We left Nuku Hiva this morning, will sail past Hiva Oa and Tahuata this night and reach the souternmost island of the Marquesas, Fatu Hiva, tomorrow morning.
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2015
01
Dec
2015
30
Nov
Diesel days
Our Pitufa plus gear is generally very benign–when things break they usually do so at a suitable time (if there’s ever a good time for that…). E.g. the windlass stopped working just before we sailed to Tahiti where spare parts could be found, the clew of the genoa ripped off just 4 nm before we reached Huahine and the fuel line of our Yanmar engine decided to get clogged up when we were motoring out on the ocean on the way up here to the Marquesas. I don’t even want to imagine what catastrophes could have happened if the engine had just quit on us while navigating through a narrow pass with strong currents in the Tuamotus or in Maupiti. Brrrr.
When the engine died with a few blub-blub-blubs on the last passage we cleaned the diesel filters and found a little red sausage in it. Hmm. We immediately knew what had happened. After Christian had cut open the diesel tank 2 years ago in the boatyard (in order to clean out the goo that had accumulated over 25 years) he resealed the tank with red silicone which now started to dissolve. Therefore we emptied the tank, filtered the diesel, opened the tank again, thoroughly cleaned it and this time we put proper gasket material in. The whole procedure took 2 days and then we spent another happy day splashing around with diesel while refilling the tank in short breaks between tropical rain showers (it took 3 dinghy rides with jerry cans).
Now we’re ready to go sailing again and it looks like there’s a phase with northeasterly wind coming up which we’ll use to sail to the southern group of the Marquesas.
2015
20
Nov
Our photos of Bora Bora
Bora Bora
The name triggers associations of the perfect Southsea paradise at home. The landscape of the island's really extraordinary, but the sheer amount of hotels and traffic spoil the picture a bit. We stopped there twice while island hopping in September 2015.
(22 photos)
2015
18
Nov
Sauna
When we arrived in the Marquesas, the islands looked brownish and withered. Locals told us that it had been unusually dry (even for the dry season) and we moaned in the relentless heat of the sun. Our white (!) deck was so hot that you couldn’t step on it barefoot, the 30 degree warm sea acted as underfloor heating and the whole boat turned into a sauna. To get some relief we made sun shades for the hatches to be able to leave them open and catch a breeze.
Last Friday the weather suddenly changed and now we have torrential rainfalls pouring down several times a day. Our sun shades have turned into umbrellas (the hatches can remain open), the water tanks are full and we’re actually glad it has cooled down a bit. More rain in the east pacific area and droughts in the west pacific are typical for el nino years, so we’ll see how the weather will develop.
First it was too hot for excursions and then too wet, so we’ve only managed to go hiking in Nuku Hiva’s mountains once so far. As a positive side effekt we’ve got some jobs done at home: we’ve mended the genoa clew, finally finished the dingy cover (except some more velcro needs to be glued to the dinghy), changed the filter of the watermaker, changed the engine oil, etc. etc.–Pitufa really needed some maintenance.
2015
10
Nov
Taiohae, Nuku Hiva
At the moment there’s still southwesterly swell coming up (but that should become less frequent and violent as summer comes to the southern hemisphere), at the same time northerly swell comes down (and will become more with winter setting in up there) and in combination with predominant wind plus windseas from the east, finding a calm spot in the open bays of the Marquesas is quite a tricky business… Even in bays that look quite protected on the chart, swell and waves that get reflected from the rocky shores can turn the anchorage into a witches cauldron of confused cross seas and standing waves–in that case even a stern anchor can’t help the situation.
We’re reasonably comfy anchored (of course with a stern anchor that keeps Pitufa’s bow to the swell…) in the giant bay of Taiohae off the main town of the Marquesas on the southern side of Nuku Hiva. Due to the cyclone panic more yachts than in a regular year are anchored here (about 40) and we enjoy the company of a surprisingly international crowd.
2015
02
Nov
Dramatically uncomfortable
When the anchor drops after a long passage, but the boat keeps pitching and rolling merrily, you know you’ve arrived in the Marquesas… Unlike the other archipelagos of Fr. Poly, these islands have no protecting fringe reefs and their coasts and bays are open to the waves and mighty swell of the Pacific. During El Nino years they are supposed to be safely out of the cyclone belt, so we’re happy that we made it here just with today’s official start of the cyclone season. Wherever we went in the Tuamotus, there was no other topic. During the last strong El Nino, French Polynesia was hit several times and the media have triggered a wide-spread panic among the people. Everybody’s expecting the worst, roofs are strapped down to mooring weights and even the woman at the post office in Tikehau gave me an unbelieving stare when I casually mentioned that we were here by sailing boat. Don’t you know that the cyclone season is coming?
