It seems like such a culture clash when locals in handmade canoes show up, smartphone in hand to take pictures of our boat. People who live in huts made of woven pandanus, coconut or bamboo with just a single solar light and charger still invest the little money they have into a smartphone… PNG never established a network of landline connections, instead they started putting… Continue reading »
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2025
26
Sep
2025
25
Sep
Feeling like celebrities in Bougainville
We’ve never felt so popular before… Many people here have never seen a sailboat before and the normal reaction once we drop anchor is for half the village to rush out by boat or canoe to have a chat and take pictures of us. Yes, here the locals takes photos of the tourists, not the other way round Of course they are eager to trade,… Continue reading »
2025
21
Sep
19 kg tuna and no freezer!
This 19 kg yellow-fin tuna was the heaviest fish we ever caught. We use a simple handline for fishing and Christian pulled the big guy in within 5 minutes (no endless fighting and torturing like people with professional fishing gear seem to enjoy). Christian usually just grabs the swivel of the metal leader to hoist fish up to Pitufa’s high stern, but in this case… Continue reading »
2025
11
Sep
2025
11
Sep
Cruising info Solomons
We’re back in Taro, where we checked in half a year ago, not quite knowing what to expect and concerned about crocodiles, malaria, crime and anchorage fees. We needn’t have worried, all went well, even though we often found it difficult to find a safe anchorage between very deep bays and reef shelves that come up to the surface almost vertically. We love heat and… Continue reading »
2025
05
Sep
Papatura Island
We met Kym (“Dive Guadalcanal”) when she volunteered to install the mooring for Simon’s Nature Reserve. Back then she invited us to visit her at Papatura (a private island at the northern end of Santa Isabel), where she and her parents run a resort. Sailboats are welcome to anchor in front of the resort, but make sure to ask for a good spot, before you… Continue reading »
2025
03
Sep
Sailing up the coast of Santa Isabel
We hopped up the coast of Santa Isabel in daysails between 20 and 50 nautical miles. The island has a deeply submerged outer reef far off the coast and plenty of little reefs within that area. There aren’t any detailed charts for the area here and to find decent satellite images we are usually switching between different providers (Google, Bing and ArcGis) and even then… Continue reading »