44 30.0N 14 29.6E

Krivica Bay, Losinj 31^st July – 2^nd August

Having had a quiet night on the boatyard quay at Cres we set off early to make headway south. We had 2 reffs in the main and the genoa unfurled to ½. The wind started in the NW but as we progressed south it veered more to the north and gradually picked up to a force 5 with gusts of nearly 30 knots. We had a real ‘sleigh ride’ clocking speeds of over 8.5 even with the reduced rig. The seas were relatively flat so that made for a comfortable passage for the first 15 miles. However as the wind veered more to the NE we had a quite a fetch from the high hills to our position and we stared to take waves on the beam. We eventually decided to take in another reef and stop the rather ‘out of control’ surges we were experiencing! Once this was done we made a rather more sedate passage (but still with respectable speeds of over 7 knots!) and arrived at our destination a bay to the south of Mali Losinj on the west side called Krivica. Here we found there was an option to anchor in the outer part of the inlet or off the north east shore, or alternatively pick up a mooring buoy. We chose the latter and found that the buoy and lines were well maintained and that there was a stern mooring line attached to a ring on the shore which gave us a very secure mooring. This is a very popular anchoring and by 1600 all the buoys were occupied and more boats came in and anchored – I guess by the time it was dark there must have been 50 boats!

The water here was delightfully clear and there were loads of fish. The boatman came to collect our fee – a bit expensive we felt at 225K per night (regardless of the length of the boat); we are not sure if he was charging the same for anchoring but he certainly went to all the anchored boats. He also sold fresh bread, fruit and tomatoes plus cakes! We had an apple strudel on the second morning which went down very well with mid- morning coffee! We really liked this bay except for one big problem – wasps! After Jacky had been stung we decided to deploy our big cockpit net to keep them out as at one time we must have had 30 swarming around the fresh water hose at the back of the boat, which we use to shower off after a sea swim.

We decided to leave early on Friday and as the weather was so settled we took the risk of ‘No Bora’ and headed for Rab which we had been recommended to visit by Helga and Stemco who were both born there.