ende

Birgit

Author's details

Name: Birgit
Date registered: September 22, 2010

Latest posts

  1. Rainy weather program — March 16, 2019
  2. Schlechtwetterprogramm — March 16, 2019
  3. Sommer — February 28, 2019
  4. Summer — February 28, 2019
  5. Nasty weather — February 20, 2019

Most commented posts

  1. Waiting for the right wind — 5 comments
  2. Faultag — 4 comments
  3. Las Palmas de Gran Canaria — 4 comments
  4. Englishman’s Bay — 4 comments
  5. Freundliches Grenada — 4 comments

Author's posts listings

Jan
11

A mooring for Rapa Iti

by Birgit

The main bay of Rapa Iti is infamous for tricky anchoring. Cruising guides mention ‘dead coral rubble’ at the bottom, the bay is very deep (20-30 m) and uneven. Many boats have dragged and fouled their anchors and chains here. When we got here last year we found that large areas of the bay are indeed covered in live staghorn coral–especially the shallower parts that… Continue reading »

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Jan
10

Festivities

by Birgit

We’ve had a busy time here in Rapa Iti. The island community celebrated Christmas and New Years as well as a big wedding together and the cruisers were invited as well. Last year we were the only boat for a month here, but this year we had 5(!) neighbours, so we got our own cruisers’ table at the festivities The weather was fine in the… Continue reading »

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Dec
12

Back in Rapa Iti (Oparo)

by Birgit

We arrived in Rapa Iti at 9 in the evening yesterday and were glad that we could follow our GPS track from last year through the outlying reef maze into the big bay. This morning the bay was bathed in sunlight with the high, rugged mountains towering in the background–Rapa Iti (or Opara as the locals say) is a spectacular place. In Rapa you have… Continue reading »

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Dec
11

Wet mattress

by Birgit

It’s been a grey, windy and rainy passage so far. Usually we have our aft cabin hatch open on passages whenever it’s not extremely rough, but because of the rain it was only a tiny gap open with a rubber mat covering the windward side this morning. Suddenly there was a a crashing sound followed by a loud whoosh–one of those waves that insist on… Continue reading »

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Dec
09

Difficult to say good-bye

by Birgit

We are getting ready to leave as there’s a weather window for Rapa Iti coming up. Yesterday we went to say good-bye to our local friends, so of course Pitufa got loaded up with fruit and veg… It’s very tempting to stay and spend Christmas here with them, but we should slowly make our way east as the cyclone season has started.

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Nov
27

Having a good time in Raivavae

by Birgit

It’s our third visit to Raivavae, but this year we’re lucky with the weather for the first time–sunny skies make such a difference… We’ve been dividing our time between writing/boat projects and fun activities with our cruiser friends. Three days ago we hiked up Mt. Hiro, the highest mountain, together: 8 cruisers in a row To get to the path we had to cross a… Continue reading »

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Nov
17

The end of our adventure trip

by Birgit

We arrived on Thursday in Raivavae after a fast sail with steady winds (despite the light and fickle winds that were predicted). Just as we were approaching the pass it started pouring down, the high island was completely invisible in the clouds and we were glad that we could follow an old GPS track to an anchorage we had used 4 years before. The next… Continue reading »

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Nov
15

Leaving Tubuai

by Birgit

In the end we had a very nice time in Tubuai. The anchorage in the west was so calm that we could get some work done and then we met a friendly Polynesian while hitchhiking: He offered to take us up Mt Pahatu (we had failed on our own) and it turned out, there is indeed no path–but Grandpa Viri made one for us with… Continue reading »

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Nov
11

Finally a calm anchorage

by Birgit

When we first arrived we anchored near the village on the northern side. We tried inside the harbour with a sternline and corkscrewed horribly, moved outside and rolled even worse. The reef on the northside is open, so on top of the windchop bent SW swell comes in and adds to the misery. Only the northside is charted and cruising guides refer to this one… Continue reading »

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Nov
07

Up the highest mountain of Tubuai

by Birgit

Yesterday it was sunny, so we kicked ourselves to some activity even though we were still tired from the passage–you never know how long the nice weather will last in the Australs… We went to the mayor’s office, didn’t get a map, but some vague advice about hiking tracks. We hitched a ride along the cross-island road–after friendly Rurutu we were surprised how many cars… Continue reading »

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Nov
04

Annoying arrival in Tubuai

by Birgit

We arrived this morning in Tubuai after an unexpectedly windy night (20 gusting 30 kn instead of 12 kn predicted) and tried out two anchorages just inside the pass–one was unbearably rolly and at the other one we ploughed some sand before we gave up and headed over to the village. The lagoon is murky, shallow and difficult to navigate. Now we’re anchored behind the… Continue reading »

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Nov
03

Some more hikes

by Birgit

The past three days it was still blowing hard, so we stayed in Avera bay where it was bouncy, but at least safe. The sun was out again and we explored the last few corners of the island we had not seen yet: we walked along the beach to a spectacular cave just north of Avera, hiked along the ridge southwards and today we made… Continue reading »

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Oct
31

Nasty weather

by Birgit

We’ve been confined to the boat for 5 days during nasty weather with lots of rain, sustained winds of 30 knots (54 km/h) and gusts howling down the mountains with up to 50 knots (90 km/h). We were feeling a bit sorry for ourselves until we read on the news that Europe has been hit by far worse weather with horrible floodings, mudslides and snow… Continue reading »

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Oct
29

Indoor program

by Birgit

There’s a front moving by just north of us and we get grey, rainy and very windy weather here. The wind’s howling over the montain and gusts up to 40 knots push Pitufa from one side to the other. Fortunately the sea’s are (still??) rather calm, so we’re having productive indoor-project days. I got the jewellery workshop out, Christian’s working on the computer and Leeloo… Continue reading »

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Oct
27

Anchorage on the western side of Rurutu

by Birgit

Yesterday was a busy day in the harbour, because the supply ship arrived. It anchored outside and barges were taking containers in and out all day long. Even though the harbour is fairly new, apparently it was constructed before the freighter company got a new vessel for the Austral Islands which happens to be slightly too big for the harbour… The wind was easterly and… Continue reading »

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