Australia Videos

Underway at Sunset, Far Northern Australia

Sandpiper Sailing Super Fast!!

Sunset in the Whitsunday Islands

Sandpiper Sailing Thru the Great Barrier Reef

Farewell to Australia

Farewell to Australia!

After nine months 'In the land down under' we will finally be departing with 100 other boats tomorrow (Saturday) at 11 am. Cruising the coastline of Australia has been an amazing adventure! We have covered thousands of nautical miles in months and a few kilometers on land too. The most important note being that we made it through this dangerous land without anyone getting injured.

It seems like ages ago we arrived at our first port, Bundaberg, with brother Ron joining us for the fun. A few hundred miles down the coast to Hervey Bay to celebrate Thanksgiving and sail through the Sandy Straits with a stop on Fraiser Island (the world's largest sand island), pulling into Sydney Harbor on Tom's 40th Birthday and seeing the bridge and Opera House for the first time on our boat that we sailed all the way here brought tears to my eyes. Ringing in the New Year at Woolwich Marina and seeing the most amazing fireworks display was a dream come true. A visit from Dad and Grandma really made seeing Sydney that much more enjoyable. Our two week trip off the boat to Tasmania seeing the beautiful Wine Glass Bay and Bay of Fires was picture perfect. Having a special reunion for Tom with his friend Annie in Hobart was also quite memorable. Back on the boat, a 2nd Wedding Anniversary celebrated and off again this time heading back up the coast. One of my most favorite things about Australia are the beaches; how clean they are, the long walks on soft sand, the clear waters, the shell collecting, the amazing sunsets and learning to boogie board, pure heaven. Many nautical miles later I had my own reunion with my dear friends Mike and Iain, whom I wish could have stayed longer but glad we were able to make some memories 'Down Under'. With a month long stay in the aquatic playground of the Whitsunday Islands was shear delight. The reef being so amazingly full of color and life, I could have spent years exploring these waters. A few hundred more miles to the Torres Strait Islands, seeing true Indigiounous folk and how they live sharing in their music and culture was eye opening. Finally, up and over the tippy top of this massive land and one final sail here to the Northern Territory. Just writing and remembering all of these memories brings tears to my eyes, we have accomplished something a lot of others only dream about. Australia has been a real treat for us, it would be great if one day we could come back to experience more.

In these final days here we have been provisioning (again), handing over our passports to the Indonesian Embassy for cruising permits, clearing out of Australia with customs, filling up with duty free fuel and of course drinking as much Australian beer as we can, in true Aussie style.

A few days ago we attended a meeting with the other crew members from the vessels participating in the rally. A meeting with a few hundred other sailors can be a painful exercise especially when some ask questions such as; 'What's the Q flag?'(quarantine), 'Our we starting the rally in IALA or International rules?' (this is a racing ? which is dumb 'cause for one it's a rally and another how would you get 100 cruising boats to cross a start line all together with sails up and there's no finish line), 'Will there be sharks in Indonesia?', 'Exactly how far out should we expect to see fishermen?'. One important item we did talk about was that the rally is suppose to be plotting our positions, after our daily check in on the radio, and post these on their site (www.sailindonesia.net) so friends and family can watch our progress throughout.

I truly feel like a kid at Christmas with my stomach full of butterfly's anxiously awaiting this next chapter of 'Team Sandpiper's' adventures. Indonesia is going to be a cultural experience that I'm sure we will never forget. We will continue to post our progress and stories through our Sailmail account, via brother Ron, and hope to hear from you along the way.

Love to all
Amy and Tom

Photo's Update!!

We have finally got all our pictures up to date up to Darwin. Team Sandpiper is leaving for Indonesia in 3 days and we are not sure about internet access while we are away from the civilized world, we will try to keep our photo's updated when we get a chance, enjoy!!

Tom and Amy

Darwin, Northern Territory

Anchored in Fannie Bay
Darwin, Northern Territory
Australia
12'25.4S/130'48.8E

Greetings from Darwin. Wow is it hot here. It is 11am and 90 degrees! Team Sandpiper dropped the hook at 6am, before the sun came up, in Fannie Bay. We are anchored out here with out friends S/V Shiraz and S/V Blue Sky, and about 50 other boats.

Yesterday morning we turned left and entered the Van Diemen Gulf where we caught a real strong tidal current. We were flying along at 8.5 knots. But when the tides changed, it slowed us down to only 2.5 knots.

We had planned on anchoring when the tides changed. But we did not arrive to the anchorage until after the sunset. There was a 2 knot current running through the anchorage and no protection from the winds which had switched around to the north. So we held a quick Team Sandpiper brief. We decided to keep on going overnight and anchor in Darwin. But this meant we had to go against the tidal current for 5 hours at 2.5 knots through several narrow passages till the tide turned back in our direction. We lost all wind and ended up motoring all night, arriving at Fannie Bay just before sunrise.

Darwin is our last stop in Australia. We will be leaving on 21-July with 100 other boats in the 2007 Darwin-to-Kupang Rally that will take us through Indonesia for the next 3 months. The rally committee is sponsoring BBQ's, informative talks about what to expect while traveling through Indonesia. They will have a Northern Territory theme night where you can have your photo taken with a crocodile or an Emu, and then eat him for dinner. There will be a Black theme night for Friday the 13th featuring drink specials (Jim Beam Black, or Black Russian cocktails) and blackened steaks. There is an Eastern Indonesia Tourism Expo where a number of eastern Indonesian provinces and tour operators will showcase their areas to rally participants, provide preliminary information, and answer any questions we have before we leave Australia. Check out the Darwin-to-Kupang Rally web site where you can see all the boats that are registered for the rally, and see what is currently going on.

