Rovinj southwards back to the Dalmatian Islands and the end of Croatia, for this year at least!

15th August,  Rovinj – we went exploring after a “rolly polly” night on the buoy, venturing in via the dinghy. Rovinj is said to be one of the jewels of Istria, and  it didn’t disappoint. It was originally built on an island, fortified by a double ring of walls. As the town expanded and houses were built outside the walls, it was then connected (1763) to the mainland. It also belonged to Venice from 1283 to 1797 and so there were a fair few Venetian Style house to be seen.

Rovinj, one of the jewels of Istria, North Croatia

We had planned to go  bit further north to Porec, but the inn was full and with no anchoring permitted and iffy weather, we headed southwards and for the first time had a very unpleasant following sea, sending us screwif each time a wave hit our stern quarter. we were grateful to put to Marina Veruda just south of Pula, to hide from the sea and the supposed torrential rain that was on its way.

We also caught up with a couple who are clients of Movingweather, Pete and Bo, Having texted them our berth, I set off to explore and have a chat with the office, check out laundry facilities and go in search of their boat, was is a Moody 42, likely to bring back memories of David and his love of Moody’s during his lifetime. Rather apt as it would have been his 80th Birthday the next day if he had still been with us.Having not found them on board, I wandered back to the boat to find Pete having a drink with David on ours! Unfortunately Bo was under the weather with toothache and so we agreed to meet up for a quick drink later that evening. Bo arrived, rather dropped up on all sorts but with a smile on her face and we have a good old chat for a couple of hours. It was left that if we decided to stay another night and Bo was up to eating we would meet up for a bite to eat the following evening.

4am the heavens opened and did not stop! We decided, being fair weather sailors, to stay another night (the marina offering a 40% discount on its rates might have been a bit of an incentive), so set about doing a few jobs down below and arranged to meet up with Pete and Bo at 7.30 that evening. And what a great evening we had, finishing with after dinner drinks on board at 2am, including a toast to Dad!  We also discovered just what a small world it was, Pete and Bo living in the winter in Southsea and knowing lots of David’s old haunts. We also mentioned the other lovely couple we meet in Tunisia, Tiff and Tim, only to find that they were great friends and few years back had sailed the Middle Eeast together (before it was a no go area)…. and learned of “Tiff’s Tours to Egypt”. Tiff if you are reading this, we know all about it!

17th August we continued southwards to the crescent shaped island of Otok Losinj on a nice steady broad reach in a south westerlie Force 4, passing a rather slow going yacht (1.5kts over ground) flying his spinnaker, well a rather unusual spinnaker, perhaps a new design, one, given his speed, I would say doesn’t work very well. Spot the problem!

On arriving at Losinj, we jumped onto one of the few remaining spots on the public quay amongst a lot of Italians.

Otok Losinj

Having spent the afternoon chilling out and wandering the streets, we grabbed a bite to eat on the waterfront and called it a night, grateful for some sleep after last night’s shenanigans. The following day we set sail for Otok Molat, passing wonderful scenery and busy fish farms, not just because of the fish, but the seagulls too.

We dropped our pick in crystal clear waters with a sandy bottom where we have spent a restful night, planning the rest of the trip to get back to Corfu for the 10th September. Before the sun dropped we were somewhat bemused by another yacht on anchor flying its spinnaker, its sheets not however being attached to the boat but rather suspending one of the occupants in the water, hmmm, not seen that done before and certainly not sure why, unless the person in question couldn’t swim!.

Another peaceful night on anchor, we have been so spoil here in Croatia.

On the 19th, we set off again, southwards to the Island of Dugi Otok (which means Long Island, given it is about 24 miles long, which is long for the Croatian Islands, the name is quite apt!) and dropped our pick in a quiet bay at the northern most point. We avoided the buoys in the belief that we wouldnt be charged, but sadly we were wrong, as a dinghy soon approached with 2 guys asking for the equivalent of £25.00 for  the privilege of staying there the night. As the anchor was scrapping across a rock (which reverberates through the boat) we decided that we might as well use one of the buoys in the bay and just before the heavens opened again, we were moored up safe and sound for the night.

The following day we sailed down to the national park called Telascisca Bay, a large natural harbour at the southern most point of Dugi Otok and just above the Kornatis. As it cuts its way approximately 4 miles into  the island, we tacked our way through the twists and turns and around the tiny islands that form the Bay until we got the most sheltered spot, North westerlies, thunder and lightning threatening again.

(Not one of mine i might add, but we were moored in the centre at the bottom of this picture, obviously not when it was taken and were one of 4 boats, not 30!)

This time we knew we would have to pay but when we were charged £35 we were more than a little shocked. They did offer to take our rubbish away for us, if that is some consolation. We spent the afternoon and night there, peacefully,  being visited by a supermarket and ice-cream boat selling their wares, very cute.

