Update from Shore
May 6th, 2007 by Elise
Oahu, Hawaii
Ko’Olina Marina, Slip J-2
After a couple of days of dropping off crew (Ed went back to Honolulu with Nancy after our arrival in Ko’Olina) and John left on Wednesday evening after we rented a car and circled the island, we are getting settled in to our new home. The Marina Manager, RD and his group have been very helpful providing all kinds of local information (car rentals, boat washers, riggers, etc.) and even offered us a great opportunity to move the boat to a much larger single slip in a quieter part of the marina. We moved the boat on Friday evening. The slip we were in was very narrow for Cutthroat’s wide beam and would have been challenging to enter and exit with the strong trade winds blowing in the harbor. We like our new home! Our local address is:
Ko’Olina Marina
ATTN: Roger John, Slip J-2
92-100 Waipahe Place
Kapolei, HI 96707
Our cell phones are in good working order. Elise 760.390.2772, and Roger 760.470.1425. Email at our Yahoo addresses (elisemjohn@yahoo.com or cutthroat1941@yahoo.com) also is working, albeit only when we walk up to the Marina office and get close enough to their wireless router. We should have that improved on the 18th when the cable company will install a cable modem, TV and phone line to the boat. I don’t think I can live with the walk for email very long. Then we should be fully operational.
As I inferred earlier, we rented a car for a couple of days when we first arrived in Ko’Olina to get re-provisioned and make sure John got to the airport. We will probably just rent a car one day a week to do the shopping, but we’ll see how that goes. It’s very quiet out here – a big slow down from our very busy life in Puerto Vallarta. There is no 12 peso bus ride to town, and the cabs wanted about $100 to go to Honolulu we were told. We did meet one very nice couple from Australia who are the captains of a 78 foot Nordhaven (big power boat). They came over for happy hour last night, but they leave for Tahiti this week. They are really the only people out here right now. I guess we’re going to have to slow down on our social lives, and just enjoy each other’s company. Ummm…..
All in all, we are fine. We’re getting lots of little boat things done. The wear and tear after 19 days at sea is amazing. Just the cleanup alone is taking several days, and we have a few things to repair. Most important is getting a rigger to get the halyard out of the mast.
We look forward to the arrival of many of our family and friends in June to celebrate Roger’s 65th birthday and our 30th Wedding Anniversary. It will be a very special occasion. Over the next few weeks Elise will be busy with the logistics and event planning for that gathering.
Thanks to all of you for following our voyage. Roger and I hope you enjoyed being a part of it and look forward to hearing from you or enticing you to visit us in Hawaii over the course of the next year. We plan to be somewhere in the islands until early October. Then it’s back to the mainland through New Years. From February thru late May 2008 we plan to do some island cruising before leaving on the next long leg of our journey…off to Alaska. We’ll keep you posted!
Special thanks to Kevin Dunn for diligently updating the website during our trip. He came up with the idea and execution of the subscriber function that notified everyone of the updates and allowed you to make comments along the way. Thanks, Kevin – we really appreciate your help.
I’ll be adding photos here shortly to the website and get out some boat statistics.
Love to all,
Crew of the Cutthroat
Elise and Roger
Roger & Elise: Damn. Who would have tought it. Yes, we did send you our letter but in all honesty we never expected it to get to you. Hell, maybe that two cent rate hike in the mail was worth it. You two are amazing people. Crazy as hell but interesting to watch. We love your boat. Didn’t I tell you that I was an ole salt. Jaylon’s dad gave us a 24′ Searay and I kept it on Lake Texoma. Jaylon didn’t appreciate my boating interest and spent most of her time upchucking in a paper bag, as such, I sold it and spent the proceeds on landscaping that house in Killeen. That gives you some idea of the value of the boat. I did enjoy that boat and sharing it with daughter Carolyn’s boys.
You know, when I was city manager in Sherman, I was good friends with this retired destroyer captain and he did tell me that after he had been on shore duty for a while, he would get seasick the first couple of days out and just throw up with the rest of the crew. Does that happen to you guys. Would you admit it if you did.
I think I told you everything worth telling in that letter I sent you. We are are doing great and love the decision we made to move here. Take care of each other and keep us posted on your web page. Tal & Jaylon