We've had a fantastic Labor Day/birthday/anniversary weekend here on Maui. We got in some good walking around Lahaina yesterday and then hung out at the Lahiana Yacht Club for hours watching the US Open, which was pretty much heaven for me, followed by a nice dinner on the waterfront.



This morning, after a 45-minute walking excursion to get our hands on a NYTimes (yes we are getting used to civilization again and even demanding it!), we went to the skippers' meeting for the 80nm race back to Honolulu tomorrow. Thirty boats will race and the local sailing crowd seems pretty excited. Since we don't know a single person here, we're just the random couple from San Francisco racing their big green boat. We actually do have a (almost) sistership in the race though, a bright red, cold-molded Farr 45 named Tiara. It will be fun to be on the water with them, although we'll be double-handing as they speed by us with their crew of 11 (!) and their spinnaker up, which we probably won't attempt.

We're about to weigh anchor and head up the coast 10 miles to what sounds like a beautiful anchorage called Honolua Bay on the NW side of the island. It will also put us a lot closer to the 0755 race start in the morning. If all goes well we'll be back in Honolulu by late afternoon tomorrow.



There are turtles everywhere around here! These two HUGE turtles hung around right under our boat this morning. They had to be 4 or 5-feet long. It's really amazing to see how many more turtles are here in Hawaii compared to any of the other South Pacific islands we've been to.