Landed Hawaii
30 May - After 25 days at sea we made landfall in Honolulu yesterday evening and what a joyous occasion it was, although tasks such as shaking out the reef in the mainsail and furling the mainsail, which we had not accomplished in many days, were more difficult than usual.
We got everything arranged then motored into Ala Wai harbor to the Waikiki Yacht Club.
Motoring into Ala Wai Harbor at the end.
Bobby driving into Ala Wai Harbor.
We saw many surfers near the shore along Waikiki Beach and the entrance to Ala Wai Harbor and thought of Jan and the lads from Alu’eiva surfing their way through the world.
Surfers on Waikiki Beach outside Ala Wai Harbor entrance.
We got tied up on the Waikiki Yacht Club dock with the “Q” flag up and our Santa Margarita Yacht Club burgee flying, and started prepping for the check in with Customs and Border Protection on the morrow. We later met Brandon the dock manager with whom we had been corresponding to arrange this visit. Everyone in Honolulu has been most gracious and welcoming.
The Happy Crew tied up at the Waikiki Yacht Club dock after 25 days at sea.
We spent most of the 30th getting cleared into with the United States and the State of Hawaii. The U.S. was concerned with our passports, vessel documentation, our garbage and any fresh foods we brought in from Mexico. The State was concerned with the Michin, which proved to be a fairly high hurdle. At one point it looked like he might have to go to quarantine jail for the night since we did not have a Health Certificate for him dated within 14 days (impossible since we had sailed for 25 days). However, the Hawaii Agriculture folks were extremely helpful in finding a mobile veterinarian to come to the boat and produce the health certificate just ahead of the inspectors who collected all the documents (and would have collected him).
Once we were all cleared in, the Michin had dodged the bullet of going to cat jail and the contract company had collected our garbage, we hauled our ripped spinnaker to the North Sails loft and dropped it off for repair. And then we were done. We went to the hotel, checked in and showered and relaxed.