Caprice travels: Polynesia to Alaska

Majestic snow capped mountains, glaciers, cascading waterfalls, extreme tides, massive currents, whales galore, bald eagles, salmon, halibut, crab, shore birds, trees, trees and more trees. YES, we’ve arrived in Alaska! This is my idea of paradise!
What a perfect crossing, 18 days almost to the minute, from Hanalei Bay, Kauai to Sitka. Everything was relatively uneventful…catching Mahi Mahi and tuna, days of great sailing in 20 to 28 knot winds and motoring for the last three. Our only problem, which could have been a big one, was loss of communications. The radio had been giving us problems since day one, probably because of a poor ground. Around the half way point, we no longer had contact with “Last Mango”, a 38 foot monohull that left Kauai for Seattle, at the same time we did. (“Last Mango” arrived in Seattle four days after we arrived in Sitka). A few days after losing contact with Last Mango, we were unable to contact the Great Northern Boaters‘ Network. Around the same time, we lost our SailMail privilege due to “excessive use”. Sailmail doesn’t allow one to delete individual messages before they are downloaded. Therefore lengthy messages, particularly weather charts, take a long time. Other than EPIRB, this was our last life line. Obviously we have much to learn about this system. After arriving at Sitka, we got a call from the Coast Guard asking about our location. The network controllers were wondering where we were since we couldn’t check in. Another example of the dedicated volunteer service that the HAM network provides.
Since our last message, a lot of water has passed between our hulls.
After a lovely stay in Bora Bora, which included several visits to Bloody Mary’s and the pearl farms, we departed for Rangiroa atoll (an island surrounded by a reef). Rangiroa is part of the Tuamotos and is often used as a departure point for Hawaii.
While at Rangiroa, we celebrated our 45th wedding anniversary. Crewmen Tom and Ted wanted to take us to dinner at the lovely Kia Ora Resort . They tried to make reservations three nights in a row. Since the dining room was only half full each night, I can only surmise that the snooty maitre’ d didn’t like hairy faced sailors. So, we went to a very small, but excellent, outdoor restaurant called “Kia Kia” which could have not have been better!
We did a little provisioning (very challenging), refueling and made a last tour of a pearl farm. The Rangiroa pearl farm was by far the most interesting, an up close look at how the pearls are cultured. It is quite a long process (3-6 years), involving many steps in the process. Until we visited this farm, we didn’t know anything about black pearls so it was quite an education.
While we were anchored the “Maltese Falcon” glided in and anchored close by. She is such an amazing sight. It is a good thing I no longer use a film camera as I could not get enough of her different angles and the play of the sun on her gleaming hull, spars and rigging. The Maltese Falcon, owned by Tom Perkins, was also at dock in Bora Bora while we were there. New sailing acquaintances happened to have Perkin’s book “Mine is Bigger” with them and lucked out on getting the captain’s autograph and a tour of the magnificent craft.
We departed Rangirora and headed for Hawaii. It took us 7 days and 4 hours to sail the 900 miles to the equator. On June 25th, sailing with spinnaker alone, Caprice and crew crossed the line into the Northern Hemisphere, going from winter to summer. Tom and Ted had a special ceremony changing our status from tadpoles to shellbacks. Both Tom and Ted are shellbacks having crossed the equator previously. Tom did his in a submarine and Ted did his on a sailboat.
After going through the “initiation” we then celebrated the event with a fine feast of French pate’s, New Zealand honey and pickled asparagus, American roasted cashews, Canadian sardines, French brie, Tahitian baguettes and French wine. We made sure that Neptune got his share,too. In addition to sharing the good stuff we donated our bread maker which failed to recuperate from the damage it received during its flight to Aukland. Hopefully, Neptune can find a use for it, maybe a vase for kelp and seaweed. We also put a message in a bottle of wine (empty) with our names and e-mail addresses and threw it overboard. Where will it make landfall?
On the third day after crossing the equator, we entered the dreaded Inter Tropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) which is the area separating the Southeast trade winds in the Southern Hemisphere from the Northeast trade winds of the Northern Hemisphere. This zone can have weather ranging from dead calm (doldrums) to severe squalls and thunderstorms. The distance across can be as much as 600 miles to as little than 60. In our case we had no wind and only two small squalls during the 39 hours it took us to motor through 120 miles of the Zone.
During our time in the doldrums Dan did manage to land a funny looking squid and a long skinny barracuda in a sea of garbage that probably had been recently dumped by a passing ship. Both the fish were released back in the dump. We did manage to land a tuna later in much cleaner waters. This beauty made six meals!
Our cruise from the Tuamotos was one for the books. We headed straight North from Rangiroa to the equator, and then straight for Hawaii. We flew the spinnaker for three days straight and made the 2240 mile crossing in less than 18 days, all on a starboard tack. Arriving at daybreak at Ko Olina and were welcomed by Bob & Renee Miller and Gordon & Patricia Wood, all living aboard in the marina.
During the week at Ko Olina, Tom and Ted helped with maintenance items and then jumped ship to spend much needed time with their wives. Having Tom and Ted with us for three months was a pleasure. We thank them and their wives Merrie and Pat, for their tremendous support.
Also, during the Hawaii week I got my COSTCO fix. Being a self proclaimed COSTCO junkie, you can imagine how frustrating some of the provisioning has been during this voyage. In Hawaii, I thought I was in heaven as I walked through COSTCO’s pearly gates. I managed to leave an entire “boat buck” behind. It was lovely having fresh fruit and vegetables (especially California artichokes), stocking the freezer with steak, ribs, shrimp, etc., loading up with desserts, cheeses, wines and a few spirits.
From Oahu, we sailed to Hanalei Bay, Kauai. This location lives up to its reputation of being one of the most beautiful places in the world. We had a surprise shortly after leaving Kauai, when a huge military plane buzzed us and then contacted us on channel 16 to ask about our intentions. After giving them our course, they advised us that we were close to a military exercise (international war game) and to hold our course so that we wouldn’t become part of the game.
 
