Last evening Michael saw his first green flash as the sun set over the ocean to the west of Hanalei. I saw it clearly too, a half second emerald pulse of light just as the sun disappeared. This morning we asked the crew of the ketch anchored just outside of us if they saw it. Nope, and one crew on their passing dinghy said, "I don't believe that it's real." It can't be real if you don't look.....
It got dark, Michael got out his IPhone, and turned on his "star finder" app. With it for guidance I saw Mercury for the first time ever and using binoculars saw three of the moons orbiting Jupiter. I know what you are thinking, but I was completely sober.
It was a crystal clear evening and after the moon set we could see the loom of flashing lights over Kauai's mountains to the south. A look at the NOAA radar confirmed that it was lightning flashes from a storm seventy miles away. A very enjoyable evening.
This morning an Open 60, Dogbark, entered the anchorage and dropped the hook right next to us. Dogbark used to belong to my old Coast Guard Academy sailing teammate Al Hughes, who we ran into in Canada's Gulf Islands late last summer when I was aboard Thankful. Dogbark now belongs to Al's shipmate for their R2AK victory a few years ago, Graeme, who is now cruising the Pacific with his wife and two daughters. I dinghied over to say hello, and was pleased to learn that he is using my cruising guide, Noodle's Notes, for his Hawaiian Islands adventures.
We spent the day fixing chafed lines caused by the jagged aluminum boom and readying the boat to receive the repaired spar. No word yet on when we are likely to see it. Michael did some fantastic baking; I'm not going to be losing weight this trip like I usually do.
As I write this there is a pod of spinner dolphins frolicking in the anchorage behind us. Gals in string bikinis are SUPing by every few minutes. There are worse places to be stuck for a few days.
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