Pitufa.at

This one’s in a small, regional newspaper, but they got all the facts right Thanks a lot to the Bezirksrundschau

Another article about us was published in an Austrian newspaper today. The “Krone” is Austria’s most read newspaper, but has a reputation for bad research. The numerous errors in the article are not due to faulty answers in the interview from our side E.g. our dear princess Leeloo was not a tomcat, but very much of a girly cat. They advertise our books, but wrongly… Continue reading »

Wherever the reefs have died around here, the rocks are covered in coarse turbinaria algae. A depressing sight. In such areas large, floating patches of those ugly plants cover the sea. They are a constant nuisance when the outboard sucks them in. Today they brought Pitufa close to a major catastrophe: We were motoring to a new anchorage inside the lagoon, when Christian noticed that… Continue reading »

Ten years ago we set out from Pula (Croatia). We didn’t know then whether we’d like this life, whether we’d be able to deal with all the challenges it poses. We were happy, but also quite anxious… On the one hand it feels like yesterday, on the other hand we have experienced and seen so much during those years that it seems like a lifetime…… Continue reading »

We always like to think that all cruisers are reasonable, environmental friendly, nice people. Well, they are not. Two days ago we moved to the airport anchorage and anchored in 3 m depth on the shelf where we can see the bottom, know that we are nicely settled in sand and only need 20 m of chain. Our next neighbour was far away, the French… Continue reading »

While Pitufa was anchored alone off Marina Taina, the French catamaran Noee swang into her and scratched her paintwork. When our friend Adrian (who did a great job taking care of Pitufa while we were gone–Adrian Pataki who runs Diesel Clinic in Taina, call him when you need someone to look after your boat!) confronted him, he just called him names. We also tried to… Continue reading »

Travelling in times of Covid is complicated, requires lots of organisation, paperwork and gave us one adrenaline rush after the other… First we had to beg the Haute Commissariat to accept our reasons to travel (we only got the okay for the return flight when we were already in Austria–quite exciting…), then there’s a form for the folks from quarantine (non-vaccinated travellers need a special… Continue reading »

Going through pictures of Leeloo and all those happy memories I thought that Leeloo’s many fans around the world would probably like to see more about the unusual 21 years our beloved kitty accompanied us on our travels. “On velvet paws towards the horizon” will soon be available on Amazon–I’m working on it!

Thanks guys for all the good reviews! It’s great for me as an author to know that people are enjoying my stories… No complaints so far Richtung Horizont — Available as paperback and e-book on Amazon. You can order it here.

In order to promote our book I wrote to some TV and radio stations in Austria, not expecting much–and was veeeery surprised when quite a few were interested. Pitufa’s crew will be on ‘Oberösterreich heute’ on Saturday at 7 pm and talking for half an hour in the ‘Linzer Torte’ (Radio Oberösterreich) on Sunday at 9 am. I’ll post internet links once we get them!… Continue reading »

Today we are driving from Upper Austria to Graz. Drinking lots of water is generally healthy, but not a great idea when you’re on a highway… Finally a service station, by now it’s a full emergency, I grab a mask, run to the entrance –and get stopped by a smiling lady in a dirndl dress. No negative covid test, no entry, she informs us friendly,… Continue reading »

Our travel book has started selling on Amazon, now we need some reviews to encourage other buyers… If you’ve read the book and enjoyed it (which I hope ) please leave a friendly review on Amazon!

Yesterday I had some appointments in town and did my runs between different locations by thumb – hitchhiking works really well in French Polynesia, especially when you hold up a sign where you want to go. I got chatting with a very nice Polynesian woman who picked me up, we talked about the Tuamotus, how we cruisers are blamed for pollution, harming nature and then… Continue reading »

French Polynesia is doing a good job to prevent Covid-19 from spreading. People generally still wear masks in shops and public places and remain cautious. Vaccinations are going on rapidly, in many places everybody 18+ can get an appointment for a shot. However, we have noticed that some cruisers think that as soon as they have their two shots they can drop all precautions, they… Continue reading »