Vela Luka to Miljet

From Loviste it's just a short run down to the medieval town of Korcula. As has become our custom, we avoided the marina and harbour buoys and carried on to a little bay called Raxxxx. On the way past, we called in on the fuel quay but found they were out of Diesel! The bay is nice and quiet with just two small restaurants and no buoys. Holding and shelter was good on sand so we were very comfortable. There are no shops in the village so we took the dinghy round the headland to Lumbarda where there is a medium sized supermarket and a small veg market. Well stocked, we spied out both of the restaurants as Serenity had recommended one - unfortunately, we weren't sure which one. We plumped for the bigger on the north side.as the other looked like a little hut. The meal was good but judging by the number of locals crowding out the smaller one, I suspect we got it wrong. If we're in the area again, will give it a go.
Early next morning we caught the bus into Korchula and spent a few happy hours wandering around the unspoiled little walled town. It's an interesting design with streets in a feather pattern. Apparently it's all designed to cool it down as the south facing streets are curved inhibiting entry of the hot Scirocco. While the north facing ones are straight facilitating entry of the cool dry Bora.
The church is unassuming and rather nice. It's belfry is great! You can climb to the top (for a small fee) but no compromises have been made for modern figures. The initial spiral staircase is very narrow and steep and the upper part is even narrower. It's a real medieval experience. Once at the top, there is great view of Korcula.
There was a beautiful windjammer called Sea Cloud tied up at the dock and we spent 1/2 hour talking to a lovely young lady who is the third officer. The ship was built 100 years ago by the Kellogg family as a yacht and has been superbly maintained. She is now a luxury cruise ship with 60 crew and 60 passengers. They sail as much as they can and there are no televisions or other mainstream entertainment on board. Just good books, erudite company and expert tours. Wow!
We returned to Rosa by bus and decided to set off immediately for Miljet as the weather looked a bit iffy next day. Sea Cloud crossed our path under sail - what a beautiful sight.
We arrived in Pxxxxxxx bay expecting to find a good sheltered anchorage only to be sadly disappointed. It was almost all too deep and those places that were less than 15m would not hold the anchor. We tried several times and then gave up and motored quickly round to Pomena hoping for a better result.
And got it. It's fully sheltered, free, excellent holding and with plenty of space. The tiny town is surprisingly well provided with supermarket, bakery, pasticery, ATM and the inevitable bars and restaurants. We anchored the first night then went in and paid the modest park fees (£8 pp for  up to 7 nights and extra £2 per person if you want to go to the monastery). Next morning we did the tourist bit on the bus and boat to the salt lakes and the Benedictine Monastery. The monastery is pretty private as it's still very much occupied but it's a picturesque location and the swimming is really nice. Both lakes are connected to the sea by narrow channels so they are nowhere near as salty as Mir in Telascica but pretty nonetheless. When we got back, we went over to Ogigja restaurant quay and booked dinner. Lucifer appreciated a walk after being shut in for the day and spent the rest of the time miaowing to get at the local cats on the dock.
The meal and service were very good although not quite as cheap as we expected. They also let us have 200litres of water which we were desperate for.
Seriously bad weather was predicted for Wednesday so next morning (Tuesday) we found a good anchoring spot and chilled other than walking Lucifer within an inch of his life.
And the weather arrived exactly as predicted at midnight (thank you PredictWind). 30+ knots of wind  which kept going until the following afternoon with heavy driving rain and some thunder peaking at 1500. It seems to be gone now so everyone around us is gradually coming out of hibernation. Depending on the forecast, it's Ston tomorrow.

Admirals View - Pets

We have a cat. He is called Lucifer,. He is well named ! .

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When we embarked on this lifestyle one of the decisions was whether to take our cat and dog. The dog was easy as she was a quivering wreck anywhere near a pontoon but on reflection we came to the conclusion that any animals would be a pain and a tie.
This lasted for about two years when we were presented with a dilemma. We were in Crete and a small badly mauled kitten was left in the toilet block. I took it on board and promptly rang up the very active cats protection league run by the ex pats in the area and explained I had found this kitten and bearing in mind our decision not to have pets could they come and collect. Wily people that they were, they said if I could hang onto him for a few days they would then come round being a bit full at the time. . When the time arrived, the cat lover ( me ) was all prepared to let him go but the cat hater ( my other half ) said we would keep him ! When I collected my chin off the floor in surprise we quickly named him and he has been both a delight and our despair. The upholstery will never be the same again but he is fairly bullet proof on the seasick front and had never, even in dire sea conditions not used his litter box.

