We’ve been stuck in Tahiti since last week, struggling with delayed appointments, unfriendly staff at chandleries and a general feeling that the world’s not cooperating with our plans.
Somehow the herb garden under our spray hood got infected with lice and some strange, mould-like disease. My frantic efforts at cleaning the leaves and fighting the lice manually had not much effect, so with a very heavy heart I cut off a few healthy looking branches from the thai basil, the mint, the basil, the oregano and the spinach to layer, harvested everything else and dumped the plants and the soil into the sea feeling like a mother drowning her green babies.
In the evening we had Vietnamese spring rolls with handfulls of coriander, thai basil and mint wrapped in and there are still enough herbs in the fridge for a curry and pasta week.
At least we can get fresh soil from the hardware store here, the pots are thoroughly cleaned and I hope that I’ll be able to start a new garden with the saplings I’ve saved and new seeds.
Our Books
Order our books at Amazon
2015
20
Jul
Plants overboard
2015
12
Jul
New railing netting
The last couple of days, in-between the hiking trips with more and less luck (we still have not found the track from Paopao to Vaiare…), we replaced the netting of the railing around Pitufa. Sounds easier than it actually was–in total we spent 3 full working days cutting, attaching, stretching, swearing, undoing, reattaching and tightening the bloody thing.
The old one had started to disintegrate after being exposed to the elements for more than 7 years. The new one covers only the lower half (from the middle lifeline down to the toe rail) which looks more elegant than the old full-height solution. Also, we often had to reattach the old one onto the upper lifeline due to chafing (e.g., from sheets), so this should no longer happen with the lower-half solution. Of course, there is a higher chance of loosing hats and laundry now, but it is still high enough to keep our ships cat Leeloo from slipping over board. Leeloo was suprisingly disinterested in the actual process of replacing her net, but as soon as it was finished she checked it by vigurously bumping her head into it and declared it Leeloo-safety-approved.
2015
08
Jul
Operation pathfinder
Last year we did lots of hiking in Moorea and usually found our way (even though sometimes in circles) to our destination (or at least A destination) despite the fact that most paths have no signs (we suspected that tour guides with entrepreneurial spirit removed them to support their business…). The two hikes last week to the waterfalls on the eastern side were also simple to find, so we were optimistic when we set out towards Vaiare from Cook’s Bay to find a track over the mountain ridge. We were confident enough to take a young American couple from the neighbouring boat with us, but we couldn’t find the beginning of the track on the outskirts of the village, got confusing info whenever we asked for directions, then someone mentioned that there was hunting going on in that area and we heard more and more shots. We didn’t want to accidentally end up on a local BBQ (imagine what ridiculous inscription that would make on a tombstone: “mistaken for a pig in Polynesia”), so we changed plans and hiked into the other direction towards Opunohu Bay and up to the Three Pines Lookout that we’d been to before (even though the path from this side was quite hidden and a local walked a bit with us keep from going astray).
Yesterday we moved from the reef anchorage just at the outside of Cook’s Bay to the interior of the bay where we’re now anchored amidst a fleet of Puddle Jumpers (boats that sail from America to New Zealand/Australia in one season). It’s funny to hear American voices instead of the French we’ve got used to. For most of them their 3 months allowance in Fr. Polynesia is coming to an end while we lucky Europeans can stay for 3 years (afterwards import tax on the boat would be due) 
2015
05
Jul
Wahoooooo
After a series of fare-well dinners and drinks with Liesbet from Irie, we motored from Vaiare to Cooks Bay on the northern coast of Moorea on Thursday. On the way we caught a giant wahoo, so we’ll have fish for breakfast, lunch and dinner for the next couple of days (in addition to some pressure-cooked jars for some time later). Don’t worry, we’re having a different dish every time (thanks to Birgit’s cooking creativity).
2015
30
Jun
When to go where in French Polynesia
French Polynesia is a wide-spread and diverse cruising area. To make most of the different archipelagos it is essential to pick the right time. We’ve put together info on when to go where in French Polynesia here.
2015
29
Jun
Pleasant boat routine
We have finally settled back into the pleasant daily routine of boat life in a quiet anchorage. The Tahitian winter weather with hot sun, but crisp air is quite invigorating and we use our high level of energy to get jobs on the boat done and to explore beautiful Moorea.
In the past few days we’ve reinstalled the deck light, made some adjustments to our mainsail (more sliders), cleaned the bottom, repaired a tiny leak in the kerosene tank (it kept losing pressure), and mended the elderly covers of our hatches. We also got our trekking sandals out and walked to three beautiful waterfalls in the vicinity. Yesterday we attempted to hike up Mt. Mouaputa, an impressive peak with a little peep hole at the very top that we’ve been admiring from down in the lagoon. The trail led steeply up through dense jungle vegetation, and we had to climb over and under branches and enormous, winding roots and stumbled over the slippery rocks when the path led up a creek. We were hoping to make it up to the ridge to get at least a glimpse of the view over the lagoon, but after 3 hours we gave up, had our picnic without a view, but in the middle of a beautiful, lush rain forest and slithered back down to the valley.
