Channeling Daniel Craig

June 10, 2016August 12, 2016 ~ stull61 ~ Leave a comment

Apologies for the long post but it is Venice !!!

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

We put up the mainsail, but the wind dropped off to nothing. You could tell we were going to Venice by the dirty colour of the shallow water. (20-30m). It was a milpond out there as we slowly motered 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 aquainted with some very busy charts. Once inside, it became much clearer despite all the new breakwaters and a new lighthouse on the outside.
There was quite a current running as there’s a 1m tide in Venice, something unheard of in 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.

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.

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.
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!

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 the night before, we returned to the boat and had a quiet night watching a movie over a few drinks.

Day 2 in Venice started off rainy and overcast. Refreshed after a good night’s sleep it was off to St Marks Square to start the business of knocking off all the sights. The Doges Palace is still amazing, amazing no matter how many times you visit it. I’ve finished reading the history of Venice and it puts it all in context. I won’t bore you with the rest.

We started Day 3 by farewelling Stevo as he made his way to the airport. Then it was off for some more exploring. We’d booked our Basilica “No Queuing” Ticket for 4 euros each online and that got us in at 9.45am. The Basilica is one of the most magnificent churches in Europe, dripping in Gold and fantastic mosiacs and paintings. You can see that the church in the height of the Venetian Empire was the beneficiary of lots of its wealth.

We then had another crack at getting a temporay dingy license to cruise the canals. This time the Tourist Info Office directed us towards the City Hall and after being bounced around several offices and ending up at one that seemed to know what was going on, only to be told it was no longer a municipale responsibility but has now been transferred to the regional government, one hours bus ride away. Back at the boat, I read an email from Ellen who said a girl at another marina could organise it, but when I rang her she talked about organising it through the Tourist Information Office, but not before we were leaving. It was time to put up the white flag.

We hopped on the vaporetto up the grand canal to see all those magnificent houses and palaces using good old public transport. We hopped off at the Daniela Hotel, which we found out about the previous night when watching the making of Casino Royale, the house that sank was based on this hotel with its magnificent interior.

We then walked up to the Arsenal to see where the real power of the Venitian Lion came from – the shipyards that build the naval fleet that dominated the Mediteranean all those years ago. We then hopped on another couple of ferries to continue our exploration of the waterways and canals. The multi-day tansport ticket was proving to be very useful as we hopped on and off at quite a few places.

We hopped off at Salute and admired the wonderful church and then wandered the interesting streets that are found around the Peggy Gugenheim Museum. With the sun shining, it was too good a day to stay inside.

We started our last day in Venice by catching the Vesporetto around to the Frontier Police to check out of Italy. Good to get this one out of the way early.

Then we set about seeing what remained on our To Do list. We loved just walking around Venice, checking out all the nooks and crannies. My phone told me we did a couple of 14km days.

We wandered up a great shopping street just north of the Grande Canal and ducked in to see the Church of Madonna dell’Orto. The churches of Venice are pretty damn impressive. Then down to the long street again to see some of the impressive palaces on the Grande Canal. We found a nice nook and stopped for a pizza and some wine, before heading to the Rialto Bridge via some more interesting streets.

We crossed the bridge and headed for the Santa Maria Gloriosa del Frari. As we got closer the rain started coming down in buckets and we retreated to a café for wine and cappuccino. Two drinks later, the rain abated and we made it to the church (on time). Its spectacular in its shear size and its marvelous paintings, sculptures and its pretty cool altarpiece by some dude called Titian. What caught our eye was a sculpture deplicting black slaves, a quite haunting commentary on the wrongs of slavery. Good on the old Franciscan monks for taking a stand a long time ago because slavery was something the Venetians of old used to trade in.

We were on a roll and the last stop of the day was the Ca’ Rezzonico, a beautiful palace on the Grand Canal from the 1800’s. Its an interesting look into what living in a grand Venetian home was like in the last days of the grand Republic, decked out with18th century furnishings and paintings.

Then it was off to Harry’s Bar. Unfortunately it had just ticked over 6pm so my shorts were a problem. So back to the boat for a shower and a change. Whilst on the Island of San Georgio we checked out the impressive yacht club we were staying at but unfortunately the season was a few weeks off and the weather was bad so the bar and restaurant was deserted.