Walkies!

Having said that, being of Egyptian stock he can get bored and then gets feisty. We have resolved this by taking him for “ kitty walks “ he knows when this is going to take place as he has a harness and lead and waits expectantly on the dingy for us to get our act together and GO!
This as you can imagine causes a lot of comment as we motor across various anchorage's. He has been welcomed into tavernas various houses and marina offices. As he is a very vocal creature he is quite happy to meet and greet his public.
Having a cat on board has both pros and cons.
The cons are that upholstery will need to be replaced and they are certainly a tie but the pros greatly outweigh. We will never be troubled by mice, rats, cockroaches or other cats on board, he has brought us lots of friends, is great company and is very cute .
So would we do it again - Definitely!

Chilling Out

Skipper and second mate

Look what the cat brought in

Oops - missed again!

Contemplation

Krka to Loviste

After leaving the Krka River, we headed for an anchorage at Rogoznica on the mainland. Should have been a short simple journey hopefully with a chance to get a bit of sailing in. All went well till we were about two hours out when another storm hove into view. We used the radar to try and dodge it but no matter where we turned, it followed us and soon hit. We had 40 knot winds, rapidly building waves, driving rain and almost zero visibility. What a joy it is sailing in the Adriatic!

We made it and tucked ourselves in as the storm sailed off to plague some other poor sods and the Sun came out. It's a perfectly good place to spend the night although nothing to get too excited about. At least it is safe, secure and free.

Next day we headed for Hvar. We avoided the obscenely expensive marina and the only slightly less expensive harbour buoys and instead headed for the nearby Pakleni Islands. We tried to anchor near Antonio Patak's restaurant but it was crowded, deep and dubious holding. So we went round the island and mistakenly tied up to a buoy that was used overnight by tripper boats. It was getting late by the time we realised the error of our ways and fortunately found a good secure anchorage in the bay on the south side - marred only be a medium-loud all-night disco. Next day we slid round to Anton's again hoping to pick up a buoy as someone left and were really lucky - we got one after lurking for only10 minutes. Tried to catch a water taxi to Hvar and got ignored by two. Eventually, a kind bloke in a nearby power boat who was going in by RIB gave us a lift.

It's a nice little place. Good shopping, pretty winding streets, Cathedral, Medieval theatre and a castle. The latter is a long hot walk up the hill but it is very well preserved although not huge or particularly impressive. It does have stunning views across the harbour and islands and a very welcome bar with well deserved ice-cold beers. Hvar also has a launderette just to the left and behind the cathedral.

We had a good meal in Antonio's (the buoy was then free). Next morning we wanted to catch an early Taxi so L could do the laundry and get back so we could leave by 13:00. No chance! They don't start till 10:00 or later. So we took our lives in our hands and set off over the shipping lane in our little dinghy. Started at 06:30 and arrived at 07:00 not a boat in sight. D went back on his own, leaving L to catch a taxi back when shopping and laundry done and had a few hairy moments when buzzed by high-speed craft but made it back OK.

We spent another day in one of the other lovely bays on the south side of the Pakleni islands in clear turquoise water than headed for Gradina near Vela Luka.

This is a really beautiful, quiet little bay with quite a few boys plus plenty of room to anchor. No facilities other than a single restaurant which was excellent. D had a gentle argument with a young man from the harbour authority in Vela Luka (5 miles away!) who wanted to charge us £10 for anchoring (the buoys are £15). Talk about money grubbing! They've taken them away from the restaurant this year so they're no longer free if you eat. I argued that we were more that 150m away from a buoy (well maybe we were) and so the charge was illegal. He went away.
We stayed two nights and on the second were hit by a storm. For the first time ever, we dragged even though the anchor had been well set - and we didn't even notice. I woke up to find us in the wrong place and with our keel on the ground. A few more meters and we would have been grinding against fishing boats. We stayed put till it got light and we could see that there were no lines near the prop then lifted the keel and off we went. Lucky we don't have a fixed keel and even luckier that it got shallow before we reached anything nasty. And so we got an earlier than expected start. We motored down to Vela Luka for a quick look - not particularly impressed, then set off for Loviste.
We rounded the point and headed East only to find an unexpectedly strong Westerly making waves and general discomfort. So we changed plans and headed for Scrado - closer and to the North of us so we could get a good sail in. And what a lovely place it is. There is a multi-headed inlet in the middle of the north side with restaurants in some of them.

