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Birgit

Author's details

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

Latest posts

  1. Wie man ein Krokodil hypnotisiert — October 23, 2025
  2. How to hypnotise a crocodile — October 23, 2025
  3. Kleiner Wadelbeisser — October 17, 2025
  4. Smurfy aka Pukpuk monster aka Komodo dragon monster — October 17, 2025
  5. Fotos von Buka, Bougainville — October 4, 2025

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

2017
22
Jun

Weather quirks

by Birgit

The French Polynesian Meteo as well as the grib files predicted a disturbance with wind clocking to the north, then west, south and finally southeast. During such episodes the southerly and/or southeasterly winds are usually strong which the Polynesians call ‘Maramu’. Ideally we would hop from anchorage to anchorage around an atoll to be on the protected side, but in an atoll as big as… Continue reading »

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2017
21
Jun

Bird islands in peril

by Birgit

Tahanea was the first atoll we ever sailed too. We were enchanted by the bird colonies and healthy reefs and expected other atolls to be just like that. We were disappointed wherever we went. On populated atolls the motus were all burned down (‘cleaned’) at some point and the endemic shrubs replaced by coconut plantations where people make copra that is then turned into palm… Continue reading »

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2017
12
Jun

Anniversary

by Birgit

It would be hard to find a more perfect spot than beautiful Tahanea for our 6th cruising anniversary. As an anniversary present we got ourselves a phantastic snorkel trip through the pass with white tips, black tips, grey reef sharks and even a lemon shark, and as a special highlight an eagle ray and a turtle passing by to congratulate

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2017
09
Jun

Lagoon sailing

by Birgit

It’s a pleasure to sail across a calm lagoon on a sunny day, but yesterday’s trip from the northernmost point to the pass area was quite exciting. Sailing close-hauled in quite some wind (around 20 knots) we were dodging bommies and of course a fish decided to bite just as the wind was gusting up a bit. Now we’re anchored next to the northernmost pass,… Continue reading »

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2017
08
Jun

Around the atoll

by Birgit

We’re enjoying our time in Tahanea, moving around the atoll according to the wind and spending the days with a nice balance between boat projects and fun like snorkeling, kayaking and long walks along the motus. At this time of the year a big fleet of yachts passes through the Tuamotus. We see some of them on the AIS, hear them talking on the VHF… Continue reading »

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2017
27
May

Repairs

by Birgit

The downwind passage from the Gambier to Tahanea with quite a windy start put lots of strain on the material. We bent a stanchion and one of the genoa poles actually ripped the pole track out of the mast (a 15 cm long bit, we could still use the other pole). Christian has already cut out the bent bit and will move the remaining piece… Continue reading »

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2017
26
May

Good sailing

by Birgit

This morning we arrived at the pass of Tahanea after a very slow nightsail (we didn’t want to get there during the night). At 8 the pass still looked quite impressive with high standing waves (wind against an outgoing current), so we sailed up and down with 3 lures out hoping to finally catch a fish. After 2 hours the pass calmed down, so we… Continue reading »

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2017
23
May

Good sailing

by Birgit

The wind is still holding out, we did a daily run of 150 nm–a fabulous speed for Pitufa (downwind isn’t usually her thing) and were still comfy enough (despite waves of still about 3m) to bake bread. 210 out of 660 left!

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2017
22
May

Better conditions

by Birgit

Yesterday the sun came out and we were happy to be able to dry out our damp foul weather gear, the wind got lighter and we optimistically rolled out the genoa, but then it died down completely and we started the engine to stop Pitufa from rolling in the still high and confused seas. While sailing we use the windvane to steer Pitufa, but when… Continue reading »

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2017
21
May

Miserable passage

by Birgit

It’s been squally with winds around 35 knots gusting 45 since yesterday, torrential rainfalls add to the general misery on Pitufa. A shitty trip so far.

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2017
20
May

Sailing again!

by Birgit

After 5 months in the lagoon it took us two full days to get Pitufa back into passage mode. In our case that doesn’t just mean clearing and organising, but also repotting and securing the garden. It seems we didn’t do such a good job, because the Pok Choy did a plungedive through the companionway and into the kitchen leaving an epic mess just when… Continue reading »

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2017
13
May

Anchoring around Coral

by Birgit

Each year sailboats cruising in the Tuamotus get into trouble at anchor: they get trapped on lee shores after a shift in the wind direction and foul their anchor and/or chain in coral. Having just a short piece of free chain left while pitching madly is a dangerous situation and the results are stressful maneuvers to get the anchor back up, bent bow rollers and… Continue reading »

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2017
11
May

Tour de Motu

by Birgit

We didn’t really have the time to explore around the motus on the barrier reef during this cyclone season. First we were busy with the house and then I spent some time in Austria. Now we’ve been doing a tour along the barrier reef for a week. We started with southeasterly winds anchored off the bird motu Tauna, then we spent a phase of northerlies… Continue reading »

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2017
24
Apr

Back home!

by Birgit

The flight back was fortunately quite eventless, apart from minor nuisances like a bunch of schoolkids who chatted relentlessly all night, a polynesian woman who fell asleep over her own seat, the empty one next to her and half of mine and a french woman who refused to pull down the blinds next to her and had shouting arguments over it with the flight personnel.… Continue reading »

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2017
06
Apr

The yoghurt miracle

by Birgit

As cruisers we are used to make our own bread (without a bread-making machine), grow sprouts and make yoghurt (without a yoghurt-maker). Landlubbers are of course used to having a supermarket nearby, so I fully understand that they mostly don’t feel the need to put time and effort into such things. Making yoghurt from an existing culture on the other hand is so simple that… Continue reading »

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