1/72: Ten miles from the island boobies were already circling Pitufa.
2/72: We sailed along the protected western shore and marveled at the endemic flora. That's what motus looked like before coconuts were planted everywhere.
3/72: Anchoring was tricky, but we managed to set a hook on the steep slope.
4/72: Adult brown boobies are pretty, but too shy to come aboard.
5/72: The young brown boobies didn't hesitate (note our bored cat in the foreground).
6/72: Soon we had the kids everywhere all day long.
8/72: Everybody fought for places on the floating playground.
9/72: First we approached them carefully, but we soon discovered that they didn't mind us.
11/72: Landing was tricky over the surf and up the shelf, but we made it ashore.
14/72: Thousands of sooty terns were nesting on the motu in front of Pitufa.
17/72: The cacophony on such a motu is incredible.
21/72: Frigate birds were nesting on the same motu.
24/72: Red-footed boobies
26/72: The first time we saw grey noddies.
28/72: The related brown noddies are much more common.
29/72: The neighbouring motu had finer sand and only low shrubs.
30/72: We found debris and rubbish everywhere.
31/72: Tropic birds love sandy motus.
34/72: The rare masked boobies prefer the same vegetation as tropic birds.
36/72: We were careful not to disturb the birds--this one slept through our brief visit.
37/72: Pandanus was dominant on the next motu.
38/72: White terns were nesting there.
42/72: We saw many different kinds of land crabs.
45/72: In the lagoon we saw mainly delicate staghorn coral.
46/72: Getting the dinghy into the lagoon was quite a struggle.
47/72: Big bommies and reef barriers criss-cross the lagoon.
48/72: At the southern end we found a wreck and a make-shift hut.
49/72: Later we found out that a Frenchman had dragged his boat into the lagoon to live here. He was arrested and deported by the Kiribati Government in 2015.
54/72: These ruins remain from the settlement of the Falconer family who lived here in the late 80s.
56/72: We left the lagoon through the only false pass on the eastern side. The wreck at the entrance looks scary, the conditions outside were even scarier. We took our little dinghy through high standing waves along the breakers and 6 miles around the atoll back to Pitufa.
57/72: We had to pack the good camera away before the standing waves started.
58/72: Large parts of the coral in the shallow areas of the outer reef are bleached or already dead.
59/72: Deeper down the coral looks beautiful and healthy.
60/72: Little coral recruits try to resettle dead parts.
61/72: Big swarms of black trigger fish.
63/72: Christian's getting better and better at freediving.
64/72: Curious grey reef sharks followed us everywhere.
66/72: Green turtles in all sizes came to check us out.
70/72: We saw more turtles in a few days than in the years in the Tuamotus.
71/72: Take nothing but pictures, leave nothing but footprints (note the turtle tracks next to mine...)
