Happy New Year!

I like this picture of spinner dolphins because it demonstrates a cookie cutter shark bite. The dolphin in the lower left of the picture has a circular wound on its' right flank. These small sharks swim around and take a chunk out of whoever passes by....we've seen wounds on dolphins and lots of different fish. I've never seen a cookie cutter shark, they are really ugly and only about 1 foot long.

The engine is still out. Tranny is still in the UK. Whatevers.

Epic Fail (and why I love turtles)

Daily turtle sightings are the norm in Kona. This mature adult swims by the boat multiple times a day, and helps me forget that Pau Hana's engine is now lying about in a nearby garage. In short, the transmission repair was a failure. The mechanic tried to force the repair and in so doing seized the engine. Sad day for the little swede (and for us).

But the turtles! They truck on, the mature ones get these barnacles on their shells and one local "barnacle bill" has literally 100 of them adherent to his back. He doesn't seem to mind these non-performing clowns coming along for a ride. He's not worried that they're slowing him down. He just accepts his fate. He's got some serious aloha.

The visibility is fantastic and the butterfly fish abundant.

Freediving at Two Step.

Boy, dog, turtle. Wildlife trifecta.

Good scenery, Pololu Valley, north shore.

The reality of our engine situation. Tranny is now on its' way to England. Damaged engine is in multiple pieces. Good thing there's some local distractions.

Rubber Baby Buggy Bumpers

So now the flywheel is attached to the transmission again via some Canadian ingenuity. Hopefully Pau Hana will be tugging at the docklines shortly

Liquid Aloha

On our passage to Hawai'i we had a passenger for a night. We were at least 300nm from Nuku Hiva when this sea bird (Dave, can you ID this guy for me?) landed on our bimini and stayed there all night. He got a free ride north. He left at dawn the next day, but not before leaving a nice present for us in the cockpit.

We had some challenging conditions on the passage, not to mention the death of the transmission, for which we are currently awaiting replacement parts. It's been more than a week since the order, and where are the parts? Well, they're "on their way." So I'm trying the aloha way and having faith that they really are on the way. Smokin' hopium is what my dad calls that. I'm goin' with it. It's all I've got.

This is not the boat you want to see off your bow. But we were glad for the help. And Rob (the tow boat captain) had us over for Thanksgiving dinner. Glad to be back in the USA!

We drove up to Volcano National Park and saw some pretty good petroglyphs. I don't think they brought the artists along from the Marquesas, though.

Local snorkeling, lots of Pacific Sea Turtles.

We heard there was snow up on the volcano, so, hopeful, we drove up to 9,200 feet and hiked up to this point. Alas, no snow in sight.

At least Mart got to wear his Possum hat from NZ!

12/7/16 UPDATE: So after 2 weeks our transmission parts are still in Seattle! Mart's been on the phone this morning with the manufacturer (in British Columbia) and the supplier (Seattle) after getting nowhere with the local aloha diesel dealer. He's arranged for it to be shipped directly to Kona on an Alaska Air flight tonight and it will be here in the morning. Go Martin! Aloha that.