Croatia 42:47N 17:20E
Rubicon
Wed 8 Jul 2015 09:26
The hot weather has arrived!
We arrived at Cavtat, Croatia on June 28, 2015. This was the first port of entry from Montenegro. Took about 3 hours to get there, so a nice short trip for a change:) Sea totally smooth so motored the entire way. On arrival, we had to back in onto the customs dock, and it was the first time that I had to set the bow anchor when Med Mooring. It went off without a hitch. The key is to loosen the windless clutch with a winch handle and then when given the command, let the anchor chain run free. I then tightened the clutch after I let out ALOT of chain and then eased chain when necessary have it tight at the end of the exercise, holding the bow out straight.
Vlad then handled the customs procedures, paid the various fees, and once again, no one needed to see me and the kids to confirm anything. Caveat is a lovely small village, with wall to wall small restaurants, cafes and bars along the waterfront. The harbour is clean, and people swim all around the edges of it. I took the children with me to the village while Vlad stayed on board to ensure Rubicon's anchor was truly set. I obtained a few provisions from the store (drinks, microwave popcorn at Pavel's insistence), some money from the bank machine and ice cream cones for the kids( Lemon is the popular flavour) . We went to the beach bar where there was a roped off swimming area and I rented a lounging chair and took it easy while the kids swam and played "mermaids".
Anchoring was allowed in the small harbour, so we decided to take that option. More private than being right in front of the restaurants with the tourists all walking by. Unfortunately the holding wasn't very good. So we ended up having to reset the anchor at about 8 pm, and do an anchor watch all night. Thank goodness for Bejewelled and a good book on the iPad. Finally at about 6 am, the wind picked up suddenly, we dragged and that was the end of Caveat. We headed across the bay to Srebreno in 20-25 knots of wind from the NE (I think it was a Bora, as NE and clouds were appearing about the mountains). We anchored there, no problem, and we both caught up on some sleep!
Srebreno and Mlini are two small villages in the bay called Zupski Zaljev. There are swimming areas with pebble beaches all along this stretch of the shore. We took the dinghy over to Mlini as there was a local small boat harbour that we could tie up to. Finding a place to tie up the dinghy is a bit more of a challenge here, compared to what we are used to, so it was great to find such a convenient spot. We then explored the area. Mlini is a small, pretty spot, very tourist in an understated way. They are upgrading the roads around the bay, and many people are there swimming amongst the rocks off of small beaches as well as the more formal ones. it is very nice, with lots of shade from the pine trees, and we will probably be back later in the season. We stayed 2 nights. Great holding in 10 m near Srebreno harbour in front of a beach.
We then went to Dubrovnik for 2 nights and stayed at the ACI Marina there. It had a lot going for it. Although when we entered the marina, it was compact, and the space we were given was intimidating, Vlad did a perfect job and we got in with minimal issues. The Marina itself is just outside of the town, so you need to take a taxi or a regular bus route to get to Gruz, the active port, or to Dubrovnik itself. We all went into Gruz and Vlad and I got SIM cards and unlimited internet. It takes a while to wait for help, but once you get it, the internet here is excellent. Dubrovnik was a lovely place. It is an old Medieval town. Unfortunately during the war in 1992 or so it was shelled and at least half of the buildings sustained some kind of damage. It is a UNESCO world heritage site, and has been completely restored. Touristy. Good restaurants. Pavel continues to eat cheese pizza to our relief and delight! There are many cruise ships that come here, so
heard "American English" for the first time in quite a while.
