Today we made the drive up to the top of Haleakala. It was a perfect day for it. There weren't even the normal clouds around the mountain. As a matter of fact, it was quite warm for this elevation...59 degrees. Normally it's in the 30's or 40's. From the floor of the ocean, the total height of Haleakala is over 29,000 ft, which would make it taller than Mt. Everest. Haleakala is the dormant volcano that comprises all of the largest section of the island of Maui. It is humongous, rising to just over 10,000 ft above sea level. It's a pretty long drive up to the summit from sea level at the base, something like 38 miles. Climbing 10,000 ft from sea level requires a lot of twists and turns, but this is much easier ... read more

We went whale watching today on the Hawaiian Ocean Project boat and were very lucky. We had two whales playing going back and forth under the boat. Jan and I have done several of these whale watching cruises and I guess we've always been lucky because we've always had whales close to the boats. Today was no exception. I'll let the pictures and video tell the story. ... read more

Jan and her friend, Jackie have been friends since their college days many years ago at SIU. They started a tradition of making an annual "road trip" back then. Their road trips evolved into trips all over America together. I guess this could be considered another of their road trips and for the first time, I get to go along. When I retired, I promised Jan that since she has always been so good about all of the snowmobiling I do in the winter and even goes with me on some of the trips, that I would take her somewhere warm and beautiful to get away from the Chicago winter. So I guess this is a combination trip. This morning, we are heading to O'Hare Airport to depart for Maui, Hawaii. We've all been there before ... read more

Capt. Steve got us back to Stock Island Marina right on time at 3:00PM and we made the one hour trip to Hawks Cay. Jan and I stayed here for ten days a couple winters ago and really enjoyed it. It's on its own little key called Duck Key. Also friends of mine from my golf course, Old Oak, Angelo and Kelly were married here last year and everyone who attended loved it. We were booked into the Sunset Villas area of the resort. It was a two story condo with LARGE bedrooms or maybe they just seemed that big after 4 nights on the boat. Our back porch had a very nice view and we brought our drinks out there to watch the sunset. After the sun set, we all felt too tired to venture ... read more

Day 4: Kit Ship's Log--Weather: forecast to be partly cloudy, high around 70 with northerly winds and 2 foot seas--Sick Bay Report: Captain Steve still bent over with back pain, Dan's cold almost gone, Bob's right shoulder still hurting and useless. It's Valentine's Day! This morning during our daily briefing with Capt. Steve, we all decided on going back to Stock Island for the evening. Tomorrow would be our last day of sailing. Capt. Steve had other suggestions, but we wanted to walk around on land again. Kathy provided another great breakfast before we got going. We were able to go under sail again. It really is peaceful. On the way, we passed by a very pretty island where they filmed the old TV show, McHale's Navy, starring Ernest Borgnine. It's one of the shows I ... read more