MV Dirona travel digest for Cruising Hawaii 2012


Show Cruising Hawaii 2012 travel log map Click the travel log icon on the left to see these locations on a map, with the complete log of our cruise.

On the map page, clicking on a camera or text icon will display a picture and/or log entry for that location, and clicking on the smaller icons along the route will display latitude, longitude and other navigation data for that location. And a live map of our current route and most recent log entries always is available at //mvdirona.com/maps/LocationCurrent.html.


   

11/20/2012: Rory Wilson
Bainbridge Island math teacher Rory Wilson in his custom-built kayak Kros. During our crossing to Hawaii, Rory was rowing and kiting across. We went to see his presentation at the Waikiki Yacht Club that night. We were most impressed, not just with the journey, but how he integrated teaching and learning into the trip planning and boat construction.
11/21/2012: Octopus
Paul Allen's yacht Octopus off Waikiki. We saw that boat in San Francisco Bay shortly before we left for Hawaii.
11/23/2012: Laysan
Diesel Duck Laysan heading out.
11/23/2012: Friday night racing
The Hawaii Yacht Club's Friday Night Racing field exits Ala Wai Harbor.
11/24/2012: Saturday morning sailing
Waikiki Yacht Club youth sailing on Saturday morning.
11/24/2012: Waikiki Beach
Anchored for the night off Waikiki Beach. We'd been wanting to anchor here since first considering going to the islands.
11/24/2012: Diamond Head
The view to Diamond Head from the anchorage.
11/24/2012: Sirius
Nordhavn 76 Sirius arrived not long after we did and anchored a short distance away.
11/24/2012: Sunset
11/24/2012: Hard to beat
Anchored off Waikiki Beach with a glass of wine and a beautiful sunset. We're just starting to discuss our next big destination, and all we know is this one will be hard to beat.
11/24/2012: Orange lining
No silver lining required.
11/25/2012: Dawn
Paddler at dawn off Diamond Head.
11/25/2012: Bringing out the toys
A barge offloading water toys. Various tourist attractions operate off Waikiki Beach during the day. They are towed out in the morning and back in at night.
11/25/2012: Atlantis arriving
One of two Atlantis submarines being towed to its daily operating area, just behind where we are anchored. The towing boats stay in place throughout the day--likely they have divers on board and are there in case anything goes wrong.
11/25/2012: Passengers
A load of passengers arriving for the submarine tour.
11/25/2012: Sub descending
The tour actually is a pretty good deal--for about $100 the subs are down for about an hour.
11/25/2012: Swimmers
Swimmers crossing from Diamond Head side across Waikiki Beach.
11/25/2012: First sailboat
First sailboat tour of the day. All the action is starting up.
11/27/2012: Poke
A selection of Poke, marinated raw tuna, from the Ala Moana Center Foodland. They bill themselves as "Hawaii's Home for Poke". It was delicious.
11/28/2012: Dusk
Dusk from the boat deck.
11/30/2012: Fireworks
Every Friday night, a fireworks display is set off from the west end of Waikiki Beach. This is the view from the boat.
12/2/2012: Coast Guard
Honolulu Coast Guard entering the boat basin.
12/2/2012: Bikers
"Street Bikers United Toys for Tots" parade heading from Ala Moana Park towards Waikiki. Thousands of bikes participated--it took well over an hour for them all to exit the park.
12/2/2012: Take Five
Nordhavn 76 Take Five at Kewalo Boat Basin. We went on a quick bike ride through Ala Moana Park to the boat basin and back.
12/2/2012: Sunset
The end of another day in paradise.
12/7/2012: Sailboats at sunset
Two sailboat exiting the harbor at sunset for the Hawaii Yacht Club's Friday Night Racing. We went out to anchor off Waikiki Beach and discovered it's quite possible to have waves too big at the anchorage, even with the flopper-stopper.
12/8/2012: Race markers
Bringing out boat race markers in the morning.
12/8/2012: Honolulu Marathon
Ala Moana Park was packed this morning for the start of the 2012 Honolulu Marathon. The marathon is one of the top ten largest and attracts champion racers from around the world. Nearly 30,000 were signed up by Wednesday morning.
12/11/2012: Dirona from space
Well, actually from the 31st floor of the Hilton, but it looks higher up than that. Linda Ehman took this awesome picture from their balcony looking across the Ala Wai Harbor. Dirona is on this end of the leftmost pier at the far side of the harbor, just right of of center under the rainbow.
12/23/2012: Dawn over Diamond Head
Dawn looking to Diamond Head. We left early this morning to run to Kane'Ohe Bay for Christmas.
12/23/2012: Enjoying the ride
Winds have been blowing hard the past few days, with 11' seas on Kaiwi Channel, but have settled down now. Conditions are reasonably calm--it's great to be out.
12/23/2012: Sunrise
12/23/2012: Koko Head
Koko Head along the south shore of Haunama Bay.
12/23/2012: Blowhole
Blowhole of Makapu'u Head. The shoreline there is pretty inaccessible.
12/23/2012: Makapu'u Point Lighthouse
Makapu'u Point Lighthouse, perched cliffside.
12/23/2012: Manana Island
Windswept Manana Island is a bird sanctuary. It's also known as "Rabbit Island" because it looks like a rabbit's head from the Oahu shore.
12/23/2012: Security zone
Coast Guard Cutter Galveston Island patrolling off Kailua Bay. President Obama is spending Christmas there with his family in Paridise Point Estates. As we approached, the cutter crew radiod us to request that we stay seaward of them due to the security zone around the bay.