Not to worry, they had another club restaurant on the main island, just off St Marks square with an amazing view back to San Georgio. This was the site of their original yacht club and we had a great 5 star dinner there for about a third of the price of the other restaurants huddled around St Marks. Afterwards we walked around to Harry’s Bar but it was closed.

Never mind, it was getting late and we headed back to the boat for our early morning departure back to Pula in Croatia.

Pula

June 3, 2016August 12, 2016 ~ 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 circa 1856 Uljanik shipyard, one of the world’s oldest working shipyards 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 electromnics 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.

Af ter finding a Raymarine guy to attend to our non-responsive wind instrumentation, we checked out the impressive Colleseum, second only to the one in Rome.

Then we walked around the cobbled walking streets 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. Pretty interesting city.

Sightseeing done, 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 shipyards, just off the front of the boat.

“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.”

Next afternoon it was off on a night sail to Venice, after visiting the immagation dock to check out of Croatia. The checkout from Pula is quite straightforward with everything close by.

Bummer – Didn’t See a Single AK47

June 3, 2016June 5, 2016 ~ stull61 ~ 1 Comment

We thought long and hard about how we would attack Albania, bearing in mind that every time you entered a new port you needed a 50-70 euro agent to both check in and check out. Its indicative of how they are not set up for yachts, they treat us like all other shipping, hence the agent and the checking in and out. There is essentially no infrastructure for yachts in Albania so you need to be pretty self-sufficient and make sure you have plenty of fuel and water before you go.

In the end we decided to go back to Orikum Marina where I briefly called into 3 years ago on the way down from Croatia. This broke up the journey north into manageable chunks and Orikum was the only marina in the whole country, so a good place to leave La Mischief whilst we headed off in a rental car for a couple of days.

We left Corfu at 5am so we could get to our destination with plenty of daylight in hand. We however hadn’t factored in the disused minefields off the coast of Vlore that popped up on our charts. The charts advised to go around them and use the recommended path into the port. Not knowing any better (and not wanting to hit a mine) we took the charts advice and took the long way around. Luckily for us, we had a great southerly and with one reef in, we were chewing up the miles.

We made it to Vlore around 4pm and the agent we had organized through Orikum Marina came and collected our passports and our 70 euros. Prices had gone up since we got there 3 years ago. Check in was quick and we motored down the 6nm to Orikum Marina against the strong southerly.

13256031_10205784910854894_5688880004967601544_n — Interesting suggestion – anchor in a minefield!

Luigi was there to greet us again – he remembered us from last time. He organized a rental car for us – 40 euro a day. This was to be our strategy – moor La Mischief in Albania’s only real marina and drive up and down the country over a couple of days to see everything. Then an overnight sail to Bar in Montenegro.

We had a little drama mooring up, as we had managed to get a plastic bag wrapped around our starboard prop. We managed enough power to drop our anchor and stern tie before I went over the side with a snorkel to clear it off the prop.

Then it was off to a nearby fish restaurant that Luigi had recommended for a feed and a very nice bottle of Albanian wine. Amazing dinner. All at a very low price.

Next morning we set off on our driving adventure. We decided to take the road from Orikum south through the national park towards Salande. The weather was overcast and quite soon we found ourselves driving in thick fog, rather than admiring the spectacular views that the National Park is renowned for.

Eventually we reached the other coast and the fog was behind us. At one of the villages we picked up an old lady and took her 5kms along to where she wanted to be dropped off. Good deed done, we continued on and stopped at Palermos to take some photos of Ali Pasha’s castle. Then it was onto Salande, which is an interesting touristy town with many shops and restaurants. The weather was miserable so we didn’t stay long before we headed off to Butrint. Butrint is a really nice set of Roman ruins in a lovely bush setting. It was really nice to wander around, especially since we scored a break in the rain.

Then it was off to Blue Eye Spring. Driving in Albania requires concentration and a good ability to judge just how deep the next pot hole in the road actually is. Albanian Speed Bumps.