Team Sandpiper will be busy getting all our paperwork finalized. We have to clear out of Australia and ensure that our Indonesia visas and cruising permits are valid. We are also going to see a travel doctor to ensure that we have all our shots and pills for a disease/parasite free experience while we are in Indonesia and Thailand.

We will getting Sandpiper loaded up with food and water for the next for 4 next months. And we are stocking items that we will not be able to purchase in Indonesia. We had planned on pulling into a marina here for a few days to make provisioning easier. It is a mile dinghy trip ashore because the tides here are so extreme. Due to the extreme tidal ranges in Darwin, the marinas have locks, which are really just large doors, that they close to keep all the water in the marina during low tide. We found out this morning that there is a $250.00 charge just to travel through the locks while the rally fleet is in Darwin. So no marina for Sandpiper.

Today's tidal range is over 21 feet. When it is low tide it is a long haul with the dingy to drag it up the beach above the high tide mark. This should not be a huge problem since we are one of the few boats out here that have dingy wheels! (Thanks mom Larson!).

We are also planning on doing an inland trip to Litchfield National Park in a small camper van to get our last inland trip while we are still here in Australia.

We will keep posting updates before we leave. We are hoping to have our photos caught up soon as well.

Pick up this month's Latitudes & Attitudes and check out the section on 'You think that was dumb' where they published our story titled 'Red Dye #5'. This story is pretty funny, I don't care who you are.

If you are an old school Team Sandpiper follower then you will remember our friends Neil and Jackie from S/V Voyager who helped us punish our livers while traveling down the west coast of Mexico. When we left Mexico for the South Pacific, they put Voyager on a truck and shipped it back to The States where they sold it. They have been working hard ever since then, living in the Bay Area in a nice comfy house. They have just purchased a new boat named Camelot. This is a serious upgrade for them. Camelot, with 2 helms, is huge compared to Voyager! Voyager was smaller then Sandpiper and had no refrigeration. So we shared lots of warm rum and powdered Crystal Light when visiting. Their new boat needs a lot of work because they are planning on crossing the Pacific on their new ride early next year. You can check them out at Camelot's new web site. Or better yet. if in the Bay Area, then stop by and say "Hello" for us.

We have also been working on Podcasts this last month that brother Ron is putting together and hopefully will be posted very soon. Stay tuned!!

Tom and Amy

Noon Update : 04-July-2007

Van Diemen Gulf
Northern Territory, Australia
11'32.7S/131'38.0E

• 118nm last 24 hrs
• 71nm to Darwin
• 628nm from Thursday Island
• Winds SE 10-15 knots
• seas calm 2-3ft

Happy Birthday America!!

Noon Update : 03-July-2007

Arnhem Coast
Arafura Sea
Northern Territory, Australia
10'46.2S/133'28.8E

• 133nm last 24 hrs
• 187nm to Darwin
• 517nm from Thursday Island
• winds SE 10-15 knots
• seas S 2-3ft

Land Ho! New Year Island. First land sighting since leaving Thursday Island. Sandpiper is plugging away at 6 knots with the main and staysail out to starboard and our jib poled out to port. Even though we are now sailing along the coast after crossing the Gulf of Carpentaria, Sandpiper is 15 miles offshore, making this pretty much an open ocean passage until tonight.

Around 9pm we are hanging a left, go through the Dundas Strait, and enter Van Diemen Gulf. We then have one more narrow pass at Clarence Strait before we get to Darwin 167nm away (5pm fix) from here. We are hoping to arrive in Darwin late on the 4th, but most likely the morning of the 5th depending on how well we sail and tidal currents in the passes.

We have totally scored with the weather ever since leaving Thursday Island as the winds in this area are normally 20-30 knots. Today's winds are S-SE 15/20 knots and the next 2 days are predicted to be S-SE 20-25. Perfects sailing winds! One of the boats that crossed last week during the 'high wind' warnings experienced gusts up to 47 knots and said it was the worst passage they have ever had!

We had a little bit of a freak out the day we left Thursday Island. We had really light winds our diesel tanks are getting a little low. The forecast predicted really light winds just as we left the harbor, but the winds have been perfect and we are having a great ride.

Amy had a little freak out of her own last night when a war ship passed us at over 30 knots with waves smashing over their bow. She thought maybe there might be a new war going on that we do not know about yet.

Anchoring in Darwin will be a bit of a challenge as they have a tidal range of over 20ft! We will have to anchor a ways offshore as we do not want to come back from the bars and find Sandpiper lying on her side. The marinas in Darwin have locks (doors) that they only open at high tides. If they did not have this, then there would be no water in the marinas at low tide. Freaky!

Friends S/V Blue Sky and Shiraz are still in front of us. Blue Sky loves to run their engine and this gives them some extra speed. And Shiraz, being a catamaran, sails really fast.

More in 24,
Tom and Amy

Noon Update : 02-July-2007

Arnhem Coast, Arafura Sea
Northern Territory
Australia
10'47.2S/135'44.1E

121nm last 24 hrs
307nm to Darwin
384nm from Thursday Island
Winds SE 10-15 knots
seas S 2-3ft


Ahhhhh, nothing like a warm 'Extreme Shower' to make the sail even that much better. Especially since it has been a few days. I'd like tell you exactly how many days, but my mom would probably be floored and embarrassed. Anyways, not much to report for today. We did have a little excitement last night. As soon as the sun went down the line on the jib snapped and sent the jib fluttering about. Tom sprung into action, took the old torn line out, and used the starboard line.

We think the jib pole needs some leather wrapped around the end so as to not create friction on the lines. After we get all the kinks worked out on this pole we are going to write a book.

Currently we are maintaining our 5 knot speed and should be in for another nice sail tonight. Oh ya. I forgot to report that Tom saw a 6 foot long sea snake today. Hopefully they are not in the anchorage.