12/23/2012: Chinaman's Hat
Mokili'i Island, informally known as "Chinaman's Hat". You can guess why.
12/23/2012: Kane'Ohe Bay
At anchor off the the sandbar. The reef outside is apparently the only true barrier reef in Hawaii, and provides excellent protection from the ocean swell. The waters are wonderfully calm--we won't be needing the flopper-stopper here.
12/23/2012: Lady Barbara
We're anchored for the night, with room to swing 360. Lady Barabara is anchored to our north the more common way for the day only: right close up close, with the wind keeping the boat off the shallows. That way you can just dive step off the boat onto the bar.
12/23/2012: Kane'Ohe Sandbar
Small boats crowd the north end of the bar. This is a popular place--you can run a shallow-draft boat right up onto the bar, anchor, then step off to explore. David Chatsuthiphan explains how it's done: Kaneohe Sandbar.
12/23/2012: At the sandbar
Beach chairs and puppies at the sandbar, with waves breaking at the reef in the background.
12/23/2012: Snorkelling
We ran the dinghy over to the reef near our boat and went for a snorkel. The reef is thick and healthy with coral. The coral grows so well in the bay that divers apparently have to regularly transplant it from the navigation channels to the marina to keep the channels open.
12/23/2012: Walking on the bar
Walking on the bar--you can see all the other boats in the distance. These last two photos were taken with our new GoPro Hero3 camera.
12/23/2012: He'eia Kea Harbor
Vessels at the He'eia Kea Harbor Small Boat Harbor tie off to cleats on one side, and to a line strung between two boats on the other.
12/23/2012: Boat lift
This sailboat was being lifted out of the water, with relative ease, next to the Kaneohe Yacht Club.
12/24/2012: Sunrise
12/24/2012: Tour boats
Later that morning, several boats loaded with tourists ran across the bay to near where we were anchored.
12/24/2012: Anchoring
This large one anchored nearby for the day. Jetskis carried lines from it to permanent buoys. They were far enough away to be more interesting than bothersome.
12/24/2012: High-speed ride
Lots of squeeling ensued as this craft was dragged around the bay.
12/24/2012: Herd
Those in the water tended to stick together.
12/25/2012: Merry Christmas
Wishing you all Happy Holidays and best wishes for the New Year.
12/27/2012: Moonrise
12/28/2012: Moonset
12/28/2012: Dawn
12/28/2012: Fisher
Fisher at dawn working by net over the reef.
12/28/2012: Sunrise
12/28/2012: Surfers
Surfers off the Ala Wai Harbor breakwater.
12/31/2012: Happy New Year!
The Waikiki Yacht Club dining room decorated for tonight's New Year's Eve Dinner Celebration.
1/10/2013: Sunset drinks at the Halekulani
We arrived a little on the early side and snagged a beachside seat at the Halekulani for sunset.
1/10/2013: Diamond Head
The view to Diamond Head from our seats.
1/10/2013: Full house
The band was playing to a full house--not an empty seat in the place at sunset.
1/12/2013: On board Starr
James at the helm of Starr with owner Don Stabbert beside him. Don and Sharry were taking the boat out for a quick run and invited us along.
1/12/2013: Hawaii Five-O
On the Hawaii Five-O set. They were filming in the Waikiki Yacht Club dining room.
12/21/2012: MLK Parade
Participants in Honolulu's Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday Parade and Unity Rally at the Ala Moana Park entrance.
1/25/2013: Entering Kewalo Basin
Entering Kewalo Basin. We took the boat out to watch the Friday night sailboat race and see the sunset. But the winds were so weak that there wasn't much of a race. So we decided to go check out Larry Ellison's boat Musashi in Kewalo Basin while we were out. The winds weren't up, but the waves were--we practically surfed in.
1/25/2013: Surfers
Surfers off the basin entrance. It's always a little disconcerting to see breaking waves right beside the entrance channel.
1/25/2013: Take Five
Nordhavn 76 Take Five, in a different Kewola Basin slip from where we last saw it, possibly to escape the surge.
1/25/2013: Musashi
Larry Ellison's 288-foot Musashi moored at Kewola Basin. Ellison apparently replaced his previous yacht, 454-foot Rising Sun, with Musashi to allow greater mooring flexibility. Rising Sun was so large it could only be moored in commercial shipping ports.
1/25/2013: Sunset
2/2/2013: Gordon Biersch
We biked over to Gordon Biersh in the Aloha Tower Marketplace for dinner. The restaurant is on the water, with the Sand Island Coast Guard station visible across the waterway in the background and the cruise ship dock to the south.
2/2/2013: Pride of America
The view from our seats looking south towards the Pride of America with the distinctive One Waterfront Towers condo complex to the left.
2/2/2013: Star of Honolulu
The Star of Honolulu heading out for a sunset cruise.
2/4/2013: Power surfboard
We've seen a lot of unusual craft, but never a motorized surfboard.
2/5/2013: Propane fill
Well-secured, you actually can carry a five-gallon propane tank on a bicycle. A propane fill station is nearby, but the valve was stuck on this one and it wouldn't fill. So we took it to a major gas depot near the airport and got it fixed, and filled.
2/12/2013: 20' of pipe
Carrying home 20' of schedule 80 PVC cut into 5-foot sections.
2/19/2013: Unusual craft
Another unusual craft sighting. This man is wearing business-casual clothes and paddling what appears to be an old liferaft in the pouring rain.
3/8/2013: Fueling
Nordhavn 76 Take Five taking on fuel at Magic Petroleum at the entrance to Ala Wai Harbor.