Final last night at the dock

Ladies and Gentlemen, the Captain has determined the weather window will be open tomorrow, so slip on your life jacket, clip into the jack lines, cast off the dock lines, bring you tray tables to their full upright and locked position, grab hold and off we go.  Finally.

Spent our last day doing land-based things.  Slept in, went to a movie (Iron Man 3- liked by all of us), had a big soft drink with ice, drove to the end of the road going north (Ka'aena point), bought ice and had ice cold bottle beer, went for a last walk around the lagoons and spent time on the computer.

So, the plan for tomorrow is to leave the dock, put up the sails (move the first reef to the third position), make sure the electronics and new furling lines are working correctly, then anchor at Pokai Bay (not too far up the coast) for the night.  Saturday we will have a leisurely morning, secure the things we forgot but made themselves known on the trip to Pokai or overnight, and head out.  We expect the first couple of days to be a mixed bag of conditions.  Calm (read motoring) behind the Islands, and a bit wild as we cross between Islands (the wind funnels thru creating waves and yeah lots of wind).  As we pass the southwest corner of the big Island (Hawaii) the seas are usually pretty confused, and again the winds increase as they compress and wrap around the Island.  After that it will be somewhat more consistent (or at least as consistent as sailing gets).  There will be squalls to look out for, and as usual I am wishing for wind behind the beam (or trades with a more northern component) as that makes for a more comfortable ride.  No matter though - it is only 900 miles to Fanning Island, our first stop.  In other words only about 7 days a short hop by cruiser standards.

I think we are all ready to go on several different levels - it is really hard being in the no man's land between land life and cruising life. Hardest on Josh I think.  He is really awesome about all this, but multiple goodbyes are no fun. Have to say again how lucky we are with him.  He deals with all of this and us better than most adults would.  Sure hope he looks back on it as a good experience.

With any luck at all, I will be posting from the SSB for the next month or so.

This is WDD7203 standing by.