ende

Birgit

Author's details

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

Latest posts

  1. Fotos der Eröffnung des Flughafens auf Woleai — February 16, 2026
  2. Pics of the opening ceremony of Woleai airport — February 16, 2026
  3. Life with Slipping Rib Syndrome — February 11, 2026
  4. Leben mit einer “verrutschten Rippe”, dem Cyriax Syndrom — February 11, 2026
  5. Unsere Eindrücke von den mikronesischen Frauen — February 6, 2026

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. 2 magical, but bouncy weeks on an uninhabited atoll — 8 comments
  4. Hilfsprojekte für Matuku — 7 comments
  5. Leeloo 2000–2021 — 6 comments

Author's posts listings

2017
21
Jan

Water tank project

by Birgit

One of our aluminium watertanks (250 litres volume) started leaking a while ago. No big deal as we have a second one and a watertank, but now that we’ve settled into the little house on Taravai we have started the repair project. The tank is built in underneath the sofa (the rounded wound covers it partly) and the inspection holes we cut into the aluminium… Continue reading »

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2017
19
Jan

Life ashore

by Birgit

Last week we worked every day in the garden, got rid of the metre high weed in the veggie garden behind the house, removed fallen over trees from the garden, mowed the grass on the big property, got rid of old rubbish, etc. On Sunday we hosted a house-warming party with 25 people (6 boats and some Polynesian neighbours), a BBQ and a big potluck… Continue reading »

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2017
13
Jan

Fruity days

by Birgit

We have 5 lemon trees full of big, juicy fruits in our garden, a mango tree with loaded branches and two papaya trees that we can harvest from every day. Leaving the fruities to rot under the trees doesn’t feel right, so we do our best to make use of them. Today we made 3 litres of papaya-mango sorbet (we have a gigantic freezer in… Continue reading »

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2017
08
Jan

A house on Taravai

by Birgit

In Tahanea one of our two water tanks started leaking, so we’ve only been using the other one since October. As we have a watermaker that’s no big deal, but we should still repair it at some point. We’ll have to cut away part of the wood underneath the sofa, cut open the aluminium tank, sand the corrosion craters (one of the previous owners must… Continue reading »

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2017
07
Jan

Kerosene stove

by Birgit

It seems that always when things are just a little bit too perfect, something annoying has to happen. These nuisances usually involve either the engine, the fridge, the watermaker or the kerosene stove–the big 4 that worry us in remote places where there’s no professional help available in case of a problem. This time it was Bertie’s turn (that’s the name of our malevolent kerosene… Continue reading »

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2017
05
Jan

Picture perfect 360 degrees around

by Birgit

Usually life in the Gambier is very quiet, but the past two weeks have been quite eventful. We had a wonderful potluck/BBQ on christmas day with our Polynesian friends on Taravai and got to know 4 other cruising boats who spend the cyclone season here (11 in total). In Rikitea the community set up a party shed on the 30th and there were snacks and… Continue reading »

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2016
31
Dec

2016 — A year of passage making

by Birgit

2016 has been a year with plenty of passage making. Much more than originally planned. Starting from the Marquesas where we spent the last cyclone season we sailed westwards via Tahiti and Niue to Tonga. Unlike the majority of the cruising boats crossing the Pacific we did not sail on to Fiji, New Zealand or Australia, but decided to sail back to French Polynesia against… Continue reading »

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2016
27
Dec

New article in Ocean7 magazine

by Birgit

Birgit Hackl, Christian Feldbauer: Ausrüstung auf einer Fahrtenyacht — Was hunzt, was funzt?, OCEAN7 01 (Jan./Feb.) 2017, p. 44–49.

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2016
25
Dec

Happy Holidays!

by Birgit

Dear readers and virtual travellers, we wish you all a merry Christmas and a healthy, happy, interesting new year! We hope you’ll keep on travelling along with us on our blog in 2017

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2016
23
Dec

Midnight arrival

by Birgit

Yesterday we had a day with light winds, did hours of sailing, some motorsailing and a few of motoring. We caught a (smallish) yellow-fin tuna, then a torrential rainfall washed down the boat and we finished the usual post-passage cleaning already during the last hours of the trip. We arrived at 11 pm at the pass and proceeded straight to our favourite bay Onemea. It’s… Continue reading »

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2016
23
Dec

Cyclone season in the Gambier Islands

by Birgit

We have returned to the Gambier islands for the fourth time, where we’ll spend the cyclone season 16/17. It’s good to be back in our favourite archipelago after this eventful year.

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2016
21
Dec

Becalmed

by Birgit

Last evening the wind died on us and left us motoring for most of the night. There were a few huffs and puffs between the heavy rain clouds that had us hopefully turn off the engine a few times, but they only lasted for half an hour or so. This morning started grey, again with just a light breeze, but the weather forecast promises some… Continue reading »

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2016
20
Dec

On course

by Birgit

The weather forecast was changing daily while we were planning this trip, but so far it seems that we’ve picked a good window. We’re sailing fast and we’re almost on a direct course to the Gambier. Today the sky has turned grey and for tomorrow a wind shift from the NE to the NW is predicted–we’ll see whether it brings squally weather.

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2016
19
Dec

As usual…

by Birgit

After a comfy start we are now heeling and bouncing over the waves–just as usual. 345 miles to go.

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2016
18
Dec

Sailing to the Gambier

by Birgit

This afternoon we left Amanu and we’re not on the way to the Gambier, where we plan to spend the cyclone season. We have light winds and are sailing along slowly, but comfortably.

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