07-Aug-2006 Noon Position

French Polynesia to Niue
South Pacific Ocean

• 07-Aug-2006
• 16°52.4000"S/153°42.2000"W
• 113nm in last 24hrs
• 113nm from Bora Bora
• 931nm to Niue
  
• 10-15knots SE

Ahoy from Team Sandpiper!!

We have finally broke free from French Polynesia and are heading to the tiny county of Niue, on our way to Tonga. This crossing is about 10 days to Niue. Then 3 more days to Tonga, if the good weather holds.

We were supposed to have left Bora Bora last week. But a low pressure system moved through and stole the trade winds. It shifted the winds from the West, exactly the direction we wanted to go. I guess there are worse places to be stuck if you have to be stuck somewhere!

The problem was that our 90-day visa had expired. And we had already checked out of French Polynesia. So we had to hide the Sandpiper from the Frenchies. We spend the last week doing a lot of snorkeling and hanging out with our friends from the S/V Sensei and the S/V Blue Sky. We all spent one very stormy day moored to the mooring balls at the Yacht Club, drinking beer, and watching a charter boat get a mooring ball wrapped in their propeller.

The following day we anchored off the Hotel Bora Bora. It was excellent snorkeling, as this is the one day that there was no wind. The water was crystal clear!!

We have been sailing for the last 24 hours, averaging 5 knots. The winds are predicted to be the same for the next 4 days. So go Sandpiper!!

Tom and Amy

Still in Bora Bora

Ron here. I got an email from Tom. They are still in Bora Bora.

Sorry for the delay, we have had really bad radio conditions and have not been able to get our emails everyday. We are still here in Bora Bora and wanted to have left already but there is no wind due to a low pressure system in front of us so we might be here till next week, guess there is worse places to be stuck...

Bora Bora

• 29-Jul-2006
• 16°31.6000"S/151°44.7000"W
• Bora Bora, Society Islands, French Polynesia

Greetings All!

We hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend. Tom and I have been pretty busy these last few weeks trying to get in as much of French Polynesia as we can before our visa expired.

After the great snorkeling in Huahine, it was time to get our butts in gear. Our next stop was Raiatea, a 20 mile motor sail from Huahine. Our sole purpose for the one night stop in Raiatea was for provisioning and fuel. After entering the pass, our plan was to cruise past the fuel pier to check it out and see what we were in for. To our surprise, we found a small city marina. There was room for about 10 boats. And it is directly across the street from the grocery store and part of the fuel pier. It couldn't have been any more convenient.

After squeezing Sandpiper on the docks, we hit the grocery store. We spent more money on provisions since leaving Mexico. Granted, we did buy 8 bottles of our new favorite Tahitian vanilla rum.

The next morning the wind really started to pick up. Of course it was going to make moving the boat 100 feet to the fuel pier a bit of a challenge. But we were successful, with some help from our neighbors. We topped of the fuel tanks (duty free fuel has saved us a lot of money!), the water tanks, and we were off to the next island... Tahaa.

Sometime ago we saw a flyer for a Hotel Hibiscus and Yacht Club. So we really wanted to check it out. It is never what the pictures look like, or what you have imagined in your head. The hotel is also a turtle nursery, except they only had two turtles, and I think they were fine. They just keep them hostage to have something to show. The hotel itself looked liked it hadn't been maintained in 10 years. It is definitely not a place we would recommend. We did get a free mooring ball for the night, and we met some crazy Texans on a charter catamaran.

Our guide book says that around the corner are moorings for visitors to the pearl farm. So we figure we'll check it out. With all these free moorings around, we thought they sure are cruiser friendly in these parts. But we soon realized the moorings aren't for cruisers. They are for the charter folks. And there are lots of charters in these waters. Anyways, the moorings were working out well for us.

Once we arrived at the pearl farm and got our mooring, we realized there was nobody at the farm. So, on to the next stop which was to meet back up with our friends on Sensei at the Vaitoare Yacht Club. Finally we have found a real yacht club with brand new showers, laundry, Internet, and of course, mooring balls. This place was fabulous. I wish we weren't on such a tight schedule because I could have stayed for a few nights. But the next morning we were off for our final stop, Bora Bora.

Our sail to Bora Bora was great. There was lots of wind and even some squalls. There is one pass into Bora Bora's famous lagoon. Once in the lagoon, then straight ahead is the Bora Bora Yacht Club.

Even though I was able to do a load of laundry in Tahaa it had been a long while for us. So the pile was large. We spent the first two days in Bora doing laundry, cleaning and fixing boat, and all that other stuff that is no fun.

After we were ship-shape and officially checked out of French Polynesia, we moved to a motu that is suppose to have some of the best snorkeling on Bora Bora. Ever since we got here, the wind has been howling with 35 knots gusts. So swimming and snorkeling is not any good. The current here is strong, and with all the wind, the under water visibility is less than spectacular.

We thought if we moved to the leeward side of the island, maybe it would be better. But the current was still ripping. We took the dingy out to a smaller motu and found some great shells and a nice place to watch the sunset. So we back to the boat for some downtime until sunset. The sunset was spectacular! Along with our friends off Sensei, we had our own island to watch the sun go down.

I have to mention that our last anchorage was in front of the Sheraton. After we left, someone from the hotel came out and approached all the boats. They said that they had a special guest and all boats needed to move. I was shocked that a guest could be so demanding. Or that it was even legal to demand this. After all, these are open waters. Anyhow, the guest was Eva Longoria from "Desperate Housewives". She is now being called some nasty names by lots of cruisers.

This now brings us to yesterday, Friday. We (Sensei, Shiraz, and Sandpiper) picked up anchor and headed for the famous Bloody Mary's restaurant moorings. Our reservation was for 8, so Tom and I explored some more of Bora Bora. There are so many hotels here. Bloody Mary's was great! After all this time, we have finally found a Tiki Bar.

As of today, Saturday, we are still moored at Bloody Mary's. The wind is still ripping and we are just waiting for Monday so we can go to the bank, go to the store, and then say goodbye to French Polynesia.

Our plan as of now is to leave here Monday afternoon on a 1000 mile, or 10 day, sail to the country of Nui. We are skipping the Cook Islands because we are really looking forward to spending some extra time in Tonga.

