Tuvalu and its Charms

Tuvalu is such a small country but it is rich in its charms and culture.  We’ve met so many lovely people who have welcomed us with big smiles and hardy waves!

Formation of Atolls – David’s Drill

An great attraction in Funafuti is “David’s Drill.”

Scientists from the Royal Society of London conducted experimental drilling in the late 1800s.  Their goal was to test Charles Darwin’s theory of atoll formation. Darwin, the famous formulator of evolution theory, believed that all coral atolls rest on a volcanic base. The deepest bore at David’s Drill reached over 1,000′ and proved Darwin’s theory. The boreholes can still be seen to this day in Fongafale village.

Funafuti has the oldest, most comprehensive geological map of any atoll globally.  This provides a unique dataset for on-going contributions to the geological sciences.

Tuvalu Stamps – Tuvalu Philatelic Bureau

The Tuvalu Philatelic Bureau is located at the southern end of the township of Funafuti. Stamps depicting facets of Tuvalu are printed overseas and are highly collectable.

Since 1975, collectors from more than 60 countries around the globe have eagerly sought new issues of Tuvalu stamps.

There are over one hundred stamps on display that you can purchase.  You tell the worker what stamp you want and she searches the boxes (2nd row, left photo) for your stamps).

The popularity of these unique and original stamps grew rapidly.

These are the stamps I purchased:

Public Gym – Fitness Area

Near the beach with a beautiful view is a fitness area donated fitness equipment.  It looks a bit old (2019) but it all works.

Amazing Garden

It is very difficult for the people living on atolls to have any type of garden.  The reason is because they do not have any soil or dirt. 

However, the clever people of Tuvalu have created and maintain a spectacular community garden.  With much thanx to the Taiwanese. 

The Taiwanese provide the seeds, tools, and soil.  The locals built an area above the coral, covered it, added enriched soil, and started planting. 

They have dozens of enormous rain water tanks to keep things hydrated..

The locals use pig and chicken manure to enrich the soil. 

It also gives them an opportunity to sell the eggs and pigs for additional income.

The result is a rich, thriving garden. 

They sell tomatoes, cucumbers, cabbage, eggplant, peppers, bananas, lettuce, bok choi, squash and more.

To purchase items from the garden you arrive at 6:00am on Tuesday or Saturday. There is no shopping cart or bag.  A list is passed around that you write your order on. Then you wait for your name to be called to collect your bag.

Our blog posts run 8-10 weeks behind actual live events.

Did you read about Tuvalu’s status as the 2nd smallest country in the world in our last blog post?

Tuvalu, the Smallest Country in the World?

Tuvalu is situated in the South Pacific.  Southeast of the Marshall Islands and Kiribati and North of Fiji and New Zealand.  It is barely a spec on the world map.

Tuvalu is a fully independent island nation within the Commonwealth. 

The country consists of 3 reef islands and 9 atolls. The population is 10,643 (consensus 2022).  This makes it the 2nd least populous country in the world (behind the Vatican City).

A Disappearing Country

Tuvalu is a low-lying island nation and is extremely vulnerable to sea level rise.  The highest point is a mere 15′ above sea level making it one of the countries most threatened by climate change.

Rising sea levels not only push back its shorelines, but the encroaching salt water also erodes the country’s limited farmland. The sea’s warming temperatures also threaten surrounding marine life.

The country made international headlines in 2021 when then-foreign minister Simon Kofe delivered a speech to the United Nations while standing knee-deep in water.

Because there is not a significant amount of soil the country has to rely heavily on imports and fishing for food.

During our visit we got to witness their attempt to save their island. 

Australia and New Zealand invested close to $100 million to add 40 acres of land. A massive amount of machinery. It starts with dredging the lagoon, then filtering sand, creating enormous sand mounds, then filling huge sand bags.  They then use the sand bags to create barriers between the shore and lagoon (bottom photo).

Income Sources

The local government has several income sources. However, two of them are their largest revenue stream.

The first is from fishing licenses.  Like many other Pacific Nations, Tuvalu sells fishing licenses to other countries.  This gives international companies the rights to fish in the Tuvalu waters.  

The second source of revenue is from a digital source. The government owns the suffix .tv.  So their email and web addresses end in .tv.  For example, christine.mitchell@tuvalu.tv.

As a brilliant move, the government sold its .tv internet suffix to a Californian company.  This brings in several million dollars a year in continuing revenue.  The California company then sells the suffix to television broadcasters.

Many locals harvest copra or work on cargo ships and send money back to their families

We arrived in Tuvalu a few days after they christened their very 1st ATM!  Can you believe it?  This cash only country had no ATM.

Funafuti Marine Conservation

20% of the lagoon in Funafuti is a marine conservation area covering 33sq kilometers (12.74 sq. miles). 

The conservation area consists of reef, lagoon, and motus on the western side of the atoll (gray area in image). 

