ende

Birgit

Author's details

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

Latest posts

  1. Törn zu den Philippinen — March 10, 2026
  2. Passage to the Philippines — March 10, 2026
  3. Fotos von Sorol — March 6, 2026
  4. Pictures of Sorol Atoll — March 6, 2026
  5. Fotos der Eröffnung des Flughafens auf Woleai — February 16, 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

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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2016
18
Dec

Pretty Amanu

by Birgit

Amanu is a medium sized atoll with a small village (200 people according to the mayor). It is insofar special, as a wide reef just south of the village forms a nice anchorage that is protected in all directions except from the S and SE. Yesterday we visited the cute little village (with a not so cute rubbish dump nearby from where plastic is blown… Continue reading »

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2016
10
Dec

Sail repair

by Birgit

Yesterday it was completely calm and in the afternoon we decided to use the opportunity and lower the foresail, because we had seen a few chafed areas on the yankee last time we were sailing and we wanted to put some tape there before a real damage occurred. When we had the sail down we realised that it was already too late, the leech line… Continue reading »

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2016
04
Dec

Arrived in Hao

by Birgit

Today this rather nasty passage ended on a very positive note: after tacking at 4 o’clock in the morning we sailed really fast up on the last leg north, caught 2 yellow fin tunas off Hao, made it just before sunset to the pass and found just the right conditions to go into the lagoon. Hao’s pass is infamous for strong currents up to 20… Continue reading »

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2016
03
Dec

Tacking

by Birgit

Somehow this passage is refusing to work out as planned. The waves are higher than expected, the wind more easterly, so we’re bouncing along and heeling at a crazy angle as close-hauled as it gets, Pitufa’s ploughing through the waves slowly and we’re making loads of extra miles to the south and will have to go on a tack up north during the night. It… Continue reading »

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2016
02
Dec

Leaving Tahanea

by Birgit

Yesterday we reluctantly left Tahanea after 6 weeks, it’s not easy to leave such a beautiful place behind, but the cyclone season has already started and we should move further east. Even on Tahanea the human influence already shows negatively (some reefs are fished empty, some motus have been burned down, it seems that more people from the neighbouring island are visiting and there’s even… Continue reading »

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2016
30
Nov

Maintenance days

by Birgit

During the past few days the weather hasn’t been great, so we did a maintenance week: We dedicated one day to the Tohatsu outboard engine (changed the gear oil, greased all squeaky parts, replaced the worn out propeller, repaired the old propeller to have a spare one, etc.), resewed the dodger that is stretched between lifelines and toerail to keep spray out of the cockpit… Continue reading »

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2016
27
Nov

Creative Cuisine

by Birgit

Our last visit to a supermarket (still in Tahiti) was on October 10, so more than 6 weeks ago and you could think that the diet on Pitufa is getting boring, but no, with some creativity (and of course the fresh greens from the boat garden) we still manage to keep up our gourmet standards For breakfast/brunch we usually have fresh bread and cheese (for… Continue reading »

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2016
25
Nov

Smurf Islet

by Birgit

Last weekend our anchor winch started making ugly, grinding sounds and we got very worried, because neither the prospect of manually heaving up the anchor while moving regularly around the atoll during wind shifts nor sailing to a place with an airport to order spare parts and wait endlessly for them seemed like much fun. Fortunately Pitufa is a self-sufficient boat with lots of spare… Continue reading »

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2016
19
Nov

Always busy

by Birgit

Last week the wind was predicted to turn from the North to the West, so we did a last snorkel in the pass (on the northern side of the lagoon), then lifted the anchor and used the calm weather to take Pitufa out through the pass, quickly caught a yellow fin tuna and were back inside the lagoon of Tahanea within an hour. Afterwards we… Continue reading »

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2016
11
Nov

Fishies!!!

by Birgit

We are now anchored next to the western pass of Tahanea and used the opportunity to snorkel the pass yesterday and this morning. The amount of fishies in the pass is just amazing. In the deep water (about 10 m) we saw big groups of grey reef sharks and white tip reef sharks (the biggest we’ve seen so far) hunting swarm fish together with tuna… Continue reading »

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2016
04
Nov

Balanced days

by Birgit

Usually we use windy days when neither splashy dinghy rides nor dumpy snorkeling seem appealing for indoor-projects. This time we have such nice protection from the tiny island that we can still go snorkeling and go ashore every day, but we’ve still found a nice balance between fun activities and ticking off some projects from the to-do list. Yesterday we brewed beer (23 litres are… Continue reading »

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2016
02
Nov

Lagoon island

by Birgit

Yesterday it was flat calm and we used the opportunity to motorsail 2 miles up from the southern side of the lagoon to a tiny islet inside the lagoon. It’s just a huge bommie with some shrubs, a few palm trees and lots of nesting birds. The shelf around it is very narrow and shallow and then the drop-off goes down to about 30 m… Continue reading »

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2016
30
Oct

Surreal calm

by Birgit

On passage we dread calm weather and the flapping sails it brings, but inside lagoons it’s just what we wish for. Yesterday we sailed across a grey, rainy and stormy lagoon (during squalls we had 30 knots sustained…) to the southern side in anticipation of a windshift from the NW via the W to the SW. We were glad we had GPS tracks from our… Continue reading »

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