Pitufa.at

The pass of an atoll is the bustling centre of its underwater life with corals providing a home for millions of little swarmfish hiding in delicate species like staghorn, groups of surgeons and parrots as well as couples of butterflies roaming the slopes, groupers and morrays hiding in crevices, swarms of snappers in the deeper water and barracudas, sharks and trevallies passing by. It’s also… Continue reading »

Turtles are still hunted and eaten on most islands in the Pacific, the only exceptions are touristy places (where the locals are encouraged to protect them as an attraction for visitors) and around very developed areas, where environmental organisations have been raising awareness for the protection of endangered species. We try the same and often include turtles in the presentations we do at schools, explaining… Continue reading »

It’s never great when the water alarm in the bilge goes off with a high-pitched BEEEEP, but it’s especially disconcerting when you’re out on the ocean with still 60 nm to go to land… The first step is to lift the floorboard, take out the alarm and silence the deafening noise to be able to think again. The next step is nasty: put a finger… Continue reading »

Have you seen videos of people hypnotising chickens and even sharks by rolling them on their backs and stroking them from the collarbone down their belly? I thought that magic might knock out crocodiles as well, so I grabbed ours and behold: it worked!

Remember how we were hoping that Smurfy would be less aggressive with less testosterone in his system? Well, it seemed to work for a while, but then we started noticing that he’s been gaining weight since he was neutered, so we’re feeding him smaller portions. Guess what happens when he’s hungry and cranky? Yep, he gets aggressive… This morning he was sitting next to his… Continue reading »

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 »

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 »

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 »