Pacific Odyssey - Leg 1

It is late but I´d like to put down a few words.  The weather today was very hot, with little cloud cover for relief.  Our hose on the dock is well-used.  The evening has been beautiful with a strong warm breeze blowing.  The deck is littered with sleeping bodies and heaps of sleeping gear, put ready by the trainees that are staying out later.  The last two mornings I have woken up at 0630 hrs and seen the trainees and crew sound asleep, puzzled together on, in and around the bed linen and pillows.  It´s quite a nice sight.  To reach the head in the foc´sle, I make my way on the cabin tops from the stern to the bow, working around everyone.  There are a few other early risers, Miles and Mike usually, walking around the market, using the public washrooms with warm water, soap, paper towels and mirrors, waiting for Starbucks or one of the other coffee shops to open at 0700.  It is a wonderful time to be up; everywhere is very quiet, the air is soft, the temperature somewhat cooler but never cold.  Today was the second workday and people worked very hard, getting all the jobs done.  The boat looks beautiful; the brightwork crew was able to sand down and refinish the deckhouses, the caprails, the toe rails, the pinrails, the skylights, the wheelhouse and the bits.  The purple heart wood looks very purple and shiny; quite stunning.  The rigging crew finished tightening up the rig, then relashed the dead-eyes and lanyards (the circular wooden blocks of wood and rope that connect the cable shrouds to the sides of the hull) and the newly varnished pinrails (these are lashed in at the bottom of the shrouds and hold belaying pins for the various sail handling lines),  Jordan feels good about how tight the rig feels, ready for another passage.  The cooks along with Mike and Sara, as well as myself and the 4 kids, helped with another big shop at SAFEWAY.  It went well; 5 huge shopping carts of food, the taxi driver didn´t quite know what to think.  I think Gillian and Katie hope to do one more fresh food shop the morning of Leg 2 as well as an additional second shop at COSCO.  The food is all put away and there is still stowage room to spare.  Hopefully the ´bunk diving´ that is such a big part of the cooks´ lives will be easier as they relocated some of the food, according to gained experience ´gathering´ and cooking on Leg 1.  Since we arrived here, our garbage has been piling up.  The cardboard was flattened, ready for recycling.  Antony took on the ´garbage issue´ as we found out that food garbage is not allowed off our ship because it is deemed contaminated.  So, Antony, along with nearly all the trainees and crew, hand-picked through all the garbage, sorting the food garbage from the ´food contaminated´ garbage, putting them in separate bags, food garbage on the ship, mixed garbage on the dock.  There is a specialized ship service collection group that is in control of refuse from boats on the dock and they charge $100 for each green bag!  We said ´no thanks,´ but they did take our cardboard for a fee of $125.  We haven´t quite figured out what we will do yet.  My job on workdays is to keep the 4 younger kids away from the ship, not a bad job really, something I know how to do.  We spent the morning helping out the cooks, enjoying a nice walk to SAFEWAY and some Haagen Daz ice cream.  After lunch we stepped on the bus and returned to the beach.  The kids love the beach and spent the entire time swimming.  We also build turtle holes, one for each, big enough for them to lay in.  It´s become something we always do on the beach; when it´s nearly time to go, they climb into their holes for one last time and I cover them up, leaving their hatted heads exposed.  People walking by laughed at the three boys stuck side-by-side in the sand at the waterline.  In Hawaii on the beaches there are often fresh water showers where we can rinse off before we return to the boat, feels very nice and means we return to the boat clean as well as tired, hungry and happy.  The two boys bought lava lava´s (sarongs) today and are proudly wearing them tied around their waists, though I did see Noah flying across the deck with his being used as a cape.  They are very versatile; we use them as towels to sit on and dry with at the beach, and sheets to sleep under at night.  They clean easily in fresh water and dry quickly too.  The kids and I decided that we have had enough of the busy beach with all the people.  It is very beautiful and we enjoyed it, but I think we will find a quieter, more remote beach next time.  Slowly, the crew is feeling our time in Hawaii coming to an end.  Some of us feel we are ready and excited to move on, though at the same time we are anxious about what lies ahead.  The very different part of our offshore voyage is about to begin, our trip up until now has still been relatively familiar.  The crew are beginning to plan how they will spend their two days and two nights off.  We are taking turns so someone will always be on the boat.  There are two days between legs where there are no trainees, except Tavish who is continueing on with us, on the boat.  We all look after ourselves but can stay on the boat to sleep.  Some will take off and spend a few nights in a B and B, some will just stay close,  take it easy, spend money on nice food, visits to Pearl Harbour etc. and sleep on the boat.  It´s all fun and well-deserved by an amazing crew.  Tomorrow is our formal dinner and we have planned a wonderful meal and evening.  Trainees will have the option to explore Honolulu again, which they haven´t done for 2 days, volunteer with the dinner preparation or just hang out at the boat and write or read etc.  It should be a good day; I am looking forward to it.  If I don´t connect with you tomorrow, it will be because of a fantastic evening that went very late, and I will  describe it the following day.  Thank you so much for all the positive feedback re; the log.  I enjoy doing it, good night, Bonice