Pitufa.at

In so many places on earth forests are burned down to make space for cattle, agriculture, etc. Here on Vanua Balavu every second hill features only blackened tree stumps, the soil is getting washed away and erosion is clearly visible. We have talked to people and apparently there’s no plan behind the fires that are devastating the island–just carelessness and stupidity. We talked to the… Continue reading »

Our anchorage here on the East side of Vanua Balavu is very calm and protected from the current NW winds, but still we’re woken up at each morning at 5–it’s the noisy neighbours returning from their foraging in the forest. A big colony of fruitbats (flying foxes) live on the island next to us! They spend their days hanging upside down and supposedly resting, but… Continue reading »

Whenever we’re underway and the weather’s not acting according to the forecast, I complain about the grib files… So here’s what they look like: this is today’s American GFS model of the SW Pacific. While NZ is squashed between two nasty weather systems, Fiji (top middle) is having a little branch of the convergence zone that gives us oppressively hot and humid weather with thunderstorms… Continue reading »

We are searching for new tenants for our garden flat in Graz, Austria. Send us an email if you’re interested or know someone how may be!

We are getting ready to leava Fulanga. We’ve had quite a hyperactive time here and would have needed 48 hour days to fit everything in: – village life (spending time with our host family, Christian did some electric repairs, spreading info about sustainable fishing) – nature (snorkeling and kayaking in different areas, each one prettier than the last) – and of course boat projects (Christian… Continue reading »

After the success we had in Matuku persuading the chiefs and headmen to install protected areas (Tabu) around the island to protect the reefs from overfishing and to ensure a sustainable use of the resources, we tackled the same issue here in Fulanga. The problem’s the same like everywhere in Fiji (and the rest of the Pacific islands and probably elsewhere): the islands were able… Continue reading »

No worries, this is not a blog about Covid19. We haven’t seen another cruising boat in almost 2 months, so we’re as isolated as it gets and the daily lockdown is all about the vicious mosquitos here. Now that the weather is hot and calm they swarm out all over the lagoon–no place is safe. The first evening we simply retreated to the aft cabin… Continue reading »

Fulanga is one of the few atolls (or rather island-cluster with an outer reef–there are hardly any classic atolls here in Fiji) with a proper pass, meaning a narrow outlet of the lagoon with steep coral-clad walls like we know them from the Tuamotus. Most other “passes” are very open, wide and don’t have walls up to the surface so you hardly notice you’re in… Continue reading »

Like everywhere on the islands of Fiji it’s obligatory here in Fulanga to visit the village to introduce yourself and to bring a sevusevu (kava bundle as a gift), so we wandered across the island to the main village (that sounds serious, but it’s just a twenty minute walk on a well-cleared path) to ask for the Turanga ni Koro (headman) who then introduced us… Continue reading »

Fulanga is a strange geological phenomenon. Imagine an atoll with a line of outer motu, numerous coralheads and reefs which was then lifted 20 m or so by tectonic movements. That’s what happened here. The lagoon is now shallow and gleams in light turquoise and scattered all across are mushroom-shaped limestone islets–former coralheads that were eroded by the high tides here in Fiji. Thanks to… Continue reading »

Our article about the regatta is now online on Cruising World: https://www.cruisingworld.com/people/2022-musket-cove-fiji-regatta-week/

Yesterday we took the kayak to a beach, found a camp fisherman had recently left (Yagasa is uninhabited, but people from neighbouring islands come here) and followed a horrible stench to the carcass of a turtle. We collected a bag of plastic rubbish around the camp site and burned it on one of the many fire sites the raiders had left. It’s really sad to… Continue reading »