Nui was not part of our original plan. But we heard the water is super clear because they have no rivers. You can see 200 feet down. It is a really tiny island, and neither of us had never even heard of it before. So why not?

Next time you hear from us will be early next week during our crossing. Hope all is well with everyone. Love,

Tom & Amy

Notes From Ron:

• I found this July 2005 review of Hotel Hibuscus on Tahaa titled "How to make your wife cry during honeymoon" with lovely photos of the scary room.
• An article about the hotel's turtle farm.
• Here are some good pictures of Bora Bora with the Yatch Club and Bloody Mary's from the journale of the S/V Felicity.
  

Huahine Island

• 19-Jul-2006
• 16°48.5000"S/150°59.5000"W
• Huahine
• Society Islands
• French Polynesia

Ahoy from the Southern end of Huahine Island! We arrived yesterday morning after an all night sail from Moorea in winds over 30 knots. We were with a group of other boats that left at the same time. The passage was only 90 miles. So we were all trying to stay under 5 knots because we did not want to make landfall before sunrise. So it was a race to see who could stay under 5 knots. It was a problem for the bigger boats, as the wind was so strong. But not for Sandpiper! We had a double-reefed main with the staysail and had a good ride, considering the conditions. As for the bigger boats, they were rolling all over because they hardly had any sail up at all.

We had a four day delay leaving Moorea. Our laptop computer’s screen decided to go blank. It has all of our charting and email programs. At the same time, my bank will not let me get cash from an ATM. And Amy’s bank decided to cancel access to her cards as well! Trying to call our banks is about impossible, as it would have cost us more than $50 dollars for one call. We had no way to get $50 dollars.

We were able to SKYPE Amy's dad Bob from an internet café. Because the internet connections are really slow in Moorea, SKYPE would disconnect when we were put on hold by the banks. Bob was able to take his SKYPE headset and hold it next to his telephone so we could speak to the bank. A weird way to connect, but it worked!

Amy ran downstairs to the bank while I chatted with Bob. She was able to get money out of her account, which was a good thing, as I do not think we had enough money to pay for our internet use.

It all worked out great as our friends from the S/V Sensei caught up with us from Tahiti. We were able to spent time with them.

One of the really cool things about being in Cook’s Bay (which we mentioned in our last entry), is that the Hotel Bali Hai, which we were anchored off of, is really cruiser friendly. They allow us tie our dinghies up at their hotel. If you every want to take a vacation and want to stay at a neat hotel, then I would totally recommend staying here. Moorea is the best island we have been to yet. And this hotel right on the water. They have over-the-water bungalows. And the prices are very fair, considering the competition. They have a $5 dollar Wednesday island dance show.

And our favorite part is one of the hotel’s owners, “Muk”, speaks out by the pool every night. You bring your own booze, and he supplies the ice while he drinks his 2 airline bottles of tequila. Muk is legendary. He came out to Moorea in the 1950's with two friends from California and bought 400 acres of land. They started a vanilla farm, which failed as soon as they started. So instead they started one of the island’s first hotels and were known as "The Boys from Bali Hai". We spent several nights listening to Muk, and met some really cool people that were staying at the hotel.

We then moved back to Baie de Oponmohu so we could swim with the rays once more before we left (check out the photos). We had heard that there are underwater tiki's that could be snorkelled on. But we were not sure of the exact location, as the source that told us about these tiki's was a local guy at the bar. After we anchored, Cris (from S/V Sensei) and I dingied about 50 yards from where we anchored. Then there they were, in about 10 feet of water, looking up at us in the clear water! The spot we anchored in is not in any of the cruising books that we have. We had the place to ourselves. All the other boats were all crammed together in the anchorage on the other side of the bay.

We inflated a ski tube that we have and we spent the day taking turns whipping everyone around the anchorage. Then we snorkelled the tiki's. Then we swam with the rays. Rough day!

The day we left Moorea the wind was blowing over 30 knots in the anchorage. Being that we were surrounded by reefs, we just stayed on the boat and got ready for our overnight passage to Huahine. We left at sunset.

We are now anchored at the very southern end of Huahine. We had to enter the pass at the north end of the island and then transit 8 miles inside to lagoon to this anchorage. Our friends on S/V Sensei had recommended this spot, as they had been here before on a charter.

The water here is unbelievably clear. We are anchored in 30 feet of water, and we can see every fish and coral head under us without even getting in the water! We spent yesterday dinghing around the reefs, snorkelling, and walking on the white sand beaches. Today we have more water activities scheduled followed by a BBQ on the S/V Sensei with cocktails.

Team Sandpiper’s current plans are to leave here tomorrow morning and sail over to Raiatea Island, which is about 30 miles away. We will stay for the night to refuel, as we have not gotten fuel since the Marquesas. And we need to get groceries because we are out of beer and rum. We have to get moving to Bora Bora as because we are checking out of French Polynesia before our visa expires on July 26th. It would be easy to stay here for ever. But, we would be flat broke very soon.

After Bora Bora, we plan on sailing to Rarotonga (Cook Islands), the country of Niue that consists of one small island, Tonga, Fiji, Vanuatu, New Caledonia, Brisbane Australia by 1 November, then Sydney Australia for a 6 month stop for hurricane season.

Tom and Amy

Baie De Cook

• 06-Jul-2006
• 17°30.1000"N/149°49.2000"E
• Baie De Cook (Cook's Bay)
• Moorea, Society Islands
• French Polynesia

Greetings from Cook’s Bay in Moorea. And Happy belated 4th-of-July America!!

Amy and I spent the spent the 4th-of-July by getting up and jumping in the dinghy for a 4 mile ride inside the reefs to try to find the elusive rays that everyone who comes here swims with. We got lucky and followed the tour boats right to the spot. Just inside the reef in about 4 feet of water, are a huge group of rays that will swim right up to you. The rays are used to the tour boats that hand feed them.

I am not so sure that the tour boats were happy that we were there with our own dinghy swimming among their clients. But we did swim among the rays, and even had them bumping into us in the hope we had some food. It is a little freaky, as some are over 4ft long.

We then dinghied on a little further to a small motu where the tour boats take their customers for lunch. We walked around and snorkeled until they asked us to leave when they realized we were not one of their customers. We then dingied back to where the rays were. By this time all the tour boats had left and all the rays swam right up to the our dinghy looking for handouts.