Blue Eyes Spring is very pretty. And very interesting. The water just pours out of a hole in the flat ground. The colour of the water gives it the first part of its name, Blue, and the shape of the water as it comes vertically out of the ground gives it the second part of its name – Eyes.

We had lunch at one of the cute restaurants that hung over the crystal clear river and pushed on to our final destination of the day – Gjirokaster, an old traditional Ottoman town. It was pretty to drive through on its steep narrow cobbled streets, but we were a bit pressed for time so we didn’t get out and walk around. Then it was back to Vlore to do some shopping – which was a bit challenging because even the larger supermarkets didn’t have a great deal. They were doing up Vlore’s foreshore with a bit of EU money and it looks like it will be good when its finished. They was a beer festival that had just finished – bummer – and lots of people, both young and old, out and about.

Next day, we were off again. This time we would head east and north. First stop was Apollonia, with its old orthodox church, great museum and roman ruins.

Then we checked out Berat, another wonderful Ottoman town. We drove up to the fort on the top of the hill and wandered around inside where the old town is situated. Great views and interesting architecture. Memories of Safronbula in Turkey.

On the way to our final stop of the day in Durres, I got pulled over by the Constabulary and he informed me that I was speeding. Oops. Instead of a fine, I got told to be more careful and then he reached in and turned my headlights on for me. Thank you Mr Policeman.

After my brush with the law, we proceeded (carefully) to Durres, where we checked out the Roman amphitheatre and old walls, followed by the tourist strip along the beach. We could see a couple of yachts in the harbour, but had been warned against going there because of all the crap that gets on your boats from the busy commercial harbour. No thanks!

Then it was back to the Marina, after perusing what appeared to be the biggest supermarket, but finding not much at all. We returned the car, settled our bill (50 euro a night including power and undrinkable water) and ended up going back to the same restaurant again. It didn’t disappoint.

We decided Albania was definitely worth a look. The people are super friendly and helpful, the scenery is amazing, the bunkers and fortification are strangely interesting, and food and wine is cheap. Albania comes with a really interesting history, country. It’s different to anywhere else we have been. The downsides are the lack of infrastructure (make sure you have plenty of water and fuel), the potholes in the roads, and the stupid idea that you need an agent to check you in to each port you visit at 50-70euros a pop.

And not one single AK47. Our friends on Ooroo were way ahead of us on this score from when they visited 3 years ago.

We exited Albania via re-visiting our agent in Vlore and then we were off overnight to Montenegro.

Prince Phil Waz Here

June 3, 2016June 3, 2016 ~ stull61 ~ Leave a comment

It took us a couple of hours to do the 15nm across from the top of Paxos to the small fishing harbour of Petriti on the east coast of Corfu. We decided to split our time between Petriti and Corfu town to make sure we saw as much of Corfu as we could. Petriki is the last of the real fishing harbours in Corfu and most of the restaurants come down here to buy their fish.

There’s not a lot of free spots on the wall but we managed to arrive just as a couple of yachts were departing so we dropped our anchor and backed up to the wall.

We found a number for a rental car and organized a car for 2 days. We concentrated on the southern half for the first day, visiting a few resort towns on the southern tip, before heading up to Achilleion, an imposing Neoclassical villa built for Empress Elizabeth of Austria. No expense was spared on either the inside or the outside gardens with its impressive statues. Something different from the usual Greek Island sightseeing.

We then headed off to Pelekas, which is a mountain village with great views from a high. Our last stop of the day was Corfu Town, where we checked out the berthing options. Both the Noak Yacht Club and Mandraki had plenty of paid berths available. We stop and chatted with some Australian yachties in Mandraki. One of which turned out to be Andrea (along with hubbie Ian), my PE Teacher from Bunbury High School, way back in the seventies. It’s a small world. Anyway one drink turned into five as we picked Merv and Judy’s brains about Albania, where they had just spent a couple of months. Drove home very carefully that night.

Day 2 of our Tour de Corfu saw us head north on a stunning mountainous coastal drive. Well it would have been stunning if we could have seen anything through the rain and low cloud. The drive is noted for its great views of Albania – it was out there somewhere.

