Pitufa.at

This morning dawned completely calm (dawn’s around half past four, we’re in a funny time zone…). Without the constant noise of the wind and just the far thundering of the outer reef (the reef’s so broad here that the breakers are about half a mile away) we could clearly hear the sounds of the awakening motu next to us. The chirping, squeaking, cackling, shrieking and… Continue reading »

2014
12
Oct

Swimming Pool

Yesterday the situation we had prepared for ocurred: a sudden 180-degree windshift to the south, the wind picked up to 20-30 knots within minutes and a cloudy sky that made the reefs invisible–luckily we just had to put on our rain gear and follow our GPS track to get safely back over the 8 miles to the sheltered anchorage on the southern side of the… Continue reading »

2014
09
Oct

Not just round and flat

Most cruisers hop quickly through the Tuamotus, only spending a few days on one atoll before heading to the next. We imagine that when they see the first one they think ‘wow, it’s round and flat with coconut palms!’ at the second one ‘aha, round and flat’ and the third ‘hmm, suprise, round and flat’ and so on . We’ve been in Tahanea now for… Continue reading »

2014
08
Oct

Curacao article published in current All-At-Sea Caribbean

Birgit’s article ‘Spanish Waters?-a floating town’ has bee published in the current (October) issue of All-At-Sea Caribbean. It’s been quite a while we were cruising the Caribbean so this one might seem slighly out of place/date. Unfortunately, long delays in the publishing process are common and in this particular case the magazin’s editor just recently requested articles on Curacao. If you’re interested in reading it,… Continue reading »

2014
03
Oct

Z-shaped Reef

We spent a few more days in the anchorage in the SE corner. When the wind dropped a bit we did some more exploring around the uncharted lagoon. We motorsailed 9 miles west to an anchorage at the southern reef, avoiding dozens of coral heads on the way and anchored Pitufa behind a Z-shaped reef that comes off the barrier reef giving protection from the… Continue reading »

2014
25
Sep

Magical conveyor belt

Doing a drift dive or a drift snorkel in the pass of an atoll is a magical experience: you take the dinghy out against the incoming tide, hop into the deep azure of the Pacific and watch the underwater world glide by while the crystal clear ocean water sweeps you back into the lagoon. The coral on the walls and even on the bottom of… Continue reading »

2014
22
Sep

Coral

Between Tahiti and the Ile Gambier the Pacific is adorned with almost 80 turquoise-white rings–the Iles Tuamotu. These atolls are the remnants of volcanic islands that have long sunk back into the sea, leaving only the fringing reef with its little islands on top behind. Many of the Tuamotus have gaps in their barrier reef, the passes that allow sailing ships to slip into the… Continue reading »

2014
19
Sep

Arrived in Tahanea

This morning This morning we reached the sandy, all-around turquoise atoll Tahanea. No villages, no shops (no way to spend money!), just nature

2014
17
Sep

Sailing close-hauled

We weren’t too lucky when buying veggies and fruit on the market, despite our efforts to get the greenest available from all species we’re already under pressure eating ahead of decay We got more wind than predicted and Pitufa’s pounding close-hauled into high seas (30 knots in the beginning, now down to 20-25), but she’s storming ahead bravely, even though we overloaded her yet again… Continue reading »

2014
13
Aug

New photo album: Raiatea and Tahaa

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2014
02
Jul

Correction 2nd part Gambier article

The second part of our article about the Gambier islands isn’t published in the july/august, but in the september/october issue. Sorry, we mixed that up.

2014
28
Jun

Moorea photo gallery updated

We’ve just added a few more pics to the Moorea gallery.

2014
22
Jun

Photos of Moorea

2014
21
Jun

Back to Moorea

A couple of days ago we sailed back to Moorea. Now we are anchored in the turquoise waters behind the outer reef west of Opunohu pass. Today we went swimming with sting rays and black-tip reef sharks. Off the Hilton hotel towards a sand bank they attract them with food and we joined this (slightly questionable) spactacle.

2014
16
Jun

Second part of our Gambier article in Ocean7 magazine