Comments for Pitufa.at

Comment on New Crew: meet Minnie Mouse and Squeaky! by Ossi & Vanessa

Ossi & Vanessa — Thu, 06 Aug 2026 04:09:09 +0000

Hi Pitufa, We were told about your yacht by a friend and we believe it to be our earlier yacht we built in Brisbane and sailed to Europe in 1991 with our children Luke 15 & Tiina 13, then called “Venturer” .
We had a very nice trip leaving Brisbane, sailing to Darwin, through Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Salalah, the Red Sea to Europe & around to England. Leaving our vessel in Europe where it was sold.
We are very pleased to see that your enjoying Pitufa & the yachting world. We are currently in the Whitsundays enjoying sailing on our current yacht “OZ” . Have lots of fun. Vanessa & Ossi

Comment on Back home on Pitufa! by Christian

Christian — Tue, 04 Aug 2026 06:58:02 +0000

Hi, yes, home, sweet home!

Comment on Back home on Pitufa! by BoatLifeFan

BoatLifeFan — Fri, 31 Jul 2026 09:23:18 +0000

That sounds absolutely wonderful, it’s amazing to see you guys settled back into life on Pitufa. I remember how much you were looking forward to this!

Comment on Most projects on Pitufa done by Christian

Christian — Fri, 31 Jul 2026 07:16:35 +0000

Hi Steve, the replacement panel should soon arrive, then we’ll be able to finally finish the project. I’ll post pics, once it’s done!

Comment on Most projects on Pitufa done by SailorSteve

SailorSteve — Wed, 15 Jul 2026 15:00:38 +0000

That’s frustrating with the panel, thankfully you guys were able to still use them as a roof. Sounds like a busy summer on Pitufa!

Comment on Clearance and shopping in Kavieng by Kathy

Kathy — Sat, 20 Jun 2026 20:19:26 +0000

Thank you so much for such great news about PNG! About 10 of us have cruised up from Nz, in Vanuatu now and slowly working our way up and over PNG to Raja Ampat. We are all so happy to hear your reports!
Cheers,
Kathy and Scott, SV Kalea

Comment on Paint jobs finished! by PitufaFan

PitufaFan — Sat, 13 Jun 2026 11:10:54 +0000

That’s fantastic news! It really sounds like they were a huge help, especially with all the heavy lifting.

Comment on Ship’s cat ashore by Christian

Christian — Sat, 13 Jun 2026 06:56:01 +0000

Hi,
it’s been up and down really: exciting, but also stressful. We’re worried though, how he’ll react, when we take him back to the boat

Comment on People of Taravai by Christian

Christian — Sat, 13 Jun 2026 06:51:32 +0000

Bonjour, le monde est vraiment petit… Veuillez transmettre nos meilleures salutations à Didier!

Comment on People of Taravai by GORGE Angélique

GORGE Angélique — Tue, 02 Jun 2026 09:17:25 +0000

Bonjour,

Je viens de tomber sur votre article et je connais le Didier dont vous parlez dans votre article. Il s’agit en effet de mon père, qui habite à présent en France. N’hésitez pas à me contacter si toutefois vous souhaitez que je vous mette en contact avec lui.

Bonne journée,
Bien cordialement.

Comment on Ship’s cat ashore by WhiskerWatcher

WhiskerWatcher — Tue, 26 May 2026 06:02:14 +0000

It sounds like he’s really settling into a new routine! I can imagine the changes are a lot for a cat who’s used to being on a ship.

Comment on Complete makeover by Birgit Hackl

Birgit Hackl — Thu, 14 May 2026 21:49:43 +0000

Yes, it’s an epic project, but Pitufa will look like new afterwards–despite her 38 years

Comment on Complete makeover by SailSteady

SailSteady — Sun, 10 May 2026 05:42:33 +0000

Sounds like a lot of hard work, but fantastic progress! It’s amazing to see such a thorough overhaul happening on the boat.

Comment on Life with Slipping Rib Syndrome by Karen Birkett

Karen Birkett — Sun, 22 Feb 2026 17:39:23 +0000

You are a true warrior woman! Im so glad you never doubted yourself and you persevered thru some really tough times. You listened to what your body was saying despite all the “experts” telling you you were wrong. You are certainly an inspiration to many. Rest dear friend . XOXO

Comment on 2 magical, but bouncy weeks on an uninhabited atoll by Birgit

Birgit — Sun, 22 Feb 2026 00:50:54 +0000

Hi Cameron,
we have often tried to contact local organisations to share pics/data, but they weren’t really interested as they seem to prefer to go on expeditions themselves. Our friends have started a great project though to share video transects with scientists: https://planet-ocean.org/en/csi-coral.html

We’re certainly not against traditional conservation methods, in fact we’ve been trying to persuade communities all over the Pacific to return to such traditions (e.g. the tabu zone we initiated in Matuku, Fiji). It sounds like the traditional communities in Micronesia do have such a set of rules to ensure sustainable use (and you’re not the first one to tell us about them, we’ve also heard details e.g.from chief Manu in Ifalik and the principal of the college in Woleai), but looking at the empty reefs and the low number of turtles, it seems that these no-take rules (temporary, locally, on species, on fishing methods) are either not enough to ensure stable numbers in the current situation, or they are not respected (as we saw e.g. in Woleai where we observed plenty of unterwater lights at night despite the fact that nighttime spearfishing is discouraged…).

Let me clarify our observations on turtle numbers: it’s not 5 turtles versus 1 turtle spotted in 2 weeks in a certain area as you interpreted my text. The comparison is 5 turtles in 1 hour(!) of snorkeling in areas without hunting versus 1 turtle spotted in 2 weeks(!) of daily snorkeling in areas where they are hunted. I think those numbers speak for themselves. My aim is not to “villainise” a community, I simply state that their methods of conservation are not effective.

Whenever we discuss turtles with local communities I explain that global numbers are lower due to commercial fishing, pollution and loss of habitat and that if they want their children and grandchildren still be able to watch turtles coming into the lagoon for nesting, they have to become proud of “their” turtles and protect them. Not for tourists, not for the government, not for some NGO and certainly not for us, but for their children and grandchildren.