Author: Nicole (Page 7 of 46)

One of the places I regretted passing by without visiting was the Krka National Park with the famous waterfalls. You can bring your boat up a long narrow river to the town of Skradin and hike from there to the falls. We simply didn’t have the time as it was out of our way as we were moving south. But we had an extra day in Split of relatively calm weather (we could safely leave the boat), and take a bus to the falls.

Best decision ever. The falls take your breath away as you walk along inside the park.

We thought we were going to have to hide out in Milna for several days, but after two nights we woke up and the winds were strong but not crazy, so we opted for a jib-only run downwind to Split (along with the entire charter fleet heading back to home base). Under jib only, we were doing 6 knots, but the seas were lumpy from several days of high winds and a lot of boat traffic, but it was a fun sail because it was short. The Split anchorage is huge and has great holding, we could all space ourselves well apart and we all sat tight as the winds raged.

The winds finally eased the next day and we could head ashore. David and Diane had already been there for a few days, but were happy to walk around with us again. The guys went off to find spare engine parts that were being held by a local dealer, and Diane and I wandered into the old town.

First we stopped to see the 8.5 meter statue of Gregory of Nin, former archbishop of Split. Rubbing his toe is supposed to bring good luck, but I was lacking hand sanitizer, so gave it a pass. Then it was off to the markets to check out the local produce.

The guys found us again and we explored the alleyways of Diocletian’s Palace.

Trip and I had a few days to ourselves in Split, waiting for weather to pass. We toured the rest of the palace (views from the bell tower were lovely but the rest was meh), met up with friends Tim & Heidi from s/v Calainë who were making their way through Croatia to Venice, and generally hung out. We did not anticipate liking Split so much, as it’s a large city, but we’d definitely come back.

There was weather coming, so we needed to look for a good hidey hole, and picked an anchorage on the island of Brac (one of the big islands south of Split). We dropped the anchor in one of the coves outside of Milna, knowing that we could dinghy in (and not spend the 100+ euro a night that the marina would cost).

Milna is an old fishing village that has turned into an upscale little getaway from Split. We wandered around the waterfront and stopped at a little restaurant for dinner. The owner was so apologetic for not having one of the specials that Trip wanted to order, that he made us wait so he could serve up his version of pastitsio (kind of like a meat lasagna with thinly sliced potatoes instead of noodles). We didn’t complain as it was absolutely delicious.

The next morning winds hadn’t picked up yet, so we decided to head back into town again. But first we had to witness the stern line to shore drama. We had anchored swinging freely in this bay, along with another boat. A few other boats were tied with lines ashore deeper in the bay (a technique used a lot in coves in the Med where anchorages are too deep to do otherwise). A huge mini cruise ship (carries 40 passengers) came in and backed into a rather tight little spot past our neighbor. I’m sure they were spaced far enough, but from our perspective it looked nerve wracking.

As we headed into town we laughed at the line of boats waiting to get to the fuel dock. Charter companies all flip their fleets on the same day, so you can plan accordingly and avoid these days.

We continued to wander around, do a little grocery shopping, and even went back to the same restaurant for pizza this time (no less disappointing). And then it was back to the boat to relax.

Primosten was a beautiful little town, similar to Rovinj (built out on a peninsula), but unfortunately will be remembered by us for the anchoring debacle. Friends David and Diane from s/v Stray Cat had left early in the morning and motored to the town, thus securing a mooring. We waited for the wind to come up (which it eventually does, just not till late morning or early afternoon), and by the time we arrived the moorings had all been taken. We headed over to the anchorage, dropped the hook, and then checked on things (the anchorage did not have a good rating on our sailing apps, the ground being thin sand over rock).

We took the easy route first and pulled out the bathyscope, which acts as a magnifying glass from the surface of the water. From the dinghy, we could see that things did not look good.

