to form translucent green tubes. It was mesmerising to watch their grace and agility and the power and beauty of the waves. As we looked down we also realised what a precarious spot we had chosen to anchor with swell coming at us from three directions but, amazingly dying out at that one spot! Neil did not sleep so well that night and we sailed back to the safe waters of Lahaina the next day!
Cheers for now!
Suzy