Pitufa.at

When we set off yesterday we still hadn’t decided whether we’d stop on the way in Tahuata or Fatu Hiva again, but the wind made the decision for us: 20 to 25 knots from the east (instead of 12 from the northeast…) made it impossible to reach the southern islands of the Marquesas on our tack, so we’re heading straight to the Gambier. We can… Continue reading »

2013
02
Nov

Sailing south again

Yesterday we explored Ua Pou a bit: we walked up from ‘our’ bay on a little path to the coastal road and then for two hours north, because we wanted to get a view of the gigantic stone spires the island is famous for. Unfortunately it was a bit cloudy, so the highest peaks were hiding from us, but on the other hand the overcast… Continue reading »

2013
16
Oct

Cruising info on the Gambier Islands, French Polynesia

Find our cruising info on the Gambier Islands under Destinations in the Menu or click here.

2013
28
Sep

Shoes

After 2 years of cruising we’d advise everybody who’s setting out with similar plans from Europe or the US to bring several pairs of good walking shoes along. Cruiser’s life’s hard on the shoes, they’re exposed to tropical sunlight, get immersed into saltwater from time to time and have to be washed regularly because of muddy hikes. Our high quality trekking sandals gave up after… Continue reading »

2013
27
Sep

Hakaui valley and Vaipo waterfall

Today, we went by dinghy to the neighbouring bay and village, Hakaui, where the path into the Hakaui valley to the Vaipo waterfall starts. Landing the dinghy looked scary amidst the many breaking waves. The tide was high enough though, and we could go over a sand bank into the small river. The village was larger than we expected and it looks almost manicured with… Continue reading »

2013
26
Sep

Baie Hakatea

The swell got worse again in Taiohae during the last few days and the constant pitching and rolling (despite a stern anchor) made life quite strenuous on the boat. So this morning we said good-bye to our friends Fabio and Lisa. We’d met them and their boat ‘Amandla’ in the Gambier and spent the past few evenings together–it’s amazing how cruising life brings completely different… Continue reading »

2013
16
Sep

Article on Kuna Yala in Ocean7 magazine

The current issue (September/October 2013) of Ocean7 features our article about Kuna Yala. Birgit Hackl, Christian Feldbauer: Kuna Yala — Paradies mit Ecken und Kanten, OCEAN7 05 (September/Oktober) 2013, p. 24–29. download PDF (in German only)

2013
14
Sep

Nuku Hiva–biggest island of the Marquesas

During the last few days it got uncomfortable in the bays of Tahuata, first it poured down for days and the wind picked up and the easterly swell somehow made it into the bays on the western side. Pitufa rocked and rolled, so yesterday we decided to check out a bay just a few miles north on the northcoast of Hiva Oa, the neighbouring island… Continue reading »

2013
12
Sep

Rainy days

Ever since we’ve arrived in Hanamoenoa, the northernmost bay on the western side of Tahuata, it’s been pouring down. And the forecast doesn’t look much different for the next couple of days. Not much fun, but o.k. to get some work done.

2013
09
Sep

Photos of Fatu Hiva

We are currently sitting in a minimarket in Vaitahu on Tahuata and are finally, after about a month or so, able to access the internet again. So we’ve just uploaded pictures of our first island of the Marquesas, Fatu Hiva.

2013
09
Sep

Fruity Days on Pitufa

After our successful fruit and veggie raid in Hapatoni, we now have to use up all the all too quickly ripening fruit to stay ahead of rot and decay. Yesterday we had banana-mango-salad for lunch, a banana smoothie in the afternoon, breadfruit curry for dinner and banana daiquiris as a dessert Today the Aranui (a combined caro-passenger vessel) stopped in Vaitahu–the whole village prepares for… Continue reading »

2013
06
Sep

Dolphins and mangos

On the chart Hapatoni didn’t look very tempting, but we’re glad we stopped here. We’ve had a large pod of dolphins staying in our bay for two days, hunting, jumping, playing around Pitufa The village is neat and pretty, and we took a walk on the coastal road leading along the bays and over the cliffs under an azure blue sky–it came as a surprise… Continue reading »

2013
03
Sep

Tahuata

This morning we had coffee at 4.30 and lifted the anchor at 5.20 to make sure that we’d make it to our next destination during daylight. As Fatu Hiva was still towering behind us, we could already see the silhouette of the next island 45 miles ahead of us. Despite the light wind (only between 10 and 14 knots) Pitufa sailed steady 5-6 knots in… Continue reading »

2013
29
Aug

Round the island

Yesterday Giorgio took us and Mark and Liesbet from Irie round the island on his boat ‘Hoa Motu’. We picked a beautiful day with sunny skies and got wonderful views of the steep, green volcanic slopes of Fatu Hiva. Unfortunately we had very little wind so we had to motor quite a bit, but we nevertheless caught a small tuna and a large wahoo, so… Continue reading »

2013
25
Aug

Explosive experiments

As some of you might remember we left Panama with 120 litres of wine distributed in the bilge, under mattresses and basically wherever we could find some space, because we knew that alcohol would be very dear in French Polynesia (just to give you an idea: a box of ok Chilean wine cost about 2 Euros in Panama, 10 in the Galapagos, but 15 Euros… Continue reading »