SV Shiraz 50 miles in front of us
SV Blue Sky 74 miles in front of us.

More in 24,
Amy and Tom

Noon Update : 01-July-2007

Noon Position
NW Gulf of Carpentaria
Arafura Sea
North Territory, Australia
10'47.0S/137'47.6E

• 116nm last 24 hrs
• 424nm to Darwin
• 263nm from Thursday Island
• Winds SE 10-15 knots
• seas S 2-3ft

First Mate Amy here. I'm finally feeling up to sitting in front of the computer to write a blog entry. It still takes me a few days to get my sea legs, even after all this time. The best thing about this trip to Darwin for me is that it will probably be the longest trip we do in the next year. All of our Southeast Asia stops should be somewhat close together.

Some may wonder what we do all day here on the Sandpiper, especially when we have beam winds and don't need to adjust the sails much. So, I'll tell you. We take turns sleeping. We take 3-4 hour watches. We check in with our friends on the Single Side Band Radio twice a day. We rock out to the iPod. We read (I'm currently reading 'The Christmas Train' and Tom is reading 'The History of Everything'). We eat, and then we sleep some more.

Today I saw another sailing vessel off of our port on the horizon and gave them a call. It was actually a US boat heading for Darwin and will participate in the rally. We made new friends just like that!

Our last week we spent at Horn Island the weather had been quite overcast and we experienced rain almost every day. But since leaving therem we have had bright blue sunny skies during the day and a gorgeous full moon at night.

Last night we slowed down and averaged 3.5 knots. It seems as soon as the sun goes down, the wind dies down too. And then in the morning, we are back doing 5 knots again. Tomorrow the winds are reported to die down some. But it sure would be nice if we could keep up this speed.

Big day on Sandpiper tomorrow... 'Extreme Shower Day'!

S/V Shiraz is 40nm in front of us. S/V Blue Sky 67nm in front of us.

Amy and Tom

Noon Update : 30-June-2007

NE Gulf of Carpentaria
Arafura Sea, Far North Australia
10'41.2S/139'45.0E

• 117nm last 24 hrs
• 538nm to Darwin
• 147nm from Thursday Island
• Winds SE 10-15 knots
• seas S 3-4 ft

Yesterday we had really confused seas and upset stomachs. With no wind, we were left rolling all over the place motor sailing until sunset. We were able to sail after sunset, averaging 3-4 knots. The winds picked up overnight and this morning we put out our jib pole and main sail out on the starboard side.

I have given our new jib pole lots of praise for sailing downwind. But this is the first time we have tried it on a beam reach and it works like a champ! With it poled out, it keeps the jib from flapping when it looses winds. And the boat seems to steer better on the auto pilot.

If all goes well we are hoping to keep the pole out all the way to Darwin if we keep the wind! This is also the first time we have sailed west with a beam reach since 9 months ago when we arrived in Australia.

The weather forecast is predicting 10-15 knots of wind for the next 3 days. If it blows like it did today, then we should be able to keep an average of 5 knots. S/V Blue Sky is 34nm ahead of us and S/V Shiraz is 18nm miles ahead of us. We are able to talk to each other twice a day on the SSB radio at 8am and 5:30pm.

Tom and Amy

Noon Update : 29-June-2007

Australia
10'36'1S/141.44.1E

• 35nm from Thursday Island
• 654nm to Darwin
• Winds SE 5-10 knots
• seas confused

We left the anchorage at Horn/Thursday Island at 7am with 10 other boats as this is the first day it has not been blowing 30 knots and the weather forecast looks good for the next 4 days. We were able to sail till noon and then the wind dropped out and left us wallowing around in the confused seas leftover from all the high winds all week. Figures that if its not blowing 30 knots, its not blowing anything. We have been motor sailing since noon and we are hoping for a little stronger wind so we can sail, but the forecast looks pretty weak for the next few days.
Tom and Amy

Horn Island, Torres Strait Island

Anchored at Wasaga
Horn Island, Torres Strait Islands
Australia
10'35.0S/142'14.8E
684 miles to Darwin

Stuck at Horn Island!

We are at our last stop before we jump off to Darwin. We are waiting for the trade winds to die down a bit before we make this 800 mile hop over the top end of Australia. We had a short 20 mile sail from Mount Adolphus Island with very strong winds. 30-37 knots. Thankfully it was a short passage. We were even able to hook a 40 pound Spanish Mackerel just as we were going to drop the sails to pull into the main channel at Horn Island.

We are anchored between Horn and Thursday Island, but closer to Horn Island because it has better protection from the wind and currents. With the large tides here the tidal currents between the islands are quite strong. Sometimes the large spring tidal currents are over 6 knots.

The main town is on Thursday Island ("TI" as its locally known) where there are several hotels and shops. It is the administration center of the Torres Strait Islands. TI is hilly and used to be a major pearling center. There is a grave yard downtown with hundreds of graves of pearl divers who died from decompression sickness. TI is also Australia's most northern port. Horn island is where the airport is, and there is a ferry that goes between the islands that docks right off of where we are anchored.

Also, there is one small grocery store and two small hotels with small bars. The population is mostly Aboriginal. Most of the white population are business owners or government workers passing through.

The Torres Strait Islands, which these 2 islands are part of, is in a group of more than 70 islands. This area is a major hub for Australian Customs Service since they have a such a large border to protect using ships, airplanes, and helicopters. Our friends on Shiraz and Blue Sky were flown over by one of their helicopters and questioned over VHF radio. They asked them where they had checked in to Australia with customs and where they were going to be checking out of Australia.

