Month: September 2016

Venice in Four Parts

~ stull61 ~ Leave a comment

DAY 1

We checked out of Pula Marina just after 2pm and went over to the Customs and Immigration Dock. Checkout there was really easy and quick and then we were soon on our way.

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We put up the mainsail, but the wind dropped off to nothing. You could tell we were going to Venice, as when we got closer, the water got progressively dirtier and shallower (20-30m). It was a mill-pond out there as we slowly motored across to Venice, 70nm away. We all dodged ships and fishing boats that littered the way on our 2 hour night shifts.

We reached the channel into Venice at 7.30am and got ourselves acquainted with some very busy charts. Once inside, it became much clearer – despite all the new breakwaters and a new lighthouse on the outside.13427751_10205896800892075_717986453167060904_n

There was quite a current running as there’s a 1m tide in Venice, something unheard of in the rest of the Med.

Sailing into Venice (,A La James Bond in Casino Royale), has been on my bucket list for some time and it was exciting to tick this one-off.

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We were heading for the marina at Compagnia Della Vela on San Georgio, a marina recommended by the really nice Italian guys we met in Molat from the Savento Sailing Team.

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We arrived at San Georgio, right opposite St Marks Square a little early and we took the opportunity to do a little sightseeing from the water before heading into the tight entrance of the Marina.

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Because of the tides, the marina was set up with poles for the monos to slide in between and tie up to. There was one space where a cat could go and we were extremely lucky to score it.

Safely tied up, it was off to see Venice. The water bus cost a cool 7.5 euros for a one way ticket, the most expensive public transport I’ve been on for a while. We ended up catching it all the way to the bus/train station as this was nearby to the frontier police, who checked us into Italy. And for 0 euros. Beautiful!

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The rest of the day was spent getting a SIM card from Wind, getting pizza and wine for lunch at a cute little sidewalk cafe, and aimlessly wandering the streets and canals of Venice, seeing what popped up around the corner. We had read SV Golden Glow’s Blog and they had some great info on Venice including how to get some temporary licence plates for our dingy to be able to cruise the canals. Unfortunately the authorities had changed this in February this year and we are not able to do this in A Little Bit of Mischief. Bummer!

After an overnight leg last night, we returned to the boat and had a quiet night watching a movie over a few drinks.

Colourful Cranes and Ancient Amphitheatres

~ stull61 ~ Leave a comment

After a leisurely breakfast, we pulled anchor and headed out. This time we had to head SW to get around the headland before heading the last little bit to Pula. Along the way we hit water so glassy we could see the reflections of the clouds in the sea.

The entrance to Pula is rather interesting. We had to sail 1nm north to skirt around old disused jetty. Then we sailed into the large bay and past the oldest surviving ship yard in the world.

We considered anchoring near the customs jetty but in the end went to the Marina as we needed to get our wind instrument attended to. Our resident electrician got only so far before pointing out the demarcation that meant we needed an electronics guy!!!

The marina cost us 94 euro a night all inclusive – not too bad by Croatian standards. And it was right in the middle of town.

After finding a Raymarine guy to attend to our non-responsive wind instrumentation (booked in for tomorrow), we checked out the impressive Colosseum, second only to the one in Rome.

Then we walked around the cobbled walking street to the Temple of Augiustus, some pretty impressive Roman Mosiacs, the Triumphal Arch of Sergius, the morning markets and up to the Fortress with its great view and Nautical Museum. Unfortunately, we didn’t have time to do the underground tunnels. Pretty interesting city.

Then it was back to the boat for some pre-dinner drinks before asking the ACI Marina staff where to eat. One of them gave us a lift to a non-tourist restaurant 5km out of town. The Istrian Steak was really nice but lacked a certain amount of ambiance right next to the highway.

 Back at the boat, we sat waiting for Pula’s latest attraction, a stunning lighting display at the city’s circa 1856 Uljanik shipyard, one of the world’s oldest working shipyards. “Renowned lighting designer Dean Skira has lit up the shipyard’s iconic cranes in 16,000 different colour schemes, which come alive four times every evening on the hour, starting at 9pm for 15 minutes.”

Then its time for bed as tomorrow we head for Venice.