The passage here wasn’t easy and last night was extra annoying with squalls that changed the wind directions quicker than we could tack the boat (shit, now we’re sailing right back on our GPS track, let’s tack again…) and when the wind then died down completely, we decided to head for the nearest island Ua Pou instead of motoring another 25 nm to the main island Nuku Hiva. This way we’ve come back to the bay that was our last stop in the Marquesas exactly two years ago (before heading to the Gambier again). A group of dolphins accompanied us in.
The anchorages in the Marquesas may lack comfort, but they certainly have style. Here in Vaiehu at the western coast of Ua Pou we are surrounded by vertical cliffs and towering spires. The bay looks quite protected on the chart, but the swell somehow makes it in anyway. It looks like the ocean’s breathing in first, rocks emerge from the sea, water sparkles in countless cascades down the shore and then the swell surges into the bay, lifting the boat gently, but crashing violently on the cliffs and spraying out from blow holes all around us. This dramatic spectacle is repeated twice a minute, but never gets boring.
2015
01
Nov
Almost there
Onyl 75 miles to go, so we hope to arrive in Nuku Hiva tomorrow morning.
2015
31
Oct
Hotter and hotter
Today we have got a nice ESE-erly breeze and are on a direct course to Nuku Hiva. 190 miles to go on a course of 19 deg. Summer is coming and we are sailing towards the equator — it’s getting incredibly hot…
2015
30
Oct
The world’s largest bathtub
The light winds continued. This morning it was calm enough to take a bath in the Ocean (while holding on to the ladder). Now we are on the way north towards the Marquesas.
2015
29
Oct
A real calm
After a night of very light winds the dreaded calm finally got us this morning and we ended up motoring (the waves were still too high to just sit on the water…). After a few hours the engine died–the clogged fuel line was fortunately easy to find and clear.
Now we’ve just got enough of a breeze to keep Pitufa sailing again with 2 to 3 knots (an old lady on a rollator walker could overtake us, but we don’t complain as long as the sails don’t flap). Keep your fingers crossed that the breeze will stay (or pick up) during the night 
2015
27
Oct
A blowy calm
The forcasts claim, there is no wind today, but we are riding 20+ knots from the SE. Wild, but definitely better than motoring.
2015
26
Oct
Sailing again
We are out at sea again. Not much wind at the moment in this area, so we hope it will pick up soon.
2015
25
Oct
Lessons in patience
At the moment we have the feeling that we spend half the time waiting for suitable weather windows browsing our forecasts and the rest of the time we are fretting about predictions that haven’t come true. As soon as appointments/deadlines (in our case the cyclone season) are involved, cruising definitely stops being fun.
At the moment we are ‘stuck’ in calm, sunny weather in a pretty island of the tuamotus–usually that would be ideal conditions to explore the lagoon, but we don’t have the peace of mind to enjoy it. Instead we spent the whole day mending the genoa–tedious work, as we have to find the old holes in the 10 layer thick fabric, widen them with an awl and then finally sew through with a needle and the help of needle nose pliers. 2 straps reattached, 2 more to do… But at the moment it looks like we’ll have light winds on the way to the Marquesas next week, so the genoa must be ready to go by then.
2015
22
Oct
Stopover in Ahe
We arrived today in Ahe and anchored off the village in the South of the small atoll. Work on the giant Mahi Mahi we pulled in just before the pass is still in progress. It took us two days for a distance we easily could do in less than one in the right winds…
2015
21
Oct
Shellback
It’s slow going, tacking so close-hauled. To make 70 nm as the bird flies we’ve had to sail over 100 since yesterday. First it was very squally with Pitufa heeling down to the toe-rail in the gusts. Of course the fishing line snapped tight during one of these squalls, Christian had a hard time pulling the medium sized Bonito in while trying not to fall overboard himself. Killing and gutting was done as usual still out on the aft deck (also not so funny on the slanting deck) and then I carried the pieces into the galley, planning on filetting them later in calmer weather. That wasn’t according to Leeloo’s plan though. As soon as she smelled the fish she managed to climb out of her sea berth (a cardboard box she sleeps in when it’s rough), stalked into the galley and protested until I cut a few pieces for her which she devoured with one paw propped up against the wall to avoid sliding into her lunch. Brave little shellback 