I like to use papaya mainly while it’s still dark green, then it can pose as a range of vegetables: grated as cucumber in a tsatsiki (with yoghurt or kefir), sliced and fried as fake bamboo shoots in a stirfry, or sliced and cooked in a Thai curry or Italian risotto (posing as courgette).
With breadfruit we also try to catch it before it gets soft and sweet. When the fruit is still firm, but no longer rock hard (usually a day or two after picking), I peel it, cut it into wedges and steam those until they get soft (try with a fork, just like with potatoes). Once they are steamed, you can either just fry them as thin wedges in a pan and have them as a side-dish or with dips.
Or you can mash the still hot, steaming wedges into a dough, similar to a potato dough!

Here’s my “recipe” for breadfruit gnocchi with green papaya and tuna sauce. I never weigh ingredients, plus the consistency of the dough depends very much on how ripe the breadfruit was, how soft it’s steamed, etc., so I can’t give you exact measurements, it’s more like a guideline to get going and creative with breadfruit yourself, if you’re out here in the Pacific!

Take 1 small breadfruit or half a big breadfruit and steam it for 10 to 20 minutes on the stove until soft. Take the smoking hot pieces, cut them into pieces, add an egg (if you have one), 2 to 3 spoonful of kassava flour (or potato flour), quite a pinch of salt and mash everything into a dough. If it feels too dry, add another egg (or a little bit of water and olive oil if you’re out of eggs). If it feels to gooey, add a bit more flour
Form tiny little dumplings, bring a pot with salted water to the boil and throw in the gnocchi. Boil for a couple of minutes, then remove the pot from the fire and let the gnocchi simmer a bit, before draining them in a pasta sieve.

For the sauce: Grate a piece of papaya, chop some garlic and fry those two ingredients lightly in olive oil (salt and pepper according to taste), add tuna pieces and sear them briefly. Add a sip of white wine (or home-brew cider if you don’t have white wine or a few drops of vinegar if you have neither wine nor cider) simmer briefly, add some cream (or milk powder and and a spoonful of corn starch stirred in some water) and serve with the gnocchi!

And here’s a recipe guideline for breadfruit tatties with tuna carpaccio:
Prepare the carpaccio an hour or two ahead. You can either do a classic Italian recipe, but I prefer a somewhat tastier Asianised version: Finely chop sashimi-quality pieces of tuna, add some finely chopped ginger, capers or gherkins and ideally some chopped carrots, leeks or celery (if you have). Spice the carpaccio according to taste with some chopped chilis or chili-oil, fish-sauce, vinegar (from the gherkins) and sesame oil. Mix everything and put it into the fridge.
Steam the breadfruit and make a dough similar to the gnocchi dough, but it doesn’t have to be quite as smooth. You can add seeds (linseed, sunflower seeds, etc.) or oats or whatever you have available. Then form patties and fry them with some olive oil until golden.
Serve the patties hot or cold with the carpaccio, sprinkle some homegrown basil on top (if you have a boat garden) and enjoy with wine or cider, but preferably after a nice day in a turquoise lagoon

Crocodiles and snorkeling: We never saw a saltwater crocodile (and hope it stays that way), but locals assured us almost everywhere that there were PLENTY around and advised to stay out of the water near mangroves and especially between dusk and dawn. We stayed away from the big islands, only went snorkeling on reefs far away from mangroves and spent plenty of time in the water. We saw lots of sadly overfished and/or bleached reefs and a few real gems with pristine coral in protected areas (e.g. Simon’s Nature Reserve and Papatura Resort).

Malaria: We didn’t take prophylaxis, but tried to be careful. We sprayed ourselves when going ashore during dusk or later, tried to anchor far out and had mosquito nets on all hatches and the companionway. We bought rapid tests and stand-by medication, have used the tests several times, but so far they were always negative (touch wood).

Crime: We didn’t have any negative experiences with the friendly locals, on the contrary, we experienced nothing but hospitality and generosity. We were cautious anyway, didn’t leave snorkel gear and other temptations on deck and locked the boat whenever we went out snorkeling or ashore. Even Honiara felt very safe with friendly vibes and no incidents.

Fees: We had heard a lot about anchorage fees, but we were only approached with demands half a dozen times. Our reaction was always the same, polite but firm. We explained that we love to tell stories and trade for veg/fruit and that we are happy to pay for goods/services or help out with repairs. But we are not willing to pay simply for being in a place. If that didn’t help we added that cruisers are nowadays connected on social media and if one warns the others about an unfriendly reception, boats will stay away. That did the trick

We have seen so many reefs here in Fiji that have been fished empty, either by locals trying to make a short-term profit with exporting fish, or even by visiting fishermen (many of those who have emptied their own reefs now raid remoter islands…), but some islands in the Lau group still feature pristine reefs, where overfishing only recently has started (mostly with the arrival of electricity, thus freezers and a way to export). When we first visited Matuku last year in July, we were impressed by the healthy reefs there, but talking to fishermen we found that they had already noticed a decline in fish. We started sharing info, explained the good and bad examples we had seen on other islands (e.g. empty, dead reefs in Tahiti, thriving fish and coral on the permanently protected side of Rapa Iti) and tried to raise awareness for the problems they would face if they kept overharvesting. We sailed to Matuku again last October and yet again in February this year and each time the plans to install Tabu areas became more concrete–visiting the planned protection area on the S side of the island we then had our terrible boat accident that cost Maikeli Tamani (the headman of one of the villages) his life and left me with injuries that are still healing.