Many species of fish, coral, algae, and invertebrates call this area home including the endangered green sea turtle.

Tuvalu Airport

For being such a small country it has a really nice airport. 

The landing strip has been newly paved making it the nicest we’ve seen in years. 

Fiji Link flies three times a week (Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday) to and from Fiji and Tuvalu.  It is a big event when the plane comes so we took the opportunity to watch it a few times.  

Children use the runway as a playground when in between flights.

WWII 

Thousands of U.S. troops were stationed in Tuvalu during WWII.  They used used Tuvalu as a launching place to attack the Japanese in Kiribati. 

It is not uncommon to find WWII remnants on the beaches and reefs in Funafuti the capital of Tuvalu.

Beginning in 1942, U.S. forces built airbases on the islands of Funafuti, Nanumea, and Nukufetau. The Funafuti airstrip is still in use.

The Navy built a sea port, a small hospital, PT boat base, a seaplane base and an airbase.

Interesting Websites

We managed to find the “town drunk” who was super jovial and willing to share his jug of vodka coke with Matt

Our blog posts run 8-10 weeks behind actual live events.  We were in Tuvalu from April 18-25, 2025.

Check out Tuvalu on No Foreign Land: www.noforeignland.com/place/6056779874041856 

Can you believe we had a double steering failure on our passage from the Marshall Islands?

A Double Steering Failure

Matt and I were enjoying a lovely sail from the Marshall Islands to Kiribati.  About 55 hours into our 63 hour passage we noticed an issue with our starboard steering.  Yikes!  Our engine throttles are on starboard so we use starboard as our main helm and port as a “back up.”

The good news is that auto pilot is working ok and the port steering is working ok.  We were able to safely navigate through the Kiribati pass to the anchorage.  Matt jumped in the hole as soon as the engine cooled off.

What Type of Steering is on Sugar Shack

There are multiple types of steering on yachts: mechanical, hydraulic, electric, and electric hydraulic.  We have mechanical on our boat.

How does mechanical steering work?

The mechanical system is usually made up of a Rack-And-Pinion or Worm-And-Sector steering gear that is physically connected to the helm. When the steering wheel is rotated, this mechanical system also turns. These mechanical systems, in turn, drive a pitman arm that physically turns the wheels of the boat.

Which is the same as “Christine speak”

When you turn the starboard wheel it turns the “Steering Gear Box”. The steering gear box then turns the “Arm” which is also connected to the port steering box.  That in turn rotates our port and starboard “Rudder Arms” which turns the rudders which turns the boat.  It works the opposite way as well when you turn the port helm it turns the starboard steering.

I am sure there are more technical terms for this system, but hopefully I described it well enough for you to follow along.

What Happened?

Steering Gear Box:  We are not 100% sure what happened to the starboard steering box.  It could be age and regular wear and tear.  It also could be something else???  We tie off the wheel while at anchor to reduce movement of the boat.  Could this have been a problem??

Matt disengaged the steering box after a lot of struggle.  It is super heavy and located in an awkward position.

What we discovered was the following:

  • Water appears to have dripped from the either the compass or a seam into the gear box.  We will have to reseal the helm.
  • The bearings were shot and the balls were floating around
  • A lot of gunk was in and around the gears
  • One section of the gears was stripped

Temporary Fix

There is nothing we can do in Kiribati (where we are now) or Tuvalu (where we are going next).  But we can disconnect the starboard steering box so that we don’t do any more damage by using the port equipment.

Matt ordered (8) new bearings and (4) new seals.  It will take approximately 6-8 weeks to get to us from Germany.

What Else Happened?

A few days into our passage from Kiribati to Tuvalu we discovered another problem.  The wind had dropped to 5kts so we decided to drop the sails and motor.  Matt jumped in the engine room and  found a major problem.  The port rudder arm (tie rod) was broken at the attachment point.

You have got to be kidding!!!

We don’t know what happened, but the only way to fix it is to weld the stainless back together.  Obviously we can’t do that while underway.  Matt lashed the arm down to prevent further damage.

How Are We Able to Steer?

Auto pilot is located on the starboard helm.  He has been running great!  Auto turns the port gear box which turns the arm connecting the starboard and port helms.  The arm then turns the starboard tie rod / rudder arm which turns the starboard rudder.

Basically bypassing the two broken parts on both starboard and port.  Thank goodness for redundancy on a catamaran!

Repairs

There is not much we can do until we get to Savusavu, Fiji.  So, we are being super gentle with the boat and her steering.  Good news we have very light winds and moderate seas so there is not a lot of pressure on Auto Pilot or the rudders.

Stay tuned for repairs…

Our blog posts run 8-10 weeks behind actual live events.  We were under passage from the Marshall Islands to Kiribati, then Tuvalu, and then Fiji in mid to late April.

Be sure to read the good news about this passage here.