26 days of everything from light winds to no winds to fierce-ish winds. A largely uneventful passage other than some equipment failures but none of them disabled us.
We motored in towards the island about 7 in the morning having slowed way down the night before so as to time our arrival with the sun coming up We did not expect such a verdant place- with a MASSIVE volcano right in the center rising high into the clouds. Somehow I thought the island would be more built up and prosperous looking- instead the shore is mostly undeveloped on this side of the island. We have yet to leave Hilo. We are near the industrial docks and the airport so maybe that is why it is a little more downmarket and friendly but we love it and it still seems pristinely clean.
There were clouds over the island as we had expected, a light mist AND a rainbow. As soon as we approached the harbor VHF calls starting coming in- first the coast guard telling us where we couldn’t be, then other boats welcoming us to the anchorage and offering advice on anchoring and local protocols. Luckily for us we already had some idea of what to expect as friend Mark on Estelle had just preceded us in Hilo and was able to load us up with all sorts of advice and contacts.
We had to wait to drop anchor as a large tug and container ship went by- the tug boat was called Mt Baker. Mt. Baker is the name of our beloved ski mountain in the north Cascades where we have spent many winter and summer play days back home in Washington. This was a good sign!
It took us a while to drop an anchor as it is a tight, shallow and difficult anchorage. We anchor in shallow mud on top of lava. We had heard from other cruiser’s that the holding was poor and we were nervous that our boat would drag anchor, a common event here. The anchorage is also bound on one side by a commercial channel that is active with inter island commercial traffic.
We are very grateful for our new 65lb Mantus anchor and 275’ of chain which holds us to the bottom with incredible tenacity. If we had our previous anchor we may not have held in the way we did. We only had to re-anchor once and that is because our neighbor was dragging anchor, not us.
We are SO happy to be here. We left the boat almost immediately to walk to Customs and Border patrol. To get to shore from your anchored boat, anyone needing a ride just calls out to “Reed’s Bay Cruisers” on the VHF radio and requests a ride. Someone arrives at your boat with their dinghy, often within moments, to drops you at shore. This is the Reed’s Bay informal water taxi. The shore is a public beach right on a road and no one likes to leave their dinghy unattended.
Arriving onshore, we step onto lava rock. It takes a few days to realize that the entire island is in essence a volcano.
The customs and border man is incredibly friendly and welcoming and the office looked like a third world place- scruffy and seriously dated. No matter- first thing we hear is that the governor of HI had announced an hour before that there was no more need to quarantine if you are arriving on a sailboat from the Pacific. We feel like we just won a lottery. Instead of returning immediately to the boat we spend the rest of the day exploring and walking around.
Sailing Tomten 