We are in San Diego planning our adventures for next year. The saying goes “A sailor’s plans are written in the sand at low tide” meaning it’s our best guess now, and things will change. But so far, here is what we are thinking:
- Pat heads to Tahiti mid-February to work on the boat.
- By March 4 Calista is in Raiatea, about 75nm west of Tahiti for a haulout. We need bottom paint and minor repair on the stbd rudder.
- Peggy joins me sometime after the haulout and we cruise Raiatea, Taha’a, Huahine and Bora Bora.
- Early May we leave French Polynesia. Calista must leave French Polynesia before May 12 (2 yrs after arriving) to avoid paying import tax on the value of the boat.
- May and June we cruise the Cook Islands. Its a 4 to 5 day passage from Bora Bora to Rarotonga, where we will check-in to the Cook Islands. We also plan to visit Aitutaki and maybe one or two others in this archipelago of tiny islands.
- Our last stop in the Cook Islands will be Palmerston. It was uninhabited until 1863 when William Marsters and his 3 Polynesian wives arrived. All 35 current inhabitants of the island are their descendants.
- From Palmerston we will head to Niue, a tiny island nation about 580 nm WSW of Palmerston.
- Next will be the Vava’u Group in Tonga, one of my favorite cruising areas. It has many safe anchorages, and great diving and snorkeling. We should arrive there sometime in July.
- We will work our way down the Tongan chain of islands, ending up at Tongatapu, the main island with about 70% of Tonga’s residents.
- In late September we will set sail for New Zealand, about 1200 nm south. This will be our second longest passage to date. It will get us far enough south to be out of the cyclone area before the cyclone season, roughly November through April.
- After spending some time touring New Zealand we will fly home to San Diego for the holidays.
But now we are in San Diego, enjoying the view from our condo where we look out at the Star Of India, the oldest active sailing ship in the world. She was built in the Isle Of Man in 1863 and spent her early years sailing from England to India and later did 21 circumnavigations mostly taking immigrants from England to New Zealand. In 1901 she became part of the salmon packing industry, making runs from San Francisco to Alaska and back.
In 1926, Star of India was sold to the Zoological Society of San Diego, California, to be the centerpiece of a planned museum and aquarium. The Great Depression and World War II caused that plan to be cancelled, and it was not until 1957 that restoration began. Alan Villiers, a windjammer captain and author, came to San Diego on a lecture tour. Seeing Star of India decaying in the harbour, he publicized the situation and inspired a group of citizens to form the “Star of India Auxiliary” in 1959 to support the restoration of the ship. Progress was still slow, but in 1976, Star of India finally put to sea again. She houses exhibits for the Maritime Museum of San Diego, is kept fully seaworthy, and last sailed November 12, 2023.
I will update the blog when I know more about the 2024 plans. Until then, Happy Holidays to all!