43:47.23N 15:20.31E

Just a few miles north is a well protected anchorage we chose to use.  Inside the national park there are only a few approved places to stay overnight.  There is one “marina” in the park but it is really limited in that is has electricity for only a few hours each day and limited water.  No reason to go there.

U. Lopatica is a fairly decent anchorage that has two islands protecting it from most winds and waves.  As we have done before we anchor out deeper than charter boat will to avoid the afternoon madness.  The anchorage also has a small restaurant onshore with a small quay that manages to fit about 8-10 boats with shallow draft.  A couple of 38 foot sailboat and 35 foot powerboats were on the quay when we arrived.

The nation park here charges differently that the other national park we visited on Miljet.  At Miljet you paid by the person for use of the park, so for two people it was a good deal to anchor there.  Here with all the charter boats with 8-12 people on each they would scare them off with such a pricing scheme.  So here they gouge you the first night, charge less the next and the third night we got for free.  This encourages charters to stay a couple of nights in the park.

Snorkeling along the shoreline proved to be boring at best.  I assume with the loss of vegetation on the islands, the aquatic life is also hampered.  The bottom is rock, sand, sea urchins and sea cucumbers.  There are fish however and two mornings a pair of dolphins came through feeding on the fish.

We stayed two nights here since it was a good anchorage and the charter boats were far enough away to not cause too much annoyance.

One observation here was that three Austrian boats came in a could not anchor properly.  They kept dropping their anchors in places too close to others or in huge patches of weeds that prevent the anchor from grabbing.  Two of them eventually left, I assume to go to the marina while the other was stubborn and after four tries eventually got secured.  Watching this I assume that they all took the same schooling by book but not in practice.

Another observation was the local restaurant and now the reasons why I will not eat at these isolated places.  On the hillside there is a small flock of sheep and lambs.  One of the main local restaurant fares is lamb cooked over a wood fire (thus the lack of trees).  In the morning one of the restaurant workers took a small boat over to the flock, culled out two lambs, tied them up and threw them on the boat.  Obviously back at the restaurant they were slaughtered for the meals to be prepared that day.  Once slaughtered a boat left the restaurant, went about one kilometer away and tossed the sheepskin and entrails on the rocks along the bay.  Not very pleasant to see when this is supposed to be a national park.

I kayaked over toward the restaurant later that day and came to realize that there is no freshwater except what is brought in by boat so how are things washed?  Also they has a small and loud electrical generator running during the day to supply electricity but it did not run at night so how are things kept cold for the next day (there is no electric on most islands unless you make it yourself).  So slaughtering lambs, gutting fish and then preparing meals in the same place with limited water and refrigeration turns me off from eating at these places.

One other point is the lack of parental control on the use of dingies.  It appears that any age child is allowed to take the small 3 hp dingy out and around.  Not unusual to see 5-7 year olds out alone.  This night the anchorage was lit up with a SAR (Safety and Rescue) boat entering the cove at night, very dangerous since there are no navigation light around the islands identifying rocks and reefs.  It turns out they had to rescue two small boys who wandered out in there dingy and obviously got lost or ran out of fuel.  It goes hand in hand with the complete lack of helmet wearing on motor scooters, no use of seatbelts even for children or forget about a child seat.  There must be a lot of injured children in the Balkans.

Anchorage before the arrival of the charter boaters.

Dolphins, actually porpoise, passing through feasting on the fish.

Afternoon in the anchorage with the charter boats arriving.