Until recently Matuku had no internet and we only kept in touch with occasional phone calls on a landline with a very bad connection. When we heard that all the headmen and chiefs would travel to Suva for a conference that would lay down fishing rights (among lots of other things) we decided to head to Suva as well–to find out details and to maybe help with finalising issues. Meeting the headmen of Lomati (the village next to the pass) and Yaroi (the main village) we were hoping that they had agree on a little Tabu and were prepared to bring some more arguments for a permanent fishing ban, instead of a (more common) limited protection. Imagine our surprise when Tuni (the young, ambitious headman of Yaroi) outlined a huge area on the satellite pics we had prepared on our laptop. He almost seemed offended that we had doubted them. “You showed us the facts, so we did what’s necessary”–if only the world leaders had that much common sense, then global problems like climate change and pollution could be tackled and solved efficiently (instead of promising measures until 2030 or 2040…)

So this is a big success for the people of Matuku who will have sustainable fishing on a long-term basis (if climate change and pollution won’t wipe out all reefs) and hopefully more islands of Fiji will follow their example. It’s easy to lose all hope for the environment when you read the daily news about yet another catastrophe and yet another regress in legislations concerning protection as the people are still striving for short-term profit instead of thinking of the future and realising that we’re all doomed if we keep mistreating our planet like we’ve been doing for too long. “A further rise of soil sealing in Austria”, “Norway allowing deep sea mining”, one deliberately done catastrophe in Ukraine after the other–and that’s just an abstract of what we read on the news while having coffee this morning. I hope that the good news from our little corner of the world will make your day!

After we splashed we still had to wait for our watermaker that was being serviced, so we anchored outside Vuda point, but it’s an open anchorage and usually bouncy in some swell or wind-eddy over the mainland. We tried anchoring further inside the bay behind the pipelines and coming and goings of tanker ships (also noisy) and also spent a few days just north of the marina in Saweni bay, which is nicely protected in anything from E, S to W, but open to the north, so we had to flee a few times. In between we went back into the marina to go alongside and have our watermaker delivered as repaired–only to send it back with new/old/more problems. Yesterday we sailed over to Musket Cove, even though the watermaker issue is still not quite resolved, but we simply wanted to get away for a while.

When we replaced our cutlass bearing 3 years ago in Tahiti the only model available was all-rubber (nitrile). We didn’t think it was a bad idea at the time, but would never buy one again–the damn thing turned out to be nearly impossible to get out again as it simply bounced back whatever we tried to bang against it (with an array of ever-growing hammers)… We tried several contractors here at Vuda marina, but they all put us off to the afternoon/tomorrow/tomorrow, never showed up or insisted that we had to remove the shaft (a very complicated procedure on Pitufa that would require dismounting not only the aquadrive and gearbox on the engine side, but also the skeg on the outside!!). Soon we had half the yard discussing our problem and heard advice from freezing the rubber with dry-ice, via melting it all the way to cutting off the P-bracket and welding it back on.
Finally Christian decided to tackle the problem with his Mad-Max engineering approach that has often proved successful in the past when makeshifting repairs underway. Going through our lockers he found the necessary material and quickly improvised a cutlass-bearing extractor. Once in place he slowly tightened the nuts along the thread, gradually increasing the pressure of the steel tube on the rubber. The nuts seized twice on the threaded bars, the wood nearly cracked, but suddenly the resistance was gone and the bearing started moving! Once it was loose, he could hammer against the tube and push it out on of the P-bracket. Then he cut it open with a hacksaw and we could push in the new bearing!

Reading cruiser’s reports we were worried that it would be complicated to do the application, but it’s very straightforward. You go to https://www.immigration.gov.fj/ and fill in the online form.
For the first 2 month extension we had to do the “visitor’s permit extension” which requires
- an informal letter requesting the visa
- the filled in form
- custom’s and immigration clearance
- itaukei cruising permit
- passport copy
All went well with the upload, but the next step is to do an online payment–credit card doesn’t work, it has to be a bank transfer… Doing the transfer from a European account would mean higher fees than the actual transfer sum and we couldn’t simply go to a bank to do the transfer for us, as there are no banks in Vanua Balavu (from where we tried to do the application). In the end a helpful local did the transfer for us. All done, it took a few weeks until we got the confirmation of payment, then nothing happened over the Christmas holidays and our visa were long expired, when we phoned to inquire about the status. “All done, you’ve been approved” was the friendly answer–they had just forgotten to write an email.