The following morning we got the kayak out and we both ventured off to explore a little, before tired arms gave way to the need to move onto somewhere new. With that we set sail again and headed for  a lovely quaint village, Tribunj, built on a tiny island. It was once surrounded by defensive walls, but is now connected to the Mainland by a narrow single-span stone bridge. Te  traditional occupation of the villagers was fishing but gradually it has turned towards tourism. It holds a Donkey sanctuary and on the first Sunday in August (we missed it!) a donkey race is held along the quay and around the island, each lap couldn’t take more than a few minutes, it is that small!. We moored up safely, again on the public quay which proved to be cheaper than on anchor and included electricity and water!.  As much as I love taking pictures, I cant do it justice in quite the same way as someone from the air so here is a picture of the town taken from the internet.

Tribunj

My pictures!

On the 22nd August, we set sail for the coast just north of Primosten and shortly after leaving we were overtaken by a beautiful yacht, a little to close for comfort however, given we were under sail and she was not!

The forecast being North Westerlies F2-5. gusting 5, calm seas, the forecast not being one of movingweather’s but rather the Croatian National Weather Service, normally very accurate, but not this day, speed was almost correct, which was why we chose not to fly the spinnaker, 2 persons, a spinnaker and a Force 5, me thinks not, but the direction soon veered to a full on Westerlie, important for reasons to follow. As the wind was behind us we just set the Genoa and had a lovely sail, as the wind picked up ferocity, we simply picked up speed, flying at around 8 knots in 25 knots of wind. That was until it became abundantly clear that the place we had chosen to stop for the night (great in a N Westerlie, not in a Westerlie)  really was untenable and we had to change direction to go further down the coast, past Primosten as the swell was storming into that quiet bay and round the corner back to Kremik Marina. as we changed direction, we reefed the genoa to 1 spot (smallest state) and pulled out the  Mainsail to match, but even with those small sails, and a beam on swell of easily 2 metres, we still flew  around the corner until we entered the Marina and then had a bit of a white knuckle ride stern to mooring her against a finger pontoon, the wind still blowing us off at a rate of 25 knots!. Grateful for the shelter we had a nice quiet night in the Marina, where we needed to be anyway to collect the engine fan we had ordered a month or so ago.

We stayed put for a couple of nights, did the much need laundry, cleaned the boat and her hull, and re-visited Primosten by night, which was charming and full of people and life.

On the 24th, conscious of the Corfu deadline we decided to leave the safety of the Marina, knowing the winds and seas had both now turned south so we would be beating again it. We got 4 miles down the coast before we found shelter slightly up river, amongst a number of other boats with the same idea. 25th, we tried again, and actually had a good sail for 80% of the time, even if we were tacking and beating into the swell, until we dropped our pick on the north point of Brac, an island we missed on our way and are hoping the weather will allow us to explore some more.

Brac is the 3rd largest island in the Adriatic, and has during its lifetime been rules by Romans, Byzantium, Venetians, French, Russians, Slavs, Croats, Bosnians and for a short period pirates from Omis! Sadly we dont have much time to explore inland, and climb to the top of the tallest mountain on the Islands to take in what is said to be glorious views. We were told last year that 2 months was not nearly enough time for Croatia, they were correct and so we can see another season here on our way back through the Med, to all the things we have missed!

Anyway back to Brac….an Bol, or more importantly one of the most photographed beaches in the Adriatic

Sadly my pictures dont do it justice, not helped by the fact that it was mobbed with both bodies on the beach and flotilla yachts!,

We didn’t stay but sailed across to the East Coast of Hvar and dropped anchor in an idyllic bay for some lunch, before tacking round the corner to Stari Grad for the night, a very popular stop on the flotilla run but we managed to secure the last berth on the public pontoon. It was a bit of a lively mooring with a cross wind and I came in a bit too hot, sadly breaking my record of no berthing incidents since acquiring Seaclusion and inflicting some scratches to the charter boat next door. David even said that he had got a bit complacent on the fending off scenario because of our record,  and wasn’t as quick on his feet as he should have been, still I was on the helm and it was very much my fault. We were just lucky that a) no damage was done to Seaclusion and b) it was  charter boat and a quick call to the company soon put our fears at rest that this might cost us some money! All settled in, we then went awandering around the quaint village we decided to eat out that night and booked a table at a cutesy restaurant, even picking our table for 9pm.

Stari Grad

We then chilled out for a bt and got ourselves ready. However on arriving at the restaurant it soon became clear that our table had been given to someone else, more over the whole restaurant appeared to be packed out. The restauranteur was very apologetic and offered us our own private balcony, liken us to Romeo & Juliet. It was fab, very romantic, made more so when we realised that the balcony actually wasnt owned by the restaurant, as a couple walked up the steps and let themselves in to the flat that it did belong to!.