The weather started to clear (a bit) as we wove our way down to Agios Georgios, a spectacular little beachside town with a monastery on a prominent headland that splits the town into two large bays with lots of nice swimming spots scattered around. Dee was here years ago and managed to find some nice beaches when her and her niece found some nice local boys with a boat.

Next day we did the short hop up to Corfu Town. We pulled up the anchor to find a steel cable on the end of it. No way could we shake that off so out came the grappling hook. We hooked the grappling hook on the cable and got the anchor free only to see that I’d managed to wrap the loose end of the rope I’d tied to the grappling hook around the anchor winch mangled in with the anchor chain. It was going to be that sort of Frank Spencer morning – it was in fact May 13^th. So now we had La Mischief attached to a steel chain by a flimsy grappling hook that we couldn’t dislodge until we got the rope free from the anchor winch. We managed to loosen the anchor winch and unwind the chain enough to get the rope free. That still didn’t help get the grappling hook off the steel cable – we needed a trip line on the grappling hook. Reminder for next time. However the good news was it was only a couple of metres deep so it was a simple matter to throw Dee over the side and get her to dive down and free the hook. Nothing like an early morning swim.

In our travels to Corfu Town, we’d spotted 15 or so yachts in the beginnings of a new marina being built just south of the old port. We talked to a couple of yachts and they said it was free so that’s where we headed.

We tied up and hit the old town. Corfu has two forts, a new fort and old fort. The new fort was just behind where we parked the boat. It was free and we spent half an hour clambering around it. From there we wandered into the old town, with its myriad of walking streets. It was nice to wander through. We finished up at the Esplanade that runs along the front of the Old Town. Along the way we past a cricket pitch, the legacy of being a British outpost.

The old fort is the highlight of Corfu. Its separated from the Esplanade by a canal, sitting on a rocky promenade that juts out into the sea. It dates back to the middle ages, with lots of Venetian and British add ons around the extensive outcrop.

Ancient fortress done, we set off on foot to Kanoni, 4kms out of town. Along the way we came across a plaque saying Prince Phillip was born here in 1923. Mum will be pleased given she delighted in telling me all about the Queen’s 90^th birthday celebrations.

Kanoni had good views across to Mouse Island, the 17th century monastery of Vlaherna, and the Airport. We climbed down to the beach and checked out one of the big hotels before hopping on a local bus back to Corfu Town.

Back at the boat, we decided to cook dinner before heading off to enjoy our last bit of Greece with a nighttime walk through the old town. This was not to be as the Port Police had decided Friday night at 6pm was a good time to come around and kick everyone out of the half complete marina. Bummer.

We ended going around to the new port where customs were. We found a berth out of the way from all the ferries and completed our check out from Greece.

Our impressions of Corfu were that it was a little bit over hyped – nice island but must be getting picky given all the other Greek islands we’ve been to.

Then it was off to Albania at 5am the next morning.

Paxos – Off the Beaten Track

June 3, 2016June 3, 2016 ~ stull61 ~ Leave a comment

With pump bits sorted, we made a late start out of Lefkas. We had to wait in the channel for the swing bridge to open on the hour and then it was off to Paxos. Our original plan was to anchor off AntiPaxos on the way there but time and wind was against us so we had to do with just Paxos.

Paxos is one of those little gems in the Greek Islands that often gets bypassed for the bigger sexier islands – in this case Corfu. Paxos is only 5 miles long and 2 miles wide. Its claim to fame is that Harrods only buys its olive oil from there. We were pretty well stocked with olive oil so we passed but did stock up with more wine from a great little wine shop. Can never have too much wine!

But I digress.

Our first stop was Port Gaios which looks fascinating on the chart and in the photos. The small harbour sits behind a large-ish island with a small channel running between. There’s a south entry but we choose the north one as this looked much more interesting. We weaved our way through the narrow channel past lots of fishing and day tripper boats to the town wall. We found a perfect spot, one of the few remaining and went stern to in clear water. We could literally step out into the restaurant strip perfect.

It’s quite funny cooking on the BBQ on the back of the boat metres away from lovely restaurants but when you are cruising full-time you can’t afford to eat out every night so we limit our restauranting when we can.

Next morning we moved a short distance up the coast to the top of the island where we found the beautiful almost land locked bay at Lakka.

