Pitufa.at

We have successfully avoided marinas over the past 10 years–the last time we had to go in was in the Cape Verde Islands to have a shroud replaced. It’s not just a matter of saving money, we just don’t enjoy being in a berth: creaking lines, noisy neighbours with clanging and banging halyards, it’s hot, you can’t go swimming, the wind’s never from the bow… Continue reading »

We spent a week running after mechanics to help us remove the cutlass bearing, were strung along and advised impossible solutions until Christian finally decided to build a make-shift pusher himself: only 2 pieces of wood, 1 piece of steel tube, 2 threaded bars, 4 big washers and 6 nuts were necessary to makeshift this ingenious gadget! When we replaced our cutlass bearing 3 years… Continue reading »

As we’re staying a longer time in Fiji than most yachties, we have to renew our visa. First we got 4 months (clearance fees are about 160 USD), then we applied for an extension, which costs about 40 USD (per person), but is only valid for 2 months. After those initial months we had the choice of either getting another extension (more pricey, 290 USD… Continue reading »

It’s breadfruit season around the Pacific and we love it! When used green breadfruit tastes a bit like potato and can be used in potato dishes, but it has a creamier texture and a nutty flavour. We steam it first (takes only about 20 min), then make breadfruit fritters, tortilla espanola, salad, curries, stews etc. Yesterday I mashed freshly steamed breadfruit and mixed it with… Continue reading »

Over the years we acquired a mix of old and new navigation instruments on Pitufa, which used to communicate via NMEA convertors that lack configuration options–never quite the solution we really wanted. Unsatisfied with the situation and unconvinced by existing products, I decided to build an NMEA converter and gateway myself. Later on I started implementing more and more ideas and now my Pitufino replaces… Continue reading »

Ever since Christian had some health problems 5 years ago we’ve been cooking and baking gluten-free. In the beginning that was quite a challenge: I googled recipes and dismissed most because we couldn’t get the ingredients for them out here. I experimented a lot and found a few basic rules for gluten-free flour: – corn starch (available in minimarkets around the world) makes doughs hard… Continue reading »

In some remote places of French Polynesia there is still an abundancy of fish and clams on the reefs and coconut crabs hide on motus. The resources of such tiny eco-systems are very limited though and overhunting and overfishing is always a problem when locals do raids without much thought of sustainability. Cruisers sometimes go along with this ‘living off the land’ mentality and get… Continue reading »

We are very worried about shrinking bird populations in French Polynesia. Locals burn down motus for more palm tree plantations, but also cruisers unthinkingly disturb the few remaining ‘wild’ little islands. If you get lucky and find one of those motus with shrubs, high, deciduous trees and circling birds explore with care: you might see red-footed boobies nesting in trees, frigate birds, noddies and white… Continue reading »

When I started searching for recipes for gluten-free bread the results were disheartening. Too complicated, too many ingredients I wouldn’t be able to find in the South Pacific. Some recipes for tapioca-bread included eggs and massive amounts of oil (not very healthy…) and others claimed that I wouldn’t be able to produce non-crumbly bread without adding xanthan gum. My first experiments with tapioca and rice… Continue reading »

On rainy days I get out my workshop and create necklaces, bracelets, anklets, etc. with pearls from the Gambier Islands. Each design is unique, I work with cords made of leather, rubber and stainless steel. The so-called ‘black’ pearls are actually shining in all colours of the rainbow and I love playing with them

I’ve just uploaded a website that contains an interactive lagoon tide simulator. It lets you play with different parameters like swell height or how open/closed the lagoon is and instantly draws a graph with the tides and shows when the current in a pass is in or outgoing. Experimenting with this simulator may help understanding lagoon passes better. Just follow this link.