Trip suited up and managed to unwrap the anchor chain from the concrete chunk it was hooked around (no wonder we thought we had dug in well). In the meantime, we watched other boats trying 5 or 6 times to anchor themselves on this awful substrate. We were finally satisfied (not thrilled), that we’d be fine as the winds were going to be light through the night and not test the anchor.

Town was small but charming. We wandered around with David and Diane, had a posh gin and tonic at the one of the fancy sea-side bars, and then had a lovely dinner also waterside.

We had a fabulous sail further down Dugi Otok, tacking along with all the other sailboats out for a great sail. (I am so impressed at the number of boats that not only had sail up, but were actively out enjoying the wind. Too often we watch boats motoring everywhere, making us wonder why they bother to own or charter a sailboat.)

Croatia is notorious for being an expensive place to visit, because you have to pay to anchor or take a mooring in so many places. The national parks are the most expensive, but we still wanted to visit. We had just a couple of days before high season started, so we could get a one night permit for 45 euro (days later it would be 60 euro for the night!). We booked a permit and hustled to the park, even managing to snag the very last mooring ball.

We didn’t go ashore right away, as there were storms in the area (we could hear the thunder on the other side of the ridge on the mainland and my lightning strike app was going crazy), but we only got a little bit of rain and wind.

Once the rain ended and things calmed down, we went ashore, as I wanted to see the Adriatic-facing side of the island with afternoon/evening sun for the best effect. It was worth it. Everyone else was still on their boats, we had the entire place to ourselves for a while, and the views were amazing. The cliffs jut 161 meters out of the sea and the waves were crashing while we visited.

After walking along the cliffs, we headed down the trail to the Mir, the great salt lake.

Daylight hours were starting to run out, so we opted not to walk around the entire lake, but enjoyed the ramble back to the dock to the boat.

And we were treated to a most fabulous evening sky after the storm ‘scrubbing’.

When picking anchorages, we look for appropriate depth, protection from the prevailing winds, and something interesting if it’s available. As we were heading down the long, long island of Dugi Otok, I read about an anchorage in front of an old U-boat tunnel. We decided to check it out. Unfortunately, several other boats had already had that idea. We went close to see the two that were tied up right at the entrance, as well as a few others that were anchored (just waiting for their chance). We admired the site, but anchored a ways away in the same cove.

It was time to keep heading south, and time to get into the Croatian islands (there are 300+ in this country!). We set sail, and headed for Losinj. The first anchorage we picked was quiet, with about 10 houses on shore and only two other boats in the anchorage. We had no internet signal, and had a nice quiet evening on board.

The next day we moved just 5 miles around the bend (we could have walked in 40 minutes) to a different bay to meet up with friends Immie and Pierre as they were heading north.

The water was crystal clear and beautiful for swimming. Pierre picked us up in their tender with their fabulous new super quiet and lightweight electric motor, and we headed ashore for a nice lunch. After some rests and a paddle, Pierre and Immie came back over for sun downers. We drank and talked long into the evening, and made our farewells (hoping to see them later in the season again).

We had hoped to catch up with Ian and Jackie on Nova Jean as they headed north and we headed south. Sure enough, they got to Pula and gave a favorable report, so we headed down.

Pula is a massive bay with a large ship building presence. But once you pass beyond the industrial part, you come into a nice large anchorage with a view of an ancient ampitheater smack dab in the middle of town!

The weather wasn’t great, and Ian was kind enough to pop over in his tender to pick us up for sundowners on their boat. We had a great couple of hours catching up before the rain drove us home.

The next day was rain storm after rain storm. We finally made a dash for town late in the afternoon only for my meteorological skills to fail and get poured on mid-dinghy ride. We dried out with a cappuccino in a little cafe and then wandered around town.

Pula has shown signs of inhabitation since a million years ago. But the Romans probably left the biggest architectural mark on the city with the Temple of Augustus (bombed to oblivion in WWII and later rebuilt) and the amphitheater, built in ~45 BC. The arena is in amazing shape and was fun to walk around and under. Capable of seating 23,000 spectators, the arena was the scene of many a gladiator fight.