We went into the South West corner and took a buoy. It has to be just about the clearest water we have ever seen with lots of giant mussels on the sea bed (strictly preserved). The restaurant is run by a German lady who is married to a Croatian who was born there and they live there all year round. They must be the only (permanent) inhabitants. The food is simple but good and reasonably priced. An enterprising young man comes round in his boat selling liqueurs, face-creams, etc and takes orders for bread, milk, etc which he delivers early the next morning. We loved the place and will go back.

Next day we did the short hop to Loviste. It's a good sheltered anchorage on blue sand with masses of space. There is a Supermarket in the village - competent but basic and restaurant at western head of the bay with buoys which we didn't use.

the Krka river and waterfalls

Wow! What a spectacular place!

Looking down from part way up

The smithy and water wheel

The most beautiful waterfalls I've ever seen. Beats even Niagara and Godlelfoss in Iceland. It's not just the size, though there is an impressively large amount of water. It's the way the travertine limestone forms almost perfect horizontal dams holding back smooth deep blue pools which are fed from and in turn feed into white cascades that thunder over the dams and down to the next level. The whole thing is set in a deep gorge,  surrounded by luxuriant green forest with white and grey rocks poking out everywhere.

Boardwalk across effectively a moving lake.

The area is well preserved as a National Park with well designed paths, wooden bridges and boardwalks to help see the falls and their surroundings to the best. In the quieter bits there are fish, dragon flies, frogs and lots of other wildlife.

Said frog

Restaurant below Skradin

To get to the park, you take a free boat from Skradin - you are not permitted to take your own. Skradin itself is a heavy tourist town with a high-priced marina and a crowded, dubious (and possibly illegal) anchorage. Neither are particularly appealing. Fortunately there is a small restaurant about a mile downstream just below the new motorway bridge. It has a good pontoon (which is free if you eat) and water can be supplied on request though you need a very long hose. The food is good and reasonably priced. The young waiter will enjoy ferrying you up to Skradin and back at breakneck speed in their fast RIB for a modest fee.

First bridge

The restaurant is itself several miles up the river (technically a ria). It's a nice run against a gentle current through three gorges, across two lakes and past the large port city of Sibenik. A suspension bridge and three power cables cross the river which I knew were perfectly safe but nevertheless looked horribly close to the top of the mast. 

Storm chasing us

In the middle of the second gorge, we were hit by a sudden torrential storm which made a complete white-out. Visibility down to about 100 meters. In a busy, rock-bound, narrow channel, it was pretty scary and very cold. It was still going strong as we started to cross the lake and we soon couldn't see anything around us. Even radar was useless as it was scattered by the rain. We decided to head for the closest shelter which was a little village called Raslin on the south shore. 

That tuned out to be good decision. It's a nice little free anchorage with good holding, a supermarket and a bar but not much else. Very Croatian. Being only a couple of miles short of the Restaurant, it makes a good overnight spot to then slide up to the pontoon early to get a place and then take in the park before a nice evening meal. You have to phone as they don't open till midday.

Rob Roy

In Raslin we met Dave and Trish, an American couple on a beautiful traditional boat called Rob Roy. We struck up a friendship and ended up sharing our trip to the park and the evening meal at the Restaurant.

Northern Dalmatia. Veli Rat to Murter

There are so many islands, I find it impossible to keep them in my head. It would take years to explore them properly and we only have a few weeks. We are loaded up with first-class tips from Jean Pierre, Dominique, Cosi, Serenity and the CA so we have decided to mostly stick to places recommended as we have more than enough to fill the time available.

