5 a.m., it’s still pitch dark and we’re heading out of the pass of Matuku. It’s blowing hard from the SE (like always here it seems), so it should be a fast ride downwind. 190 nm to Musket Cove!
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2022
20
Jul
2022
19
Jul
Who’s rich and who’s poor?
Unlike French Polynesia, where the rich colonial mother country France finances a very advanced level of infrastructure, Fiji is independent and has to fend for itself. Outer islands like Matuku (where we’ve spent one and a half weeks now) have no airport and the supply ship only calls once a month. The shop here is very basic and has run out of sugar weeks ago…Sat… Continue reading »
2022
09
Jul
Fish!
We had indeed a fast ride averaging 6 knots in winds from the ESE between 18 and 23 knots. The islands here in the Lau group are so close together that you sometimes have two or even three in sight at the same time–quite a change after the big distances in French Polynesia. The waters are also much more lively than we’ve seen in other… Continue reading »
2022
07
Jul
Vanua Balavu to Matuku
We have spent two windy weeks in the shelter of the the island maze of Vanua Balavu. Today we head out again, destination Matuku, a little island in the southwestern Lau. 130 nm with winds of 20+ on the beam will be a rough, but fast ride.
2022
02
Jul
Fruitbats
There are huge colonies of fruitbats (also known as flying foxes) here in Vanua Balavu. They spend their days (literally) hanging out in trees, at dawn and dusk we see hundreds of them flying over the boat. So cute!
2022
28
Jun
2022
26
Jun
Just quickly booking a flight…
Yesterday we decided to book flights to Austria. Go online, book–easily and quickly done, right? Not so for cruisers: with our wobbly internet connection it took me all afternoon to open sites, compare and finally book two legs simultaneously on two different airline sites (super stressful to juggle dates while keeping both pages busy without a time-out). Got the last two available seats, all done,… Continue reading »
2022
23
Jun
Makogai
The past week we’ve had a strong Southeasterly blowing and it came (a bit surprising) with constant rain and grey weather. We sat out the nasty weather at the little island Makogai, a former leper colony. Until 1969 patients were isolated here and a few buildings remain. Now there’s a marine station on the island and we were thrilled to visit it and find out… Continue reading »
2022
13
Jun
11 years on Pitufa
This week we have our 11th cruising anniversary. Incredible how time flies… In 2011 the three of us we set out with little experience and big dreams. Lots of those have come true, but there’s many more out there and we keep chasing the horizon
2022
10
Jun
Sail repair days
On the way here the mainsail chafed badly on the spreaders while it was flogging in light-wind conditions. One of the batten pockets got chafed through–smack in the middle of the sail, impossible to repair with our machine, as we cannot roll up the rest of the sail small enough to fit in. We prefabricated the batten pocket with the machine, but then had to… Continue reading »
2022
05
Jun
2022
02
Jun
Arrived!!
The passage ended as it began–with fickle winds and lots of sail changes. On our slowest day we only did 78 nautical miles, on the fastest 150 We had quite a few hours with only 6 knots of breeze and an interesting hour with 35 knots gusting up to 43 when a front passed over us. All good now, we arrived yesterday, the friendly officials… Continue reading »
2022
31
May
From the big blue to you
A friend asked, how we can post from underway. We don’t have a sat phone, so we write our blog and send it via SSB and pactor modem to a sailmail station (service for cruisers). This station sends the blog on to our homepage www.pitufa.at and from there it is automatically forwarded to facebook. We are almost in Savusavu, 25 nm to go!
2022
30
May
Almost there
We ran into calm weather yesterday, but now a breeze is coming back. 120 nm to go!
2022
28
May
We crossed the date line
..so no May 28 this year. My Mom’s birthday–she didn’t like them, so it’s very fitting… 250 nm to go!