44 04.4 N 15 00.3E

BRBINJ Thursday 11^th – Monday 15^th July

We left the southern end of Dugi Otak and motored up the east coast of this very attractive island. En route we paused near to the main town of the island – Sali to have a look at the mooring facilities there. Also we were able to log on to a Wifi Ariel and get a weather forecast! We pressed on a few miles further and went to the long bay of Brbinj where we had read there were mooring buoys and a quay. We opted for a buoy and after a bit of a palaver managed to get secured fore and aft. The buoys were very close together and the first one we tried we just didn’t have the swinging room required to turn and secure the shore lines – we kept backing into the small yacht on the next buoy! It didn’t help that we had 20kts of wind on the beam either! This was however a really lovely quiet spot and we stayed for 4 nights. The swimming was super – clean clear water and a good temperature too. We took the dinghy ashore several times to visit the local mini market and visit the one Konoba – Antonio’s where we ate a delicious steak grilled on the wood bbq. We also walked across the isthmus to the northern bay of Brbinj where the ferry docks once a day. There were mooring buoys here too but no quay. The main quay at Brbinj has mooring lines and access to electricity but he water is restricted to one hour a day. The cost for our boat on a buoy was 192K but reduced after 2 nights to 172k!! On the quay the charges were 22k per metre.

The next stop needed to be free so we headed off to check out a former naval base in a bay about 5 miles north – still on the island of Dugi Otak (literal translation – Long Island). Here we found a tiny bay leading off a wider one where there was a concealed submarine pen excavated out of the rock face. We were able to tie up alongside a short quay where we had depths of over 3 meters. Again lovely clear water and warm for swimming.