Where we leave our dinghy at Horn Island is a small ferry and a shipping dock where the ships pull in to unload their supplies for the two islands. Along the main street is housing for the local residents and a small hotel with a bar that we have found to be filled with some very interesting characters. We met a big aboriginal named 'Cowboy' and his friend Frank. Cowboy was playing guitar and Frank played the didgeridoo at a picnic table out back. They waved us over and played local songs for us, telling us the history of the songs before they began. They really sounded great and it seems like everyone around here knows how to play the didgeridoo. A didgeridoo is a long narrow hollow tree hollowed out by termites that they blow through.

The local Aboriginal's here are super friendly and always say "Hello" as we walk by. The weird part of this tiny bar is that like most of Australia's bars, they have pokies (slot machines and dog/horse racing betting). The aboriginal's at the bar here seem very much into horse racing and they have a big long table where they sit watching the TV's while making their bets.

We also met Greg, who is the captain of the tug and barge that runs back and forth between the two islands. Greg offered us a ride on his tug, which we took advantage of today (Tuesday) saving us forty dollars for the round trip if we had taken the ferry across. We arrived in the morning at the location where he runs the bow of his barge up a ramp and lets vehicles get on and off. We put our dinghy up by all the shipping containers and walked up the ramp of the barge for a ride across the channel. The yard foreman Neil showed up just before we left. At first I thought that Greg might be in trouble for giving us a free ride. But when we saw that Neil was wearing a 'Blue Sky' baseball cap, I knew we were in. Turns out that Jim and Emma from S/V Blue Sky had plied him full of beer the night before and gave him the cap. So he was very cool about having us cruisers around.

As we mentioned when we were in Cooktown, this whole area of northern Australia is full of salt water crocodiles. Where we are anchored off Horn Island, at low tide there are long, exposed mud flats where the crocs live. We have not seen any, but the locals say they see them occasionally by the dinghy dock at low tide. The record croc caught in Australia was 28 feet. In contrast, our dingy being only 6 feet and made of inflatable rubber makes for a most exciting landing when going ashore. Nobody swims here, as it's too dangerous.

There is another sailboat in the anchorage that we have met before back in French Polynesia . They are going to be in the Darwin-to-Kupang Rally with us. Their boats name is 'Uterus'. Yes that is really the name, and they have a picture of a uterus on the bow. The couple on board, Benjamin and Henrietta, are from Norway. Their propeller fell off back at Stokes Bay, so they have had to sail in to and out of all their anchorages since then, which is quite a feat. They had a new propeller flown to them here at Horn Island and were less than pleased about having to swim under their boat to install it with this being a big crock area. Jim and Steve sat in their dinghies ready to chase any crocks away while Benjamin dove under the boat installing the new prop.

Most the crocks live in rivers. But they are pretty much anywhere there is a low bank for them to rest on and find food.

We had planned on staying here just for a few days and have now been here one week. The winds, both here and west of us, have been too strong for us depart. The predictions are for winds of 30 knots for the next few days. Every morning all the boats here are on the VHF radio discussing what their best guesses are on weather since all the sailboats here are making this hop over the top to Darwin.

There are about 10 other boats anchored here along with our friends on the S/V Blue Sky and the S/V Shiraz. It would be impossible to try to travel in the other direction (east) since the winds never change from S-SE. They only vary in how hard they blow. The trip to get to Darwin is over 684 miles in a straight line. There are a few tricky areas that we are going to pass through were we have to make sure that we arrive at the right time in order to catch the right tidal currents.

We are hoping to make this trip without stopping if all goes well and if we get good enough winds. If not, then there will be a few anchorages that we can wait in for better winds.

Darwin will be our last stop in Australia before we depart on July 21 for Kupang, Indonesia with 110 other boats in the Darwin to Kupang Rally.

If you have anything you would like to mail us before we leave Australia on 21-July, then please sent to the below address:

Thomas and Amy Larson
Sailing Vessel Sandpiper U.S.A.
Darwin Sailing Club
Atkins Drive, Fannie Bay
Darwin, Northern Territory
Australia,

Tom & Amy

Mount Adolphus Island, Queensland

Anchored in Blackwood Bay
Mount Adolphus Island, Far North Queensland
Australia
10'38.5S/142'38.7E

190 nautical miles. Ships passing in the night. Zig-zagging through the Great Barrier Reef. Then we drop the hook here in Blackwood Bay at Mount Adolphus Island. Our overnight trip from Morris Island to here was a mixture of both sailing and motoring. We left the anchorage at Morris around 3:30 am with some great winds behind us making for a real comfortable wing-on-wing sail.

Being inside the Great Barrier Reef, the waves are very minimal, something I have really taking a liking to. Almost 24 hours later, 2:30 am, the wind dropped and left us moving slow. So we fired up the engine. About 12 hours later we got a puff of wind, set the sails, and pulled into the anchorage around 5:30 pm.

With our friends on Blue Sky and Shiraz already here we anxiously set the hook, put the dingy in the water and headed over to Blue Sky for sundowners, nibblets, and talk about our plan for the next leg.

One of the very cool things about being here at Mount Adolphus is we have made it to the top of Australia, Cape York! no more sailing north. It is all west from here. Of course this also means no more reef for protection from waves that has come to spoil me. As of today we are back in the open ocean of the Coral Sea, meaning we'll have to deal with the swells of the sea again.

From here, we will do a few day stop over at Horn Island, provisioning on Thursday Island, wait for a good weather window, and go. It's another 800 nautical miles to Darwin. So we are looking at an 8-10 day sail there.

Of course we will keep you updated with our 'Team Sandpiper' updates. Hope all is well for everyone back home.

