The Krka River and up to Zadar where we said goodbye to the boys!

Just before leaving for Sibernik, we thought we should go to see Primosten, described as a pleasant little holiday on an island, surrounded by old walls and linked to the mainland by a causeway. We went overland and spent a couple of hours meandering around the very quaint village, stopping for brunch along the way.

Primosten

We then returned to the boat to go to Sibernik, up the KRKA River. We actually went past Sibernik, noted how empty the public quay was and thought it would be better to do it on our way back so we could provision the boat for 5 days in the Kornati Archipelago.

Sibernik, up the Krka River

We went further up the river, under 20 metre bridges with stunning scenery, and lots of oyster and mussel farms.

We stopped a mile short of  Skradin, the uppermost part of the river beyond which we could not go, as the book said overnight anchoring was not permitted. Infected with flying ants, which succeeded in chasing us downstairs, we ate down below for the 1^st time in a month! We we did have some rather friendly neighbours, namely swans although Sam wouldn’t agree as we watched him hiss at them, and that was before they hissed at us. Some stale bread soon put a stop to that!

Thankfully the swans and flying ants decided to leave us as the moon came up and David offered to sleep on deck, just too hot at night to share a cabin.

After a rather sleepless night for David, sadly, we motored on round the corner to Skradin, passing ramshackle places described as restaurants..

Only to find a fair few boats on anchor from the night before, hmmm, the book needs amending clearly. Anyway we dropped anchor and sent marine boy aka Steven, across to the side to tie on a stern line, that was when we realized that he couldn’t row a dinghy! We had taught him the bowline needed for the rope, but the dinghy? Well a lesson there is definitely needed. We finally got tied on at the stern, and then rowed the dinghy ashore to walk around the corner to the harbour.

Skradin

We took a water taxi/cruise up into the KRKA Park. Wow, both the scenery and the waterfalls, but also to the number of people there!

David and I left the boys to their own devices  (swimming amongst the hordes) and walked up to the top of the falls, and took a much smaller boat further up the river. passing more tree covered mountains down to the lake and wildlife, to a beautiful tiny island called Visovac, settled by Franciscan monks in 1445 but  that houses 3 monks!

On our return we found the boys and told them they could either return with us or find their own way back to Skradin and the boat as there were just too many people for us.  We meandered our way back via the water taxi, watching  some mad people climb and jump off the bridge we couldn’t pass under…

And had a leisurely afternoon with no noise, no music and no boys, well for a couple of hours, amidst the company of more friendly neighbours, watching the sun gone down.

That evening, we put the engine on the dinghy and motored into the harbour, to go for a well-earned pizza and wine. As ever, with a few glasses of wine and me in the dinghy, a few giggles accompanied our journey back to the boat! Such a cheap date!

The following day (26th)  we left Skradin on our way to the Kornati Archipelago, via Sibernik’s public quay for a wander and some well needed provisioning as the boys had eaten us out of house, well boat and home!. We moored up safely to be told we had 2 hours before they would charge us the equivalent of £35.00. so we raced around, jumped in a taxi to the big supermarket, filled up with water and sadly didn’t get much sightseeing done of Sibernik, and then left with 5 mins to spare. David and I will come back on our way back!

We had a lovely sail across to the Kornati islands, Force 3, tacking our way between the off lying islands around Murter, and entered the islands just after 6pm, to find a lovely tiny bay amidst four islets with turquoise water to drop our pick for the night and watch the sunset.

The Kornati National Park

For those of you who have not heard of the Kornati Islands, they are said to be the most unique and beautiful of the Adriatic. The landscape has a lunar quality to it, with crystal clear waters and an awe-inspiring air of desolation. The Archipelago consists of four groups of islands, each made up of islands, islets, reeds and shoals, totalling well over 100 in all. Once they were covered with thick forests but 2 disastrous fires, one in the 17^th century and one in 1850 which raged for 40 days destroyed the forests. They are only inhabited in the summer months, and even then only a few houses by fishermen and farmers, and restaurateurs catering for the numerous yachtsmen that pass through these waters.

The following morning,  the kayak came out and boys went exploring on the nearest island, climbing to the top for the view. The bay, actually being one of the first from the entrance (you can only enter/exit in 2 places and must have a license to enter these waters), the bay became busier and busier, mainly Italian, I guess their summer hols have now started, so we decided to bug out and go somewhere quieter. We stopped at an island called Lavsa, on one of the last 2 remaining buoys and had a lovely lunch of cold meats and salad. David and I then took the kayak and went walking to the top of this island for the views, not that I could call it walking, more like rock climbing, quite treacherous and probably not the best thing to do with my knee, although I had been sensible enough to put a support on it!.

Lavsa, in the Kornati Islands

That night we were then spoilt as the boys cooked us dinner!