This is what Paxos is really known for – beautiful clear bays with sandy bottoms. We parked up in 2m of water and jumped in for a bit of bottom cleaning. The water is still a little cold but hey its only May.
Later on we dingied into the small town of Lakka and had a look-see and a walk around to one of the swimming beaches.

We spent the night here before upping anchor early next morning for our 3 hour sail across to Corfu.

Fresh Water Sailing

May 27, 2016August 12, 2016 ~ stull61 ~ Leave a comment

Krka is one of the highlights of our sailing trip to Croatia. I always thought it was on an island as you always see it in Croatian cruising guides but in fact its quite a way inland.

After a motor sail up from Split, we turned right into a interesting channel that takes you into a large inland bay, with the major town of Sibernik in front of you. We then turned left into the impressive Krka river. We passed mussel farms on each side, as we slid under a very high traffic bridge, before entering a stunning river gorge with steep cliffs either side. We burst out into a large lake that was half fresh and half salt. We motored across the lake for 1.5nm before re-entering the fresh water river. Another 5nm later we passed under a tall bridge, before anchoring off Skradin, a cute little town where all the boats leave to go up to the Krka falls. It was a delightful anchorage in about 7m of water, in amongst the reed banks, with a steady current of fresh water flowing through. Great to have a fresh water flush – toilets as well as the boat, dingy and genset motors. We also took the opportunity to clean our dirty bottom, hoping that whatever was growing down there wouldn’t like the change in salinity.

We sat back and enjoyed watching the white swans, with their cygnets in tow, come up to the boat looking for a feed. The scenery was stunning and the sunset to die for.

We put the dingy in and explored the pretty little riverside town, with its combination of stone and brightly painted houses. There’s a reasonable marina there, but we liked our free anchorage. Lots of cutesy restaurants and touristy shops. We walked up to the old castle ruins to get some great views down to the town and the surrounding forest.

Next day it was off to the famous Krka Falls. You can’t take your dingy up there, you have to take a tourist boat, the price of which is all wrapped up into the National Park entrance fee. So off we went in someone else’s boat for a change.

We disembarked and walked up to the main falls, which are called Skradinski Buk, considered to be one of the most beautiful calcium carbonate waterfalls in Europe. And who am I to disagree. At the bottom of the falls is a massive clear natural pool where you can swim. Behind this pool is 17 different waterfalls stretching for 800m, falling over 50m. We wandered around a series of pleasant paths winding their way around these waterfalls and fish filled pools. We came across remnants of Tesla’s hydro-electric power plant, the second in the world to dish out AC power to Sibernick (Tesla is Croatian).

Then we hopped on another boat and headed further up the river to Visovac island with an old Franciscan monastery on it. It was founded way back in the 14^th Century and in 1445 harboured Franciscan monks from Bosnia fleeing the Ottoman Empire. We spent a very pleasant 30 minutes wandering around the small museum, the church and the grounds.

National Park done (not really as there’s a whole other set of falls that we didn’t visit) we headed back on the Park boat to get back to La Mischief. The rest of the afternoon was spent swimming and relaxing, watching the wildlife and the scenery. Cruising at its best.

Next morning it was up early and off to Zadar, stopping along the way to buy some fresh mussels (5KG) of course.

Hvar is a very pleasant spot

May 27, 2016August 12, 2016 ~ stull61 ~ Leave a comment

Hvar is a very pleasant spot.

It seems to attract more than its fair share of celebrities…..

Along with us of course.

We pulled up a mooring next to the wall and then took a couple of long lines back to the wall at the back of the boat. A nice little arrangement that allowed us to swim off the back of the boat. Cost us 160 kunas ($80AUD) for the privilege.

We took the dingy to shore and wandered around the boardwalk and into the old town. Lots of intriguing narrow laneways with bars and restaurants spilling into the harbour surroundings.

Next morning we followed the boardwalk around the other way, past more bars and restaurants with some hotels thrown in for good measure, before heading up to the castle, with its spectacular views overlooking the harbour.

The castle was in pretty good nick and was good to wander through but the highlight was the views looking down on the harbor and the town. Photos taken, it was back to the boat for swim and then off to Split.

