Honokohau Harbor Splash 2012

Tao's on-the-hard view

Chris in Hawi with King
 Kamehameha Statue

After deliriously landing in Kona on Monday afternoon March 19, we picked up our reserved rental car, and with a quick stop to peek in on Tao, made our way to the Kona Seaside Hotel. Although we likely could have descended upon friends couches in Kona, it was a great decision to spend the extra money to have a space to transition and catch up on sleep. With one full day of car rental, the next morning we got organized for a road trip. First stop, Honokohau Harbor to check for transient slip space with DLNR. After walking the docks to check for space, we found one and started to pay for it on the spot, even though we were not yet in the water. Having a place to keep Tao in the safety of the harbor while readying her for our next passage is a huge relief! The road trip continued up to Hawi on the north end of the island, where family friends and fellow sailors, Toni and Tye, had graciously accepted several important packages that we had mailed to Hawaii over the past two months. Although the VOG from the active volcano has been quite thick creating hazy skies, views were still expansive and as we drove along the shore on the “low” road. We even saw several of the season's last whales breaching. Welcome back to Hawaii!

Kohala view

We had an enjoyable visit at Toni and Tye’s old North Kohala plantation ranch home, talking sailing and life over excellent cups of coffee. After collecting our packages (including items such as all of our standing rigging hardware and sail covers) we pushed off, via the “high” road through Waimea, with a bag full of fresh picked citrus to keep us going through the next few days. Around 1800 HST, we got back to Tao and spent 2-hrs prepping her for the next days move. After one more cozy night at the hotel and taking excessive showers to stock up, the next morning at 0730 we checked out and made our way to Tao. Kona’s Gentry Marine was right on time and brought the travel lift at 0830 to move Tao for a one day pitstop in the work yard. We had decided to do a quick bottom job- just one coat of paint over the still beautiful bottom job that we had Sergio do at Marina San Carlos a mere year and a half ago. Chris immediately started the light bottom sanding, while Shawn, to utilize the last few hours of our rented car,  ran to town to food provision for the next few weeks. Back at Tao, Chris finished prepping the bottom and talked Kona Marine Supply into letting us use their paint can shaker, while Shawn blue-taped the water line. We tag teamed the one-can-one-layer painting with Chris using the big roller and Shawn doing the detail spots, saving just a little paint for the final touches. At 0800 the next morning, the Gentry folks moved the jack stands supporting Tao so we could paint the squares underneath in time for them to dry before hitting the water. Finally, we inflated our fenders, dug out our dock lines, and Chris used the final spare moments to do some detailed reconditioning under our rudder zincs- so much easier when not under water!

seconds before splashing

At 1030, again right on time, the travel lift showed up to move us the final yards to the water. Half and hour later, SPLASH!!! We were finally floating again. Luckily, the dock was clear for the next few hours, which allowed us time to get Yannie back into service from the “on-the-hard” state (that included checking the oil, transmission fluid, and reinstalling the impeller with the added bonus of changing the impeller case’s gasket). At 1320 we motored off the dock, took a traffic-filled spin down the fairway only to turn around near the harbor entrance, so Tao was heading the other direction when we got back to where we’d been splashed, now lined up appropriately to back upwind in the general direction of our designated I-36 slip. With no float on the mooring, we got the stern lines to the dock, held on to a power boat next to us, and Chris swam to grab the chain. By 1340 we were again moored Mediterranean Style. We took a deep breath and celebrated with a nice cold Coke and some store bought poke before starting to chip away at getting Tao back to “sailing” condition. Since that point, our “short” To-Do list seems only to get longer...