Croatia in July

We have had Kristian, Helena, Siri and Smilla aboard with us for the last week of July. We explored the islands off Croatia over the week and had some great sailing, snorkeling, swimming, eating and conversation. It was great to have them on board and Balrog especially enjoyed the attention from the girls !

First night we stayed just out of Dubrovnik in a very nice bay on the south of Lopud. Some swimming and relaxing and ice cream for the girls topped off the day.

Next day we headed to the island of Jakljan for a lunchtime swim in a picturesque bay before sailing back out to the island of Mljet to pick up a mooring buoy from a local restaurant for the night. The restaurant owner came straight out and explained that he had a great menu and he had just caught fresh fish and lobster that day for us. He pointed at his boat and said “see, I haven’t even cleaned the boat yet!”. Kristian and I were sceptical that he had been fishing at all as we eyed his gold jewellery and Rolex watch, but we agreed to come for dinner anyway..

 

We had a great meal and Kristian, Helena and Jen shared a huge bowl of Pasta and Shrimp. Next day after some shopping for groceries, croissants and bread, we headed North again to the National park on the NE of Mljet. A very protected anchorage and we went right to the end and threw out the stern anchor to stop swinging too close to the shore. On the little island in the middle of the Big lake is situated the cultural and historic pearl of all the island - the convent with the Church of the Virgin Mary, the Lady of the lake dating from the XII century. Next morning we went into the town to catch the bus and ferry to the nearby monastery. A fun morning although pretty hot walking around the monastery so Jen and I had a skinny dip to cool down and hoped no Monks or other tourists would come along!

 

 

 

 

 

In the afternoon we headed further North to the island of Korcula. I nice lazy sail most of the way but unfortunately the wind died and we motored the last hour. At least we were sailing at 3.5 knots, the square rigger we sailed past was making less than a knot, but it was a beautiful day for a sail all the same. We dropped anchor in the bay in Javic and had a great meal of leek pie and chocolate brownies cooked by the girls.

 

The following day we went to the other side of Korcula to a nice bay at Przina and spent the day swimming, snorkelling, skurfing and the girls had a ride on the donuts behind a ski boat. Lots of fun in the sun and a beautiful little anchorage as well.

 

Next day was back to Mljet again and we had a good sail, although the girls felt a little bit seasick, but soon recovered after we tied up to a log on shore at the entrance to the bay and snorkelled in the warm turquoise water. Later we headed into town for Pizza and an overnight anchorage in the bay.

 

The following day we headed back down to Lopud and had a great sail all the way. A little rough at first but eventually we sailed in constant 20-25 knots on the beam in smooth water most of the way down to Lopud. Sephina was averaging over 8 knots most of the way and relishing the conditions (me too!) We anchored off Lopud and Kristian and Helena took the girls ashore for icecream.

Jen and I (and Balrog) had a great time  having Kristian and Helena and the girls on board with us and hopefully they enjoyed themselves as much as we did! We look forward to seeing them again somewhere in our travels…

Messina to Montenegro

We left Messina on July 12 to sail to Croatia. Supposedly an uninteresting coast so we planned to make the passage fairly quickly as we wanted to be in Croatia before the 22nd. We did have some nice sails along the way and found some nice marinas, anchorages and mooring buoys  to tie up to for the night. The first marina was Rocella Ionica, an interesting place that fills up with other cruisers late in the day as they are all travelling North or South. We met a few other cruisers, swapped tips and stories for what lies ahead and ate great Pizza! Next day we headed another 60M to Cabo Collone and picked up a free buoy in a marine reserve. Nice place to stay a night before continuing  75M to Maria de Luca. Next day we were debating to have a rest day or continue. The forecast was for NE winds which would have been on the nose, but at mid day it was Westerly so we decided to try sail 20M to Otranto. Well 20 minutes out the wind was indeed NE and the swell made for terrible sailing, let alone 3 knots of current running against us. I looked at the time, checked the fuel and we decided to pull the pin and head back to Maria de Luca. This leg  will definitely need better conditions and an earlier start. We anchored off and relaxed the next day waiting for better conditions. Next day we tried again. Conditions hadn’t improved but we were keen to keep moving. We had 20 knots of wind on the nose but an early start meant we could still sail. Sephina took a lot of water over the bows and handled the conditions like a trooper. We were sailing at 8 knots over the water, but tacking into wind and tide meant we were averaging 2 knots toward our destination. A little bit frustrating but finally we arrived at Otranto 10 hours later.

You can see by our course how much the wind and tide effected this leg.

The initial tacks were good, close to 90 degrees, which was great considering the sea state, but halfway along you can see the angle reduces to closer to 60 degrees. Anyway, it was nice to be through the Otranto straights and hopefully the current that bottlenecks here will decrease as we head further North. We tied up to the commercial quay in Otranto for a night and spent the first hours doing official paperwork with the most official officials we have come across to date. It took four coast guards to discuss how to deal with us and what paperwork  was needed. They finally seemed all OK and handed me the official document they said I needed. Next day I spoke to them and said we were leaving and maybe headed further up the coast or maybe Croatia, depending on the wind. The Captain took my document, screwed it up and said I won’t be needing it after all. Later back on Sephina I realised I lost 50 euro from my pocket. So much for the free night, but I’m still wondering if it ended up in the official document and had something to do with the Captains change of heart…

They told me to wait 10 minutes for the local policeman to come stamp my passport then we could leave. One hour later he was still a no show so we headed North.