Maybe bot as exciting, but interesting nonetheless, were the zerostrasse, the tunnels, built during WWI to provide shelter in the event of air raids. On top of those tunnels sits the Kastel, the Austro-Hungarian fortress.

Welcome to Croatia! As much as we loved Venice, it was not inexpensive, and more importantly it was time to move on. After a rather embarassing episode of bumper boats on several pilings at the yacht club (wind plus current plus our little engine makes maneuvering a beast), we escaped Italy and were off to Croatia. As usual, it was more motoring than sailing, but the sailing that we had was lovely. We pulled into Umag, Croatia, the first port of entry, only to find out that authorities not work the weekends. We wandered around town with all the locals out enjoying themselves, had a burger on the waterfront, and turned in.

We decided to head to Rovinj on Sunday, stay overnight, and clear in there on Monday morning before moving on. We were motor sailing, and Trip decided to check on a temporary fix he had made in Venice. (He had sheared a special spacer bolt on the sea water pump when tightening belts, but had managed to get a temporary bolt in place.) The temporary bolt had worked its way free and stripped the threads on its way out. Luckily he had drilled a hole and put a cotter pin in place as a failsafe, and that was still holding the pump in place. He set to work down below, I unfurled the jib and tacked, and we set sail to Italy (kidding, but with the winds as they were we were heading way off shore). It turned out to be a fabulous sail despite the tacks required, and we were able to sail all the way into the Rovinj mooring field. We picked up a mooring (it costs to moor or anchor here, so we decided to pay the few extra $$ to moor) and immediately jumped in the water for a swim. It was brisk, but my body is now more acclimated to cold water and the color simply couldn’t be beat.

As we were heading into town, we saw an American-flagged catamaran that we had seen twice two years ago (Horta and again in Sines). David and Diane had also just come from Venice, and were working their way south. We chatted for a bit and moved on.

Rovinj is a very touristy town, but it’s lovely to wander. It’s considered one of the best remaining Venetian towns architecturally speaking in Istria (the region of Croatia). The old town is very concentrated on the bulb of the peninsula with the cathedral of St Euphemia sitting on top, and the town spilling down behind. The streets are old worn cobblestone and wonderful to walk. The hill isn’t nearly as steep as some towns, so it wasn’t as much of an exhausting exercise.

We stopped to admire the ‘piscina naturala’ (the public swimming pools simply made by pouring concrete slabs around the rocks at the edge of the sea) when we spotted a really cool restaurant next door, with its seating area terraced down on the rocks at the water’s edge. We hovered at La Puntulina and managed to snag a lovely spot on the rocks to enjoy a gin and tonic. Little did we know it was a Michelin star restaurant (not that we could have gotten in, they were completely booked), and instead settled for beans & rice back on board.

The next morning we went back in promptly at 8 to complete our cruising vignette (permit) with the local authorities. We ran into David and Diane and chatted with them for a bit, then did a final wander around town again. With weather coming, we were off to Pula.

In our wanderings about town we had passed a church advertising a concert of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons (Vivaldi was born in Venice in 1678). We bought two tickets.

We took the vaporetto over and were heading down the street when I spotted a little shop. I had read about the churches that have thrift shops attached, and this was one of those places. I managed to get a summer dress for 5 euro, but Trip had the real find. We had been looking at blazers for him (where else but Italy would you be inspired to go blazer shopping), and walked away with a second hand one for only 30 euros, and from an Italian manufacturer, no less. He’s now looking rather dapper for our concert.
The performance was remarkable. I never get tired of listening to the Four Seasons, but this group, eight members of the world renowned Interpreti Veneziano, was absolutely amazing. It was a lovely evening all around.

We also toured the Teatro la Fenice (The Phoenix Theatre), the Venice Opera House. Burned to the ground twice since it was built (once by accident and once by arson), the building has risen from the ashes like its namesake.