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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

2016
23
Jul

Quiet motus

by Birgit

Just north of Tonga’s densely populated main island Tongatapu a barrier reef with a few tiny motus on it extends about 5 nm east and another 5 nm north. Yesterday we took Pitufa up to the south-eastern corner of this reef–just 8 miles as the seagull flies, but we still took 4 hours for this stretch of careful reef navigation (about 12 nm around the… Continue reading »

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2016
20
Jul

Around Tongatapu

by Birgit

During the past two weeks we worked on some small projects on Pitufa, but we also explored the island of Tongatapu. Instead of renting a car we used the convenient, cheap bus system (there’s no schedule, but minibuses have their destination written on the front and you can flag them down anywhere along the road) and hitched rides (we never wait long until a friendly… Continue reading »

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2016
10
Jul

Sunday rest

by Birgit

Yesterday the wind turned to the west and will stay like this for a few days and we sailed 6 miles to a motu with an anchorage that gives good shelter from the west. The entrance through the reef into the lagoon off Motu Atata is a bit tricky, but we planned it with the help of SAS planet (satellite pictures) and found a nice,… Continue reading »

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2016
10
Jul

Simple recipe for delicious pan bread

by Birgit

Another simplified recipe is pan bread a la Pitufa: 2 cups of wheat flour 1 cup of rye flour 1,5 cups warm water 1 teaspoon dried yeast 1 teaspoon salt bread spices (typical Austrian: ground coriander, ground caraway, fennel) Mix dry ingredients in a bowl, add water, stir well with a spoon (no kneading necessary). Pour the dough into an oiled pan (with a lid),… Continue reading »

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2016
09
Jul

Yoghurt

by Birgit

Fellow cruisers have been giving us recipes for yoghurt making, offered yoghurt starter cultures, but we always politely refused–it seemed like such a hassle involving either yoghurt making machines, or without such machines the process would take hours, while we’d have to regularly check with a thermometer to keep the temperature at exactly the right degree to keep the bacteria happy and working. We were… Continue reading »

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2016
08
Jul

Nuku Alofa

by Birgit

Tonga as an independent nation cannot rely on subsidies from a colonial mother and walking through the streets of its capital you notice that the country is poorer and less developed than e.g. French Polynesia. This has pleasant side effects for us cruisers: there are stands with local produce everywhere (5 paanga = 2 Euros for a bag of fruit or veg), incredibly cheap eating… Continue reading »

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2016
02
Jul

Arrived in Tonga!

by Birgit

Yesterday we reached Nuku Alofa (Tonga’s capital) after a pleasantly eventless passage. During the last night we had to slow down to reach the reef passage in daylight, first we put the main into the second reef, then we rolled up the genoa, then we took the main sail down completely and were still going too fast just under bare poles running in 25 knots… Continue reading »

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2016
02
Jul

The day that wasn’t there

by Birgit

On the last day of our passage to Tonga we crossed the date line, so one entire day is missing from our log book and our lives. It adds to the confusion we experience living in the South Pacific: Summer is winter, the South is cold and the North warm, ‘Far East Asia’ lies to the West of us, ‘the West’ (US and Europe) is… Continue reading »

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2016
28
Jun

Sailing towards Tonga

by Birgit

We really enjoyed our stay in Niue, one day we rented bicycles and explored up north, another day we hitched a ride to the northern cape. The coast is dotted with caves and chasms–we are used to snorkel coral heads, this time we walked between them. We would like to stay a bit longer, but looking at the wind forecast for the next few days… Continue reading »

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2016
23
Jun

Niue

by Birgit

We arrived today after another fast and rough passage in Niue. Niue is our first ‘Makatea’, a raised atoll–a flat coral plateau surrounded by cliffs. On our trip over the Pacific we sailed by other Makateas several times, but never stopped: Henderson Island close to Pitcairn, Makatea NE of Tahiti (This one gives it’s name to raised atolls), Rurutu in the Austral Islands, Mangaia, Atiu,… Continue reading »

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2016
23
Jun

Radio Silence

by Birgit

Our HF antenna tuner drowned in its box under the radar arch on the way to Niue–that means no more blog entries and emails from Pitufa under way or remote places. Even worse, we won’t be able to get weather forecasts for a while, but we’ll try to replace asap. So no worries if you don’t read from us whenever we’re away from civilisation.

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2016
20
Jun

Beveridge Reef

by Birgit

Beveridge Reef is a submerged atoll, only a ring of coral in the open ocean. It has a wide pass, which we entered at 16:00 o’clock. We crossed the lagoon and are now anchored on the turquoise shelf with no land in sight–just surrounded by a ring of breaking waves. There are no other atolls around, the nearest land is the raised atoll Niue 149… Continue reading »

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2016
19
Jun

800 nm in 6 days

by Birgit

We’ve had a swift passage: 800 nautical miles/1480 km in just 6 days. Pitufa is a heavy boat with a relatively short waterline, so she’s best in strong winds, the 20 to 25 knots (37-46 km/h) we’ve had this week were ideal for a downwind passage. Of course strong winds also mean bumpy seas, which makes the life for the human and feline crew a… Continue reading »

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2016
18
Jun

Chilly

by Birgit

When we set out from Maupihaa the water temperature was still 28 degrees, but now winter is coming and additionally we’re sailing south, so the water’s now down to ‘chilly’ 25 degrees. After a perfect sailing day week (144 nm/267 km each day) the wind is now slowing down. 160 nm to Beveridge!

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2016
17
Jun

Splashy

by Birgit

Pitufa with her high stern is usually a very dry boat when sailing downwind even in high seas. At the moment we have following waves of about 2 m and most of them just rush through under the boat, from time to time one spits up a little bit of spray, but yesterday a bold one managed to break over the stern. Fortunately we had… Continue reading »

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