Pitufa.at

Yesterday we spent all day anchored off Manuae. We got the dinghy ready (not easy in rough conditions), but the passage through the reef looked way too dangerous in the swell that was getting bigger every hour. In the end we gave up and instead of spending a rolly night at anchor, we left and spent a rolly night at sea (with lots of squalls).… Continue reading »

The wind is playing games with us, so we have decided to make a stop-over off an uninhabited island while we wait for wind to sail to Aitutaki. We managed to anchor on the outer reef despite rainy and grey weather. Now we’re rolling in the swell that comes around the island from both sides, hoping for a sunny spell. The island’s a national park,… Continue reading »

The weather forecast threatened with a calm period, but fortunately it only lasted 4 hours and we could start sailing again at midnight. This morning dawned almost kitschy beautiful: sunny, flat seas and Pitufa gliding along with 3 knots in a gentle breeze. 88 nm to go!

After a perfect sailing day yesterday we had a squally night and didn’t get much sleep. 197 nm to go!

[geo_mashup_save_location lat=- lng=- geocoding_error="Address not found - try making it less detailed"] Last night we sailed into a dark bank of clouds that brought quite some rain, but fortunately also wind from the right direction. This morning we sailed out on the other side into blue skies, but the wind kept blowing and we’re making good progress!

[geo_mashup_save_location lat=-10.507 lng=-157,718 geocoding_error="Address not found - try making it less detailed"] This passage is starting slowly, but pleasantly. There’s just a light breeze, but the sea’s so calm that Pitufa is still moving along with an average of 4 knots. We have all hatches open (incredibe on an ocean voyage) and this afternoon we even had a bath–hanging on to the swimming ladder even… Continue reading »

By now we’ve established our usual routine for remote places: a nice balance between work and play… For the past few days we’ve spent the mornings restitching and reinforcing our dinghy cover and in the afternoons we explored the motus on the eastern side. Yesterday we took Pitufa a few miles further south through the lagoon. While the central lagoon is deep (50m) with plenty,… Continue reading »

On the weekend we visited the little village Tetautua and attended the church there. The Cook’s are famous for their choirs, but at the moment there are only 15 villagers here. What they lacked in numbers, they made up in volume Now we’re anchored a few miles further south, where we’ve already found bird motus with lots of nesting Tropic Birds and Noddies. These colonies… Continue reading »

We’ve started to get our bearings here in Tongareva. It’s a big atoll (11 miles long, 6 miles wide) with three passes into a deep lagoon with many coral heads, but no islands within the lagoon. It has quite some land with motus stretching along the northern, eastern and western sides of the atoll, but only 2 settlements. The main village Omoka lies on the… Continue reading »