Vis island
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Tue 21 Jul 2015 08:21
We looked at a few isolated anchorages on the island, but we weren't happy with them, so we picked up a mooring in the town of Vis. I took the kids to the town as there was a nice pebble beach, and they had a good swim. We then explored the town, and purchased a few more provisions. Vlad picked us up from the dock in the dinghy, and we had a nice meal and a movie on board. Saw another Discovery 55 "Aurora Polaris" at the town dock.
The next day we headed for a sandy beach in Stoncica bay. When we arrived, the bay had about 10 mooring buoys installed so we took the one farthest from the madding crowd. Swam off the boat with Pavel for an hour, and snorkelled by the shore. The boy loves the water. I think he would stay submerged all day if he didn't need to breathe air at the surface. Took the kids to the beach for a long time. The water was shallow, and they floated, and snorkelled, and tried to catch tiny fish with their butterfly nets. After things looked better, with the charter traffic slowing down, (see my comments on the donts of entering an anchorage in previous post), Vlad swam to the shore and joined us for a refreshment.
We ate dinner at the restaurant and it was great! Outdoor wooden tables with picnic style benches under a canopy of pine trees. We had some Dalmatian favourites including fish pate, marinated sardines, grilled veggies, Scampi, and mixed grill. The house wine was very good and made with grapes from the premises in addition to those supplied by the restaurant owner's uncle.
However, when we arrived back at our boat, someone had come in after 7 30 pm and anchored very near to us. We were on a mooring, and expected to swing in a tight circle. When you are at anchor one usually swings in a larger circle, and a crash can occur if that isn't taken into consideration. So another broken night of sleep.
Next day, the wind was predicted to be up to 15 knots by 2 pm. So for the first time in weeks we sailed the entire way to the next anchorage, and I was the skipper. I have a lot to learn. Ill have to practice a lot more. The wind wasn't conducive to heading as north as we had planned, so we tucked into Vinsce harbour on the mainland. It is large, protected and fairly shallow, with great holding. We were tired and baking from the sun and heat, so on went the generator, watermaker, air con and I did 4 loads of laundry, including our entire set of bedding, and the kids sheets. I secured the items to the lifelines, and with the dry heat and the wind at 15 knots each load was bone dry in less than 30 minutes! Cooked Schnizel to the delight of the family.