Team Sandpiper Update Part II Tom & Amy Larson, USCG-Ret.
Ahoy! As I write this Team Sandpiper is sailing at 7 knots on our way from Fiji enroute Vanuatu. Amy and I still cannot believe that we left the PYC exactly one year ago heading under the GG Bridge in the cold fog at 3am on our way to warmer ports. If you have not had the chance to read the 1st part of our story Jen has posted it on the PYC website, presidioyachtclub.org under News, so check it out! As our last writing we had just arrived in the Marquesas after a 28-day crossing from zihuatanejo, Mexico arriving in Hiva Oa, Marquesas on the 26th of April. Being in French Polynesia took some getting used to as everyone speaks French and it is extremely expensive as everything is taxed by the French government. Once you check in to French Polynesia you have exactly 90 days before you have to check out, so we tried to stop at as many islands as possible but moving on to keep on schedule. Ninety days sounds like a long time, but the next thing you know its time to leave. We got to visit Hive Oa, Tahuata, Fatu Hiva, Ua Pou, & Nuka Hiva. The Marquesas are rugged islands with steep cliffs and valleys full of wild pigs and goats. There are no surrounding reefs in the Marquesas and the islands go straight up from the ocean. After leaving the Marquesaswe sailed West to Tuamotu Islands stopping in Manihi & Rangiroa. The Tuamotu’s are
called the Dangerous Archipelago as they are the largest group of coral atolls in the world and there are plenty of exciting reef crossings in strong currents to keep you awake. We got to do a lot of exploring and most of these islands are just above sea level making them hard to see until you are a few miles away. We left the Tuamotu’s heading west again and arrived in Tahiti where we spent 2 weeks catching up in being in the big city again and restocking the boat. Tahiti is a very large island and can be spotted more that 70 miles away, but its not really the island getaway its sold to be. The main city in Tahiti is Papeete and there is plenty of traffic and pollution. We spent our time just out of town at the Tahiti Yacht Club were they gave us reciprocal privileges and let us use their facilities while we were there. It was good to get caught up on
laundry as to do one load in the marquesas is $15.00 and you still have to dry them yourself! We were also able to receive our mail at the Tahiti Yacht Club which gave us a chance to catch up on bills. We then sailed 15 miles across the channel to Moorea which has to be one of our favorite stops in French Polynesia. The water is crystal clear and the local people in Moorea are super friendly. We stayed in Moorea for 2 weeks then moved on to Huahine, Raiatea, Tahaa and finally Bora Bora where we moored in front of the Bora Bora Yacht club. There are so called yacht clubs at most of these outer islands, but the are really just restaurant /hotels that try to get the boating community to stop in and spend some money, mostly for charter boats that abound these waters. After clearing out of French Polynesia we had a 1000 mile westerly sail to the tiny island county of Nuie that is nothing more that a small circular cliff island in the middle of nowhere. There are mooring balls provided by the Nuie Yacht Club that they maintain as it is too deep to anchor against the cliffs. Another neat feature of Nuie is that there are no beaches to bring your dinghy ashore so you have to crane your dingy out of the water at the concrete wharf in front of town. The Nuie Yacht Club was blown away in a typhoon some years back and they no longer have a building, but you can reach the commodore at his house on the VFH and he is very accommodating to all visiting sailboats setting up BBQ’s and get-togethers. From there we sailed on to the Vava’u Group in Tonga were we spent 2 weeks sailing all the islandsand hanging out at the Tonga Yacht Club. Tonga is a really great place to hang out at as the town of Neiafu is all about visiting sailboats. Every business gets on the VHF in the morning and tells you what’s going on for the day. We pried ourselves away from Tonga and continued West to Fiji. I had no idea how large an area Fiji was until we arrived and the two main islands are huge! We spend 2 weeks here and there are plenty of hidden reefs and shoals with no markers, not a place to be moving around at night. We spent our last week in Fiji at the Musket Cove Yacht Club that is really a hard place to leave. They have a 3 dollar bar on a small sand island where every night they provide the BBQs and all the wood you can burn. All you have to do is bring the meat and they even do the dishes. Sandpipers current plans are to spend 2 weeks in Vanuatu, then join the Port2Port rally sponsored by the Port Bundaberg Yacht Club at the end of October from Port Vila to Bundaberg Australia where we plan to head south down to Sydney for 5 months to hide out for hurricane season. Well I better go as there might be a ship bearing down on us and I have the watch, catch more of us on the PYC’s website,
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