Split is a bit problematic when it comes to getting a berth. Cant really anchor there and the town wall is as expensive as the marina as we found out. The town itself is pretty nice with some a great Roman palace, impressive wall and some nice churches and Roman ruins but I wouldn’t stress if you missed it.

We spent an afternoon and evening there before leaving early for Krka.

Lunch Date at the Uncanin Residence

May 25, 2016August 12, 2016 ~ stull61 ~ Leave a comment

With Dubrovnick done, it was time to head to Korkula to see Rade and Marinka and their new addition (baby, not house). We had a great time with Rade 3 years ago and unfortunately this time he was up to his ears with work, house and new baby so he couldn’t come sailing with us this time.

We stopped off in Mljet National Park on the way to Korkula, a nice anchorage off a small village.

Next morning, we set off early to Zavalatica, Rade’s Village on Korcula, as we needed to get there by lunchtime.

Talk about good timing, it was a National Holiday in Croatia and Rade had the day off. Perfect planning – of course.

Once again the wind was on our nose so we motored over in light winds. We pulled up at the dock in…. and went for a quick swim off the back of the boat in beautiful clear water.

Lunch was brilliant. Marinko (Marinka’s Dad) had been slow cooking the meat all morning and it was particularly delicious. Especially when washed down with Rade’s Posip wine, 12 litres of which found its way onto La Mischief , along with some Olive Oil. Thanks Rade.

After lunch, Marinko drove us to Korkula Town, where we had a walk around the city walls, stopping for a drink overlooking the Adriatic Sea.

We finished off a brilliant day with a few (more) drinks on La Mischief.

Next day, we were off to Hvar.

Those Mad Austrian Charterers Strike Again

May 23, 2016August 12, 2016 ~ stull61 ~ Leave a comment

Don’t get me wrong – I like Austrians. And I even like Austrians on charter boats. But it appears only when safely at anchor – away from La Mischief. We had a great night 3 years ago in Vis, with a whole group of them, drinking long into the night on the deck of La Mischief. But not so much fun this time in a confined harbour in 40kts. But I’m getting ahead of myself…. We left Kortor at 8am after successfully checking out of Montenegro, heading for Cavtat in Croatia. The winds did their usual in the fjordland of Kotor, going from 0 to lots. We make it out into the open sea to find a beautiful following breeze. Now that makes a change. We flew up the coast and nearly got to Cavtat before we needed a reef. We decided to take the sails down instead of reefing as we were close enough.

We had been to Cavtat before so we knew the procedure. Cavtat is where you must check in to Croatia, you can’t go past or you will get fined. No loitering either, as soon as you get to Croatia you must check in. No anchoring in a nice bay on the way in.

Many cruisers get fined in Croatia – me included 3 years ago, and this time I was determined to stay on the right side of the law this time.

By the time we got to the customs dock it was blowing 40kts. We waited for a couple of boats to get sorted then dropped our anchor and backed in. We tied up to the dock, stern to, and I went off to get cleared in at the Harbour Master’s office and the Police office.

Meanwhile back at the boat……

Dee watched in amazement as a group of Austrian Charterers tried to come into the dock by dropping their anchor across everyone else’s chain and backing in all over the place. Dee felt our chain loosen as a result and put the motors on the keep us off the wall.

Then she watched in even more amazement (as did the harbour guy who helps people tie up) as the Austrians nearly rammed us. I got back to the boat to find Dee’s jaw on the ground, and we preceded to get off the wall as quickly as we could.

That wasn’t the problem. Our anchor winch stalled in the middle of the harbour (not where we left our anchor) as the mad Austrians yelled across to say they had our chain on their anchor. As they continued to motor around the harbour in 40kts of breeze, I suggested that perhaps they should think about getting it off. NOW!

Instead they grabbed their camera and started to take photos. Somehow they thought we needed to get our chain off their anchor. We talked then through the procedure. Put a rope round our chain you d#@ckh@#ds was sort of how the conversation went.

They finally stopped their photoshoot and one of them jumped in the water. It was a major exercise working out how to get a rope under a chain. Meanwhile they were all looking out the front and whoever was on the helm wasn’t looking at the looming rocks out the back. Somehow they managed to both get their anchor dislodged from our chain and keep off the rocks. Miracles do happen as they went off to terrorize someone else.