We pulled up anchor and motored 4 miles east to Cooks Bay. We anchored where we thought was a great spot when our nemesis “night squall!!!!” hit us at midnight and pushed us up on a reef that comes out a ways from land.

Since the water over here is not as clear as our last anchorage, you cannot see the reef. So we started the engine, Amy pulled up the anchor, and we had to motor around the anchorage. None of the cruisers in the anchorage use their anchor lights, and the rain was blowing sideways. Anyway, all went well, and we re-anchored right in the middle of the bay.

The winds here are really weird. They will be blowing 20 knots in one direction, then all the sudden the wind will start blowing 20 knots in the exact opposite direction. This makes all the boats in the anchorage swing in different directions. So you really have to anchor a good distance from the other boats and hope any new boats to anchorage do not anchor too close to you. Otherwise you might have someone’s boat bumping into yours

We are anchored right off the the Bali Hai Hotel. The hotel allows us tie up our dinghys there and hang out on their facilities. It is a really low-key hotel/RCI timeshare that is “cruiser” friendly.

Yesterday, after much research, Amy and I finally got our Polynesian tattoos. We hitchhiked over to Roonui Tattoo where we had made an appointment and got “inked” up. Roonui and his wife run this shop. He is a world famous tattooist that only does native island Polynesian design tattoos in black. This is the original place were the first tattoo’s were done and witnessed by Captain Cook. People fly here from all over the world to have tattoos done by Roonui. There are other tatooists here, but he is the best in the whole South Pacific. That is why we waited to get to Moorea for a tattoo.

He is very unique. His wife asks you what ideas and interests you have. Then she draws up a rough outline of the tattoo all-freehand. Amy got a native island design on her right foot that has a Tiki (protector) and waves. Mine was a little more complex, as I wanted something that that has a lot of ink and went from the top of my shoulder to just above my elbow. Roonui went out to his front yard for about 45 minutes and drew out a sketch of a very cool Polynesian tattoo that he called “The Navigator”. It has a compass and waves, as the first navigators were the Polynesians. I am not sure if I really count as a "navigator" because we got here using electronic charts.

It took over 3 hours and was quite painful. But is really one of the coolest tattoos I have ever seen. He really did a great job!!! Not sure what his web site looks like, but check him out at www.roonuitattoo.com.

After the tattoos, we hitchhiked back to the hotel and saw a five dollar Polynesian dance show. We thought was going to be really corny, but it turned out to be really cool.

We then went back to Maria’s Café, were we had been last week, to see the band play again. They now play 1960’s American rock & roll. It is rather funny, as the lead guitarist is from the U.S. and the rest of his band is French. Their harmonica player just recovered from heart surgery after he had a heart attack. He was flown to New Zealand and this was his first show since surgery. Everything was great and nobody had to do CPR.

Today Amy and I rented a car for a tour or Moorea. It is a small, open, go-cart like car, but has a windshield.

Our first stop was the Rotui Juice Factory. We have been drinking this stuff since arriving in the Marquises. I have become addicted to it as it soooo good. I think they put something in this stuff so you cant stop drinking it. We even left the factory today with a case of it. There is nothing better than a Pamplemousse (Polynesian grapefruit) and rum. MMMMmmmmmm.

We then went around the island in the rain, stopping at all the tourist sites along the way. We even loaded up this small car with grocereries!

Our current plan is to stay here through the weekend and spend some time with our friends on S/V Sensei, which is supposed to show up tomorrow. Then we will start looking at the winds to see when we can leave for Raiatea, an overnight sail from here.

One note: Keeping the blog updated from our end has become difficult. We are having a hard time getting our shortwave SailMail system to connect because we are so far away from the antenna that gets our signal. It is in San Luis Obispo, California. Also, there is no WiFi here. So we are trying to keep things updated when we can find an internet café. So please stand by as we try to get everything back up to date.

Tom and Amy

Notes From Ron:

• Roonui Tattoo's website is still under construction. Here are some photos of Mr. Roonue at work. Here are some photos of some of his tats.
• Motu is a Polynesian word for an island made of exposed coral. The Tuamotu Archipelago, where they just left, is a collection of motu's. I found this explaination...

  In the South Pacific eons ago, volcanos erupted at sea, forming islands. Coral reefs were being born in shallow waters off shore. In time, the islands started to return to the sea, while their barrier reefs continued to grow, broke the surface and formed their own islands called Motu (in Polynesian). They are usually separated from their island mother by a turquoise lagoon.

Baie De Opunohu

• 03-Jul-2006
• 17°29.2000"N/149°51.0000"E
• Baie De Opunohu
• Moorea, Society Islands
• French Polynesia

As I write this, the sun is setting into the crystal clear waters of Moorea. I kid you not, but I can hear someone playing a ukulele over at the beach.

Last time we wrote, we had just arrived at the Tahiti Yacht Club. After hunting all over town for boat parts (electric fuel pump, sea strainer, snorkel gear), doing 8 loads of laundry, provisioning at a real supermarket, updating photos on the blog, and checking in with family using Skype, we headed out of the Yacht Club and into downtown Papeete.

Tom says the Papeete Quay is something all sailors dream about getting to see one day. So that was our next stop. It used to be a lot different down at the quay... crowded, with lots of rough looking boats, and a bit of a sketchy neighborhood. Well, it's all cleaned up now. There is a new pier with power and water.

It is not like a regular marina were you side tie to the dock. You "Med-moor" here. That is when you drop anchor about one boat's length away from the pier, back in, and tie off lines from the boat to the pier. This was our first time med-mooring. With a little help from our German neighbors, we were tied up in no time. Being tied at the pier you are right downtown. There is traffic zooming by, tourists walking the pier, and great access to lots of restaurants and bars.

We ended up really enjoying our stay on the quay. We stayed for 3 nights. On our last day on the island we did a half day tour, went to the Botanical Gardens & Gauguin Museum, and checked out some black sand beaches. This was a great way to see the island in one quick swoop. Papeete turned out to be not so bad after all.

Friday morning we said goodbye to Papeete and McDonald's and headed to Moorea, 17 nautical miles away. Moorea is our new favorite spot! When you think of paradise, this is it! The island is 37 miles round, with the highest point being 3500 feet or so. White sand beaches, beautiful turquoise water, flowers everywhere, and perfectly placed protruding mountains. It has everything you think paradise could have.