Anchorage

First stop was on a small island off Mali Losinj. This is a lovely free anchorage. Very quiet and rural with clear water and turquoise sand. We liked it so much we stayed for a couple of days. Lucifer liked it as he got lots of walks in the woods.

Lucifer hunting Lizards and Crickets

 We went into Mali Losing early in hope of tying up at the marina for free, buying a fill of water, doing some shopping then scooting through the 0900 bridge. It all worked perfectly, we were helped in by friendly staff,  only charged for water (40Kuna) Lindsay got good supplies and we made the bridge. Scary stuff going through it though, th e 100M channel is only 10M wide and had a current and a big swell been pushed into the eastern end. I was glad to get through unscathed.

We arrived at a sheltered bay at the North end of Dugi Otok which contains the town of Veli Rat. The bay is huge, quiet and sheltered but a lot of buoys have been laid and the owners are rather greedy charging 20Kuna per meter. As a result I suspect, most of them are empty. We took one for the night as it was too late to move by the time they came around but moved off into a little inlet of the east headland which is excellent holding and completely free.
Veli Rat is  a sleepy little place. It has one hard-working mini market, a post office that doesn't open till 11.00 (baybe) and a tourist office, that although signposted, is completely invisible. From the head of our free anchorage, a path leads the short walk to another sleepy village - Verunici. The minimarket/restaurant/bar/apartments is all run by one family and seems more friendly and go-ahead. We arrived on Saturday afternoon to find the minimarket shut - but the owner spotted us and ran round to open up for us - with a smile!

Submarine Pen

Next destination was Vodenjak on Otok IZ. We sailed round the North East cape and then turned South. A few miles down we came across an abandoned submarine pen. It looked quite modern so probably dates from the Tito/Yugoslavia era. Since then we have seen several more so we now realise it wasn't all that unusual but at the time it was really quite exciting.
Vodenja is an anchorage (actually buoy field) at the south end of Otok Iz. A lovely place.They charge 15Kuna per meter but it seems worth it because they go out of their way to provide a grerat service. They're there wioth a RIB to help picking up the buoy, the can take rubbish and bring simple shopping and they are friendly an speak excellent English (particularly Tina). We finally met up with Tony Belchamber on China Blue and passed an excellent evening shooting the breeze.
Next day we headed to Sali on Dugi Otok in search of water, shopping and tickets to the Telascica Naure Park. Found all three (40Kuna for water, no charge for tieing up for a couple of hours). Tickets only cost 150Kuna per day if bought outside the park - 200Kuna inside. Once in the park, All anchoring and buoys are free. And so on to Telascica.

What a lovely place! Green, peaceful, unspoiled, with loads of beautifully sheltered bays - both anchorages and buoy fields. The Mir salt lake is particularly unusual - it's connected to the sea only by underground cracks in the rocks and there is very little fresh water catchment. So water evaporates and is replaced with more seawater. It's not quite dead sea standard but swimming is definitely interesting. With your own boat, you can wait till the day-tripper boats have gone and have the place virtually to yourself. We stayed for three days then headed to Murter

Zminjak Restaurant Pontoon

Fresh Mussels!

We decided to treat ourselves to a meal out on the small island of Ziminjak just outside Murter harbour - a very good decision! Bouys or the pontoon are free if you eat and the food is excellent and very reasonable. They grow their own mussels on ropes off the pontoon and harvest them to order. The surroundings are lovely and the staff is friendly - thoroughly recommended. We took the dinghy into town from there but it is a longish treck.





Next day we anchored in the main harbour. Put the hook down between the boatyard and the opposite end of the beach. It's well sheltered, free and good holding. There is an excellent supermarket at the town-end of the beach and another less good by the marina. The fuel pontoon is copetitively priced though rather chaotically organised. There are two mediocre chandlers in town and lots of other shops.
Quite a bit of non-offensive tourist infrastructure including a rather cool semi-submersible...

Istrian Croatia

Well what an excellent surprise! We're really enjoying Croatia. After all the doomsaying we heard and read we fully expected to feel ripped off and put-off by surly people. Not a. Bit of it! We find we're really enjoying the place. Many of the nicest places we have been to have been free or reasonably priced. We've only felt overcharged in one bay near Veli Rat where we paid £20 for a buoy for a night - but there was an excellent free anchorage just around the headland where we stayed for 2 more nights.

