[geo_mashup_save_location lat=- lng=- geocoding_error="Address not found - try making it less detailed"] Last night we sailed into a dark bank of clouds that brought quite some rain, but fortunately also wind from the right direction. This morning we sailed out on the other side into blue skies, but the wind kept blowing and we’re making good progress!
Our Books
Order our books at Amazon
2018
10
Sep
2018
09
Sep
Cooling off in the Pacific
[geo_mashup_save_location lat=-10.507 lng=-157,718 geocoding_error="Address not found - try making it less detailed"] This passage is starting slowly, but pleasantly. There’s just a light breeze, but the sea’s so calm that Pitufa is still moving along with an average of 4 knots. We have all hatches open (incredibe on an ocean voyage) and this afternoon we even had a bath–hanging on to the swimming ladder even… Continue reading »
2018
07
Sep
Southwards
After exactly one month we’re leaving Tongareva this afternoon. During all that time we were the only sailboat here. We’ve had a great time here, but we’d like to explore more of the Cook Islands. On arrival we got 31 days in the Cooks, apparently our application for another 31 days got approved (we’ll see when we arrive in the capital), the weather forecast looks… Continue reading »
2018
06
Sep
Autopilot repaired!
When we’re sailing on passages we always use our hydrovane to steer the boat. ‘Wayne Vaney’ is a simple mechanical device that steers the boat with a little auxiliary rudder just by keeping the wind angle on its vane in the angle we set. We also have an electric autopilot, which we only use when we’re motoring, so only sometimes in lagoons and when we’re… Continue reading »
2018
04
Sep
Weather
Last week a strong Southeasterly wind (maramu) was blowing all over French Polynesia and the Cook Islands, so we decided to sit it out in the Eastern corner of the atoll. The anchorage was nicely protected and we could still take some walks ashore, but mainly we stayed home and spent the time on the computer. We finished a few articles, prepared a photo gallery,… Continue reading »
2018
04
Sep
2018
31
Aug
Provisions
The supply situation on remote islands is tricky. In the days before supply ships the Polynesians managed to live off the land, but nowadays everybody depends on imported goods. The supply ship from Rarotonga comes by every 2 or 3 months, another ships brings ordered things from Hawaii about twice a year. You’d think that people would try to be as self-sufficient as possible under… Continue reading »
2018
27
Aug
NW-pass
The main village Omoka lies on the western side of the atoll, so the anchorage is exposed to the prevailing easterly winds. When we visited Omoka last week Pitufa was pitching horribly in steep high waves and we hardly got any sleep. We therefore fled the next morning to a more protected place. Now we’re anchored on a beautiful, light-turquoise sandy shelf in just 3… Continue reading »
2018
24
Aug
Polynesian Hospitality
On the 4th of August the Cook Islands celebrate their Consitution day followed by a week of cultural festivals. Every 2 to 3 years the government provides free transport by ship to all people from outer islands to Rarotonga (the capital) to participate in the celebrations. Today 130 people from Tongareva returned after more than a month down in Rarotonga. After some fabulous day in… Continue reading »
2018
18
Aug
Nature paradise Penrhyn
By now we’ve established our usual routine for remote places: a nice balance between work and play… For the past few days we’ve spent the mornings restitching and reinforcing our dinghy cover and in the afternoons we explored the motus on the eastern side. Yesterday we took Pitufa a few miles further south through the lagoon. While the central lagoon is deep (50m) with plenty,… Continue reading »
2018
15
Aug
Loud
On the weekend we visited the little village Tetautua and attended the church there. The Cook’s are famous for their choirs, but at the moment there are only 15 villagers here. What they lacked in numbers, they made up in volume Now we’re anchored a few miles further south, where we’ve already found bird motus with lots of nesting Tropic Birds and Noddies. These colonies… Continue reading »
2018
13
Aug
2018
11
Aug
Tongareva
We’ve started to get our bearings here in Tongareva. It’s a big atoll (11 miles long, 6 miles wide) with three passes into a deep lagoon with many coral heads, but no islands within the lagoon. It has quite some land with motus stretching along the northern, eastern and western sides of the atoll, but only 2 settlements. The main village Omoka lies on the… Continue reading »
2018
08
Aug
Arrived in Tongareva
We arrived at the W-pass of Tongareva (Cook Islands, also known as Penrhyn) at 2 o’clock in the afternoon, went in without a prob with 1.5 knots of ingoing current against 12 knots of wind and some small standing waves in the very short pass. We anchored off the main village Omoka, the officials came by an hour later and cleared us in quickly. Now… Continue reading »
2018
07
Aug
Comfy Sailing
Leeloo didn’t like Car o line much as she despises rolly anchorages and ignored all our efforts to get her interested in the boobies that were flapping all around the boat and sitting on the railing ogling her. A cat distinguishes 3 categories of animals: Can-be-eaten (go, catch!), can-eat-me (run, hide) and to-be-ignored (everything that doesn’t fall into the first two categories). She pretended the… Continue reading »