HRAMINA, CROATIA, October 2011 43.90.58n 15.35.40e
Restless of Auckland
Roland and Consie Lennox-King
Fri 4 Nov 2011 02:03
As advised in our last webdiary, our friends Annette and David arrived in
Zadar, another Croatian walled city, settled in 900BC. As well as the usual
ruins, Zadar has a Sea Organ, built into the sea-wall in 2005. A series of
underwater pipes allow the sea to produce an eerie sound through the waterfront
promenade. After they arrived, we headed west through the islands, stopping at
many bays and islands to swim and snorkel. To our surprise, on entering a
secluded bay called Magrovica, we came across some Canadian friends on a Halberg
Rassey called ‘Tao’ that we had last seen in Scotland. Needless to say, it was a
convivial get-together. We then worked our way south through the Kornati
islands, where at the main settlement we walked to the top of one of the
rock-covered hills, then back down to the tiny village of Vrulje for a
delightful fresh fish lunch. We also stopped at Opat, Stupica at Zirje island,
Primosten, Rogoznica, Drvenik Veli, Krknjas, Necujam, places we had been to
before, and ending in Trogir a day before planned, as another low-pressure
system arrived, bringing ominous tones of a change in the weather system.
Annette and David departed back to England after a great 2 weeks on board,
although our sails during their visit had been rather tame, we all had a great
time together and were sorry to see them leave. We then had 4 days to ourselves,
which allowed us to do some maintenance and winter preparation before Roland’s
brother arrived.
Oliver and his wife Jane arrived in Trogir after taking a train down from
Zagreb. They were our last visitors on board for the summer, and we had a couple
of lovely sunny days together and swam a few times, but suddenly the weather
changed from summer to winter, from mid-30s to mid-20s and down to 5’C at night.
We were booked to haul-out in Hramina on Murter island on 17 October, so headed
north, stopping at our favourite anchorages at Rogoznica, and Primosten. We left
Primosten after lunch one day, and headed into a strong breeze, which turned
into a Bora, with 20 to 38 kts in bullets on the nose all the way to Hramina. We
had planned to anchor in a luka (bay) nearby, but with the wind predicted to
continue for the next 48 hours, we decided to continue, and were greatly
relieved to tie up in the shelter of the marina. This strong wind continued for
the next two days, and we were lucky that it died as we headed towards the
travelhoist to be lifted out. We then had a short break of only a matter of an
hour, which allowed us to get our sails down and fold them. The wind then
returned from the opposite direction at a force which would definitely not have
allowed any lowering of sails, and had not abated when we left the boat for the
winter 2 days later. We were exceptionally lucky.
We knew our Perkins engine was losing compression on one cylinder, but over
the last couple of months it had been getting worse, and the diagnosis from all
engineers was that it had to come out and the cylinders re-bored. The cost of
doing that against the cost of a new one, made us decide it was time to replace
it, as it has done 6,500 hours over the past 11 years. We have decided to have a
new Yanmar installed over the next few months, whilst we are away, but are very
apprehensive as we would like to be there to supervise.
We flew from Zadar to London on 19th October, had a quick visit with Pip’s
parents in London, who dropped us off at the airport to catch our flight to Hong
Kong. In Hong Kong we stayed with Pippa and Gilbert, spent time with Olivia and
James, and caught up with many friends and family. Roland spent some time
helping James with the restoration of ‘Trident’ helped him to take off the old
cabintop and to fibreglass down a new one. Gilbert and Pippa are going to
England for Christmas, and we will be in the Bay of Islands.
We are due to leave Hong Kong for New Zealand on 8 November, and Consie will fly on to Sydney to see her mother, sisters, and family. Grandmama Blaauw has at last recovered enough from openheart surgery she had some months ago, to be able to go home to her own apartment. She must know more about Sydney hospitals than most people want to know.
We are looking forward to a warm dry summer in New Zealand, which by all accounts is becoming more positive after the Rugby World Cup success. Our current plan is to return to the boat before the end of April to resume Croatian waters, before heading down to Greece and through to Turkey by the end of next summer. |