Winter stopover in Hawaii

[Eder]

I'm in Ko Olina atm as well. Pricey but away from all the riff raff that plagues most of Oahu. I rented a car from Lucky Owl for my stay...works out to $20/day all in but you need wheels if staying here.


The power is pretty steep as well...my usual bill is $150/ month at about $.43/kwh...crazy.

[ohthetrees]

Originally Posted by Eder

I'm in Ko Olina atm as well. Pricey but away from all the riff raff that plagues most of Oahu. I rented a car from Lucky Owl for my stay...works out to $20/day all in but you need wheels if staying here.


The power is pretty steep as well...my usual bill is $150/ month at about $.43/kwh...crazy.

Ouch. Flew into Hawaii and met my boat. For the moment we are in the Waikiki Yacht club. Friendly people, and good security from land. So far haven't needed shore power, my solar and wind are keeping up

[Paul L]

Originally Posted by ohthetrees

Ouch. Flew into Hawaii and met my boat. For the moment we are in the Waikiki Yacht club. Friendly people, and good security from land. So far haven't needed shore power, my solar and wind are keeping up

How's the boat condition and to do list after that passage?

[davenrino]

Originally Posted by Eder

I'm in Ko Olina atm as well. Pricey but away from all the riff raff that plagues most of Oahu. I rented a car from Lucky Owl for my stay...works out to $20/day all in but you need wheels if staying here.


The power is pretty steep as well...my usual bill is $150/ month at about $.43/kwh...crazy.

That is fricken ridiculous! Double the HECO rate to be way out in the Boonies with horrendous traffic to get there! I am in KMC where they don't charge anything more than the HECO rate. My electric bill is $12/mo with a refer and freezer. I can drive to Costco, Lowes, Home Depot, the airport or West Marine in 5 minutes. We also have professional security 24/7. Second city-what a pity!

[Minggat]

Originally Posted by joelhemington

Check on Keihi Lagoon ( just inside the reef runway) it used to have some mooring there but when I left, the state was getting fed up with all the transients in there. Kewalo is a commercial harbor which is exclusively for the local fishing fleet so no sail boats in there. The Ala Wai is always packed and quite expensive. Aside from that there's Kaneohe Bay, Haliewa and Makaha ( on the west side - shady area). Unless you drop the mast , you can't get into Koko Marina.

The state run marina...not recommended. The problems at the Ali Wai are only worse at Keehi. But KMC has been mentioned. Right next to the state run marina. The whole area is the pits. But the KMC is better.

[donradcliffe]

What is your draft? I have stayed at Kaneohe docks with 8 ft, but I'm not sure about much more. Nice club, but you will need a car or Uber.

Ko Olina is dockage pretty tight, with strong winds when the trades are blowing, but is secure if you are going to leave the boat. About the same travel time from the airport as Ali Wai. You will need a car or Uber.

Waikiki YC is secure and convenient to shopping.

In the winter you will learn about Kona winds from the west which make the tradewinds anchorages untenable. You will also learn about the northern storm swells which turn summer anchorages like Hanelei, Hanokohau, and Waimea bays into world class surfing spots.

May 1 is probably too early to leave for Seattle, but by then you could do a little cruising around the islands.

[briblack]

We just got to the Aloha dock at HYC. Get in touch if you want to chat or sundowners

[ohthetrees]

Originally Posted by briblack

We just got to the Aloha dock at HYC. Get in touch if you want to chat or sundowners

I’ve been so busy trying to get the boat shipshape before my wife and kids get into town that I didn’t see this! Maybe my boys will take a dingy trip and knock on your hull late tomorrow afternoon. Talk later!

[ohthetrees]

Originally Posted by donradcliffe

What is your draft? I have stayed at Kaneohe docks with 8 ft, but I'm not sure about much more. Nice club, but you will need a car or Uber.

Ko Olina is dockage pretty tight, with strong winds when the trades are blowing, but is secure if you are going to leave the boat. About the same travel time from the airport as Ali Wai. You will need a car or Uber.

Waikiki YC is secure and convenient to shopping.

In the winter you will learn about Kona winds from the west which make the tradewinds anchorages untenable. You will also learn about the northern storm swells which turn summer anchorages like Hanelei, Hanokohau, and Waimea bays into world class surfing spots.

May 1 is probably too early to leave for Seattle, but by then you could do a little cruising around the islands.

We are 7’8”. Still negotiating wirh Waikiki yacht club. For the moment they are twice what Ko Olina is, but people are friendly and they have indicated they would keep an eye on my boat. Hope they can get close in price.

