Hawaiian Waterways Fraught with Danger and Regulation.
With getting the boat taken apart for the Matson Trip home being one of the last structured activities of Chuggy and Roscoe and Evil and Doug's 2009 Transpac effort they thought a little sightseeing might be in order.
The boat lift is no longer located in the Ala Wai and so a short deliverance around to the commercial basin was in order. Navigator MacArthur promulgates the possibilities. Go by sea of take the scenic inside route. Our boys had seen enough ocean and decided to take the inside channel.
At the end of which was a low bridge (marked clearly on the chart had anyone bothered to look!) restricting their passage. Then things started to go bad.
It was at this time that a nearby Tug Boat notified them that the Harbour Traffic Controller were trying to raise them on the VHF. Of course being sailors they were not running the Radio.
Of course being ignored affected the Harbour Polices' disposition when they showed up shortly thereafter.
They were directed to a nearby dock where Five-O is waitinmg - no really Mcgarrit and Dano. It is described to me that there are some aspects of Aloha that are not so well known by tourists and certainly this categorization applies to the "Aloha Police".
After submitting to a Body Cavity search and a little friendly Waterboarding and threatened with fines the size of which would resolve the entire American Bailout spending they were released to go on their way - but around to seaward of the Commercial Basin.
Apparently everyone knows that the commercial basin is for commercial shipping ONLY and there was a sign about the size of a toaster at the entrance to this affect that everyone onboard missed.
Even after this encounter no one is completely clear about what our brother Americans are so worried about but when the Coast Guard showed up - no really - and found Plan B loaded to the teeth with. . . wait for it. . . Safety Gear - maybe better than their own kit - I think that put them over the top and things started to thaw quickly after that.
Because of Roscoe's vast experience and well just because he's Roscoe the whole "take the mast down get the boat on the trailer" procedure took only an hour. The Longshoremen commented that they never had a sailboat lift go so fast or well.
And good thing too. After all the excitement they were about ready for a Mai Tai and Mrs Cutler had found just the place just around the corner. It was a joint and a classic Tiki Bar (picture above) and I would tell you all about it but in order for it to maintain the status that makes it so appealing it needs to also remain a bit unknown. Sorry.
Cap't Blogmeister.
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