I know it must sound ridiculous, but at the moment we’re faced with more decisions than a stressed out stock broker. We were trying to find a weather window for our next destination Makemo which lies just 60 miles northeast of here (or 75 to the other pass, or 100 going round the western side). We spent hours pondering different options looking at grib files… Continue reading »
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2014
06
Nov
2014
28
Oct
That’s Magic
Yesterday we returned to Tahanea’s beautiful south, as the weather’s turned excellent again: blue sky with puffy cumulus and a light southerly breeze. Before we had a couple of overcast, oppressive days while the fringe of a front became stationary over our area and brought northerly winds. So we had to stay in the (in our opinion) boring northern part. Now, the fine weather is… Continue reading »
2014
25
Oct
Another Article in Ocean7 Magazine
There is another of Birgit’s articles in the current issue of Ocean7. This time it’s about general cruising life. Birgit Hackl, Christian Feldbauer: Cruisen — Leben unter Segeln, OCEAN7 06 (November/Dezember) 2014, p. 30–35. download PDF (in German only)
2014
21
Oct
Not bored at all
We’ve already been a month on Tahanea, and we’re still not getting bored. Even though we get up at sunrise at 6 the days are not long enough to fit in everything we’ve got (and want) to do. Those of you who know us personally won’t be surprised that many of our activities circle around food and its preparation. Baking bread, tending to the boat… Continue reading »
2014
16
Oct
Gone fishing
We usually don’t fish in lagoons. First, because we enjoy watching colourful reef fishies more than eating them and second, in many parts of the tropics reef fish and their predators have ciguatera, a nerve poison that accumulutes in fish, is harmless for them, but harmful to mammals. Some atolls are said to be free of ciguatera, some kinds of fish too (at least small… Continue reading »
2014
15
Oct
Sharks
Neighbouring islands like Fakarava attract tourists with drift dives through ‘walls of sharks’. We suppose that the resorts feed the sharks to get such numbers, because here without fishermen cleaning their catch or other attractions we see some sharks on every snorkel or dive, but never big groups. In the passes we saw some black-tip and grey reef sharks and a white-tip reef shark resting… Continue reading »
2014
14
Oct
Sounds of a motu
This morning dawned completely calm (dawn’s around half past four, we’re in a funny time zone…). Without the constant noise of the wind and just the far thundering of the outer reef (the reef’s so broad here that the breakers are about half a mile away) we could clearly hear the sounds of the awakening motu next to us. The chirping, squeaking, cackling, shrieking and… Continue reading »
2014
12
Oct
Swimming Pool
Yesterday the situation we had prepared for ocurred: a sudden 180-degree windshift to the south, the wind picked up to 20-30 knots within minutes and a cloudy sky that made the reefs invisible–luckily we just had to put on our rain gear and follow our GPS track to get safely back over the 8 miles to the sheltered anchorage on the southern side of the… Continue reading »
2014
09
Oct
Not just round and flat
Most cruisers hop quickly through the Tuamotus, only spending a few days on one atoll before heading to the next. We imagine that when they see the first one they think ‘wow, it’s round and flat with coconut palms!’ at the second one ‘aha, round and flat’ and the third ‘hmm, suprise, round and flat’ and so on . We’ve been in Tahanea now for… Continue reading »
2014
08
Oct
Curacao article published in current All-At-Sea Caribbean
Birgit’s article ‘Spanish Waters?-a floating town’ has bee published in the current (October) issue of All-At-Sea Caribbean. It’s been quite a while we were cruising the Caribbean so this one might seem slighly out of place/date. Unfortunately, long delays in the publishing process are common and in this particular case the magazin’s editor just recently requested articles on Curacao. If you’re interested in reading it,… Continue reading »
2014
03
Oct
Z-shaped Reef
We spent a few more days in the anchorage in the SE corner. When the wind dropped a bit we did some more exploring around the uncharted lagoon. We motorsailed 9 miles west to an anchorage at the southern reef, avoiding dozens of coral heads on the way and anchored Pitufa behind a Z-shaped reef that comes off the barrier reef giving protection from the… Continue reading »
2014
25
Sep
Magical conveyor belt
Doing a drift dive or a drift snorkel in the pass of an atoll is a magical experience: you take the dinghy out against the incoming tide, hop into the deep azure of the Pacific and watch the underwater world glide by while the crystal clear ocean water sweeps you back into the lagoon. The coral on the walls and even on the bottom of… Continue reading »
2014
22
Sep
Coral
Between Tahiti and the Ile Gambier the Pacific is adorned with almost 80 turquoise-white rings–the Iles Tuamotu. These atolls are the remnants of volcanic islands that have long sunk back into the sea, leaving only the fringing reef with its little islands on top behind. Many of the Tuamotus have gaps in their barrier reef, the passes that allow sailing ships to slip into the… Continue reading »
2014
19
Sep
Arrived in Tahanea
This morning This morning we reached the sandy, all-around turquoise atoll Tahanea. No villages, no shops (no way to spend money!), just nature
2014
17
Sep
Sailing close-hauled
We weren’t too lucky when buying veggies and fruit on the market, despite our efforts to get the greenest available from all species we’re already under pressure eating ahead of decay We got more wind than predicted and Pitufa’s pounding close-hauled into high seas (30 knots in the beginning, now down to 20-25), but she’s storming ahead bravely, even though we overloaded her yet again… Continue reading »