Novigrad High Street

To start at the beginning. We checked out of Slovenia (5 minutes and no form filling) then sailed to Novigrad where we checked into Croatia. We weren't made to go to the closest (but less convenient) port which was Umag. Checking was simple and efficient. They relieved us of €130 and a crew list taking all of 10 minutes. A significant part of the fee goes to maintaining navigation safety marks which I have to say are well worth it - they're the best I've seen in any Mediterranean country. As soon as we were done, we anchored free in the harbour. Diesel was easily obtained from the marina fuel dock and amazingly cheap.

Rovinj - part of tourist Alley - but charming nevertheless

Next stop was Rovinj a lovely old town halfway down Istria. We took a buoy for 8 Kuna/meter (£8 for us) and swam, chilled, explored the town and of course worked for a couple of days. The narrow winding streets up to the church are fascinating and the view from the top is worth the walk. There is a market beside the northern bay. La Mutine arrived while we were there so we renewed the friendship we had struck up in Venice. The disco by the beach was borderline offensive on Friday evening but packed up at a reasonable time and was quieter on Saturday and Sunday.

Pula Harbour from the Castle

Next stop Pula near the southern tip of Istria. This is a much bigger city with a large port, industry and lots of apparently abandoned military installations. We anchored in the northern part of the harbour and went looking for a gas refill. We eventually found it though not where the pilot said it was! If you're following in our footsteps, take the dingy to the mouth of the small river in the NW corner and tie up to the decrepit fishermans mole. Walk up the road to the bridge & up the steps. Cross the bridge, turn leftish at the roundabout then continue almost to the next one. Down the bank on the left side of the road is the filling station. A fill cost 35 Kuna!
We did get charged for anchoring but only a modest 8kuna per meter per day. They don't have a boat so only collect if they spot you dinghying into town.

Coliseum - pictures don't do justice!

Pula has been inhabited since before roman times. It has a very impressive coliseum, several smaller theatres and temples and a castle. Well worth an explore. The pizza joint on the walk down from the castle is excellent, friendly and fantastic value. Seems to be almost exclusively patronised by large numbers of locals.
We spent a relaxing couple of days anchored in the harbour, sheltering from wind and thunder then set off for Mali Losinj.

The Admirals View 1

Despite D doing a wonderful job on this blog I thought it was about time for the female point of view about this living  aboard lark we have embarked upon

 Do you, while drinking your wine in the cockpit in harbours, enjoying the view, come across those simple souls who enquire in passing " what do you do all day? Well, gentle readers, this is what to tell them.

"Imagine living in a tent with the flap open all day, the wind and dirt creep in covering all the surfaces which have to be brushed and wiped on a daily basis".

Shopping has to done. Do we hop in the car and dash down to the local supermarket? We do not! Unless we already know the area {and usually we have just arrived) we have to first find it and (this could be a good mile away) grab our trusty granny trolly and set off before the summer temperatures climb to 40 degrees or more. Once found, we take advantage and stock up with as much as possible then lug it all back, usually to an impatient skipper who is only waiting for your return before casting off. One then has the fun of trying to cram it all  into small fridges or various lockers praying that the skipper doesn't decide to put up the sails in a Force 6 so one ends up working at a 30 degree angle while preventing the groceries escaping to the floor.

Washing day? Of course one just throws it into the washing machine. Not on this yacht they don't! Everything that can be hand washed - is. Then it is wrung out and either hung up on a line or draped over any surface that is available so that one spends the next couple of days living in a wash house.

Gardening? OK we do avoid that one but the outside of the boat needs regular wiping down to get rid of the salt and rust stains, the metal work cleaned and polished and the grease and muck scrubbed off the hull.

Cooking? I am lucky that D takes his share on that chore but no washing up machine and the water has to be boiled first and conserved to the end of the day"

Admittedly we do enjoy wonderful views at fantastic places but sitting there with nothing to do? ...What do you think !!!!!