Not so easy for us. Our anchor winch was on strike due to having a whole heap of harbour junk dragging off our anchor. We managed to get it up little by little until we only had 6m out – the depth of the harbour.

We were then able to drag our anchor and its accompanying entourage back across the harbour to the wall where we were able to side tie (for 80 euros a night). I was rueing the fact that we don’t have a dive tank on board as it cost us a 100 euros for a diver to free all the sh@t off our anchor using a lift bag.

And there we stayed, having a quick drink with the Harbour Guy, reminiscing about the mad Austrians, before catching a cab out to get Stevo from the airport. The good thing about Cavtat is that its 10 minutes from Dubrovnick airport. After feeding Stevo a Beer or two, we had a quick look at the anchor, before deciding it could wait until tomorrow and off we went to dinner.

The next day we caught a bus into Dubrovnick, which scared the sh@t out of Stevo, as he peered over the side of the bus down the cliffs far below. Dubvovnick never fails to disappoint. Except for the weather! We did all the obligatories. The walk around the top of the wall, the gondola ride to the top of the hill/mountain for the views down to Dubrovnick, wandering the streets and Mexican for lunch. Whilst there, we handed over 165 kuna for a cruising permit for our dingy as you need this if you want to use the dingy for a bit of sightseeing as we often do. Part of my Don’t Get Fined in Croatia this time strategy.

Back at the boat, Stevo managed to get our anchor winch working from the helm station but the handheld refused to play ball. But that was enough to see us leave and head for Mjet.

Monks on a High

May 22, 2016May 22, 2016 ~ stull61 ~ 1 Comment

Lefkas is a Greek Island that never used to be an island. Way back in 800 BC, the Corinthians managed to dig a canal through some marshlands to create the island. Later on the more modern-day Greeks had installed a swing bridge so you can drive from Lefkas to the mainland.

And that’s what we did at 6am, heading for the Meteoras. Ever since I got to Greece with Dee, she’s been raving on about the Meteoras. So now it was time to see what all the fuss was about.

The drive up there was pretty cool. It took us 3 hours to wind our way up through the mountains with numerous tunnels and viaducts, all built with lots of EU money. At one stage we hit fog as we drove through the clouds. The drive itself was worth the price of admission.

We arrived at the town of Kalambaka, just after 9am and found the tourist office who gave us a really good map. Then we were off. There’s six monasteries you can visit and we did them all. Theres quite a few others dotted around that airen’t open to the public and those that are open are closed on different days so we jagged it arriving on a Sunday when all 6 were open.

The monasteries sit perched on top of rock columns and in the olden days the only way the monks could get in and out was by a series of ladders and rope baskets. Begs the questions as to how exactly did they manage to build the impressive building perched on top of sheer rock cliffs in the first place.

Nowadays they have carved steps into the rock face and put in a modern road that goes round the back of each of the six monasteries. There are also flying foxes that winch across supplies.

Each of the monasteries are a bit different, all retaining their air of myth and mystery. For starters, one is a nunnery – evoking images of Monty Python and the Holy Grail. The most famous is the one that was in James Bond’s “For Your Eyes Only”. Must watch that movie again. This is the most photogenic but the least interesting inside. Megalo Meteoro is the most extensive, housing several museums, including the blacksmith’s shop and the extensive kitchen. As you wander around, you catch a glimpse of monks and nuns going about the stuff that monks and nuns do.

We managed to knock off all the 6 monasteries by 1pm and we then headed off to find a nice restaurant in the cute little village of Kastraki for lunch. Kastraki sits spectacularly right at the foot of the Meteoras and it was filled with rock climbers, one of which only had one arm. Now there’s guts. The adrenalin junkies are well catered for here as there is also an annual mountain bike race down through the Meteoras.

We still had some time up our sleeve so we headed for Parga, which is a charming little resort town on the neck of a promontory flanking two bays, with an impressive Venetian Fortress perched high on an adjacent headland guarding the whole town. We spend a couple of hours there checking out the old town, the nice beach and the views from the fortress.

Then it was off back to Lefkas.

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