The sail over was uneventful, and actually not very comfortable. But Tom did see a local island girl pass us on a speed boat, topless, flashing the hang-loose sign at him. So that made up for the ride.

There are two bays here, Cook's bay and Upanoho Bay. Cook's bay named for Captain Cook, who cruised this area in the 1800's. He never even dropped anchor in Cook's bay. But he did in Upanoho Bay.

We set our anchor just inside the pass at Upanohu Bay in 15 feet of clear blue water. We tested out the waters for a short snorkel and then the winds came. That night was a little restless sleeping, as the winds really picked up, and boats got pretty close to one another. The next morning we had gusts up to 35 knots. We wouldn't have felt comfortable leaving the boat, so we just picked up anchor and moved inside the bay to Robinson's Cove, all the way at the end of the bay.

We went into town, met up with some cruiser friends, and checked out the local Mexican restaurant. There we met a honeymooning couple from Indy. It turns out we graduated the same year, and she knew half my class! Six degrees of separation.

We enjoyed a band that played Dead tunes, and even got a ride home from one of the guitar players. People here are great!

The winds died the next day. So back to anchoring in paradise for one more day of snorkeling the day away. Since the winds were going to stay calm the next few days, we headed over to the west side of the bay and anchored right in front of a construction site for a new small-boat basin. It was not the prettiest of scenery. But it is close to a town and some really swanky hotels.

The International Beachcomber Hotel is nearby. It features bungalows over the water for a mere $1100 a night. They have dolphins you can swim with, a turtle rehab area, pool, spa, all the goods. We actually crashed the pool today, but felt real uncomfortable, so we opted for more snorkeling.

While in search of the best tattooist in all of French Polynesia, we stopped for a fruit smoothie. This place was great. His house was his old boat. He was a sailor from France who came here 15 years ago. He started a charter company, then got in a motorcycle accident and had to move to land. So he just moved his boat too. His boat/house/restaurant is a double-hulled native canoe with a cabin and thatched roof. What a character. Great guy to just sit and talk to. He is really eager to get back out on the water again someday. We said we would take over his business.

We really like it here in Moorea and would like to spend forever here. But we are going to try to do two weeks. The visa expires on July 26, so we are getting close. This week we will keep ourselves busy with a tour of Tom's favorite juice factory, rent go-carts to tour the island, swim with rays, move the boat to Cook's bay, check out a $5 Polynesian show, and we found our tattoo guy. Tattoo appointments are set for Wednesday.

A big thanks to everyone that sent us care packages and mail. It was great to hear from some of you. We look forward to watching our new movies, reading our new books, and we are almost caught up on all of the latest tabloid trash. Thanks again.

Ok... one last story. So when we arrived at the Yacht Club I found a 4-inch flying cockroach living in the aft cabin. I wasn't happy about this. He would only come out at night, and he moved really fast. Needless to say, I didn't want to sleep in the aft cabin. Tom had no problem. The fourth night came around, and after chasing him with several shoes, we finally got him. We made sure this roach wasn't coming back on Sandpiper again. We squashed him in a paper towel, then rubber-banded a rock around him, and threw him in the water as far as we could. I'm happy to report we are bug free.

Notes from Ron:

• Mont Tohiea is the highest pike on Moorea. It is 3,959 feet above sea level.
• Mediterranean Mooring is a type of docking that maximizes the number of boats which can be docked to a pier. Each boat is docked with its stern to the pier with a rode and anchor going forward, away from the pier. Boats are then docked next to each other. Go to the bottom of this page so see an animated illustration of this technique.

Tahiti Yacht Club

21 Jun 06
Mooring Ball, Tahiti Yacht Club, Arue,
Society Islands,
South Pacific
17'31.4S/149'32.0W

Greetings from the Tahiti Yacht Club!! We are moored up to the Yacht Club's mooring balls (six dollars a day!!) and have access to all the clubs facilities, hot showers, cheap laundry, WIFI, fresh water and a bar with ice cold Hinano on draft. These are the first real showers we have had since Mexico (although showering in Rick’s Bar really doesn’t count).

We are about 4 miles from downtown Papeete. We almost biffed a reef coming in the channel, as it is not marked very well. They sent out a boat that waved us off just before we saw the reef. They guided us down the correct channel to the Yacht Club.

Most people envision Tahiti’s romantic sunny beaches filled with happy islanders paddling their canoes around the harbor. The reality of Tahiti is two-lane roads with bumper to bumper traffic, lots of stores full of imported garbage, no beaches, dirty water, and people on cell phones. The best part is the one-hour, commercial free, hardcore west coast gangsta rap music that would never be played in the U.S. due to the language. Every song must have the sound of a gun shot going off, or they will not play it.

Needless to say, it is great to be back in civilization for a week to resupply, get mail, and fix broken boat items. We are looking forward to getting back “out there”.

We are back in the land of the Internet. When there is a WiFi connection, we are going to try to get all of our pictures posted.

Also, we are able to make phone calls using our laptop and a headset using Skype. If you have not installed Skype yet, then get it!! Not only are computer-to-computer phone calls free, but we can call the States to a regular phone for 1 cent a minute. The coolest part is, if you have Skype on your end, and we hook our WIFI, you can see that we are online and you can chat with us. Our SKYPE address is sandpipertomandamy. So go to SKYPE and download it so we can talk to all of you!!

Using a regular phone here requires you to buy a phone card for $15.00 and it only lasts for about 7 minutes.

We would like to give a huge shout out to Shawn Lootens and my mom for sending us packages!!! Thank you so much for all the loot. it’s all greatly appreciated!!

Tom and Amy

Papeete

• 18-Jun-2006
• 17°31.2000"S/149°32.8000"W

Papeete
Tahiti, Society Islands
French Polynesia

Just a quick note to let everyone know we made it to Tahiti in record time and sailed the whole way with an average speed over 6 knots!! We made it one hour after sunset to the channel entrance. Sandpiper is anchored just inside the entrance with another boat that was going to spend the night outside that decided to follow us in.

Sandpiper leads the way...

More later once we get moored up in the morning at the Tahiti Yacht Club. We are hoping to get our pictures updated, if we can get internet at the Yacht Club.