The marina had excellent facilities. There were several good restaurants around, especially the one in front of the pool, where Vlad and I could sit in the shade right by the edge of the pool, have a drink or a snack and watch the kids play and swim. The pool itself was clean, cool, and was an infinity type design. Really great! It reminded me of Saudi Arabia and my many many days hanging out at the pools in Riyadh especially the one at the Rec centre. In fact there are many things that remind me of Riyadh in the Med, mostly the products you can buy from Europe that we used to get in Saudi, and the dryness of the land. And of course the heat! There was a very good small grocery store at the entrance to the Marina and we provisioned the boat with a lot of the heavy items, like water, beer, wine, sodas and replenished the fresh fruit and veggies. Also good chicken and pork, that went into our freezer. And of course potato chips and peanuts. We are all
craving salty snacks in this sweat inducing weather. And helpfully there was a laundry service which I used for bed linens. Vlad was able to fill up our empty propane tank. This was a bonus as although we have 2 of them, many Med countries/ports apparently don't have the facilities to fill them up. Montenegro and Croatia are exceptions.
We then headed off to explore the Elaphite Islands. I had wanted to go to Lopud, to the north anchorage, but when we came across the anchorage on the south of the island, we decided to try it. There was a sandy beach, shallow near the shore, so great for swimming, and a beach bar/restaurant on it with many lounge chairs. Tourists from the mainland are brought there in the late am, and are picked up later in the day. A number of sailboats and motorboats show up in the day, anchor and hang out, but as 6 pm approaches, everyone except a few boats clear out, and we end up with a nice isolated quiet anchorage for the night, with good holding in 12 m. Not protected from S/SW. Stayed 2 nights. The second night, the wind started to blow from a southerly direction, and several anchored boats either started to drag or got worried and left the anchorage at night. We had no problems, but did keep a close eye on things. Having a spare chart plotter on the iPad is
very helpful as if you have it plotting your course, it is a great way to see if you are dragging and mostly provides reassurance, from the comfort of your cabin!
Stayed there 2 nights. After all, great beach for the kids, and hey, what's the rush?
Next anchorage was off the island of Jakljan. The harbour has an abandoned hotel and children summer camp. Apparently there is some kind of issue about who is leasing the property. Serbia was the leaseholder, and I don't really know what the status is now. All I can say is that there must be a significant disagreement, as the beach is abandoned too, litter all over the place and I would not recommend walking around or swimming off of the beach because of that. There is a memorial on the island to over 200 prisoners that were killed there by the Germans at the end of WWII. Regardless, the spot is quiet, and the harbour itself is spacious and clean. We anchored and it was great. I finally took out the dinghy by myself, and now not nervous about it. I have a lot of experience with maneuvering a dinghy, but this one has a much more powerful engine, and we don't have any back up so to speak, but I am now over it.
We then headed to the Island of Mljet. This island is reputed to be the one where Calypso held Odysseus for 7 years in the Odyssey. We stayed in an anchorage around the corner from Pomona in the National Park. We went ashore and walked to the "lakes" Mali Jezero and Veli Jezero. ( Mali is "small" in Croatian and Veli is "large" , very similar to Czech). The lakes are salty, and connected to the ocean, but are talmost completely landlocked. We went swimming in them. They are full of fish and live shells scatter the bottom of the Mali lake. There was a connection between the two lakes via a small canal, about 25 meters long and 6 feet across.The kids and I swam through that and there was a significant current leading from the small to the large canal and the kids and I had fun trying to swim against it. Catherine has been a strong swimmer, but Pavel is swimming independently and getting stronger by the day. They are both doing very well. Thanks to Debby
for taking Pavel to swimming lessons last fall! We also snorkelled in the anchorage. I think there is soft coral, and there were loads of fish and some live shells (molluscs), sea cucumbers, starfish etc.
We spent 3 nights here. Off to Korcula today, as we have booked a spot in the ACI Marina. Will restock the boat (after we defrosted and cleaned the fridge last night), and explore this old town, apparently well preserved, and the home of Marco Polo. More to learn for Catherine our resident ancient history buff( along with Vlad of course). Pavel and I are more into the nature/biology of the place.
Plan for today: Finish blog. Teach Cath how to roll up yarn and to knit, and help Vlad fix the wind generator that doesn't seem to have been wired properly. Thank goodness he is so handy. Head to Korcula. Go out for dinner. Until next time.