Slovenia

Hoisting the Slovenian courtesy flag

After we left Venice, our next planned stop was Piran in Slovenia. However it is a fairly long way which we expected to take about 14 hours. Piran is a small harbour and reputed to fill up quickly. Unless we went overnight (not our favourite plan) we would probably be too late to get a space. We had had enough of huge prices at Italian Marinas and Italian regulations which prevent you anchoring. So we headed for an unofficial nudist beach just North of Trieste called Costa Barbaria. It turned out to be rather nice. Not much shelter but it was a calm night, the holding was good and we had the first clear water to swim in since leaving Greece.

Next morning we did the 3 hours to Piran easily. The police confirmed that there was no need to checking when coming from Italy as both countries are Schengen, but we should checkout when we leave for Croatia which is not.

Piran on the horizon

We loved Piran. It's a pretty little town with good shopping, friendly people, very reasonable port fees. We were treated to modern dance in the town square one night and professional ballet on the second night - all free. We believe as part of the National Day celebrations.

How's this for a clever street act?

Mike and Gilly on Eos of Mersey came in while we were there and we renewed acquaintance over several jars and then hired a car together to drive to the capital, Lublijana. The countryside is rolling and green a lot of it forested. Lublijana is an interesting city - very lively with lots of interesting buildings, street theatre and cafe culture. The castle above the town is an excellent few hours spent.

Running side of meat

The town has lots of fascinating statues and sculpture mostly in bronze. Perhaps most weird was the "butcher bridge" which had very strange statues of hunks of meat in semi-human form. The rails of the bridge were covered with thousands of padlocks - each signed by a pair of lovers.



One day we will return to Slovenia to have a better look.

Venice

Well gentle reader - first an apology. I've been very lazy this year and have got terribly behind with my blogging. I'm going to try hard to catch up in the next few days.

We entered the lagoon at Chioggia far too early to find a berth so we decided to press on to venice. The early morning run across the lagoon just under the barrier islands was beautiful and after a couple hours, Venice itself came into view.Coming into Venice on our own yacht was a real thrill if a little hair-raising. We went in as close as we dared to Piazza San Marco then turned to starboard and skirted the city up to the military area of the Arsenale. There is nowhere that a small yacht can land so we dawdled through small channels to Burano.

Our initial plan was to anchor near It and then dinghy in each day and take the Vaporetto into the city. It didn't work! We got away with it the first night but the wash of passing boats made it uncomfortable, it was exposed to wind and tide with only mediocre holding. I wouldn't have been happy to leave the boat even if it wasn't illegal and there was somewhere good to leave the dinghy on Burano - neither of which were true. We tried to anchor behind Torcello and ran aground big-time a rarity for us. Took us two hours and a rising tide to kedge ourselves off. 

Despair set in after the first night as we thought our long slog from Crete was going to be for nothing.  We couldn't afford more than a week at the sort of prices we had seen for the very small number of available marinas. 

Marina Vento di Venezia to the rescue! We called them in desperation expecting a huge price but they did us a great deal and only charged us €530 for a month. We also got Vaporetto tickets for a month for only €30 plus a card that lasts 5 years and costs €40. The marina is quiet and peaceful, the staff are friendly the laundrette is excellent and the vaporetto connection to the city is fast and frequent. It is a long walk from the Vaporetto jetty to the boat but you get used to it. Lucifer loved it as he was allowed free reign in the woods all day, chasing lizards, terrorising the local cat population and the occasional small dog. He came to an armed truce with the golden lab who lived on a small boat at the root of the pontoon.

With a whole month to play with, we could take our time getting to know the city and finding many of its quirkier spots and eateries. We could also take our time on the major sights, doing just one in a day so we approached each one afresh. The city is so amazing that it is difficult to pick out the highlights but here are just a few...

Just wandering around and seeing beautiful little cameos everywhere

The Arsenale - at its peak completing more than 1 ship per day

The trip down the Grand Canal at the front of Vaporetto line 1 or 2

The Rialto area

 * The view from the campanile of St. Georgio Magiore,

The view from the campanile of St. Georgio Maggiore

The church of St. Zaccaria where Vivaldi did much of his work

And the great man himself

Beautiful little Burano

Our son and his fiancé joined us for the last few days and we left the heavy sight seeing until then - Doge's palace, Basilica San Marco, etc. 

With some regret we left the marina and headed out to sea in the direction of Trieste passing a huge floating block of flats bringing 1000s more tourists into the city.