The next few days were spent slowly (and I mean slowly, doing an average of 4 miles a day) drifting our way through the islands to the north exit, stopping each night on a buoy or on anchor, kayaking and swimming the most crystal clear waters possible. Even David took to the kayak on his own and disappeared off to visit 3 islands. He was gone for over an hour, out of sight and omitted to take the VhF with him. We were all getting rather concerned, with the boys wanted to jump into the dinghy, Hawaii 5-O style to go in search for him, forgetting that the engine wasn’t even on the dinghy, when David materialized from around the corner

All was going swimmingly, that was until yesterday, the 29th, when our steering started making a rather loud screech and became very very stiff. Whilst we were in an idyllic bay, sadly I spent most of the day with my head buried in one of the hot sweaty aft cabins with very little air, practically dislocating my shoulder to get up into the steering mechanism, with David topside using all of his strength to adjust the steering column with the weight of a serious heavy chain on it, millimetre by millimetre  at each of my requests. I did thankfully have some help from Steven and his seriously long arms and David from Sam. Still we were both exhausted by the time it reached 9pm, still haven’t got anywhere to resolving the issue, but now knowing what the problem is and leaving it in a state that we could sail, albeit without the auto helm, not much of a hardship as we only have about 20 miles to get to the mainland, we tucked into some serious wine, which seemed to have more of an effect on me, not surprisingly, giving me a serious fit of the giggles, before we crashed and burned for the night. Extermination is now one of David’s skills as we were inundated with wasps, I think the kill number got up into the high 40’s with the use of a half a tin of Raid spray. I think it was payback time as I (David) was stung 14 times when I was aged about 10 !

Our next port of safety was on a pontoon on the Island of  Zut,  free so long as we ate in the restaurant, which after numerous nights on anchor, cooking in a sweat box, we planned to make the most of! I said were, that is because after the boys decided to digress in age and play on the inflatables off the beach designed for kids half their age,

Steven decided to join a long line of Braces (my family before I became a Reed, for those who don’t know!!!)  and take an accidental “underdive” off the back of the boat, banging his knee and clumping his head on the way through. Everyone around was extremely helpful and came to our rescue as we tried to haul  a 6’3″ shocked and somewhat teary Steven out of the water. Thankfully nothing broken but a lot of bruises which he then tried to wash away with some alcohol tonight over dinner.

The following day, we, with a sore boy aboard, ventured all of 5 miles across to the Island of Pasman where we picked up a buoy and chilled out for the night. Just before leaving to make our way round to the other side of the island and towards Zadar, I took the camera out (in a waterproof bag, given what happened last year, in the kayak and wound my way around the bay looking at the tiny hamlet of houses along the shore, each with their own little walled harbour housing their fishing boats, very quaint.

Pasman

We then left the bay, passing some fish farms to round the bottom of the island and cruise up the other side. we had to do this as the cut through which would have taken us straight to Zadar had a new bridge 16.5m high and our air draught is 16.95! 20 miles on engine, as there was once again very little wind, we finally reached Zadar the night before the boys had to catch their flight home, moored up and had a great last dinner aboard. The marina just outside Zadar, in a place called Sukosan, is the 2nd largest marina in Croatia, and you do a lot of walking, a 45 minute round trip to get to an ATM, some of the other services and the supermarket, in fact it was quicker walking into the town for supplies !

So there it was, the 2nd of August, and sadly the boys holiday had come to an end. we saw them safely into a taxi to the airport and then set out cleaning the boat, getting the laundry done and organising for the repairs to our steering issue (the brake was jammed on, it needed to be extracted and re-welded hence not being able to solve it whilst on anchor), and a small tear (just from wear and tear) in our main sail repaired.

We also went exploring into Zadar itself, catching a bus into town. strange place, the old part mixed up with modern.

Zadar

with lots of street artists:

We had a lovely civilised meal in a great little fish restaurant (courtesy of Volvo Penta who, after a year of chasing, finally agreed and refunded the cost of all the engine parts we had to replace last year, which not before time means we can free up some of our limited storage place and throw away the old MDI unit, alternator, isolator switch and starter motor!). We shared for the first time red scorpion fish which was lovely, right up until a loud group of 8 Germans sat next to us and spoilt the peace and the ambiance. We then have a wander around soaking up the atmosphere,

 We then found our way home to crash in our air-conditioned boat for a fab nights sleep, long overdue!

Today, (4th August), was spent getting the sail fixed and returned all done within 6 hours, and getting supplies from a supermarket, so we are all ready for a week of new islands and what looks like some potential winds and with it maybe, just maybe, some real sailing, you never know, maybe a few days without the engine could be in the offing. We will no doubt let you know all about it in the next update.