Pitufa.at

When we arrived in the Marquesas, the islands looked brownish and withered. Locals told us that it had been unusually dry (even for the dry season) and we moaned in the relentless heat of the sun. Our white (!) deck was so hot that you couldn’t step on it barefoot, the 30 degree warm sea acted as underfloor heating and the whole boat turned into a sauna. To get some relief we made sun shades for the hatches to be able to leave them open and catch a breeze.
Last Friday the weather suddenly changed and now we have torrential rainfalls pouring down several times a day. Our sun shades have turned into umbrellas (the hatches can remain open), the water tanks are full and we’re actually glad it has cooled down a bit. More rain in the east pacific area and droughts in the west pacific are typical for el nino years, so we’ll see how the weather will develop.

First it was too hot for excursions and then too wet, so we’ve only managed to go hiking in Nuku Hiva’s mountains once so far. As a positive side effekt we’ve got some jobs done at home: we’ve mended the genoa clew, finally finished the dingy cover (except some more velcro needs to be glued to the dinghy), changed the filter of the watermaker, changed the engine oil, etc. etc.–Pitufa really needed some maintenance.