Given we were expecting flotilla parties to kick off, we actually had a peaceful night. The following morning we sailed 40 odd miles across to and Island called Lastovo and weaved our way into an almost enclosed bay on the North of the island where we stayed for 2 nights.

Lastovo

We ventured by bus to the inland town funnily enough called Lastovo, large enough to go house over a 1000 people but these days only 100 or so lived there, it was sad to see, rather like a ghost town.

Lastovo, the Capital of …. Lastovo!

We only stayed a couple of hours before heading back to the coast, and had fun testing the maximum speed in the dingy, visiting the potential mooring spots for a return one day.

On Satuday 29th, we set sail once again heading back to Polace in Mljet. we had a fabulous sail, on a broad reach for 32 miles, and settled in the bay of Polace, again almost landlocked.

The Bay of Polace on Mijet

The following morning we went ashore and catch the bus to the 2 inland salt water lakes, called Veliko and Malo Jezero (Large and Small Lake!!!)  The Lakes stretch for about 4 kilometres and right in the middle of the Large Lake there is a small island with large building of former Benedictine Monastery, now a cafe, erected there in 12th century. On arrival, we changed our mode of transport to bikes and cycled all the way round them, well almost, as they were quite as inland as we thought, having a narrow and shallow opening out to the sea, so had to cycle all the way round again and then up the other side, (circa 15 miles – no doubt we will ache in the morning), stopping for a light lunch of Greek salad. The Couple next to us order octopus salad and we watched as an elderly fisherman got into his boat, slowly motor across the bay and then came back in hand, one octopus still live and kicking in his hand and wandered in to the kitchen, now that it was I call fresh!

Veliko & Malo Jezero Lakes, Mijet

We then decided to walk the 3 kms back to Polace over the hill. I had hoped to see the lakes from that position and perhaps revisit for the sunset, but it wasnt a road, and for risk of injury trying to negotiate the somewhat stoney and treacherous path after the sun had gone down,  I will pinch an amazing shot from the Internet.

After another peaceful night on anchor, we woke in the morning and forever hopeful of some Northerlie winds to push us along, removed the cover from the Spinnaker, only to realise that we had been sold a pup in Tunisia, The cover clearly was not UV protection as promised, the pink on the sail now almost white and to the touch shredded in our hands. Lesson learnt, opting for the cheaper option can sometimes cost you more money. Very upset, we left for the southern most point of Mjlet and by way of some small consolation, the wind only picked up to 4 knots, which we know is not enough to fill the sail.

We arrived in our tiny bay, which I have to say was idyllic, with the clearest water of the whole trip. the bottom was covered in wind which we could see in detail with the water acting as a magnifying glass, masks were definitely not needed!

We also had a closer inspection of the sail and it seems that it is only the pink material that has deteriorated so hopefully it will just be a patch, not a new sail, fingers crossed. we spent the afternoon, chilling, swimming and reading ( and a bit of Movignweather work as always) and then had a leisurely dinner with the inevitable bottle of wine, and retired for a very peaceful night, the boat hardly moved, but there was  sufficent breeze with a slight chill in it to make sleeping easy.

In the morning we departed for Cavtat, 22 NM south of us, being our last port in Croatia. To leave however we had to pass through a narrow channel, to one side of which was a little boat its occupant being a naked fisherman with, as David put it, his rod in the water which brought about a few chuckles from me. Then the fisherman decided he needed to turn full frontal to wave us by, hmmm, it was in his later 60’s at least so will leave that to your imagination.

We arrived in the bay just round the corner from Cavat mid afternoon, and having made sure our pick was secure, jumped in the dinghy to go exploring again. Cavtat is a clear in/out of customs place and so, despite it being a small quaint village, it still attracts some mega yachts!

Cavtat

We are very sad to leave Croatia. Although  it is clearly now a  top summer destination, we  still managed to find  places with beaches (albeit stoney) and wine-covered hillsides sloping down to the sea, all with a lazy mood of utter contentment. It is a far cry from what you read about. Following the war that broke up Yugoslavia, much of Croatia is said to have lain  in ruins, Dubrovnik having been under siege for 7 months and bombed by more than 2000 mortars,. Now, strolling through the coastal villages on each island, including Dubrovnik, you would never know there had been a war, each place we went to was full of intact cottages and their terrcotta roofs, full of rustic charm and  friendly locals there to sell you their wares or offer their help if needed. I am sure that with the influx of tourist from Italy, Germany, Britain etc it will become increasingly sophisticated, but hopefully not too much before we return, which we will, definitely.

Goodbye Croatia, tomorrow we set sail for Montenegro and then Corfu.