46 16.9 N 18 50.5 E 

BUDVA Montenegro 

We left Bar around midday
on Tuesday 29th of May having had a sleep at the marina and filled up
with water etc. The weather was fair and there was little wind
forecasted so we decided to head for Budva about 15 miles to the north
west. As we left the marina we noticed both China Blue and Mariah were
rafted to each other on the pontoon furthest from where we had been!
Such a shame we hadn't spotted them earlier as we had been looking out
for their arrival. We spoke briefly to Ann on the VHF and will meet up
again in the next few days. Our journey to Budva was uneventful we had
the main up and that helped to steady the boat as we motor-sailed in a
rather sloppy sea with a swell coming in from the west and a light
breeze from the north. The coastline was interesting to observe - much
greener than in Greece with numerous small settlements on the bays and
hills as we passed by. On arrival in the large bay at Budva we tried to
pick up what we thought was a visitor's mooring buoy but this proved
impossible as the pick- up warps were all tangled up round the anchoring
warps. We then decided to anchor to the NE of the harbour and marina.
Thus secured we settled down for an early supper and then a quiet night
- or so we thought. Having been on the anchor for several hours a rib
came roaring out and told us we couldn't stay where we were as we were
inside the marina area! As we weren't the only boat there we were
reluctant to move but then saw that the big catamaran near us was also
moving so we relented and moved some 400 metres further to the south and
out of the shelter of the old harbour wall. We had a good night despite
the more marked swell and the fishing boats working early in the
morning! On Wednesday we took the dinghy to the old town and explored -
it was very well preserved and had numerous cafes, bars and restaurants
as well as loads of tourist shops and expensive clothes shops! We walked
around part of the ramparts which offered good views of the harbour.
Then we went in search of a wifi café where we sampled our first
Montenegrin beer. Having checked the weather we decided to get some
fresh produce and then set off the following morning for another smaller
bay about 12 miles to the north. We found a brilliant supermarket a ten
minute walk from the marina which had far more produce than we expected
to see including some good fresh bread and fruit. 

We returned to the
boat had an early supper and turned in by 2100. The night was not so
comfortable as a nasty swell began to work into the bay around 0500. We
were both up and about by 0600 so decided to head off early and seek a
calmer anchorage in Bigova. Again there wasn't much wind and we motored
all the way without even hoisting the main. On our arrival at the
entrance to the bay we were deluged by a tropical downpour! The
visibility went to almost nil but fortunately it only lasted about 15
minutes - Jacky's waterproof jacket had an airing for the first time
since 2011! We found the bay here in Bigova had several substantial