Pitufa.at

We’re sailing along with 6 knots on now rather calm seas, staying about 25 nm north of the Venezuelan Antilles. Initially we wanted to spend a while exploring these islands, but unfortunately we’ve heard plenty of piracy reports + rumours around them recently and decided not to take any risks. As only 160 nm of 400 nm remain, we hope to reach Bonaire tomorrow before… Continue reading »

2012
15
May

Sailing westwards again

We left Grenada yesterday in the evening for Bonaire. First few miles not much wind, but then it freshened up and we are making about 6 knots. It’s a quite rolly passage with the seas from abeam/astern.

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2012
08
May

Splash!

We’ve made it—Pitufa is in the water again!

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2012
28
Apr

Bad news

Yesterday we thought we were almost ready to launch Pitufa again and eager to get away from the boatyard and the mosquitoes. The last job was to change the upper shrouds, but when the rigger fixed them on the mast he discovered a crack at the very top of the mast. A catastrophe. On Monday we’ll have to pull the mast and then hope to… Continue reading »

2012
14
Apr

St. David’s Habour

Today we moved a few bays further east to St. Davids Habour. We didn’t bother hoisting any sails and motored the 6 miles upwind (we had to run the watermaker anyway). Navigating Grenada’s southern coast is somewhat scary because there are reefs everywhere. The anchorage is a bit rolly so we dropped also a stern anchor to keep us aligned to the swell. We then… Continue reading »

2012
13
Apr

Mount Qua Qua

We wanted to hike up Mount Qua Qua, partly because Lonely Planet recommends it and partly because of the cool name… So we took a minibus up to Grand Etang Forest Reserve only to discover that dozens of buses from a cruise ship had arrived before us. Stalls had popped up because of them, musicians, traditionally “decorated” ladies–far from the peaceful area we had been… Continue reading »

2012
14
Mar

Photos of Tobago

We updated our photo album today and added a gallery of Tobago.

2012
14
Feb

Land ahoy!

The island of Tobago appears out of the haze 25 miles ahead of us. The passage from Suriname took us three and a half days with daily runs of 136, 132, and 145 nautical miles. The Guyana current helped with a steady knot all the way up. The first two days were pleasant with flat seas and light winds, but strong enough to push Pitufa… Continue reading »

2012
13
Feb

Wayne Vaney back on duty

With Wayne Vaney back on duty, passage-making is finally delightful again. With the wind vane steering, the human crew is free to read, eat, and nap.

2012
12
Feb

On our way

Sunny skies and light winds, Pitufa is leisurly gliding towards the Caribbean.

2012
09
Feb

Photos of Suriname

We uploaded some pictures of our stay in Suriname. Even though we saw many animals like a giant anteater, otters and monkeys, we can’t prove these encounters with photos, because the wildlife always turned up so unexpectedly that we never had a camera near. At least the pics show the forest and rivers where all these animals live. See for yourself:

2012
03
Feb

Wildlife

According to our initial plan we wanted to sail up the Perica and other rivers watching out for wildlife encounters. We pictured ourselves waiting motionless in the dinghy for hours to get a glimpse of some jungle creatures. Things turned out quite different: after a week we’re still anchored in the first spot we picked in the Perica, because the animals come round to our… Continue reading »

2012
20
Jan

Snapshots from the middle of the Atlantic Ocean

We’ve just uploaded a new mini gallery.

2012
15
Jan

Atlantic crossing facts

Crossing the Atlantic ocean is typically the first really big passage for cruisers starting in Europe. It definitely was for us. The last days (or weeks) before the crossing and even the first days of the crossing we had butterflies in our stomachs. Thoughts of the vast, big ocean, the long distance, the long time being entirely on our own, totally without any help from… Continue reading »

2012
12
Jan

Arrived!