The 6 month extension is called “Residence permit for yachtees” (yes, with two ees) and requires uploading the same documents as the other one. We were quite surprised when the online form demanded a medical report and a police report as well and would not let us send the form off without uploading those. I called the immigration office in Suva: “Yes, there’s a mistake in the form. Simply upload a blank pdf instead” — problem solved the Fijian way. This time we were in Suva, so we simply went to a local bank with cash in hand and did the transfer from there. All done, no big deal and we’re legal until past the end of the cyclone season again

Good news, the Cook Islands are opening up for cruisers again! As of current travel info May 1st, 2022, sailboats can visit, but the check-in is only possible in the main island Rarotonga so far. Check the official government page for updates and details http://www.mfem.gov.ck/customs/arrival-and-departure-information-for-marine-crafts. And here’s the link to a pdf with the full law text.

The form CICS 29: Advance Notice Of Arrival (DOC 74KB) must be sent at least 48 hours prior to arrival to customs.craft@cookislands.gov.ck using the file name format [ANA, name of craft, voyage or sail number if available, estimated time of arrival into the Cook Islands]

We visited the Cook Islands twice and explored from north to South for 3 months. Here is a short text document with the basic info and an article we had published in UK’s Sailing Today Magazine.

Along the way the project turned from a sheer experiment into a powerful product that may well be interesting for other cruisers. If you’re interested in acquiring a Pitufino, send me an email!

Here’s the product description: read more.

- corn starch (available in minimarkets around the world) makes doughs hard and stable
- rice flour (available in bigger supermarkets) makes things crispy (ideal for batters, flatbread, pizzas)
- tapioca flour (available in basically all minimarkets in the Pacific area) makes doughs gooey and glues things together (great in crepes)
- buckwheat flour (available only in Tahiti in the French Poly area) lets doughs rise (ideal for bread)
- almond flour (available only in Tahiti in the Fr. Poly area) is great for quiche and pie bottoms

We stock up on luxury items like gluten-free cake mixes, lasagna sheets, spaghetti, etc. and of course lots and lots of buckwheat flour whenever we are in Tahiti. In remoter areas there’s a wide variety of local veg to cook gluten-free meals:
Breadfruit, maniok, iams, sweet potatoes and taro are great in traditional (ask locals!) preparations, but also in fusion-food style dishes (breadfruit lasagna, gnocchi made from breadfruit dough, taro gratin, sweet potato goulash–there are no limits for creative cooking!)

Cruisers sometimes go along with this ‘living off the land’ mentality and get carried away, filling their freezers with luxury food for free, because ‘there were so many’. Even if you take only one–imagine what happens when 100s of yachts stop per year and each one of them takes just one grouper, one coconut crab and one lobster… It’s so much nicer to go snorkeling on a reef where fish are not terrified of divers…

Polynesians are wonderfully generous, but it is still advisable to politely refuse when offered female lobsters or tiny coconut crabs.

Take nothing but pictures, leave nothing but footprints and give those sailing in your wake the chance to still experience wildlife.

Coconut crab

If you get lucky and find one of those motus with shrubs, high, deciduous trees and circling birds explore with care: you might see red-footed boobies nesting in trees, frigate birds, noddies and white terns next to them. If tiny, sparrow-like creatures follow you around, you’ve encountered endangered endemic Tuamotu sandpipers (‘Titi’ in Polynesia)! Brown boobies, masked boobies and tropic birds nest on beaches, are therefore most vulnerable and have already become extinct in most places. Only tiny colonies of crested terns and sooty terns (they nest on rocky islands) remain.

When you anchor off a motu with birds be careful not to disturb those last refuges and observe from the distance:
- don’t light fires
- don’t have beachparties
- don’t walk dogs
- don’t go kitesurfing in the vicinity

Even a harmless beach walk can shy parents away long enough to end lethal for a small chick…

Young boobies are very curious and will plunge-dive relentlessly on a trolled lure. It’s best to roll in the fishing line, whenever they are around!

Find more info about the birds of French Polynesia on the webpage of the ornithologist society www.manu.pf

Brown Booby

Mix the following dry ingredients in a bowl:

1 cup tapioca flour
1 cup buckwheat flour
1 tablespoon dried yeast
1 teaspoon of salt
some bread spices (coriander, caraway, etc.)

Tip: the bread rises much easier if you add a few tablespoons of gluten-free all-purpose flour! If you don’t find that or if you just want to lower your gluten intake, but are not allergic, you can also just add a little bit of wheat flour…

Add 1 cup of warm water and stir the mixture thoroughly. The dough should be rather liquid–almost like a pancake dough, so keep adding water until you have that consistency. Pour the mixture into a greased pan, you can put sesame seeds, sunflower seeds, etc. as a topping, let it rise for about 20 min. (in tropical heat, longer if it’s colder, but make sure you catch it while it’s still rising or it’ll collapse!), put on the stove and bake for 15 min on a medium flame with the lid closed, flip the bread and leave it another 15 min on medium heat with a gap between pan and lid.

Careful the bread is rather sensitive and collapses easily while rising, so handle with care! Also the flipping should be done gently and only when the surface is no longer liquid.