Holding pattern

After the walk of shame to extend our permit here in Honokohau Harbor, we stopped promising people when we are leaving, no one believes us anymore anyway. We end our greetings with people we see here every day, laughingly, “See you tomorrow!” And figure that one of these mornings, we will just quietly be gone, underway again. Today finds us still in a holding pattern. Last evening we watched the sun set from our dock with Randy and his boat Sundowner’s fishing crew (who are so filled with aloha). We met the locals that trickled by and the fishermen were only too happy to explain how unpleasant it is currently at South Point. Interestingly, we found out that many bottom fishermen are mobilizing for this weekend’s expected reduced winds. Not surprisingly, this data coincides with the NOAA forecast.

So, we plan as best we can with the information we have, and choose to continue to make thoughtful conservative choices to ensure the smoothest and safest possible ride. Since we have waited so long already, we might as well wait just a little more instead of pushing off in one of the rare Small Craft Advisory's in effect today for the Hawaii Island Leeward Waters. We use the precious extra time here to enjoy Hawaii's aloha and test our backup computer system, downloading updated software and getting all of our waypoints in line. If all stays the same, we will push off tomorrow (Thursday) morning and hopefully reach the South Point Friday morning (along with the bottom fishing fleet) when winds are forecast to start relaxing. We'll just see what the weather says in the morning...