Tom and Amy

17-Jun-2006 Noon

• 17-Jun-2006
• 15°25.4000"S/148°14.2000"W
• 44.5 nm last 24 hrs
• 44.5nm from Rangoria, Tuamoato Islands
• 145 nm to Tahiti, Society Islands
• E 10 knot winds
• 3ft E swell

Back at sea!!! We left lovely Rangoria this morning at 9am to make the tide at the pass. Sandpiper is enoute Tahiti where we hope to arrive at first light Monday morning.

We had a great time in Rangoria. We got to ride bikes, snorkel, and spend a few days with our friends on SV Sensei. They had caught up with us.

We attempted to cross the lagoon for a not so fun trip. The lagoon is 20 miles wide, and we sailed across where the depth stayed between 80-100ft. Our guide book said there was a great place to anchor on the other side. We had planned on staying over there for a few days. What the book did not say is that the anchorages on the other side are exposed to the wind. And, you are anchoring on a lee shore!!

We got there with the wind blowing 20 knots. No way are we anchoring there. So we tried for the next anchorage, 5 miles away, straight upwind, and only making 2 knots. We decided the best option was to head back to the anchorage where we had started from that morning.

We got back after sunset. Trying to maneuver and anchor in the dark is not fun at best. Then a squall hit us. Then our fishing pole flew over the side.

Before we left Rangoria we stopped by the Shell gas station. They are also the island's fishing gear supplier. I asked the guy for a fishing lure quarenteed to catch the big one. He showed us one and rigged it up for us after we told him that was the one for us.

After getting away for Rangoria, we hooked a nice wahoo on our new, expensive, lure. Our first fish since we left Mexico! I think the fish here knew the lures were Mexican, and being French fish, they turned their noses up at them. But now with this really expensive French lure, they cannot resist.

We plan on spending about a week at Tahiti. We are planning at mooring at the Tahiti Yacht Club where they have promised us a mooring. They have hot showers and laundry! The only hot showers in the South Pacific.

10-Jun-2006 Noon

• 10-Jun-2006
• 14°58.2000"S/147°38.1000"W

Avatoru
Rangiroa Atoll, Tuamotu Archipelago
French Polynesia

So... you are probably wondering why we haven't written to say our sail went great. And that we made it through the pass OK. It is because this place is so amazing that we have not had time to sit down and write.

Trying to leave Mahini was quite the chore. It took us over an hour to pull up the anchor because it was wrapped around a bunch or coral heads. Lots of hard work on Sandpiper's windless (electric anchor wench). It took both Tom and I using a chain hook on a winch to get free.

After getting the anchor up, we heading back out of the pass at Mahhini at 12:15pm with no problems. We pulled up the sails and headed to Rangiroa, 100 miles away. We put a double reef in the main, rolled out the jib, put up the staysail, and we were cruising at 6.5 knots. Beautiful ride. Love those trade winds.

Our GPS said if we kept up that speed, then we would end up in Rangiroa at 5am. That is way too early. The sun is not up and the tide in the pass wouldn't be in our favor. At around 5am we were 10 miles from the pass entrance. We pulled down all sails, except the main (that was double reefed), and the slowest we could go was 4.5 to 5.0 knots.

We made it to the pass entrance along with 2 other boats an hour before it was clear to enter. So we all motored around in circles for about an hour in 20-30 knots of wind and some nice swells. At the same time we got hit by a squall, and there was no way we were entering a pass during a squall. So after another hour, we said "Lets do it. It looks fine". Of course as soon as we entered, the others followed. We hailed them on the radio to report "We're not sure if we are actually going through with this. So you might not want to follow us." But they did anyways.

The pass was something! The current was still ripping when we went through. We had to buck it at full throttle, and were only making 1.5 knots.

Once inside, we found PARADISE! We are anchored right along a beach in front of the Kia Or Resort Hotel. It has small thatched-roof bungalows sitting over the water along a white sand beach. This is the place that everyone should come visit when they think of the South Pacific. Have you ever seen the screen saver that everyone has of paradise?? This is it...

The water is really clear. We can see the bottom at 25ft in the moonlight.

Amy and I had dinner at Joesphine's Pension. It is right on the water's edge. We had a huge dinner of tuna caprse, a main course of rice and curried Mahi Mahi with papaya chutney, and a dessert of chocolate tort. Very delicious!!

Our current plans are to stay here for about 2 weeks, then sail across the lagoon (which is about 15 miles) for a few days, check out the black pearl farms, take a bike ride, snorkel, crash the hotel pool, and check out the vineyard here. Can you believe that they grow grapes here??. We plan see as much as we can.

The gravel roads here are made of crushed coral from the reefs!! All the islands here are no higher 4 feet above sea level. There is no way I would be anywhere around here in a typhoon. One of the locals told us that last time a typhoon was heading this way, all the women and children were evacuated to Tahiti.

I am not sure where one would go for safety in a storm, as all the buildings are only one story, and the water would cover the whole island.

Amy and Tom

06-Jun-2006 Noon

• 06-Jun-2006
• 14°27.6000"S/146°3.1998"W

Manihi atoll, Tuamotu Archipelago
French Polynesia
South Pacific

We made it to Manihi and through the pass! We fist saw land around 9am Monday morning ,and made it to the pass at exactly noon. We had a boat 'Yol', from Turkey, about 10 miles ahead of us all night. We kept in radio contact with them throughout the passage. They actually weren't even coming here, but decided to stop because we were. We don't even know them. Weird.

Anyways... the pass. Ya, it was hairy. 'Yol' actually went in right before us. As we started to make our way in, he came on the radio in a panic saying "I'm coming out and following you in". Great! So 'Team Sandpiper' took their positions, Amy at the helm keeping a close watch on the depth finder, and Tom at the bow watching for any coral or shallow water up ahead. Thank goodness for polarized sunglasses.

Coming through there was no current, so that was good. But at the top of the water way, the water seemed to be small rapids. We did hit 7.5 feet of water, which is pretty shallow. 7.5 feet of water in Mexico is no big deal because you can't see bottom. But 7.5 feet here is scary because the waters so clear that you can see giant boulders. Heck! 20 feet of water is scary here because it is so clear.

