We’ve just arrived in Fakarava with northerly winds, anchored next to the pass in the N and will hop over to the neighbouring atoll Toau tomorrow morning when the wind switches to the east (it’s a tricky pass and in the morning we’ll have wind and current in the same direction). The sail up here was quite boisterous with many squalls and a little front… Continue reading »
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2019
04
Nov
2019
04
Nov
Fish!
Its a bit squally, but today we’ve had a fast sailing day and caught a fish! 90 nm to go.
2019
03
Nov
Setting out yet again
When I say ‘we bought a new fridge’ landlubbers think we got a new box and put it into its place. On a boat things work differently: we had to get out the old tubes and evaporator, drill new holes into the stainless fridge compartment, install the compressor, evaporator and install the tubes. After that we bent some plexiglass and screwed it in to keep… Continue reading »
2019
31
Oct
Back in Tahiti for repairs
After two exciting days, but rather sleepless nights off Makatea (rolly anchorage) we set sails for Tikehau, an atoll just due north and a nightsail away. Underway we noticed that the fridge was acting strangely, with the compressor working constantly drawing almost no electricity (a sign for a gas leak). It wasn’t easy to turn around, say good-bye to the idea of turquoise lagoons and… Continue reading »
2019
29
Oct
Tour of Makatea
We’ve been busy exploring Makatea for the last few days. It’s a raised atoll with a plateau over steep, white cliffs towering over a strip of flat land around the island and a fringing reef. The reef falls off steeply, but the friendly locals have installed 4 moorings for sailboats–basically their only tourists apart from a few travellers who arrive with the supply ship from… Continue reading »
2019
27
Oct
Makatea
After a night of lightwind sailing we rushed along nicely again and reached the raised atoll Makatea around noon. All moorings were taken, but a friendly Belgian boat let us tie up alongside.
2019
24
Oct
We can’t get away from Tahiti
After 3 months in Tahiti we are eager to head out towards the Tuamotus: I feel healthy again, we got Pitufa prepared, bought more provisioning than we can store, but somehow we don’t get away from Tahiti. First the drain of the kitchen sink fell off (rusted through) and just when Christian had finished repairing it, he noticed that the fridge was acting strangely–the compressor… Continue reading »
2019
15
Oct
Super-simple gluten-free bread a la Pitufa
When I started searching for recipes for gluten-free bread the results were disheartening. Too complicated, too many ingredients I wouldn’t be able to find in the South Pacific. Some recipes for tapioca-bread included eggs and massive amounts of oil (not very healthy…) and others claimed that I wouldn’t be able to produce non-crumbly bread without adding xanthan gum. My first experiments with tapioca and rice… Continue reading »
2019
15
Oct
Dengue Sequel
Each time I think I’m getting healthy and stronger again, I’m punched back down. Two weeks after what I thought was a dengue infection we were getting us and the boat ready to start hopping eastwards again. Smack, I was down with high fever, severe backache, headache, nausea–the same symptoms as two weeks ago, just stronger. Yesterday (day 4 with fever) the temperature got so… Continue reading »
2019
03
Oct
Dengue fever
I got strong fever last week accompanied with a head ache and back ache–typical symptoms for dengue. As we’ve had it before I was worried (dengue can be extra dangerous when you get another type your immune system thinks it recognises). I got lucky though, the symptoms remained weak and I was fine after only a week. Researching on the internet I found that there… Continue reading »
2019
29
Sep
Article in the OÖ Nachrichten
An Austrian newspaper published an article about ‘Sailing Yesterday and Today’ (the 500th anniversary of Magellan’s first circumnavigation) and we’re mentioned as modern bluewater sailors. Here’s the link.
2019
20
Sep
Whales!
We’ve been in Moorea now for two weeks, explored the island with a rental car (quite a luxury for us hitch-hikers) and were lucky with the weather. Moorea’s such a spectacular mountainous island with incredible views! Leaving the pass of Opunohu Bay with Pitufa on the way to Cooks Bay we met a humpback whale mom with a baby. We let the boat drift and… Continue reading »
2019
13
Sep
Holidays for my Mom
Our last piece of luggage arrived 6 days after the check-in, battered, but with everything still inside… We sailed over to Moorea on a beautiful beam reach and so far we’ve seen dolphins, turtles, stingrays, but still no whales (even though it’s the season when humpback whales visit this area). We did a nice hike to a waterfall, but most of the time we spend… Continue reading »
2019
03
Sep
More bad luck
I took the boat to a calmer anchorage on Saturday, thought I was doing a nice single-handed manoeuvre, but then the little rollbar behind the windlass that keeps the chain under control while it rushes out broke and all 70 m of chain rattled out high speed. Fortunately I was far away from the reef, but still not happy and feeling quite ill on top.… Continue reading »
2019
31
Aug
Bad luck
After 3 weeks alone here in Taina, Christian and my Mom were scheduled to arrive tomorrow morning. Now I’ve just got an email that their flight from Vienna was cancelled, they were rebooked for the following day… Here it’s grey and rainy after a 2 months of stable, sunny weather and a 3 m swell is forecast to arrive this evening. I’ve fallen victim to… Continue reading »