Since the beginning of this year experts have been warning of increasing El Niño conditions and we have also mentioned this a few times on our blog. Here’s a little summary for those who are not quite familiar with this term. El Niño (spanish “Christ Child”, because the phenomenon occurs around Christmas in South America) happens, when the atmosphere and the surface of the sea… Continue reading »
Our Books
Order our books at Amazon
2015
30
Sep
2015
30
Sep
Invasion
When we arrived in Bora Bora, two cruise ships that regularly circle around Fr. Polynesia (the Wind Spirit and the Paul Gauguin) were anchored in the lagoon. Towering over the small main town and the sailing yachts, they seem oddly out of place on such small islands. The Paul Gauguin left soon and we could hardly believe our eyes when we looked out the next… Continue reading »
2015
30
Sep
Relaxed lightwind sailing to Bora Bora
On Sunday we had a beautiful sailing day with flat seas (we’ve seldom seen the Pacific so calm) and a light breeze from the south-southwest that was just enough to keep Pitufa’s gennaker filled and flying. It was veeeery slow sailing (7 hours for just 25 nm ), but we were not in a hurry and enjoyed the ride that was smooth enough for Leeloo… Continue reading »
2015
30
Sep
Sailing eastwards again
As the cyclone season is slowly approaching, we’re heading back eastwards. After leaving the Societies, we’ll visit one or two atolls in the Tuamotus, before sailing up to the Marquesas again.
2015
24
Sep
Manta Rays
We have moved to a buoy field next to the pass, close to a manta ray protection area. The big rays come there apparently every day to get some grooming from the little cleaning brigade fishies. Unfortunately visibility wasn’t great, so when we went snorkeling in that area, we could only see the outlines of the rays far below us in about 10 metres. We… Continue reading »
2015
24
Sep
Busy in Maupiti
We’ve only been in Maupiti for one and a half weeks, but it feels much longer, because we’ve been so active every day. We walked around the island (only about 2 hours on the one road they have), paddled the kayak up to the northern motus and to the lovely airport (no fences, no waiting hall, but a beautiful white beach and benches in the… Continue reading »
2015
19
Sep
2015
14
Sep
Maupiti
Yesterday we started out early from Bora Bora and motorsailed hard on the wind in a light northwesterly. The pass of Maupiti is shallow and very narrow (about 50 m) and has a bad reputation for high surf on each side, breaking waves in the pass and strong currents. When a high swell fills the lagoon the water can only flow off through this one… Continue reading »
2015
13
Sep
Daysailing through the Societies
Most cruisers on the way west and hundreds of Tahiti/Raiatea-based charter boats visit the Leeward Islands of the Societies in daily hops sailing from Huahine to Raiatea and Tahaa (only about 20 nm), on to Bora Bora (another 15 nm) and some continue then to Maupiti (25 nm). We usually avoid daysailing as the preparations for a short ocean passage are just as time consuming… Continue reading »
2015
09
Sep
Whales!
From June to October humpback whales migrate to the tropics where the females give birth in the protected lagoons. We were lucky to see many of these impressive creatures from anchorages in Tahiti and even more here in Huahine. Yesterday a group of three whales (2 adults, 1 baby) came through the pass into the lagoon just off Fare and as we are anchored just… Continue reading »