Amy and Tom

Notes From Ron:

• Tom and Amy are now in the Torres Straight, the narrow band of water between Australia and Papua-New Guinea. As the sail west past Cap York, they will enter the Arafura Sea.
• Wing-on-Wing means to sail straight down wind with their mainsail on one side of the boat the and their jib sail on the other side. It is only possible when the wind is directly behind them and give the maximum amount of sail area.

Morris Island, Queensland

Anchored Morris Island
Far North Queensland, Australia
13'29.4S/143'43.3E

Happy Fathers Day to all the dads out there and greetings from Morris Island! We left the anchorage in Stanley Channel at 5am in a very dark morning and set sail for Morris Island 60 miles away. We had lots of wind all day and was able to average 7 knots which is record speed for Sandpiper.

There are lots of course changes sailing through the reefs here. We passed several of the reefs at less than half a mile. Most of the reefs in this part of the Great Barrier Reef are submerged at high tide and they are very hard to see. At low tide the reefs are exposed and many are quite large, some over 6 mile long. Many of the reefs we passed on this passage have small sand islands, some with a few trees growing in the middle and a large light tower to mark its position as you pass.

We had winds at 20-25 knots making us race all the way to Morris Island. The cool part of sailing in this area is that we are so close the reefs that they break all the swells. So it is lots of wind with little swell... perfect sailing conditions! As we were blazing along at over 7 knots, Amy and I said "We are living the dream". 30 seconds later we got smacked by a big squall and had to reef the sails down.

We anchored at Morris Island at 3pm right behind our friends on Shiraz. We are the only boats here. Morris Island is a very small sand island, less than half a mile across at high tide. At low tide there are sand beaches that go on for miles.

As soon as we got the anchor set we launched the dingy and went ashore for a big shell hunt as it was low tide. Amy and Rene (from Shiraz) were in shell heaven as there are shells everywhere here since so few people stop here.

Morris Island is really in the middle of nowhere. It has kind of a cool history. Back when the British were trying to make this their territory, the British Admiralty's policy during the last century was to provide many of the Great Barrier Reef islands with a means of support for shipwrecked crews. So they put goats ashore, and in the case of Morris Island, they planted coconut trees with sisal trees near by. The sisal trees were intended as a means of knocking down ripe coconuts because the sisal tree produces a long stick from amidst its needle sharp leaves. There are lots of the sisal plants all over the island, but there is only one coconut tree left.

Also there is a diver's grave here. In the not so distant past pearl and shell divers came down this way from Thursday Island. One unlucky diver did not make it back home. We found his grave right under the coconut tree. Recent visitors from other passing sailboats have all placed shells on top.

Last night the winds really blew through here with gusts over 30 knots. Its been really dark at night lately since there is no moon. When the wind is really ripping in the middle of night, it can feel like that we have drug anchor since it is impossible to see the beach right off of our bow. Several times during the night were ready to start the engine thinking we had drifted out of the anchorage as sandpiper was being blown all over the place, only to see Shiraz right next to us. The only way to see anything in all the blackness was to shine our spot light on the beach to see if was still there.

After talking to Steve and Rene this morning, they had the same experience with Rene sleeping up top using our anchor light as a reference to make sure that they were not drifting out of the anchorage. Good thing that we both did not drift out as we were both using each others anchor lights as a reference.

Sandpiper and Shiraz have decided to stay here one more day to wait for out friends on S/V Blue Sky who are going to be here this afternoon. We plan to all leave in the morning for our next jump north.

The wind is still ripping through here with rain squalls. Hoping for a little sunshine!

Tom and Amy

Owen Channel, Queensland

Anchored Owen Channel
Flinders Group, Far North Queensland
Australia
14'10.5S/144.13.8E

It is after sunset and we just dropped anchor in Owen Channel, between Stanley Island and Flinders Island. We left Lizard Island at 4am in a very dark anchorage creeping through the other anchored boats in 20-30 knots of wind and rain. Fun way to start a trip! We had to leave early because we wanted to make it 60 miles to out next anchorage before sunset. It was a little tricky getting the main up and reefed, and getting the staysail set in the blowing rain and the pitch black night. But we were soon sailing along at 6 knots.

There are lots of reefs to dodge in this area. The electronic charts we are using have been extremely accurate, taking all the guess work out of figuring out where we should go. We are also sailing in the shipping lanes which are quite busy. There is no way to stay out of them since there are so many reefs on the outside of the lanes. Plus, the shipping lanes here are quite narrow due to all the surrounding reefs. We have had a few 'close encounters' with several large ships, and they have always answered back on the VHF radio stating that they would change course to avoid us.

We arrived at our planned anchorage at Bathhurst Bay finding that is was very shallow and exposed. Team Sandpiper held a quick brief and decided to make for the anchorage 10 miles further on in Owen Channel, where we are presently anchored. We made it just in time to drop anchor right before sundown, among 10 other cruising sailboats.

Our current plan for tomorrow is to leave at 5am for a 60 mile sail to Morris Island.

One thing about the weather here in Far North Queensland (far, really far, nobody around us far) is the winds are very strong and never change direction. Our guide book states that the winds in this northern part of Australia sometimes will blow in the same direction all year long (from the SE). If you are trying to take a boat south, then all you can do is wait until the wind speed drops and then motor as fast as you can to the next port before the winds pick up again.

Since we left Cooktown we will not see another town until we get around the northern end of Australia. This also means that we no longer are able to listen to the weather forecasts given by the Volunteer Marine Rescue on the VHF. But we are able to listen to the weather forecasts given on SSB radio twice a day. When we are planning our trips we are not checking for wind direction but for when the winds will drop below 30 knots so we will not take a beating. It seems that every forecast that we hear is for high wind warnings with wind at 25-30 knots. As soon as we hear that the winds have dropped to 20-25 knots, we make a move the next stop.