The wind was nice from the North so we tacked offshore 10 miles or so to try get out of the South going current. Six hours out we decided to keep sailing overnight toward Croatia instead of continuing up the Italian coast. Conditions were good and we had a nice crossing,lots of dolphins came to play with us and in the night the jumped along beside in the dark as I helmed. The wind veered 50M from Dubrovnik so we decided to head to Montenegro as it was still early. Stunning scenery as we sailed into Montenegro and made our way 10M into the natural Fiord. We stopped a night in Tivat and the marina very efficiently handled the paperwork for customs and immigration while Jen and I explored the town.

Next day we continued deeper into the bay to Kotor. An amazing old walled town. Jen and I climbed to the top of the walls to look down on the city as the sunset, really magic !

 

We ate in a nice cafe and listened to a cool band playing old french songs. After dinner we wandered some more and met Alexander and Radislav, two Serbian musicians who were playing guitar and singing in the street. They had just finished playing but we sat on a step and continued to sing and play guitar together over beer and wine. A great night.  We invited them aboard Sephina for lunch the next day and continued the jam. We invited them to join us for the sail to Dubrovnik the following day and they joined us, along with another friend, Anna. Not the best sailing conditions but we arrived to anchor in the river outside the marina just on sunset, and had another great night listening to the guys play classical guitar, Serbian songs as well as classic rock.

Next day we headed into Dubrovnik old town to see the sights. It was great having Alexander and Radislav with us to tell us a bit about the towns history. Amazing really..

Hopefully we will meet up again in the near future for some more great times!

Aeolian Islands, Fish and Fireworks

 

80 miles and motoring all the way with glassy sea (belle mare) to the first of the Aeolian chain ‘Stromboli’ An active volcano. Unlike the other dormant volcano’s in the area Stromboli regularly lets off its pressure so we are hoping it will give us a show. A couple of miles before finally the fishing reel let out a scream. Woohoo, fish for dinner ! We slowed to real in a fantastic White Tuna. By the time we dropped the anchor Jen and Leoni had it gutted and cleaned ready for dinner.

We anchored on dusk to the East of the island and planned to sail past the NW in the early hours to try catch the volcano erupting. As  we sailed past at 4am there was nothing, we were watching thinking, OK it’s a dud when BANGGGGGG a huge eruption spitting molten lave hundreds of meters into the air. WOW ! As we continued she continued to belch molten lava every 5 0r 10 minutes. Amazing fireworks show and a perfect sunrise.

We dropped anchor a couple of hours later off the next Island, Panaria for a couple of hours nap to catch up on sleep, then sailed another 2 or 3 to the island of Volcano and dropped anchor in the Eastern bay. Pretty tight anchorage and smelled of rotten egg gas from the active volcano above the anchorage. Leoni had a good visit ashore and soaked in the mud baths with the natives. Next day we left at dawn (5am) to time the tides right for the Straights of Messina. Another milestone, like the Gibraltar Straights is a narrow passage between mainland Italy and Sicily. 1 1/2 miles wide at the Northern end and requires careful planning to navigate safely. I remembered my six P’s (proper preparation prevents piss poor performance) and planned the passage carefully. Tides, rocks, strange eddies,whirlpools, waves, stands and winds have laid claim to hundreds of ships over the centuries, also the amount of shipping traffic navigating the straight makes it interesting ! We timed things well and entered with a 2 knot current pushing us South. Not too much wind or traffic, although a swordfishing boat cut us off pretty radically as he was chasing an unsuspecting swordfish. These boats are amazing, they have a huge bowsprit and a huge tower on top. A few guys stand in the tower looking for fish on near the surface. When they see one they race toward it, a guy with a harpoon runs out on the bowsprit and somehow they coordinate to be in the right place at the right time and the guy throws the harpoon into the swordfish. He speared it and it went crazy as another guy pulled in the line attached to the harpoon end. Amazing to see this archaic form of fishing from 50 meters away!

We made our way up the straights, went through some whirlpools that pulled us 30 degrees off course and backwards at times but generally a great run through the straights to our destination on mainland Italy at Reggio Calabria.

We were met by Saverio, the local go to guy who supplies everything from, cheese, wine and beer, to taxi service to for groceries. We bought a case of wine and some cheese and had a nice night with Leoni and or neighbours, Craig and Carol. Unfortunately our last night with Leoni on board with us, but her and Jen made a good effort in disposing of the wine and ended up sleeping on the net !

The next day we prepared for our journey toward Croatia along the Southern Italian coast and went shopping with Saverio, quite an experience as he drove one handed while he talked on his phone between waving to his friends and honking his horn at any other drivers as he careened up the middle of the roads. Hopefully we will see Leoni on board Sephina again sometime, if not Jen and I will be making the trip to South Africa for some more good times together …