KAILUA-KONA — Jenny Decker hadn’t seen a boat in several days, and that had nothing to do with ground crew member Boz Scribner accidentally spraying champagne in her eyes in celebration.
After almost three weeks and a few precarious moments in rough waters, the 31-year-old nurse weaved her 16-foot kayak through anchored watercrafts as she pulled into Kamakahonu Bay alongside the Kona Pier Wednesday to a chorus of well-deserved applause.
Decker — who suffers from Charcot Marie Tooth Disease, also known as CMT, a peripheral neuropathy that affects motor and sensory nerves outside the brain and spinal cord — became the first person to complete a documented circumnavigation of the Big Island by kayak.
“I wish I would have taken longer, actually,” Decker said of her 20-day trek around the island, which included 18 evenings sleeping in a tent. “I was ready to come in today, but I was sad for it to end. I love being out on the island, being dirty and camping and the using the ocean as your shower. But I’m excited to be back with everybody in civilization because I’ve been really secluded.”
The greeting-party on the beach was small, just a handful of close friends Decker dubbed as her ground crew, who helped her along the way. But Decker said their presence and support was crucial from the moment she took to the sea March 25.
“I was solo on the kayak, but I never could have completed my journey without (their) help,” Decker said.
Plenty Pupules Kayaks sponsored Decker, providing her with all the gear she needed. Felix May donated the kayak. Humpy’s Big Island Alehouse and Laverne’s Sports Bar also sponsored Decker, serving as the sites of an afterparty for Decker and her ground crew — donating $1 of every beer purchased on Wednesday afternoon to fight CMT.
Decker had hoped to raise both awareness and $10,000 for CMT. As of noon Wednesday, she was just short of $7,700, according the her GoFundMe account. The account will remain open for donations until next week.
She described her voyage as full of breathtaking beauty with a few moments of real terror. Decker and her ground crew required the aid of lifeguard Mike Collins at Richardson’s Beach Park as well as lifeguards Kevin, John and Kaleo at Punaluu to guide her kayak to shore amid treacherous waters.
But more than her few dicey landfalls, Decker said she’d remember paddling through the north valleys, where she was escorted all the way to Waimanu by a mother humpback whale and her calf. On her first day out, Decker realized her kayak was overloaded. As she steered back into the Kona harbor to lighten her load, a pod of dolphins trailed her in to shore.
“What a journey,” friend Boz Scribner reflected.
A travelling nurse by trade and an adventurer by choice, Decker leaves Hawaii on April 22, as her assignment on the island has concluded. Next up, after a couple stints in Oklahoma and Missouri with her partner Krystal Sentz to visit their respective families, Decker will tackle the Atlantic Ocean. This time, however, she’s going to use a sailboat. The voyage to Italy is a little too long for a kayak.
“Sometimes, the things you don’t expect end up being the best things,” Decker said.
