ende

Birgit

Author's details

Name: Birgit
Date registered: September 22, 2010
Jabber / Google Talk: admin

Latest posts

  1. Let there be Rock! — October 7, 2024
  2. Let there be Rock! — October 7, 2024
  3. Einkaufen in Luganville — October 3, 2024
  4. Shopping in Luganville — October 3, 2024
  5. Ein ganzer Monat SMURFY!! — September 28, 2024

Most commented posts

  1. The Matuku Marine Reserve and how it came into being — 11 comments
  2. Donations for the Marine Reserve in Matuku — 10 comments
  3. Hilfsprojekte für Matuku — 7 comments
  4. Leeloo 2000–2021 — 6 comments
  5. Survived! — 6 comments

Author's posts listings

2024
07
Oct

Let there be Rock!

Our loudspeakers in the cockpit started crackling and failing a few months ago. No problem, we got new ones in Austria and simply brought them back to the boat along with other roughly 59 kg of goodies for Pitufa… A few days ago while we were on passage, Christian ripped out the old ones and started cleaning and sanding the area while Pitufa was happily… Continue reading »

2024
03
Oct

Shopping in Luganville

“Hot town, summer in the city, back of my neck gettin’ dirty and gritty…” We wandered the dust roads of Luganville doing grocery shopping and running errands and everything we carry home from supermarkets and the veg market is sandy and gritty (including ourselves). Luganville is Vanuatu’s second biggest town, but it’s more like a long drawn-out village without any recognizable center. Most grocery shops… Continue reading »

2024
28
Sep

A whole month of SMURFY!

Our little Smurf has been with us now for a month, went from a handful of cat to more than quite a handful, from clumsy, sleepy baby to gangly, raucous kid, from 1 pound to almost 3 pounds! By now he’s an expert sailor, we have to keep him back as he’s getting a bit too adventurous for our taste One handful at 8 weeks… Continue reading »

2024
22
Sep

New ceiling lights in salon, kitchen and aft cabin!

When we inspected our Pitufa before the purchase, I thought the ugly ceiling lights would be the first things we’d toss. Somehow there were always more important jobs on the to-do list though. Now, only 16 years later, we’ve finally got round to replacing them

2024
14
Sep

A cat tree up the companionway!

Pitufa’s steep ladder with 6 wide-apart rungs down our 160 cm high companionway is an insurmountable obstacle for a kitten. Impossible to climb up and potentially lethal when trying to jump down (despite a mount of cushions on the wooden floorboards). We therefore went out to buy material for a cat tree–not so easy in Port Vila. At first we couldn’t find a tube with… Continue reading »

2024
14
Sep

Ship’s kittens need boundaries

That’s true for every kitten, but especially aboard, where understanding a few words in human language and actually obeying them can potentially save a few of a cat’s nine lives… We use the standard German word “NEIN” to tell him that something’s completely forbidden and taboo, which is handy as it’s not a word we use in any other context (when talking to each other… Continue reading »

2024
06
Jul

Leaving Pitufa

Leaving our floating home alone while flying to Europe to see friends and family means lots of preparations: cleaning, packing, wiping surfaces with vinegar, storing everything under deck, thinking of all the things a boatsitter should do–trying to think of everything stresses me out completely. But the most difficult part of me is getting rid of our garden: after years of pampering and sustainable harvesting… Continue reading »

2024
30
Jun

Collect Tusker beer bottles!

There is no separating and recycling in Vanuatu (yet, it’s just starting with some projects), but the local brewery takes their empty beer bottles back to refill them! So it’s a good idea not to buy imported beer or cans, but to buy Tusker in bottles. It’s quite a nice beer and we love their slogan “Bia blong yumi” (Bislama, is the second official language… Continue reading »

2024
30
Jun

Port Vila

We arrived in the capital of Vanuatu last week and we’re still getting our bearings, checking out hardware stores and supermarkets–typical cruiser-style We have found plenty of shops so far, but there is less range here and it’s more expensive than in Fiji (as people had warned us ahead). Port Vila is a pleasant little town with a waterfront with restaurants and souvenir shops–everything looks… Continue reading »

2024
26
Jun

Pitufa Black Pearl Designs

We’ll be travelling to Europe soon, so write an email if you’d like to have a little piece of the South Pacific close to your heart as well

2024
05
Jun

Cleared in!

Yesterday morning we left Anatom at 5 o’clock in the morning as we expected light winds for the 50 mile sail up to Tanna and we wanted to arrive with daylight. The winds were stronger than expected and it was a fast, close-hauled sail (5 to 7 knots), so we got to the anchorage just after noon. Port Resolution is a bay located on the… Continue reading »

2024
01
Jun

Still not checked in

We’ve been in Vanuatu now for 5 days, but we still haven’t been ashore, as we haven’t been able to officially clear in yet. The cruise ship for which the officals were meant to fly in was canceled, another one was possibly scheduled for yesterday, but didn’t show either. It’s been blowing 25 knots for the past few days, so we were working indoors, I… Continue reading »

2024
29
May

Arrived in Vanuatu

We arrived yesterday at 2 in the morning after a stormy, splashy last sailing night in the cozy protected bay between Anatom and “Mystery Island”. Anatom’s not a port of entry, but you can check in (with pre-authorisation as we had) whenever the officials come here to clear in a cruise ship. Yesterday morning we got an email saying that today’s cruise ship stop was… Continue reading »

2024
28
May

Islands ahead!

It has been another fast sailing day. After ages we have managed to catch a fish again (a smallish barracuda) and we have already processed it and made preserves in the pressure cooker. It’s generally more lively here with little petrels circling the boat and swishing over the waves. We can see Futuna to the north and Anatom ahead, but we still have 45 nm… Continue reading »

2024
27
May

Racing with a little break in between

Usually it’s a nightmare when the wind dies down after a strong blow, as you’re left with high waves and a madly bucking boat. Yesterday the seas calmed down along with the winds, so we used the welcome break to air the boat and do some domestic chores (baking bread, straining a batch of kefir for banana smoothies and Christian even managed to shave without… Continue reading »

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