Oahu - Line Islands

Oahu - Line Islands in Google Maps (web browser) and in Google Earth (separate application)

A long, easy daysail brings us from Oahu to Kauai, Hawaii’s Garden Island. The landscape is dramatically beautiful with lush vegetation and steep cliffs as described in the magazines. The infrastructure for yachts is less than ideal, at least in winter: The anchorage in the capital Nawiliwili has a very poor anchor ground and everything is far away. We rent a car to explore the many natural attractions of Kauai. I enjoyed particularly the Waimea Canyon: the little but as stunning brother of Grand Canyon. The cliffs are falling down on both sides: into the canyon and to the Na Pali coast, which is so rugged that it is not even on foot entirely accessible.

We are exploiting a few days with little swell to anchor in the very scenic Hanalei Bay, enjoying the sun, village and beach before leaving the hospitable Hawaii. It was good decision to come to Hawaii and I can only recommend spending a South Pacific hurricane season here.

We time our departure to sail along the stunning Na Pali at sunset with the full moon rising above the steep cliffs. Strong winds accompany us on the first days of the passage as so often in the Hawaiian waters. They make it easy to forego our plan of sailing south-east to French Polynesia and sail more southerly towards Fanning Island in the Line Islands, which we reach after a week’s passage. Since the Line Islands belong to the much more westerly lying Republic of Kiribati, they have the time of Hawaii, but on the next day and are such the first islands in the world to have the new day.

I have not yet seen such a traditional place – neither the Kuna Indians in San Blas nor the Indios in the South American Andes life such a basic life as the 3’500 inhabitants on the island. They live of coconut, fish, tarot and rice. Most houses are built on a wooden platform a meter above ground with a roof made from Pandanus leafs. Only some houses have walls. There is no electricity, telephone, TV, radio or internet on the island and hardly a store worth that name. Fanning lies just north of the equator in the doldrums and the weather is so humid that the rice is often rotten before it arrives… It is raining every day and we have no problem to replenish our and another boat’s water tanks from the daily rainfalls.

There is no village center, the houses are spread out in coconut orchards and it feels a bit awkward to walk around and see in all the houses; seeing their few possessions and seeing the people rest on Pandanus mats. But at night it is pitch dark and nobody sees what their neighbor is doing… The people are shy but very friendly and we very much enjoy strolling around the island and absorbing the simple, easy life. A French cruiser fell in love on this island 20 years ago and has been living here since. He is running a small guesthouse and his 16 year old daughter is serving fantastic crab-balls and 30cm long shrimps from the lagoon.

Unexpectedly, we are not the only boat in the lagoon – 5 other boats are on anchor and we help each other with what we have. It feels like a community within a community, we are having a jolly good time and are sad to leave this very special place to return to the South Pacific.