Well. We made it through along with 'Yol', headed to the right, and there was our friend Ken off of the 'Panache'. We are the only boats here. If wasn't for us, the 'Panache' and the 'Yol' wouldn't be here either. For some reason people follow us.

We haven't even been to shore yet. We are just doing boat projects and catching up on sleep.

These atolls look exactly how I pictured. Crazy! Ron, can you try to find a photo for the blog so the folks at home can see? [Here they are] These people really live out in the middle of nowhere, off the grid. Their homes are 2 feet above sea level. If a hurricane ever hit here, forget about it.

Most of the islanders are black pearl farmers. You can see in the middle of the atoll are houses on stilts. These are their work houses with the pearl farms beneath. I am hoping to go on a tour of one soon.

We are off tomorrow afternoon for Rangiroa. It is 100 miles away, so it wll be an overnight sail. Rangiroa is a much larger atoll, actually the largest in the world. We will probably hang out there for about a week so you'll here from us then.

Love to all,

Amy and Tom

Notes From Ron:

• Polarized sunglasses eliminate the reflection of sunlight off of the surface of water. They allow you to see below the surface. More info here.
• I think the Sandpiper's draws about 5.5 feet of water. I hope Tom will give the exact depth. So 7.5 feet leaves only 2 feet of water below the keel... not a whole of lot of space there.
• The pearls are black, not the farmers.

04-Jun-2006 Noon

• 04-Jun-2006
• 144°21.2000"S/12°51.8000"W
• 102 nm last 24 hrs
• 341nm from Nuka Hiva, Marquesas Islands
• 138nm to Manihi, Tuamoato Islands
• E 5-10 knot winds
• 3ft E swell

Big day today.. SHOWER DAY! Took a nice, long, 5 gallon shower today. It sure felt nice. It was even a bit chilly after. Daily showers with hot water and water pressure is definitely something I miss. However, taking a solar shower on the deck of Sandpiper is also a great experience.

We are out in God's country these last few days. I feel more in the middle of nowhere today than I did the 28 day crossing.

Yesterday our grib file (wind report) predicted for us 15-knots of wind today, which makes for great sailing. Well we haven't had any wind today. We have been motoring since 9am. Real bummer... but at least we know we'll get there on time.

You see, you must show up to the these atolls at specific times in order to enter the pass at slack tide. Some of these passes have a 9 knot current. So if you go in at the wrong time, you could end up in the coral. Not too long ago the Tuamotos were skipped all together by sailors because of the dangerous and hairy passes you need to enter.

This is why we are keeping our atolls sightseeing to a limit. The three atolls Toms picked out have large, and somewhat easy, passes to maneuver through. So tomorrow, around noon, wish us luck so we make it through our first pass.

A quick update on our sail last night. Around midnight I couldn't keep my eyes open any longer . So I called Tom to relieve my watch. Apparently, as soon as I went below the autopilot failed. This is huge because we do not want to have to sterr the boat at all. "Not even for ten minutes.", as Tom says. After two hours of Tom rebuilding it 5 times, taking out gears, and finally replacing the motor, we are back in business! Thank goodness for Captain Tom!

Love to all,
Amy

03-Jun-2006 Noon

• 03-Jun-2006 Noon
  
• 11° 41.3"S /143° 5.9"W
• 115 nm last 24 hrs
• 239nm from Nuka Hiva, Marquesas Islands
• 240nm to Manihi, Tuamoato Islands
• E 5-10 knot winds
• 3ft E swell
  

Another night at sea, and we are half way there! We had a great night of sailing, then the wind just vanished today. We were able to sail most the da,y very slowly, between 2-3 knots. We were surrounded by squalls all day long, that somehow Sandpiper was able to sail through and around without getting wet.

There is a morning SSB/Ham radio net for French Polynesia called "The Coconut Net". We are able to check in. And we can hear about where all the other boats are anchored, and what it is like where they are at.

02-June-2006 Noon Report

• 10'25.7S/141'37.8W
• 119 nm last 24 hrs
• 125nm from Nuka Hiva
• 378nm to Manihi, Tuamoato Islands
• SE 15-20 knots wind
• 4-6ft SE swell

Had a fun night sailing through a bunch of night squalls full of wind and rain!! You know what Capt'n Ron says... "They come on you fast. And they leave you fast."

Today the Sandpiper was able to sail at 6 knots all day, and am hoping the winds hold, as we are making great time. We came within one mile of a longliner fishing boat last night. And there is another sailboat a few miles behind us on the same course. So we are back to keeping a really good eye out, as on the Pacific Crossing we really did not see any other boats.

Don't forget to get those packages sent out as we are to be in Tahiti in 3 weeks!!!

01-June-2006 Noon Report

01-Jun-2006 Noon

9'01.8S/140'11.9W 6nm from Nuka Hiva, Marquesas Islands 473nm to Manihi, Tuamoato Islands SE 10-12 knots wind 3ft SE swell

Hey all! June 1st already! Team Sandpiper back at sea once again. We left this morning at 1030am from Nuka Hiva and are finally headed to the Tuamoatos.

After one last run to the Magasin (store) Larson (no relation... unless there is Chinese somewhere in the family) for fresh baguettes, eggs, and Tom's favorite pineapple juice, we started getting ship shape. We took down the laundry, which had 3 rinse cycles, due to all the extra rain. We deflated and stowed the dingy, and made sure everything down below was ready to go. We pulled out of the anchorage around 10:30am, and had all the sails up and the motor off by 11:30.

Today was the kind of sailing Jimmy sings about! 12 to 15 knots of wind off our port, which makes Sandpiper move at a comfortable and steady 5-6 knots. It is currently sundown, and we can see rain on the horizon. Hopefully we won't have a night full of squalls.

We still see lots of debris left over from all the rain the islands received the other day. Lots of coconuts, large branches, and random trash out here.

We found out we can receive mail in Tahiti at the Yacht Club. I believe it takes about 2 weeks for mail from the US. So if you would like to send us something, please keep this in mind. We should be arriving in Tahiti in about 3 weeks, and they will hold all our mail. This might be our last mail pickup for several months! So please, mail us stuff.

SV Sandpiper
Tom & Amy Larson
Yacht club de Tahiti
PO box 1456
Papeete, Tahiti
French Polynesia

Mistake on previous post

Ron here. I made a mistake on the the previous post when I tried to explain what Tom meant when he said "It failed just long enough to freak me out, as we were on a lee shore."