 
 
 
Our new crew member is Dan’s brother, Doug. Doug started his sailing “career” in the early ’80’s right in our backyard at Brickyard Cove. He sailed an El Toro from our dock to the marina where he promptly turned it over, losing his glasses and soaking everything in his wallet. Doug didn’t set foot on another sailboat until 1990 when he “helped” deliver a 40’ monohull from Spain to St. Thomas. The outcome of this sail was much better as he purchased his own boat in 1992. Doug was living in Spain at this time and purchased a 40’ Spanish built Northwind center cockpit sloop named “Red Hunter”. He and Sheila spent the next two years living aboard sailing the Balearic Islands. While visiting us at Christmastime 1993, Doug asked if we would like to crew for him during the 1994 ARC Rally. Dan said “you bet” and I said “Yikes, I’ve never been out of sight of land before”. Of course, this really wasn’t true as we had sailed the California coast many times in fog so thick that we could barely see the bow. I finally told Dan that I would go too…I didn’t want him to die alone!
The ARC Rally starts at the Grand Canary Island and crosses to St. Lucia. Dan and I joined Doug and Sheila three weeks prior to the start to ready “Red Hunter” . There was much that needed to be done which was challenging, as the local chandlery was not exactly a West Marine. The passage was relatively uneventful except for a few good squalls and getting the spinnaker stuck under the boat. It took us 21 days since Doug and Dan would not turn on the engine during ultra light winds. After arriving in St. Lucia, we spent another three weeks fixing things on the “Red Hunter”, reprovisioning and doing some leisurely cruising.
For the next ten years, Doug and Sheila spent six months of the year living on the boat sailing the Caribbean Islands and the remainder of the year at their home in England. Doug has come a long way since his El Toro experience and is a knowledgeable, fun crew member.
From the time we left Sydney, Australia, we have sailed over 10,000 miles, visited 9 islands in 3 countries, gained a day sailing across the international date line, went from the bottom half of the world to the top and from winter to summer when we crossed the equator, saw fabulous places, met many interesting people, had great food and wine both on the boat and on shore. We experienced some of our best days of sailing ever, especially downwind with spinnaker only. Caprice did a great job in carrying us throughout this tropical paradise.
The Caprice crew changed again in Ketchikan. Doug left and headed back to England. Ernie and Lynne Landes, long time friends living in Port Ludlow, WA, joined us for the three plus weeks it will take to cruise to Anacortes.
Caprice at Warm Springs, Alaska
 
We are now settled at the Prince Rupert Yacht Club awaiting the passing of a storm. We are thoroughly enjoying the magnificent scenery of the Alaskan peninsula. It is everything we had wished for. We still have quite a distance to travel, but we decided to wait here for a Navionics chart “chip” that is being flown in from Campbell River. British Columbia charts are not part of the Western Coast charts that are on our Raymarine chart plotter and we have become so spoiled with the detail and GPS location overlay that we feel uncomfortable with the “paper charts”.
Next, heading south to San Francisco Bay.
 
Carol 8/19/08