2015
27
Jun
Catamaran for sale in Moorea (Tahiti’s sister island)
Our friends Liesbet and Mark have decided to quit cruising and their catamaran is waiting for buyers here in the little marina of Vaiare. We’ve met Liesbet here (Mark’s already in the US) who has the sad task of selling/giving away all their personal things that won’t fit into the airplane luggage (23 kg is quite a painful limit…).
If you always wanted to cruise the magical islands of the South Pacific, but were reluctant to sail the first tough island-free leg over the Pacific between Galapagos and French Polyesia (3 weeks on the ocean), their catamaran Irie may be your chance to start off right in the middle of the South Seas! Take a look at www.itsirie.com to see details.
2015
24
Jun
Smurf reunion
I got back on Friday after an exhausting journey (31 hours from door to door…) enjoyed quite a jet-lag in the bouncy, uncomfy Marina Taina (seasick medicine in the anchorage, hurray!) and on Sunday we moved on to the much calmer and nicer anchorage off Arue. From there we ran some errands on Monday and today we left busy Papeete behind us, to sail the 10 mile hop over to beautiful Moorea. The French weather report talked of 7 to 10 knots with ‘mer belle’ (‘beautiful’, meaning calm seas), so we expected some lazy motorsailing. What we got instead were 25 knots close-hauled and to call that sea beautiful you had to seriously be into big waves and whitecaps… At least it was a quick sail, but when we tried to find an anchoring spot off Vaiare (we’d never been to the eastern side of Moorea before) we had a hard time finding something between 30 m (the lagoon) and 2 metres (the reef shelf, but we draw a bit more than two…). Now we’re anchored a bit precariously near the reef, so we’ll search for a better spot tomorrow.
2015
11
Jun
Anchor windlass overhaul
When we were about to lift the anchor to leave Raivavae two weeks ago, our anchor winch stopped working and I had to crank up the chain manually. But with Tahiti as the next stop, the moment our windlass had decided to quit was actually not so bad.
With the help of a good friend here in the anchorage off Marina Taina I took the winch completely apart. The reduction gear had almost no oil left and two of its bearings had rusty balls and didn’t rotate very well. The oil seals were apparently worn out by the rough, rusty shaft. Fortunately there is a well-stocked shop for bearings and oil seals in Papeete (‘Evo’ in Fare Ute). We’ve got the shaft ‘cleaned’ and the new bearings pressed on at a machine shop in Papeete. An even more severe problem was the winch motor as its rotor spun so eccentrically that it had scratched the stator. So also the motor’s got a new bearing and a new bushing (which I made myself from a bronze water-pipe fitting). Having the motor already apart, I sanded the brushes and the commutator.
Now everything is assembled with self-cut gaskets and our 30-year-old windlass (it’s a 1kW Muir Cougar) is running smoothly again like a new one. Total cost of overhaul: EUR 200.
2015
09
Jun
Snotty Pitufina
I had barely touched European ground when I met the fate of all happy, innocent, tropical islanders when they are exposed to nasty civilised viruses–I fell ill. At least I got away with a sore throat and a snotty nose and I hope to recover soon (unlike so many fellow islanders in the past…).
2015
05
Jun
Visit to Austria
After almost 4 years of boat life I flew to Austria yesterday morning local time Tahiti, so evening UTC or was it the day before yesterday(?)–the time zones got me all confused, at least I didn’t have to change the time on the watch thanks to 12 hours time difference 
Anyway, it took us 2 years to sail to French Polynesia and only 26 hours to fly back (31 from door to door) and my bio-rythm still seems to be lagging somewhere behind maybe Mid-Atlantic…
I’ll spend two weeks in Austria and it seems I’ve chosen just the right time as it’s almost tropically warm and sunny this week
2015
30
May
Pitufa in Tahiti and the Societies
After doing some maintenance on Pitufa in Tahiti we’ll head to the Society Islands to explore Huahine and Maupiti that didn’t fit into our schedule last year and maybe revisit Moorea, Raiatea and Tahaa.
2015
30
May
Rock and Roll
After spending a year in quiet, calm places French Polynesia’s capital Papeete on Tahiti feels a bit overwhelming. About 250 boats sway on moorings or anchor off Marina Taina and they all roll and pitch like crazy whenever high swell comes up from the south and huge surf breaks over the unfortunately rather narrow fringing reef that protects the anchorage insufficiently. Two days ago it got so bad that we moved our matresses to the floor to get at least some sleep. Marina Taina’s overfilled dinghy dock’s a tough place for a small dinghy like ours and the location far outside Papeete means that we spend hours eating dirt on the dusty, congested roads waiting for buses and hitching rides while doing the usual hardware-store/chandlery ralley.
The positive side of being here is that we meet old friends again and that the huge supermarket Carrefour is within walking distance, so we can manoeuvre cartloads of provisioning over the bumpy sidewalk right to the dinghy dock.
Christian will stay here while I spend two weeks in Austria and after that we’ll try to get away from noisy, dirty Papeete as quickly as possible again.
2015
27
May
Back in Tahiti
Today we reached Tahiti after a really quick sail, in fact we almost had to slow down towards the end, because according to smurf rules only passages over 3 days deserve a bottle of sparkling wine and tapas
2015
26
May
Mahi Mahi
After an extended period of time without luck fishing, we caught a Mahi Mahi (Dorade) today. 105 miles to go!