Why did I just write all this? Because that is why we left Lizard Island with the winds blowing so strong. In any other part of the world you would just wait a few days for the winds to die down and then leave. Here we hardly ever see winds below 20 knots. Even though we sail really fast, it is a bit extreme and makes for a rough passage.

Tom and Amy

Lizard Island, Queensland

Anchored Lizard Island, Far North Queensland
Australia
14'39.6S/145'27.1E

Hey all! Sandpiper is currently anchored at Lizard Island. We arrived here Monday afternoon after a fast, cold, sail from Cooktown.

We left Cooktown a day earlier than intended. The weather was predicted to pick up, so we needed to take the opportunity. We had about 20 knots of wind on our trip here. With a double reefed main, staysail, and small jib out we made great time. Since putting down the hook here on Lizard, we have had 25-30 knots of wind and overcast skies. With all the wind our wind generator has really been doing a great job keeping our batteries topped off. So we've been able to watch movies without any worries.

We took it easy Monday evening after our sail here, then went ashore on Tuesday for a nice walk and some good shell collecting. Lizard Island is named for the lizards that inhabit the island. These lizards are related to the Komodo Dragons in Indonesia (which I hope to see on our trip there).

A few other interesting facts about Lizard Island... It was named by Captain Cook when he used the island as a vantage point from which to seek escape for his sailing ship the Endeavour when he became convinced that further passage north might risk embayment. He ascended the hill on Lizard to look for a passages out of the reef. But when he reach the top, he found a haze with reduced visibility, much like our trip today.

Our friends Steve and Rene (S/V Shiraz) joined us this afternoon to follow in Cook's footsteps up this steep hill to the Cook Lookout. Rounding the corner of just one of the many switchbacks we ran into a 3 foot long, scary looking lizard. Steve scared him off the track for us since the rocks we threw at him weren't doing scaring him off. After over an hour of uphill hiking we reached the top and were immersed in a giant cloud and rain. We stayed on the top long enough to sign the logbook, take a few photos, and catch our breath. We then started our decent down the wet, steep, slippery hill.

Lizard Island is also famous for the story of Mary Watson who lived here on the island with her husband, kids, and two Asian servants. The Aborigines weren't too happy with the family for taking up residence on thier land. While her husband was gone on a fishing expedition, they killed one of the servants. Mary put herself, the children, and the remaining servant in a large tub and made an escape off the island. They made it to Watson Island where they eventually perished from thirst. You can see Mary's tub and diary at the Queensland Museum in Townsville.

We had seen articles written by fellow cruisers saying how great it was here. Some even stayed for months. There is a resort on the island, and if you do decide to stay, you can arrange to have groceries brought in with the rest of the resorts goods. We had also heard they have a 'Cruisers Olympics'. But with this weather there is not much action on the beach. From what we hear this weather isn't going to let up until the weekend. So maybe we'll make our escape on Friday or Saturday.

Hope all is well with everyone back home.

A BIG Happy Birthday to my cousin Mar Tokarczyk in Tonawanda, New York!!!!! Enjoy your Birthday. Wish I was there to celebrate.

Love to all,
Amy and Tom

Cooktown, Queensland

Cooktown, Queensland
Australia
15'27.6S/145'14.9E

Greetings from Cooktown! We left Cairns at 4pm Friday night and sailed 90 miles overnight to Cooktown, where we are presently anchored, arriving at 11am Saturday morning. We lost all wind at midnight and had to motor for 4 hours. But we got the wind back and were able to sail the rest of the way. We even had winds blowing over 30 knots, making for a very fast ride of over 7 knots with only the main sail up.

We have been listening to the Australian News Service about how Sydney is really taking a spanking from the weather down there. They had winds of over 100 kilometers per hour and massive flooding. One of the hundreds of anchored coal ships that we passed off Newcastle in March drug anchor and is now up on the beach getting ready to break apart. The news report that this is the biggest storm to hit that area in 10 years. We are glad we are well north of all that wind!!

A small airplane flew low over us. It turned out to be Australian Customs. They called us on the VHF radio just to have us check in with them and inform them of our plans. I told them that they must have really good eyes in order to read Sandpiper's name off of our stern from way above us.

The anchorage in Cooktown is just inside the Endeavour River. It is very shallow and is not marked, making it a real challenge to anchor. We ran into the mud two times before we could find a tiny space to put Sandpiper. We are just 100 feet from the shore... so close that we can have conversations with people on the beach.

The main reason that we wanted to be here this weekend is because its a 3-day holiday weekend for Australia. It is the Queen's (of England) Birthday, which is kind of funny as we found out last night from the one Brit in town that they don't have a holiday for her birthday back home. Just goes to show that Australians love any excuse to have another day off and party.

The other reason is because the town celebrates the landing of Captain Cook with his ship Endeavour and crew. They ran their ship on a reef just south of here in 1770 and spent 48 days here repairing their ship so they could get back home to England.

The 3-day 'Event' here in Cooktown is called Discovery Days. We had read about this event in the book 'Blue Latitudes'. The writer states that this a real beer drinking event in the middle of nowhere. Cooktown is a very small town, with a population of 1500, and 90 miles from the nearest town. They are really cut off from the rest of the world. They just got the road paved last year. This is the last town in northeast coast of Australia that we will see until we get to Darwin, which is still over 1000 miles away.

As soon as we got Sandpiper's anchor set, we rowed the 100 feet to shore. One thing about the rivers here in tropical northern Australia is that they are full of crocodiles. The guidebook for this area says that the Endeavour River is "croc infested", so this makes paddling a small inflatable boat to the beach even a little more adventurous than normal.

