Fourth Quarter 2007, October - December PYC Newsletter

Team Sandpiper Update Part V
By Tom and Amy Larson, USCG Retired SV Sandpiper/Oakland, Ca.

For origional article with pics http://www.presidioyachtclub.org/Qtr4PH07.pdf


Ahoy PYC!! September 28th was Sandpiper’s two year anniversary from sailing out of Horseshoe Cove! As of our last writing we have traveled some distance from Lizard Island in Australia to where Sandpiper is currently located on a mooring buoy in front of the Royal Bali Yacht Club in Bali, Indonesia. After departing Lizard Island Sandpiper sailed north up the Australian Coast inside the Great Barrier Reef stopping at many great anchorages along the way. We finally arrived in Darwin after sailing across the top of Australia crossing the Gulf of
Carpenteria. Sandpiper spent 3 weeks anchored in Darwin in front of the Darwin Sailing Club
getting ready to leave Australia for Indonesia in the 2007 Darwin to Kupang Rally with 130 other boats from all over the world. We joined this sailing rally as the rally committee assisted us with a majority of the required paperwork for sailing thru Indonesia and scheduled stops through Indonesia with events at each stop. Sandpiper left Darwin along with all 130 boats at 11am on July 26th arriving 5 days later in Kupang Indonesia. If you have never looked at Indonesia on a map, Indonesia is a large group of islands covering a very large area between Australia and Singapore. Kupang is on the island of Timor and is a busy city with many shops, cars including whole families on motorcycles. After being cleared in by Quarantine and Customs who came out to Sandpiper on their police boat, we went ashore where the rally committee had
Indonesian Immigration set at by the dinghy landing where we cleared in to Indonesia. During our stop in Kupang we enjoyed events scheduled by the rally committee such as a bus tour into the mountains where we visited a traditional Indonesian Village where the villagers live in grass huts and is like stepping back in time. We also attended a Gala Dinner where we were
welcomed by the Governor and Mayor of Kupang and saw many different Indonesian dancers perform. After departing Kupang Sandpiper sailed overnight to the port of Alor on Flores Island where we were welcomed by the mayor of Alor and attended Alor Expo where we saw dance performances and each village on the island got to show off how they lived. Indonesians are by far the friendliest people we have met and whenever we have gone ashore we are treated like celebrities. Most visitors to Indonesia just come to Bali and the islands surrounding Bali and very few travelers ever go to Eastern Indonesia where we have spent the last month. It is a bit overwhelming at times being surrounded by mobs of Indonesians who just want to tell you their
names and to say hello, one young mother even had me autograph her son’s hand! We took a dive/snorkeling trip while in Alor with many colored fish and coral. From Alor Sandpiper traveled west stopping at many remote anchorages and a few cities for rally stops. Some of our
favorite stops were Rinca Island which is a World Heritage Site as the island is full of Komodo Dragons, snorkeling off Komodo Island where Sandpiper swam with turtles and giant manta rays, visiting Mount Kelimutu with is multi colored crater lakes high up in the volcanic mountains on Flores Island, Gili Air Island with its horse drawn carts and beach bars and now Bali. Team Sandpiper’s future plans are to spend the next 30 days exploring all that Indonesia has to offer, and then stop in Singapore before traveling north thru Malaysia via the Straits of Malecca, then Thailand. Catch more of us on the PYC’s website, or visit us at
sandpiper38.blogspot.com where you can track Sandpiper’s progress and read our postings from stops along the way. 