Sunday, November 28th, 2016

Captain Kamalani (Kama) Ranis 

On Wednesday:

We are here at Panama Laplayita where we have spent the last four days barely dodging Hurricane Otto which passed north of us. Tuesday morning, Captain Carrie caught a flight back home to Hawaii to be with her husband Brad. Captain Gary gave us two days off so Captain Jim and I went out to explore the old town of Panama. Captain Seth laid back on the boat and nursed a little cold.  Let me tell you, the beers and food here are very very cheap. The people are very nice, but I could not understand anything they said to me. It's a good thing that Captain Jim speaks Spanish, as he was my translator.

The next day, Captain Seth woke up feeling like a champ. In the afternoon, we went to Panama City to do our grocery shopping for our trip to Costa Rica. Before we left the store, Captain Gary got a phone call from our agent Tina saying the hurricane is going to hit Costa Rica. So our plans changed and Captain Gary told us we would not be leaving until Friday. Captain Seth and I decided to get a turkey and celebrate Thanksgiving in Panama on TRILOGY III. After all our shopping we got back to the boat, put all the food away, took a power nap and then went out and explore Panama. We walked around the old town and headed to the boardwalk. Captain Seth turns his head and says,

I asked.

he replied and started laughing. There was a guy wearing a gray Trilogy rash guard shirt. Turns out, two of the group have been out with Trilogy many times, even when Captain Jim and Captain Randy were working on the boats. Their names were Bruce and Sherry Pouli.

On Thanksgiving and Seth and I prepped the turkey with onions and garlic, and then wrapped the turkey with bacon. Nothing goes wrong with bacon. 

On Friday, we finally left Laplayita Marina heading to Papagayo Costa Rica. The first 100 miles leaving the marina were very calm, with zero winds and partly cloudy skies. We decided to drop our hand lines in the water and within half an hour we caught our first tuna (aku). Captain Seth pulled in the fish while Captain Gary grabbed the net. The funniest part of the whole thing was all of us just standing around looking at the fish, trying to figure who's going to clean it. Guess who cleaned the fish?? Hint: yours truly, the local boy. It was close to lunch when I was cleaning the fish and Captain Seth decided to use half of it to make Hawaiian poke bowls. 

For you guys that don't know, a Hawaiian poke bowl is raw fish with soy sauce, ginger, onion, and green onion over hot steamed rice in a bowl. Only in Hawaii. It's was Captain Jim's first time trying the poke bowl and after his first bite he said,

Which mean delicious in Hawaiian Pidgin. Over the past few weeks on the boat, Captain Seth and I have been teaching Captain Jim from Boston how to speak Hawaiian Pidgin. Everyday we put a Hawaiian Pidgin word or phrase on the board and he just practices. Captain Jim has never been to Hawaii, so we are getting him ready.

Later in the day, we started to notice the waves were getting bigger, 5-6 ft and the wind was blowing 15-20 knots. "No sleep tonight!" we realized. Around midnight we saw lightning toward land which was about 3-4 miles away. It was amazing to watch. It was a very wet and cold night. The next morning around 6:30 am we started to get some heavy rain. Captain Seth had just finished his shift driving and decided to make DA LOCAL MOCO for breakfast. Only in Hawaii. Ingredients are rice, hamburger patty, brown gravy, mushrooms, and onions. Captain Jim walked into the cabin, saw the food and with his eyes wide open and in disbelief said,

And I said,

A full day passed out on the ocean. Within the 24 hours we covered 255 miles at the speed of 6-8 knots on one engine. Captain Jim and Captain Hoover decided to change our driving shifts around by making it two hours behind the wheel and six hours off for the four of us. This meant a lot more sleep time.

As day turned to night it was my turn to take the helm station. I began to plot my way point, changed my heading, turned on the auto pilot and let the boat do its thing. Makes my job a lot easier. I started to think to myself about how the Polynesians sailed all around the world without a compass, radar, GPS or any of the technology we have today. So I tried it out, which it didn't go well for the first three minutes. It was a very cloudy night blocking visibility of the stars. Since I woke up right before my shift started, I had no idea which direction was north or south. It's just so pitch black out here on the ocean. From sitting at the helm station you barley can see your mass. Luckily we have a compass, GPS and radar. Spoiled sailors we are.

Alright aloha everybody. Bum bye (meaning later).

About Captain Kama: Lana'i born Kamalani Ranis started working with Trilogy as a beach attendant on Lana'i. Today, we are proud to have kama'aina Captain Kama as part of the team bringing TRILOGY III home to Maui from St. Croix. Captain Kama shares his Hawaiiana view with Trilogy guests on Maui visiting Molokini Crater daily.