Team Sandpiper Update Part VI By Tom and Amy Larson USCG Retired SV
Sandpiper/Oakland, Ca.
For origional article with pics http://www.presidioyachtclub.org/Qtr1PH08.pdf
Happy New Year from Phuket Thailand! Sandpiper is currently anchored off a very nice white sand beach full of greasy tourists at Kata Beach on the southern end of Phuket Island, Thailand. Our last posting in the ‘Porthole’ had Sandpiper anchored in front of the Bali Yacht Club in Indonesia and Sandpiper has made some miles since. Leaving Bali was difficult as we really enjoyed our 3- week stay there, but we had to keep moving to see as much as we could in Indonesia before our 90 day Indonesia Cruising Permit expired. We sailed north across the Java Sea to Borneo where we left Sandpiper anchored on the Kumai River and took an overnight jungle boat ride up into the jungle to visit the orangutans that live there. It was a privilege to experience such an amazing close encounter with our closest ancestors as few people get to come here each year. The orangutans will come right up to you and grab your hand, as most of them are very friendly. We then sailed west to the island of Bilitong that was out last official stop in Indonesia with the Sail Indonesia Rally 2007 that we had participated in with 130 other boats from all over the world. We spent two weeks anchored in Belitong and this was on our list of favorite stops in Indonesia. The people of Indonesia are unbelievably friendly and in Belitong most Indonesians had never seen a Westerner before. Just about everybody was excited once we dinghied ashore to say hello to us and shake our hands. Our next stop was Sabana Cove Marina in Malaysiaafter an ‘exciting’ transit thru one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world the Singapore Straits. We spent a month in Sabana Cove’s Marina enjoying all their great facilities while getting projects fixed on Sandpiper that we had not been able to fix while transiting thru Indonesia. Sabana Cove is right across the channel from the island of Singapore and just a short ferry ride away, marinas in Malaysia are very cheap at 8 dollars a day and most are part of a resort where you can spend all day lounging in their pools sipping cold beers. We left Sandpiper for a short travel ashore spending several days exploring Singapore and is was quite a culture shock being in such a large crowded city after being in so many small villages in Indonesia. After that as flights are really cheap Team Sandpiper took to the air and flew to Bangkok for a week. Bangkok is a city of 11 million people and there is much to see and do, all quite cheap. Once back on the Piper we headed up the Straits of Malacca which I have to say has been our biggest piloting challenge for us since leaving California as just off our port side were hundreds of ships all speeding along and just outside the shipping lanes where we were thousands of fisherman with nets all over the place which we came close to running several of them over in the middle of the night. We spent a week at our last port in Malaysia at the island of Langkawi where we cleared out of Malaysia after loading Sandpiper up with as much duty free products as possible as beer and wine will be hard to find once Sandpiper is among Muslim countries in the Red Sea. We arrived in Thailand just in time to clear in before Christmas as spent Christmas in Nai Harn Bay with 80 other boats from all over the world for a great Christmas Eve party, then on to where we are currently anchored for New Years Eve. Kata Beach was very crowded with tourists for the big party and there were plenty of fireworks along with hundreds of floating paper lanterns flying over Sandpiper ushering in the New Year. Team Sandpipers future plans are to explore as much of Thailand as we can till mid January, then head west across the Indian Ocean, up the Red Sea, thru the Suez Canal and spend next summer cruising the Mediterranean. Catch more of us on the PYC’s website, or visit us at sandpiper38.blogspot.com where you can track Sandpipers progress and read our postings from stops along the way.
Happy New Year from Phuket Thailand! Sandpiper is currently anchored off a very nice white sand beach full of greasy tourists at Kata Beach on the southern end of Phuket Island, Thailand. Our last posting in the ‘Porthole’ had Sandpiper anchored in front of the Bali Yacht Club in Indonesia and Sandpiper has made some miles since. Leaving Bali was difficult as we really enjoyed our 3- week stay there, but we had to keep moving to see as much as we could in Indonesia before our 90 day Indonesia Cruising Permit expired. We sailed north across the Java Sea to Borneo where we left Sandpiper anchored on the Kumai River and took an overnight jungle boat ride up into the jungle to visit the orangutans that live there. It was a privilege to experience such an amazing close encounter with our closest ancestors as few people get to come here each year. The orangutans will come right up to you and grab your hand, as most of them are very friendly. We then sailed west to the island of Bilitong that was out last official stop in Indonesia with the Sail Indonesia Rally 2007 that we had participated in with 130 other boats from all over the world. We spent two weeks anchored in Belitong and this was on our list of favorite stops in Indonesia. The people of Indonesia are unbelievably friendly and in Belitong most Indonesians had never seen a Westerner before. Just about everybody was excited once we dinghied ashore to say hello to us and shake our hands. Our next stop was Sabana Cove Marina in Malaysiaafter an ‘exciting’ transit thru one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world the Singapore Straits. We spent a month in Sabana Cove’s Marina enjoying all their great facilities while getting projects fixed on Sandpiper that we had not been able to fix while transiting thru Indonesia. Sabana Cove is right across the channel from the island of Singapore and just a short ferry ride away, marinas in Malaysia are very cheap at 8 dollars a day and most are part of a resort where you can spend all day lounging in their pools sipping cold beers. We left Sandpiper for a short travel ashore spending several days exploring Singapore and is was quite a culture shock being in such a large crowded city after being in so many small villages in Indonesia. After that as flights are really cheap Team Sandpiper took to the air and flew to Bangkok for a week. Bangkok is a city of 11 million people and there is much to see and do, all quite cheap. Once back on the Piper we headed up the Straits of Malacca which I have to say has been our biggest piloting challenge for us since leaving California as just off our port side were hundreds of ships all speeding along and just outside the shipping lanes where we were thousands of fisherman with nets all over the place which we came close to running several of them over in the middle of the night. We spent a week at our last port in Malaysia at the island of Langkawi where we cleared out of Malaysia after loading Sandpiper up with as much duty free products as possible as beer and wine will be hard to find once Sandpiper is among Muslim countries in the Red Sea. We arrived in Thailand just in time to clear in before Christmas as spent Christmas in Nai Harn Bay with 80 other boats from all over the world for a great Christmas Eve party, then on to where we are currently anchored for New Years Eve. Kata Beach was very crowded with tourists for the big party and there were plenty of fireworks along with hundreds of floating paper lanterns flying over Sandpiper ushering in the New Year. Team Sandpipers future plans are to explore as much of Thailand as we can till mid January, then head west across the Indian Ocean, up the Red Sea, thru the Suez Canal and spend next summer cruising the Mediterranean. Catch more of us on the PYC’s website, or visit us at sandpiper38.blogspot.com where you can track Sandpipers progress and read our postings from stops along the way.
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