I put the following explaination, which was wrong!

Being on the lee shore means that land was blocking the wind. In this case, there was no wind to use to sail, and no motor because of of the pump problem. No wind or motor means The Sandpiper is adrift.

I received the following email from Tom Hieronymus of the S/V Mojito correcting me.

Hi Ron,
This is Tom's old neighbor at the marina in Oakland. I met up with Tom and Amy in Mexico when I was skippering the large catamaran, Dolce Vita.

Nice job on the blog. It's great fun following their ventures. Thought you might like a little feedback to keep it accurate. While your reasoning is good, being in the lee of something is being out of the wind, the wind being blocked by the thing. However having a lee shore means that the shore is leward (downwind) of you, a dangerous place to be if something goes wrong. Likewise, when the helm's alee, the tiller is pushed downwind to turn the bow of the boat through the eye of the wind in a tack. So there's windward and leward. To be in the lee of something is to be downwind of it. To have something to the lee of you means that you are upwind of it.

Take care and keep up the good work.

Tom Hieronymus
S/V Mojito

So thank you very much Tom Hieronymus! I appreciate the help. I've corrected the explaination. I sure feel like an idiot. You can tell it has been too long since I've been sailing.

25-May-2006 Position Report

Anaho Bay, Nuka Hiva Island, Marquesas Islands, French Polynesia
25-29 May 2006

8'49.2S/140'03.8W
Anaho Bay

Greetings from Anaho Bay, Nuka Hiva Island! Last Thursday morning Amy and I felt that we were over our Marquesan fevers. We wanted to see the other side of Nuka Hiva before we left. So we "sprung into action" and left Taiohae Bay, crossing around the east side of the island, headed for Anaho Bay on the north side.

The trip around was not a whole bunch of fun, as this is the windward side of the island, and we had to motor sail straight into large swells and strong winds. Halfway through the trip the engine's sea-water pump decided to stop pumping water. It failed just long enough to freak me out, as we were on a lee shore. Then it just decided to start pumping again.

We tried fishing along the way. I lost our best lure to something huge, with large teeth, that just slice through the 500 pound wire leader.

Anaho Bay is a small bay with one of the best anchorages in the Marquesas. On shore there are a few houses and a Pension (family run remote hotel). There are no roads here. So the only way here is by boat.

When we came to Nuka Hiva Island, the Sandpiper's water tanks were starting to get low. The freash water at other bays are not good for drinking. So we had been forced to make water using our water maker. But this uses battery power, and it makes only one gallon per hour. So we like to fill the tanks, if we can, by filling our 6 gallon water jugs ashore. There is really good spring water here. So we are filling up Sandpiper's 200 gallon water tanks. We don't think that we will have good water again until Tahiti.

Our friends on SV Sensai, that we were tied up next to in Puerta Vallarta, are anchored out here as well. And there is one other boat too. All three of us being from the Bay Area.

Yesterday it decided to DUMP massive amounts of rain all night and all day. I do not think that this is normal for this area. We are anchored right off a small creek that suddenly turned into a river, dumping everything that could float into the anchorage. All three of our boats were surrounded by hundreds of coconuts and tree branches.

There were waterfalls on all the hills and mountains surrounding this bay. Normally a waterfall is downriver somewhere. But the rain was so hard that the biggest waterfall started at the top of the biggest mountain.

The current plans are for Team Sandpiper to head back to Taiohea Bay, get groceries, and check out as soon as the winds look good for our 675 mile crossing to the Tuamotus.

Tom and Amy, SV Sandpiper

Notes from Ron:

• The sea-water pump is part of the motor's cooling system. It works similar to both the water pump and radiator fan on your car. It pumps cool sea water to the heat exchanger (like a radiator), and then pumps the warmed water back out the sea. The motor can not function very long without it.
  
• Having a lee shore means that the shore is leeward (downwind) of you, a dangerous place to be if something goes wrong. In this case, the wind and waves would push the Sandpiper into land.

19-25 May 2006 Noon Position Report

Baie de Taiohae, Nuka Hiva Island, Marquesas Islands (Still................)

Happy Birthday to Sister Janice!!!

Yes, we are still here at anchor. We have not left for the other side of the island as we said we were going to be doing in our last post. I (Tom) did not feel well. I had a fever, chills, and a sore throat. On the morning that we had planned leave, Amy went shopping, and I hung out to relax and hopefully feel better later. But that did not happen. So we postponed leaving for 24 hours.

We figured that if I kept popping pills, then in a few days everything would get better. It did... for a little while, until Amy caught it on Saturday. She had it really bad! Its the kind of sick you feel like when you are a small kid and not able to sleep because you are so cold and shaking (in the tropics!!!)

Both of us were not feeling well. Amy was getting worse, and mine was not going away. So on Sunday afternoon, we walked up to the island's hospital . The hospital is very small. The rooms all face each other in a circle, and the patient's room doors are open for ventilattion. Some patients just sat outside in front of their rooms watching the chickens and cats running around.

We checked in with a nurse that spoke a little English. She called a doctor at home, who drove up to the hospital about 5 minutes later. The doctor was French. but he also spoke English. So we were able to tell him what was wrong with us. He told us that there was an "epidemic" going around the island. We think its strep throat. He hooked us up with some Amoxicilline untill we could get to the pharmacy the next morning.

When we asked about paying, the nurse looked really confused. Her friend told her what we had asked and they both chuckled, saying that our visit was FREE!!!

On Monday morning I walked up to the pharmacy and got our 6 boxes of Amoxicilline, 2 boxes of Ibuprofene, and 2 boxes of throat losengers, all for $60.00. Not a bad price considering the doctors visit was free!!

Today is Thursday and we are operating at about 70%. Last night we even made it off the boat for pizza with our friends off Sensei and Blue Sky. The big question for the night was "What day is it?" We had to ask the waitress, since we were all on different days. Finding out it was only Wednesday was great.

We are to leave the Marquises as soon as we feel better, and are finished exploring Nuka Hiva . Team Sandpiper will have 675 mile run to the Tuamotus atolls. The Tuamotus are a group of 78 islands extending 1000 miles in a NW-SE direction. They are all coral atolls, unlike the Marquises which are volcanic islands.

