Departing thoughts

I'm finishing up here.  My work is nearly complete.  After more than three weeks on this island, I like it a lot.  There are so many waterfalls to visit, many beautiful bays to sail around in and anchor at, and a wonderful south and west side that I haven't explored hardly at all.  Its hard to chose my favorite island in Hawaii, but this might be it, except for the traffic.  Since there is only one road, and it doesn't go full circle, the traffic is always bad.  There is also the problem that erosion has made many cliffs and things that the road must go over and it gets narrow there, with lots of construction.  So this island is best with a motor scooter!
It seems that the tourist population use the guide books, because the "real gems" that I found were all crowded, but some of the less shiny gems were completely empty.  I walked up a few streams with nobody on them, while another waterfall was overrun with humans.  Still, I like people, and can get along with that species just fine.  I am most impressed with the many harbors.  On the north side there are so many little places to hide a boat it is fantastic!  All other islands (to my limited knowledge) were more dangerous and rougher conditions on their north sides, and lacked such a curvacious coast. 
 There are a lot of cool buildings in Hanalei, like this church, and many friendly boats as well.  This is Laysan, who I met in Lanai with Dad and then in Honolulu (their home) and now here. 
I went on a short trip to the south-west side, where the Waimea Canyon is.  It was very hot and dry there, feeling like another place alltogether.  This island has the spot of most rain on the planet, but this isn't it.
There are goats all over the island, but you wouldn't know it on the wet sides, since they hide carefully in the foliage and stay atop the cliffs (where you can't go).  On the dry side they stand out more.  Little billy goats gruffs romping around the erosive edges, scampering the slopes.  They are small goats, but I guess I don't really know the normal size.  I haven't seen any wild boar, but I think they are here and have seen some torn up soil that looks like a wallowing spot.  

So, on to the future!

I will be leaving tomorrow at noon, Hawaii time, and then tracking my positions with the SPOT tracker, which you can find the page for it HERE.   I'll be posting the position at 12:00am  and 12:00pm for the trip, but don't worry too much if I am unable to get it to work out properly, and you have to wait for a while to post a position, because there are a number of things that could go wrong with it, including it falling in the water, or getting wet and rusting up, or the batteries going dead.  I do have other emergency beacons (two of them) that I can use in the event of an emergency, so don't panic if the spot thing doesn't show.  But hopefully it will work out well.  
I will also try and talk to boats that I see and see if they are willing to post a comment on my location on this blog. 
I've got food and water for many many days at sea, probably about 100 days if I am careful with the water, or can catch some rain, so don't worry if I don't show up right away.  I am assuming that this trip might take about 26 days, but the winds up near the North Pacific High can be light for days at a time and then I would be stuck waiting. 
I will be awarding a fantastic prize to anyone who posts on a comment the most accurate time and day of landfall.  I am not sure exactly where I will go, but it might be the north end of Vancouver island, or it might be the tip of Washington state.  both are about 2250 nautical miles away, and I did the 3200 nm trip from PV to Hilo in 29 days 20 hours.  The weather conditions will be different.  I will define landfall as the time when I drop anchor, either in Neah Bay or in Port Hardy or nearby there.  Entry must be completed by August 20th for the prize.