After Kristian, Helena, Siri and Smilla left us we sailed toward Split, stopping at the Mljet National park again for a few days before heading back to Korcula. Sailing to Korcula was a strange day. Nice sailing with 15 to 20 knots on the nose as we tacked North. We were keeping an eye on the strange cloud formation behind us over Dubrovnik, very dark and lifting high. I was also keeping an eye on a yacht a few miles behind us for signs of changes in conditions. A mile or so off Korcula I looked and noticed the yacht had vanished…not a good sign ! I guess it didn’t actually disappear but was probably hidden due to sea spray. We quickly dropped the sails and prepared for the worst so as not to get caught out with full sail up. The wind dropped and did 180 degree swing before coming in from the South hard and fast..first at about 20 knots and rising to 40 within a minute as we scrambled for a safe harbor. Along with that a bloody tornado (OK waterspout, but it seemed like it was straight out of wizard of Oz) was bearing directly down on us. Fortunately the bay we had visited previously with Kristian and family was really close and as we entered the wind was over 50 knots and seas rising fast, all this within 10 minutes. Jen and I did a super fast anchor set and hoped conditions wouldn’t deteriorate further as we were still exposed to the SW. Thunder, lightening, wind and rain..crazy!
The wasps in Mljet had been joining us for dinner each day. They love to crawl on our lunch and taste everything, especially the sliced meat. All was OK till one decided to sting me when I was opening a cupboard, and one stung Jen twice on her leg in bed. In my rush to get some ice on Jens stings I managed to break the fridge so repairs at Korcula were on the cards. Expensive sting !
After Korcula we headed toward Split and arranged to meet up with Martin and Shiree at Bobovice. Great anchorage in a nice small town. We were surprised to see we weren’t the only Aussies there. It’s pretty rare to come across other Australians in this part of the world but we were alongside three others! Martin and Shiree on Wild n Wooly, Dee and Dave on Solero and Mike and Floss on ooroo, with no other yachts in sight. Next thing we know ANOTHER TWO Aussies tie up alongside us as well. Of course some beers, cheap wine and numerous renditions of Waltzing matilda were on the cards for the night, along with Shiree’s unforgettable spoon playing!
True Blue in Bobovice
A couple of nights at Bobovice to recover, then off to Split for supplies and sight seeing. Split is a great town with a lot of character, especially when you get into the old town part. Also a good place to get repairs and supplies so we took the opportunity to replace the zip on Sephina’s lazy bag.
A few days later we were back out to anchor and met up with friends of Mike and Floss, Captain Kev and Annette, another Aussie couple, on Infinity, their new Lagoon 52. A beautiful boat and beautiful hospitality as they invited us for a couple of meals with them onboard.
One of the nicest places to pick up a mooring buoy near Split. The buoys are owned by the restaurant on the island but the restaurant is so slack they had no idea we were even there and were hardly interested when we went to have dinner there either.
Another one of those islands with an unpronounceable name
Toward the end of September we had more guests on board with us. Jules, Sue, Jeremy and Nicky from Australia and UK joined us for a week. We had a great time together exploring some of the area North of Split, including the Krka National park. That involved motoring about 5 miles upriver to anchor for a couple of nights. From there you can either catch a ferry up to the falls, hire a bike, or walk (as Jen and I and Balrog did) to these amazing waterfalls. Jen took some fabulous pics as we explored.
Captain Jenijane piloting up the river.
Jules, Jeremy and Nicky teaching us a thing or two about cards. Looks like Jules won the pot in the end…!
A great time was had with Jules, Sue, Nicky and Jeremy. We explored a few new towns, played a few new games, sang some songs and even caught a fish or two in between some nice sailing.
