Susan, Sequoia, and Todd go sailing

We have been having so much fun learning how to surf! Sequoia really took to it and hopes to keep it up back home in California. But it’s easy to have romantic notions in the Waikiki sunshine. I told her to try it out in the cold water before she invests in a board!

On her last day surfing (that she learnt from The Coastal Side) at Waikiki , she convinced us to buy a waterproof disposable camera. We shot off half of it, and were going to take more pics the next time we surfed. Unfortunately, Todd had the camera in his pocket, and somehow it got a huge crack and filled with water. We were so disappointed, but decided to see if anyone could get any images off of it.

Long’s Drugs wouldn’t develop the film because the salt water could damage their chemicals; Ritz Camera said the same thing, but pointed us to a local place called Rainbow Photo. Rainbow dried the film with a hair dryer (in the dark), then developed it. Sure, there are a few water spots on it, but we think it gives the shots a whole live-action, funky 70’s look that is pretty groovy!

So the photos survived surfing with Todd, and I guess the same is true for my back… but I’m still sporting some groovy colors of my own. Capn Longboard and I were side by side when a big wave came; I started paddling for it and he tried to bail because he saw me going for it. Unfortunately the wave caught his board and shot it right into my back. He sure felt awful about it, and let me tell you, I’m riding the sympathy wave all the way to the beach! The bruise is starting to fade, but I figure some strategically-placed purple eyeshadow will keep the ride going.

See all our surfing pics here:

20100620Surfing

We had a great sail from Hilo over to Oahu, with plenty of wind. On the way we saw Hawaiian spinner dolphins, and the full arc of a rainbow over the Pacific! We went much faster than we had planned, so we arrived in the middle of the night. Luckily we had no problems coming into the Ala Wai Harbor. We’re currently rafted up at the Hawaii Yacht Club and are thoroughly enjoying the tourist life!

Sequoia flew in with my mom on Weds, June 2. Her sunny disposition brings so much life and happiness to the boat! And she motivates us to get off the boat and do more things, like swinging on banyan trees.

Toro has a Boggle-like game on his iPod. He held the high score of 71 for a while, but in Mexico I scored an 87, and he’s been gunning for me ever since. Well, Koiya waltzed into town and posted a 93! Capn Big Fat Faker adopted a disappointed tone of voice, and shaking his head, asked me, “Did you hear about Sequoia’s Boggle score? Isn’t that a bummer?” But Koiya called him out. “You were all excited when I told you!” she exclaimed. “You said, ‘Your mama is gonna be so mad!'” Oh, busted! (more…)

We spent just less than a week in Hilo, and while we scheduled our days around eating, we also managed to do a few boat projects and some touristy stuff too.

Radio Bay is kind of an interesting place to tie up, because it is connected to the commercial port of Hilo. There are no finger docks, so you use your dinghy to go the 10 feet or so to the dock. As it’s so little a distance, you don’t need an outboard; you just pull yourself along using the web of docklines. The port is a secure area, so to go in and out we had to call the security people, who came by with a pickup truck to drive us through. The bathroom situation was also unique, as the stalls had no doors! This led Capn Privy to engage in all sorts of strategizing to get private-time on the toilet.

In terms of boat projects, we did a basic clean-up and I put a new zinc on the propeller. Capn Sail Rite pulled out his sewing machine and repaired our spinnaker, which we’d torn on the way over (due to the combination of an early morning squall and our laziness). We put off the more tedious tasks for later…. (more…)