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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

2015
30
Dec

Amazing Hospitality

by Birgit

After we had cleared the boat after the passage, cut the tuna and had breakfast it was still only 9 o’clock in the morning, so we contemplated what to do. Head straight for the bunk and catch up with sleep or use the sunny weather to explore the island? We decided to seize the day, launched the dinghy and headed to Vaipaee’s dock. There was… Continue reading »

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2015
30
Dec

Merry Christmas

by Birgit

We had a very merry Christmas indeed. There was a fun international fleet of cruising boats anchored in Hantefau, we had a dinghy raft-up with drinks, tapas on different boats and for the 25th we asked the friendly people of the neighbouring village Hapatoni whether we could have a pot-luck at their little artisanat hall. They didn’t only agree with our plan, but decided to… Continue reading »

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2015
30
Dec

Ua Huka

by Birgit

We wanted to sail up to Ua Huka on Sunday, got the boat ready, were set to go–but then the engine didn’t start. Not even a cough, just a sad little clacking sound. Christian found the faulty connection on the starter the next morning, so we decided to sail with one day delay, even though the forecast predicted very light winds. In the end we… Continue reading »

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2015
21
Dec

HAKA!

by Birgit

The last two days were long, exciting, vibrating and exhausting. We had a fishing boat rented to take us over from Tahuata to the neighbouring island Hiva Oa and after a calm period the wind was up to 20 knots, the waves accordingly high and the 1 hour ride in the small boat quite adventurous–especially as we had a similar boat following in our wake,… Continue reading »

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2015
17
Dec

Festival des Arts des Iles Marquises

by Birgit

Every 4 years cultural festival takes place alternately in one of the six populated islands of the Marquesas. Tomorrow the 10th Festival will kick off on the island of Hiva Oa and dance and drumming groups, choirs and artisans from the Marquisian islands of Nuku Hiva, Ua Huka, Ua Pou, Fatu Hiva and Tahuata, but also groups from Tahiti, the Gambier and even Rapa Nui… Continue reading »

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2015
14
Dec

Dolphin show

by Birgit

The sea around the Marquesas is dark because of the black volcanic bottom, the water often murky and notorious for sharks, so it’s not too inviting for swimming and snorkeling. But sharks aren’t the only big predators around here–today we’ve had a large group of dolphins visiting the anchorage. Locals also call Hanatefau the dolphin bay, because they come here so often. It was exciting… Continue reading »

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2015
11
Dec

The world is standing still

by Birgit

…at least our little world on Pitufa We sailed just 2 miles south to the next bay Hanetafau where we’ve found the first calm spot in weeks. It’s amazing how your energy comes soaring back when you sleep through the whole night and no longer constantly bump head and toes on the rocking boat. We used this rush of energy to explore the island per… Continue reading »

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2015
02
Dec

Back in Fatu Hiva

by Birgit

We have returned to spectacular Baie des Vierges where we made our first landfall in the Marquesas two and a half years ago. The picture of this bay adorns the cover of Ocean7′s current edition

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2015
30
Nov

Diesel days

by Birgit

Our Pitufa plus gear is generally very benign–when things break they usually do so at a suitable time (if there’s ever a good time for that…). E.g. the windlass stopped working just before we sailed to Tahiti where spare parts could be found, the clew of the genoa ripped off just 4 nm before we reached Huahine and the fuel line of our Yanmar engine… Continue reading »

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2015
18
Nov

Sauna

by Birgit

When we arrived in the Marquesas, the islands looked brownish and withered. Locals told us that it had been unusually dry (even for the dry season) and we moaned in the relentless heat of the sun. Our white (!) deck was so hot that you couldn’t step on it barefoot, the 30 degree warm sea acted as underfloor heating and the whole boat turned into… Continue reading »

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2015
10
Nov

Taiohae, Nuku Hiva

by Birgit

At the moment there’s still southwesterly swell coming up (but that should become less frequent and violent as summer comes to the southern hemisphere), at the same time northerly swell comes down (and will become more with winter setting in up there) and in combination with predominant wind plus windseas from the east, finding a calm spot in the open bays of the Marquesas is… Continue reading »

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2015
02
Nov

Dramatically uncomfortable

by Birgit

When the anchor drops after a long passage, but the boat keeps pitching and rolling merrily, you know you’ve arrived in the Marquesas… Unlike the other archipelagos of Fr. Poly, these islands have no protecting fringe reefs and their coasts and bays are open to the waves and mighty swell of the Pacific. During El Nino years they are supposed to be safely out of… Continue reading »

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2015
30
Oct

The world’s largest bathtub

by Birgit

The light winds continued. This morning it was calm enough to take a bath in the Ocean (while holding on to the ladder). Now we are on the way north towards the Marquesas.

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2015
29
Oct

A real calm

by Birgit

After a night of very light winds the dreaded calm finally got us this morning and we ended up motoring (the waves were still too high to just sit on the water…). After a few hours the engine died–the clogged fuel line was fortunately easy to find and clear. Now we’ve just got enough of a breeze to keep Pitufa sailing again with 2 to… Continue reading »

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2015
25
Oct

Lessons in patience

by Birgit

At the moment we have the feeling that we spend half the time waiting for suitable weather windows browsing our forecasts and the rest of the time we are fretting about predictions that haven’t come true. As soon as appointments/deadlines (in our case the cyclone season) are involved, cruising definitely stops being fun. At the moment we are ‘stuck’ in calm, sunny weather in a… Continue reading »

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