We made it ashore in time to witness the Queen's Birthday 'Truck Pull' in town. I was expecting to see two trucks tied together trying to pull each other in opposite directions. But I was a little disappointed to find out that their 'truck pull' was a large truck with a rope tied to the front bumper that you could pull through town.

Australians love their beer, and so does Team Sandpiper. Every person we saw in town had a beer in their hands. The town council even makes it legal to drink beer while you walk around downtown for these 3 days. There were plenty of people walking around dragging their Eskies (ice chests) of beer. The truck pull was followed by an extremely short parade, then more beer drinking. Amy and I sampled all the bars (there's only one street in downtown), and by late night I think we had met everyone in town.

In the camp ground right next to downtown there was an 18 wheeler trailer parked that opens up on one side and had a band playing in it and people partying in front. Cooktown is kind of funny because it is so small yet it has plenty of pubs to visit. The one pub on one end of town is where all the white locals go. And the pub on the other end is the bar is where the Aboriginals go. We ended to night at the Aboriginals pub, which was a complete contrast since we were the only white people there. But they did seem to be having the most fun and had to best band.

We awoke this morning (Sunday) to hear our friends' voices from S/V Shiraz. They had just arrived and were right next to us getting ready to drop their anchor.

We all went ashore at 10am to see the annual reenactment of Captain Cook's landing. It was very cool! There were Aboriginal people ashore dressed in their native garb. Then a wooden boat was rowed ashore with actors filling roles of Captain Cook and his crew. When Cook's ship Endeavour ran up on the reef just south of here in 1770 they had to throw over their anchors and cannons in order to lighten their ship so they would be able to pull their ship off the reef. These items were found in the 1970's exactly where Captain Cook estimated where he thought he hit reef. He named this reef "Endeavour Reef".

One of the Endeavour's cannons is on display along the shore of the Endeavour River. The amazing thing is that this cannon still functions! All someone needs is a little gun powder to fire it. Part of the reenactment activities was just that. The crew from the Endeavour fired the cannon with hundreds of people standing right next to it.

As cool as Cooktown is, and we really would love just to spend one more day here, teams Sandpiper and Shiraz are leaving at Sunrise tomorrow for a 50 mile sail to Lizard Island. The winds are predicted to blow 30 knots the rest of the week. So if we do not leave now, we will be stuck here all week. Amy has big plans for Lizard Island... some snorkeling, hiking, and watching sunsets from the beach with our friends.

Tom and Amy

Notes From Ron:

• Not all Australian states celebrate the Queen's Birthday. Here in Western Australia, they renamed it Foundation Day to celebrate the founding the Swan River Colony by Captain Stirling, which became the Perth metro area.
• The Queen's Birthday is not actually the current queen's birthday (which is April 21). It is just a day set aside in many Commonwealth countries to celebrate the British Monarchy.
• The cannon on the river mouth in Cooktown is not from Cook's ship. Sounds like a local tall tale. In 1885 the town council requested the government send some armament to protect the town in the event of a Russian invasion. The Government responded by sending an 1803 model cannon, three cannon balls, two rifles and one officer to lead the defense of Cooktown.

Cairns, Queensland

Moored Cairns Marina
Cairns, Queensland
Australia
16’55.1S/145’46.9E

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, Dr. Bob!!!!!!!
Hope you enjoy your special day.
Cheers!

Hey all! We have been safely moored at the Cairns Marina since early this week and enjoying all the amenities such as showers, hot water, laundry, and a close location to town. It is also nice to have our friends on Shiraz and Blue Sky on the same dock.

Cairns is a big jumping off point for tours out to the reef. So there are lots of tourists, especially Asian tourists. With lots of tourists comes lots of shopping, which I certainly can’t complain about.

It seems that since we have pulled into the dock we have just been going, going, going. We enjoyed a swim at the Carins Swimming Lagoon. I went with the kids from Blue Sky to Muddy’s, a great kids playground complete with waterspouts to run through. We have done laundry, provisioning, scrubbing/buffing of the boat, and of course our nightly gatherings with our friends.

Also, Rene, Emma, Phoebe, Drake, Tom and I rode the Kuranda Scenic Railway from downtown Cairns to the small town of Kuranda. The trip winds through the nearby mountains going through 15 tunnels and over several bridges. The railway was established in the mid 1800’s to get supplies up to the people who lived in these villages as they were starving due to washed out the roads from all the rain. The town consists of one main street lined with tourist shops on either side. We saw enough boomerangs, didgeridoos, and crocodile souvenirs for the reminder of our trip.

Today, we are leaving the marina and anchoring in the river until later this afternoon when we will leave for an overnight trip to Cooktown, about 90 nautical miles. This weekend is a holiday, the Queen’s Birthday. Every year the town does a reenactment of Captain Cook’s landing called "Discovery Days". The book ‘Blue Latitudes’ (which we highly recommend) describes this weekend as a giant party complete with esky (cooler) races, a ute (big trucks) roundup, and of course lots of beer drinking. I met a guy on the dock the other day that described it as an insane asylum without walls. Should be fun.

Stay tuned; I’m sure we’ll have lots of stories from our Cooktown adventure.

Also, coming soon Team Sandpiper audio postings.

Love to all
Amy and Tom

Dunk Island, Queensland

Anchored Dunk Island
Queensland, Australia
17'55.9S/146'08.3E

Here we are at Dunk Island. Rene and I had big plans to check out the art from the artists' colony only to discover they haven't been in business since Cyclone Larry hit. Well... so much for checking out the island art.

We did, however, check out the island's bar and restaurant. Yesterday we went ashore with Shiraz, enjoyed some cold beers, and chatted about our great sail here. We decided to stick around for the night and hope our friends from Blue Sky would be pulling into the anchorage this afternoon. Instead, we found out they sailed right by us without calling on the radio and are already snug in a berth in Cairns. Sneaky!