[briblack]

On Fridays afternoon there's racing here, followed by hamburgers off the grill. The burgers are relatively inexpensive. After there's fireworks in front of the Hilton, pretty cool and free! Your crew might enjoy, this week or next . . .

[ohthetrees]

Originally Posted by briblack

On Fridays afternoon there's racing here, followed by hamburgers off the grill. The burgers are relatively inexpensive. After there's fireworks in front of the Hilton, pretty cool and free! Your crew might enjoy, this week or next . . .

That sounds fantastic! My family's flight was delayed by headwinds, had to refuel on mainland, but if my boys aren't too tired tonight, we will come over and find Kokopelli!

Thanks!

[carstenb]

We at Lahaina (the whales are fantastic) and will be sailing to Hawaii Yacht Club beginning of March and staying more or less there until we go to Alaska.

We'd like to have contact with the rest of you Alaska bound boats, get together and share what we know. We're going to Sitka.

If any of you care to PM me, we'll try to set up a sundowner or potluck meeting for the Alaska bound boats when we get to Honolulu

[Evanantony]

I was just there trying to get information from the Harbour master and was told that there was little available but counted many vacant slips. After enquiring from locals about live aboard was told that even though they say it is not offered everyone who lives aboard says they are doing 24 hour watch aboard and that is acceptable .
Keehi Harbor has moorings and slips . if you are worried about security I think the moorings are fine. I also liked He'eia Kea small boat harbour . There is Anchorage and moorings and it is rather beautiful.

[ohthetrees]

Hi guys, I thought I'd give a report about how it all went. The boat arrived in decent shape. There were some problems, but I expected some problems on a long delivery. But this post isn't about that. Waikiki Yacht club was able to accommodate me for the first bit of time in Honolulu, and I thought their overnight rate was very fair ($75/night for my 50' sailboat). Shore-side security was good, everyone was super friendly, convenient location, and my kids loved the pool. Unfortunately, they couldn't lower rates for a 3 month stay, so I decided I would go to Ko Olina. However, Ko Olina is quite far out of the way, and Ala Wai was able to put me on the "best" dock (F), one that has a friendly and active live-a-board community, safer location, good condition dock. I was able to find someone to check in on my boat once a week. he guy I found to look after my boat wouldn't have been able to visit Ko Olina as often, so I decided to go for Ala Wai. Lots of Ala Wai is a wreck, but this dock and mini-community are quite nice. The staff was very nice, but weren't into letting anything slide, and there was a long list of paperwork and inspections before we were allowed to stay. Painful administratively.

After a week of working on my boat, (thanks to North Sails Honolulu for an expedited main repair) she was ready for my family and I to have an adventure. We took advantage of calm weather to go across the channel to Molokai. We saw so many whales we stopped pointing them out to each other, unless they were less than 100m away. Just tons of them. We saw a calf jump. We had Lono Harbor to ourself, and it was a pleasant and isolated place to hang with the family we spent two nights there. Lots of beach time, no other boats. A few people in trucks fishing. Then we went to Kaunakakai, which is a cute little town, but I guess I'd skip next time. The place the harbor master instructed me to anchor would have put me aground. He assured me there was water there, but I think I came inches from touching. I found one spot, and one spot only where I could anchor (7'8" draft) with 1' under the keel, without getting in the way of commercial operations. Even though I anchored with my own ground tackle, they charged $5 dollars/night plus $10/person/night. So $55/night with no services to anchor. The harbor master was friendly, and later decided not to charge for the kids, so it ended up being $35/night to anchor.

On the way back we got roughed up in the channel, 35kn wind, and very confused seas with 3 different wave trains, some quite steep. Wave heights are very hard to estimate, but I'd say 12-15' and steep. My new boat handled it very well, reaching with a reefed jib and no main at 7kn. I expected balance would be poor with no main, but it wasn't, and decided not to raise the main when the wind dropped to 20-25kn because balance was already perfect. Interesting. In the lee of Oahu, we turned down wind a bit, raised a double reefed main, and made 8-9 knots all the way home. Very enjoyable, and the boat and family held together well during the rough start.

Thanks everyone for the support and encouragement. It made it all much easier. briblack, very sorry we didn't connect. I was full throttle from dawn till dusk working on the boat until we pulled out. But I'm going to be back mid april to prepare the boat for the passage back to Seattle, if you are around, I'd love to connect with you and anyone else interested.

[bensolomon]

Looks absolutely fantastic!!