Goes to Hawai'i
From Oceanside California to Hilo, Hawai'i on board Continuum Pleasure, the flag ship of Continuum Health Inc. Normal fuel capacity is 1100 US gallons of diesel, but Johann added four fuel bladders on deck, for a rough estimate of 2000 US gallons on board. Since the boat's idle speed is five knots in calm water (no, really!), we did a leisurely eight knots all the way, pausing only long enough to inspect the two engines and top off their oil levels.
We left Oceanside on January 22, 2000 at 12:35PM local time. We arrived at Hilo (on the Big Island) on February 3, 2000 at 0708AM local time. The pilot charts told us some huge white lies, as the seas and wind were not on our stern as promised, but on the bow or just off the right bow most of the time. The fuel bladder on the bow jumped out of the bed I made for it, and threatened to jump overboard, so "next time" I'll make a better bed. Maybe on the trip to Tahiti....
Below are some images of photographs I took along the way.
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Dolphins riding the vessel's bow pressure wave. These are not California Bottlenosed--- too large, and their noses were too short. I don't know what the species is. If they had a triangular dorsal fin I might have been tempted to call them porpoises, but the fin looks too swept back and sharp. |
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A better look at their snouts. Don't look like Bottlenosed;
don't look like porpoises.
Note how nice the varnished rail looks! Now thank Johann for paying me to varnish, and thus helping me pay my rent. Nice blue water, too, eh? |
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It looked like several had scars on their backs and sides. I do
not know if these are actual scars, or just look like scars.
These are Aphrodite's friends, playmates, and messengers. Therefore I asked them to rush to Cythera with my request to the Goddess of Love, asking Her to send one of Her daughters my way. They promptly sped away to southern Greece in the Mediterranean Sea... but something dreadful must have happened, because somehow Aphrodite never got my request. |
| If message by dolphin doesn't seem to work 100% of the time, there is always the high-tech system: a message in a bottle. (Parenthetical element: if a California Bottlenose Dolphin carries a message to Aphrodite, would that qualify as a "message in a bottlenose?" Never mind....) |
Tom's Mail Delivery System |
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The bottle was corked and then sealed with several layers of
candle wax to make it water resistant.
A none too gentle heave ho! and the message is on its way. Fifteen years from now it will wash up on a tiny atoll near Japan, and some lonely geisha will find it. |
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Crew porting diesel fuel from the starboard on-deck bladder, into the forward below-deck tank. If this system had not worked, we would still be out there! Note that no one is wearing a safty harness. SHAME! It's a long swim to Hawai'i. |
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Fuel bladder on the bow. Note the garden hose and the 110vAC pump. The pump quit working when we were almost at Hawai'i, but we had another pump (12vDC) and a hand pump (ugh!) as back up: we did not need them, but it was still a bit annoying. |
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Port fuel bladder. Tom is here watching to make sure the pump did not over-heat (his left hand is on it). Note he's still not wearing a safty harness! We found it easier to do part of the work by leaning out the galley window. As Johann said, if we were too stupid to figure out how to move the fuel from the bladders into the tanks, we're too stupid to live anyways, and deserved to die out there adrift. Good point. |
| The Mother of All Lows (pressure system) was laying about 800 miles north-west of us. That was plenty close for me! But not close enough to us to do any harm. The sky here is just an example of your regular run- of- the- mill sunset while at sea. |
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| We got very little rain--- not enough to wash the boat down for us. |
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John Grisham's The Chamber was aboard. Yes, I said
"was." Sheeeish. What a pollutant for the mind. The
book should come with a *WARNING!* *TOXIC* *WASTE* sticker
pasted on the cover.
Here is a link to My Book Review |
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Look out Poseidon! Here it comes! Nice rotation; good form;
solid and exact entry into the water... I give the toss a 8.5
on a scale from 1 to 10.
Though I now owe Johann a book, I think it was well worth it. I'll buy a Scott Card novel for him; or maybe a Dick Pitt novel. One day Johann will thank me. |
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| Tied up in Hilo, Hawai'i! Tah dah! |
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| Capt'n Ron; Tom; Johann. This is the beautiful harbor at Hilo. Yep: yer lookin' at it, bub! |
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Akaka Falls. This is over 400 feet from top to base. Fresh, tasty water, too! |
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Scientology Kills. The truth is spoken even 1000 miles from shore! |