We took advantage of sleeping in this morning. I then beat Tom at Scrabble, went in for lunch with Shiraz, and then beat Tom at Scrabble again. There was a time I couldn't even come close to winning a game. But now that I have Scrabble skills, look out!

We are going to pick up anchor here in about an hour for an overnight sail to Cairns (pronounced "cans"). We had some great winds coming here. So we are hoping for the same smooth sailing this trip.

Cairns will be our last big town before Darwin. So we hope to do a little provisioning, a couple of boat projects, and catch a movie. We will be staying at the marina and should have Internet access. So look for us on Skype.

We heard from my Dad this morning. He is safe at home in Sacramento after his cross-country Harley adventure. He rode with 30,000 other biker vets down Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, DC over the Memorial Day weekend. The bike must have handled great because he decided to ride it back home to California. Congrats Dad! Good on ya!

Chat with ya soon,
Amy and Tom

Notes From Ron:

• Cyclone Larry hit Queensland last year and did a lot of damage, including destroying Australia's banana crop for a year.
• Hey Amy! Did it occur to you that Tom's Scrabble skills are declining thanks to retirement and beer? Ha ha.

Orpheus Island, Queensland

Mooring Buoy at Little Pioneer Bay
Orpheus Island, Palm Islands
Queensland
Australia
18'35.7S/146'29.2E

It is 4pm and we just tied up to a mooring buoy in Little Pioneer Bay on Orpheus Island. We left Magnetic Island at 7am and were able to average 5 knots for most of the day. The wind was right off Sandpipers stern and we had the jib poled out for most of the day. We had to motor for a few hours when passed close to islands along the way. There were dead spots where the islands blocked the wind.

Orpheus Island is part of the Palm Islands. There is a large Aboriginal population, most of the people living on Palm Island. The Aboriginal population is a lot like the Native Americans who live on reservations back in North America. Palm Island is one of the native territories in Australia.

We are planning on staying here the night and departing at 6am along with our friends on S/V Shiraz, who are on a mooring buoy just in front of us.

Tom and Amy

Magnetic Island, Queensland

Anchored Horseshoe Cove
Magnetic Island, Queensland
Australia
19'06.7S/146'51.5E

First a huge thanks to brother Ron in Perth who is the master technician that runs this whole show on sandpiper38.blogspot.com. We just received a huge box from him, before we left Airlie Beach, full of all kinds of fun stuff.

Ron sent us a new portable DVD player. Our old one only worked when it was not attached to our TV. Amy and I had to squeeze our heads together just to watch the small screen. So we are back to movies on the TV! Also we got a whole spindle of DVD's that he copied for us. So we have tons of new movies to watch and swap with our friends.

Also, we got a very cool audio recorder. We will now be making audio files while we are traveling of things that happen along the way and of people we meet. Hopefully you will soon be able to listen to 'Team Sandpiper' as soon as we work out all the bugs.

We left Airlie Beach at 10am on Tuesday, sucking every last ounce of power from the dock, and taking our last hot showers for a while. We were able to sail as soon as we exited the marina. The winds were SE 15-20 knots, right off Sandpiper's stern.

We are getting much better at sailing downwind with the new jib pole. It really makes a huge difference in Sandpiper's speed. I cannot believe that we have come this far without one! We did have a pole before, when we left the U.S. But due to my own lack of skills, I rigged it improperly off the Mexican Coast, and it jammed against the lower shrouds. This made it impossible for us tack, and we were heading straight for land. We eventually knocked it off of the mast with a large hammer and threw it overboard as far as I could throw it.

We purchased a new one before we departed Mexico and arranged to have it shipped from the U.S. to Zihuatanejo, Mexico, where it was supposed to arrive just before we left to cross the Pacific. But we discovered at the last minute that it was too large to ship to us. So we left Mexico without it. Just as well, as it cost over a thousand dollars.

I found the jib pole we have now at the boat yard where Sandpiper was moored. It was buried under a bunch of old boat parts. The yard foreman told me I could have it for a case of beer, so we have a new pole! We drilled holes at the base of the mast and installed a stainless steel ring where the pole attaches. The other end clips to the jib sheet at the jib and is really easy to take in and out. So we are now fans of downwind sailing for the first time!

We sailed overnight for this 125 nautical mile trip. We arrived at the anchorage at Horseshoe Bay at Magnetic Island at 1pm on Wednesday only to see our friends on SV Shiraz had beat us here.

Magnetic Island is about 10 miles wide. 80% of the island is national park, the rest is houses, backpacker hotels, and restaurants. Today 'Team Sandpiper' hiked one of the trails, across the island, to the other side on and crashed the swimming pool at the Magnetic International Resort. We had lunch and a swim, then caught the island bus back and drank cold beers with 'Team Shiraz' to and plan our next stop.

We are leaving tomorrow morning at 7am for a 35 mile sail to Orpheus Island, where we plan to anchor for the night.

Tom and Amy

Notes From Ron:

• Yes, I plan to produce a regular audio podcast from Tom & Amy on the Sandpiper for my project "The Lost at Sea Show". I'm still developing it, so stayed tuned. I hope to also have S/V Christa and S/V Blue Sky on the show as regular contributer too. Should be awesome!
• Sailing directly downwind is difficult because the sails will flop from side to side with every little shift in the wind's or boat's direction. When this happens, it is called 'tacking', and the boom goes flying from one side of the boat to the other. When it happens unexpectedly, which is often when going straight downwind, it is dangerous and it can damage the sailing gear. By using the pole, it forces the jib sail to stay in place and not go flying around in the breeze.
• Hmmmm... I'm pleading the fifth on the DVD's. Don't know nothing about how that happened!