Pitufa.at

Wherever you go in French Polynesia, almost everybody has tattoos. Their traditional symbols are deeply embedded in the Polynesian culture. I got a small manta tattooed two years ago and this year I could not resist and got him a bigger brother.

My new tattoo. (click for larger photo)

At the moment there’s a strong Maraamu (southeasterly wind) blowing that brings cool air to French Polynesia, but we’re nicely protected from the wind here in Cook’s Bay on the northern side of Moorea. Moorea is a spectacular little island with steep mountains, calderas and lush valleys and the breezy weather’s perfect to explore the numerous hiking tracks that crisscross the island. During our last visit all signs on the hiking trails were missing and we continously got lost. In the meantime the signs have been reinstalled, so some of the adventure thrill’s gone, but hiking’s definitely easier
In Tahiti we were so busy with boat projects that we neglected our fitness completely, the virus we battled for two weeks slowed us down even more. Now we’re slowly building up some fitness again, alternating between hiking days and project days on the boat.

It’s been a sunny, hot week here in Taina (despite the fact that it’s still supposed to be winter), but we didn’t see much of the weather as we spent most of our time in the bilge. We removed the floorboards and the companionway ladder in the mornings and worked on the watermaker parts all day. The cat thought that was very strange behaviour and didn’t appreciate it at all…

We redid most of the plumbing, found space for both feed pumps in the bilge (we had to modularise the modular system a bit more by cutting the plates the pumps and filter were sitting on so that they would fit…) and finally installed the electrics. Installations on yachts are always great fun, as there’s never enough space to put things and you always get bloody knuckles trying to fit screws in unreachable places. Balancing around without floorboards added a new thrill to the whole experience
Now our new Spectra Cape Horn Extreme is running and producing more than 50 litres of water per hour (drinking quality) using only about 19 Amps! The downside of the Spectra is its price, but my Dad generously sponsored this gadget (birthday’s are a wonderful thing, we should have more than one a year ).

Our old ‘Pure water Sea Star 250′ watermaker used the same energy, only produced about 20 litres and never in great quality so we would not recommend that system to other cruisers.

Christian got back on Wednesday morning, so the smurf crew’s complete again! Unfortunately he caught a cold on the plane, so the planned projects (watermaker installation, replacing hoses on the yanmar, etc) will be a bit postponed. We’re not on a tight schedule, so we’re just taking it slowly for the moment.

…according to the proverb and a boat without a cat isn’t one either–at least in my humble opinion I’ve now been alone with Leeloo on the boat for two and half weeks, but it’s impossible to feel lonely with a furry companion who’s always around and always talks back

I love the way…
…she climbs up the steep companion way stairs looking like a little monkey.
…she rolls around on the bimini enjoying the morning sun.
…she welcomes us home at the stern chatting animatedly about the many things that must have happened on the boat–even when we were only gone for half an hour.
…she wants to have her meals at the same time we eat (social eater).
…she works out on her scratchboard on deck sharpening her claws (and nowhere else)
…she hops on the couch in the evening waiting for us to join her to watch a film.
…she shouts “bray-ow-ee!” (out of the way, here I come) while jumping up to our bed.
…she gallops over the deck and on to the bimini around 4 in the morning sounding like a herd of elephants.
…she crawls under my blanket after her nightly adventures on deck (all cold paws and bristled fur in the cold of the Tahitian winter at the moment).

I could strangle her though, when she then insists on me getting up to feed her at 5 in the morning, even though she has wet and dry food in her bowls. She’s always been picky and in her old age she eats nothing but high qualitiy diet catfood which is not available here in French Polynesia. Well, nobody’s perfect Fortunately Christian will soon come back with a bagful of cat goodies…

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As I’m alone at the moment I spend most days below deck, working on my sofa-upholstery-renewal project, writing articles or making jewellery. After such a productive day I try to stretch my legs doing long walks around the yacht club area and up in the surrounding hills in the evenings. Arue is a suburb of Papeete (the city has long overgrown its borders and incorporated the former villages of Mamao, Pirae and Arue furthest north), too densely populated to count as a village, but too small to count as a real town.

Wherever I go friendly faces smile at me on the road, when I smile back a melodic “Ia orana” follows. When I wander into residential areas people wave out from their gardens and ask if I search for someone and need directions.

On a Sunday, like today, people gather around little streams for a picnic with friends, or they just sit on the back of a pick-up truck with some beers. Quite often someone has brought a ukulele and others join in singing.
The Polynesians are cheerful, friendly people and they certainly know how to have a good time. It’s easy to feel at home here.

Christian left for Austria last Wednesday morning, so Leeloo and I have been alone on Pitufa for almost a week. We have been good girls, produced about 20 pearl necklaces during the first days and today we sewed two new covers for the sofa upholstery. Well, to be honest, I did most of the work, but Leeloo supervised and sat on everything that was work in progress
Another 2 weeks and the smurfy family will be united again!

Since we set out we’ve bought new mattresses twice–each a little bit more expensive than the last one, but still not comfortable. Last week we decided to go for high quality and bought two latex matresses.

Our bed in the aft cabin is very oddly shaped so we have to buy 2 queen size mattresses, cut them into shape and resew the cover. What sounds simple in theory turned into a 4 day project…
Cutting the latex was done rather quickly, but the stitched, padded cover proved impossible to work with. The interior seems kept getting undone (despite our efforts to stop the thread and secure it with double seams in the sewing machine), the foot of the sewing machine kept getting tangled in the soft padding and in the glue residues on the inside of the padding and then it refused work altogether. Only a cleaning, grooming and oiling session persuaded our ‘Miss Pfaff’ to continue sewing… After 4 days the interior of the boat was covered in threads, padding and mattress pieces, but we succeeded, filled two rubbish containers and spent the first really comfy night since we moved on the boat

Christian got me a chain for my birthday and it’s all shiny and pretty! 70 m of 10 mm chain would be a bit bulky for a necklace, but they suit Pitufa’s bow just fine

The Maggi chain we bought two years ago started rusting after 6 months and by now it’s already disintegrating, losing material and leaving a rusty mess on deck every time we lift or lower the anchor, so it was really time to get rid of it… We cannot recommend Maggi chains (Italian brand, galvanized aqua 4, grade 40) for other cruisers!