What does this mean? While the Marquises Islands come straight up out of the water and have high mountains, the Tuamotu's are only coral reefs sticking just feet above sea level. Being just above sea level means that we can only approach then in daylight.

Also, being circular coral atolls, they have narrow passes in the reefs that we have to pass to enter the lagoons where the anchorages are.

Our current plan only has us stopping at only 3 of these atolls, Manihi, Ahe, and Rangiroa. We want to spend as much time at a smaller number of atolls versus spending a few days at more islands, which means having to cross more dangerous reef entrances.

Another reason also is that our next stop after the Tuamotus is Tahiti!

Have you noticed that I love run on sentences and the use of a comma? Using the comma, you can just keep on writing forever!!!!

From Ron:

• Tom is not exaggerating when he says that the "islands" of the Tuamotu Archipelago are low. The high points of the dry land is only 3 feet above sea level. They are nothing but thin sandbars sitting on coral reefs.
• Manihi Atoll is best know for the pearls and diving. There are some excellent photos here.
• Some crusing photos from Ahe Atoll.
• Rangori is the second largest atoll on the planet. Here is their official tourist web site, and photos of what Tom and Amy can expect to see. (Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands is the largest)
  
• Tom and Amy are planning to visit the north end of the archipelago, which is the largest chain of atolls on the planet, roughly the size of western Europe. Here is good site about the atolls, about Rangiroa Atoll, and Manihi Atoll.
• The total land mass of the whole archipelago is only 345 square miles. [Map].
  
• The southern end of the archipelago is where France conducted 193 atomic bomb tests between 1966 and 1996.
  

Baie Tai o Hae, Nuka Hiva

8'54.8S/140'05.9W
Baie Tai o Hae

We have made it to our second stop on Nuka Hiva. Taiohae is the capital of the Marquises Islands. It us just 5 miles, or one hour, from Daniels Bay. This is the largest city in the Marquesas Islands. They even have Internet here!

The bay is nice and big. It has about 30 boats anchored in it right now. Lots of folks we met in both Puerto Vallarta and Zihuatanjo are here. So it's nice to catch up and hear their stories. Most are waiting for some wind to sail on to the next group of island, the Tuamoto's.

Since we are now in the northern group of islands, we needed to check in again here. Then we need to check out of here before we head off to the Tuamous.

Before we leave, we would like to visit one more anchorage, Anaho Bay, that is suppose to have great snorkeling. It is about 4 hours from here. So we are here long enough to take a tour of the island by car, do some laundry, sample some cold beers, check our bank accounts, provision up, and maybe even squeeze in a tattoo for one lucky sailor.

The couple on the catamaran Cheers from South Africa, that we had met at previous anchorage, gave us a whole bag full of fresh Wahoo that they caught. So we had a big dinner party on Sandpiper, with Ken from Panache and Jiles from Petrel. The fish was great! We also had fresh corn-on-the-cob from the local market. Being from Indiana, and a corn "expert", I found the local corn to be great!

Yesterday we did our car tour with our friends Ken and Giles. Our guide Jocelyn picked us up with her 4 door Land Rover. Amy got to ride in the "way back". At 8:30am, off into the island we went. Jocelyn was very knowledgable regarding the island's flora and fauna. We stopped by two village ruins, saw petroglyphs, and got eaten by lots of mosquitos.

The tour was all day. It wore us out. Upon returning to the docks we saw a scary looking island dude jogging. We all made a comment. Our guide told us the jogger is one of the island's two prisoners. A prisoner here is allowed to leave prison at 7am. But need to return before 7pm.

They have this great yacht service store here on the docks that can help us get almost anything we need. They can get boat parts, send faxes, do laundry, and epair sails. They have two slow computers. Even though they have Internet access, it is slow. So we won't be able to post photos until Tahiti. So hang in there!

We are hoping to leave tomorrow for Anaho Bay for a few days. Then we sail back down here, reprovision, and take off to the Tuamotos. Hope all is well with everyone back home.

Amy and Tom

Baie Haketea ("Daniel's Bay"), Nuka Hiva

Our trip from Oa Pou was a nice 5 hour motor sail. We had sunny skies and dolphins. But we still didn't catch any fish.

Before leaving we went to shore one last time to check out an artisan marketplace that sold bone craved necklaces, wood carvings, and coconut carvings. Tom found a warrior hand spear he liked. It had a bone carved handle and a foot long marlin bill for the tip. I bought a shark tooth's necklace with a small black pearl attached. The necklace is made from coconut husks that they weave, similar to hemp necklaces you would find back home. We were happy with our purchases. They even threw in a bunch of bananas, grapefruits, and a piece of fruit we yet to identify. We pulled up anchor and were out of the harbor by 1pm.

Pulling into Daniel's Bay was quite a pleasant surprise. The guide books do it no justice as to how beautiful it is. The downside? Lots of bugs! The guide book says they use to have a water buoy here, set up by Daniel himself, which would be great for us as our water supply is getting low.

However, the guide book needs some updating. We weren't able to get any water. Our plan was to do a 2.5 hour hike from here to the third largest waterfall in the world. Again, a big HOWEVER. We spoke to another cruiser who did the hike yesterday, and we decided it was way to extreme for us. He said you need to wear long pants and a long sleeve shirt, as there are lots of biting bugs. You cross a river hip deep. And once at the falls, they saw giant eels. So they didn't think swimming was a good idea.

Upon hearing all of this, we decided to just hang on the boat. Tomorrow we will be off to the next stop, Taiohae, the biggest city in the Marquesas. We even heard they have sporadic internet. So we'll try to update the photos.

Love to all,
Amy and Tom

Also! We hear through the coconut telegraph that Mrs. Jones's class in Redding, California is following our travels. We would love to hear from any of you. So feel free to email us!

Notes from Ron:

• Daniel's Bay is where the Maraamu Tribe from the fourth season of the TV show "Survivor" was camped.
• The waterfall they are referring to is called "Vaipo" waterfall and it is only the 201'st highest waterfall on earth. It is also called "Ahuii" or ""Ahuei" Falls. There seems to be a lot of misinformation about these falls, probably caused by some fanciful speculation on the part of the crew and cast of Survivor. Hollywood has never been one to let facts get in the way of a good story. Here, and here, are some photos of the falls.